The Sims 2

However, he defended his position on The Sims 2 and expressed his opinion that because EA does not protect its copyright by stopping the mod community from making adult-oriented changes to the game, that they "lose their right to defend their copyright" in any way.
. In an Internet radio show interview that aired at ChatterBox Game Show, Thompson retracted his previous misstatements about "pubic hair" and other details about which he was misinformed. Another documentary, Al-Jazeera, An Arab Voice for Freedom or Demagoguery? The UNC Tour [27] was filmed two months after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. (Woohoo/Play in Bed animations are not very realistic.). In July 2003, PBS broadcast a documentary, called Exclusive to al-Jazeera on its program Wide Angle. This includes mods that were made in the past for Sims 1 games, adding graphic sexual animations. Al Jazeera's coverage of the invasion of Iraq was the focus of an award-winning 2004 documentary film, Control Room by Egyptian-American director Jehane Noujaim.

Most makers of these mods have taken measures to prevent under-18 players from accessing them. Initially its English-language site was provided by the US-based DataPipe, which gave it notice, soon followed by Akamai Technologies.[26] They later shifted to the French branch of NavLink, and then to (and currently) AT&T WorldNet Services. In truth, several third-party mods, including custom meshes, are required to make nude sims have the features Thompson accused the game of having. The site was forced to change internet hosting providers several times, due, in its opinion, to political pressure. Electronic Arts issued a statement correcting Thompson and pointing out that without the blur, there are no private parts, but that Sims are lacking in anatomical definition, like a child's dolls. In June 2003, Racine pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication. The patch for the University Expansion Pack, coincidentally, removes the "intProp censorgridsize 0" cheat from the valid cheats recognized in the cheat console window, making it impossible for users to turn off the blur without third-party software, such as SeeThem 2.0. map and a patriotic motto, court documents said.

Thompson claimed that "pubic hair", "labia", and other genital details were visible if the blur was removed. Racine posed as an Al Jazeera employee to get a password to the network's site, then redirected visitors to a page he created that showed an American flag shaped like a U.S. Jack Thompson claimed that The Sims 2 was "worse than Hot Coffee", because it featured nude Sims which were blurred out, yet the blur could be removed by a mod. In November, 2003, John William Racine II, a.k.a 'John Buffo', was sentenced to 1000 hours of community service and a $2000 US fine for the online disruption. On July 22, 2005, Florida attorney Jack Thompson attacked Electronic Arts and The Sims 2, after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' Hot Coffee scandal was settled. Immediately after its launch, the site was attacked by hackers, who launched denial-of-service attacks and redirected visitors to a site featuring an American flag. Less intrusive mods from the above add common fiction characters into game format, such as the X-Men, several Anime characters, and even horror movie characters like Jason Vorhees. [25].

There are no gender-defined differences in exact reactions they have to stimuli and social settings, etc.) With SimPE, the game can even be told to treat sims like the opposite of their native sex, making it possible to create many such situations. The station launched an English-language edition of its online content in March, 2003. Many modders have found ways to manipulate the weak gender difference distinctions that come standard with the game for the specific purpose of using the gender preference system this way.(E.g., men and women can both get pregnant (though men can only get pregnant through alien abduction). InfoCom was later convicted of exporting to Libya and Syria, of knowingly being invested in by a Hamas member (both of which are illegal in the United States), and of underpaying customs duties.[24]. Many hold this opinion strongly though. The Arabic version of the site was brought offline for about 10 hours by an FBI raid on its ISP, InfoCom Corporation, on September 5, 2001. Some in message boards have claimed that the gender preference system is a blanket endorsement of homosexual behavior by Maxis, but this has yet to be proven.
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The gender preference system exists based on which genders sims trust most to converse with, namely, those they believe will give them the best likelihood of positive conversation. News photographs showed United States and Iraqi military personnel working together to close the office.[23] Initially closed by a one-month ban, the shutdown was extended indefinitely in September 2004, and the offices sealed. There are also mods that exist to manipulate sims' gender preferences. Al Jazeera vowed to continue its reporting from inside Iraq. (An aspect of life that Sims have never had to worry about.) Several skilled modders like SirIgnitusBlowtorch have even been involved in researching ways to create fires that will not cause sims to panic, a feature that has existed since the original release of The Sims and has caused a lot of players to lose entire sim families more quickly than they intended to. On August 7, 2004, the Iraqi Allawi government shut down the Iraq office of Al Jazeera, claiming that it was responsible for presenting a negative image of Iraq, and charging the network with fueling anti-Coalition hostilities. Modders such as NikkiBailey have even tried to add laundry to the game. [22].

