NANCY SMITH'S INTRO
The Sims has recently celebrated 100 million copies sold. Only Mario Bros have been able to sell more copies.
The success of this game is in its DNA: Creativity, Community and Unexpected Humour.
In addition, players do product plan for the The Sims 2 EPs (focus groups and communities suggestions).
The Sims Team doesn't know if Apartment Life will be the last Expansion Pack. By the way, The Sims 2 will have for sure more life (2-3 years) with or without new expansion packs. If there will be the possibility to add more creativity in the game, there may be more Sims 2 products.
The expansion pack has been presented to us by Bim Majekodunmi, Shannon Copur and Lakshmi Jayapalan.

As you can assume by reading the title, this expansion pack is dedicated to apartments. Both in the new neighborhood (Belladonna Cove) and in the lot bin, you can find great apartment lots. You can also build your own from scratch with a new zoning cheat that will let us to convert a residential lot into an apartment lot.
You also have to put the special apartment doors that will let you to assign a family to a certain apartment.

Once you move a family in a lot, you should click on a door to check the price and to book the apartment.
The remaining apartments will be occupied by NPCs. You can move to an apartmnent lot up to 4 families. By the way, when you enter the lot you have to choose which one you want to play with. You have to exit and enter again if you want to play with the other families. You'll find every family in the same conditions you left them the last time (only relationship levels eventually change).

You have to pay the rent every Monday by clicking on the mailbox. If you forget to pay, the landlord will came to collect it.

Like in University, neighbors stuff will be hidden. If we knock at their door we can visit them and see their furniture.
You can build garages, but you cannot have an homework activity or own apartments. Like in real life, if neighbors make noise you can bang on wall.

Sims have now a Reputation panel, based on the relationships they have with others. Having a block party can help you to have a good relationship with neighbors. If your reputation is negative, the ladlord may increase the rent.

You can have a roomate that could help you to pay the rent. Just make a phone call and wait until you receive a response from an other Sim. Before accepting a roomate you can check its personal card. You cannot control a roomate, but you should be sure that he's satisfied, or he'll move out. If your roomate is satisfied you can get special benefits.

Community Lots surprises
You'll find many interesting things walking around the community lots, like vending machines, the Break Dance dancer and the Sims that belong to various social groups (they'll have the same dresses and the same greeting).
Even if we weren't able to see the mime that pretend to be a statue, in the catalogue there's an object that seems dedicated to this "job".

Makin' Magic nostalgics (it was a The Sims 1 EP) will be for sure happy to know that witches are the new race. We'll have 3 kind of witches: good, evil and neutral.
To become a member of this race you have to be friend with a witch. If you are lucky you'll find one of them around the community lots.

Once you become a Witch, you'll receive a cauldron, a spellbook and the access to the secret community lots.

If you practise a bit and you buy reagents from the Evil Witch and the Good Witch, you'll be able to create potions and magical objects. You can also buy a potion that will make you be a normal Sim again.
Witches can freeze time, make Zombies, summon Sims, cheer up lot, make a sim fat or skinny etc.
In the images below you can find more info about spells and craftable magical objects. In 2 Enciclopedia screens there's also a reference to ghost cats...
Please note that we played with an alpha version. This means that some text is still not yet final and may change in the shipping version of the game.

New interactions
Sims can study new topics on their bookshelves (Fire safety, Anger Management, Lifelong Happiness, Physiology anf Couples Counseling). These books will help them in their everyday life. See images below for more info.
If your telephone rings too much, you can set it to silent mode.
There are also new greetings, jump rope action and new interactions with children and toddlers.
(We'll publish soon a video about these new interactions)

Build and Buy Mode
Build and Buy Mode new features will add to your homes extraordinary elements.
The new furniture and decorative objects (in classical and modern style) are really well done. We have, for example, an hideaway bed, a big TV, a wall armoire, a canopy bed, a new pool table, different kinds of shelves and many little decorative objects.

Clothes and hairstyles
The new clothes are really cool and there are also new sportwears.

Hairstyles have been improved too, expecially for women. You can find some examples below.

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