Targa has, among other things, added ladders, which have never been common in Sims games up until this point. Contrary to some allegations, including the oft-reported comments of Donald Rumsfeld on June 4, 2005, Al Jazeera has never shown beheadings which often appear on internet websites. Revoye, Helaene, and others are renowned for creating more realistic skintones. This included broadcasting pleas from family members and government officials. JWoods' Animated Weather Windows and Doors allow some (crude) animations on doors and windows to help simulate rain, thunderstorms, and snow, all weather effects that Maxis had a difficult time including in the game due to program shortcomings. Al Jazeera has assisted authorities from the home countries of the victims in an attempt to secure the release of kidnapping victims. also made with Homecrafter Plus. They often appear to be forced to read out prepared statements of their kidnappers.

Ilsimsamante, KalicoKat and many others have created new walls and floors etc. The hostages are shown, often blindfolded, pleading for their release. DumbBlonde's Trashed Set made with Homecrafter Plus adds the ability to create slums for low-income families. The videos were filmed by the groups after kidnapping a hostage. Other mods, such as Oberkorn's Krepuscular Skyes Holoprojector and GunMod's Radiance Light System help flesh out the lighting and sky effects for the game, giving users more environment types to choose from. During 2004, Al Jazeera broadcast several video tapes of various kidnapping victims which had been sent to the network. More objects were made like Transporters and other useful objects. The move came after allegations by Iraqis who stated that the channel had incited anti-occupation violence (by airing statements from Iraqi resistance leaders), increasing ethnic and sectarian tensions, and being supportive of the resistance.

Hospitals are only for the Sims 1. On 23 September 2003, Iraq suspended Al Jazeera (and Al-Arabiya) from reporting on official government activities for two weeks for what the Council stated as supporting recent attacks on council members and Coalition occupational forces. The mods for the Sims 2 are those were you could create prisons, hospitals, schools. As reported by the Sunday Times, the alleged spies were described by an Al Jazeera executive as having minor roles with no input on editorial decisions. SimLogical is ran by one Inge Jones who mods the Sims 2, she used to mod the Sims 1, but she doesn't have the game anymore. In May 2003, the CIA, through the Iraqi National Congress, released documents purportedly showing that Al Jazeera had been infiltrated by Iraqi spies, and was regarded by Iraqi officials as part of their propaganda effort. The InSiminator's alterations of teen relationships are further fleshed out with the InTeenimator, which can be a bother to some because it adds abortion to the game. The reasons for his detention remain unknown, although the US official statements on detainees is that they are security threats.

Altering their memories and last names to match a user's re-writing of history requires the use of SimPE to edit game files. On 23 November 2005, Sami Al-Haj's lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith reported that, during (125 of 130) interviews, US officials had questioned Sami as to whether Al Jazeera was a front for Al Qaeda. It can also force resurrections without the University Expansion, can change the time of day, and can change which sims are related to which other sims. Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj, a Sudanese national, has also been held by US forces since the start of 2002 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Modders from various sites have been designing programs, most notably SimPE and SimLogical, to edit things from the game, such as recoloring objects which originally could not be recolored, extracting meshes of both clothing and objects, as well as changing different aspects of the game, like Teen Woohoo (Woohoo is the sims' version of sexual intercourse), and the InSiminator, which allows players to edit various attributes about sims, such as their mood, their relationships, or even make them pregnant with any sim on the lot, including the sim that will be pregnant. Similarly, on November 13, 2001 the US launched a missile attack on Al Jazeera's office in Kabul during the US invasion of Afghanistan, also after being informed of its location. Also the console games have 2 modes of control, direct control, the default mode which allows you to walk your sim directly, and classic, where you have a light tower starting above your sim, where you can move it to select objects to use; e.g: The PC. On April 8, 2003 Al Jazeera's office in Baghdad was attacked by US forces, killing reporter Tareq Ayyoub and wounding another, despite the US being informed of the office's precise coordinates prior to the incident.

The Nintendo DS version has a few mini games including painting a picture. [21]. As with the port of the original The Sims to consoles, the game will most likely feature greatly different mechanics and goals as compared to the original computer version. Also in the run-up to the war the US Pentagon hired the Rendon Group to target and possibly punish Al Jazeera reporters who did not stay on message. At the moment it is Fall 2006 whether Untitled The Sims 1980s project will be ported to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and/or Nintendo Revolution. On April 3, 2003, Al Jazeera withdrew its journalists from the country, citing unreasonable interference from Iraqi officials. Namely, its addictive, entertaining gameplay." On several websites, the Sims 2 for PlayStation2 was considered an outrage and many people wanted their money back; saying that all the qualities from PC mode (getting pregnant, aging, etc.) had been taken away. In addition, one of its reporters, Tayseer Allouni, was banned from the country by the Iraqi Information Ministry, while another one, Diyar Al-Omari, was banned from reporting in Iraq (both decisions were later retracted).

GameSpot gave all the console versions a 6.5, and said "The Sims 2 loses something in translation from PC to consoles. During the Iraq war, Al Jazeera faced the same reporting and movement restrictions as other news-gathering organizations. It made its debut to the console/handheld market during Q4, 2005 (source). For example, on April 27, 2004, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, said, "On Iraq they have established a pattern of false reporting." (WSVN). The Sims 2 was released on the following consoles and handhelds:. The administration has voiced such criticisms of Al Jazeera. References to furniture and electronics. Critics have drawn the conclusion that the Bush administration's distaste for the station's reporting of the invasion of Iraq was the underlying motivation, yet there is no evidence to support such a claim aside from mere speculation.

Stations in The Sims 2 TV mirror those found in real-life TV networks. The move was quickly mirrored by Nasdaq stock market officials. Several family photo albums also reveal her past actions prior to her alien abduction. On March 4, 2003, during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the New York Stock Exchange banned Al Jazeera (as well as several other news organizations whose identities were not revealed) from its trading floor indefinitely, citing "security concerns" as the official reason. A missing person's photograph of her appears on milk cartons seen while preparing food, but she can also be found as a townie in Strangetown without her memory of her old residence and family. They have mockingly taken to calling it "Al-Khinzeera," which means "The Pig.". Bella Goth, the wife of Mortimer Goth in The Sims, is absent from the family when the game begins, as it is revealed she was abducted by aliens. Some have suggested the media outlet is a source of disinformation and a front for Western intelligence agencies.

[1]. Al Jazeera has been criticized by many of its Muslim viewers for giving air time to Israeli officials. Lilith, the 'bad twin', is named Lilith because Lilith was supposedly the first wife of Adam, a seductress, and 'bad'. Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Hajj was detained in Afghanistan as an "enemy combatant" in December 2001, and is now held without charge in Camp Delta at Guantánamo Bay. Angela, the 'good twin', is named Angela because of its similarity to 'Angel'. Both of these attacks occurred despite Al Jazeera's provision of the locations of their offices to the United States. It may also bear relevance to the original The Sims, whereby there was a pre-packaged family named the Pleasants. In light of this allegation, Al Jazeera has questioned whether it has been targeted deliberately in the past — Al Jazeera's Kabul office was bombed in 2001 and a missile hit its office in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq killing correspondent Tariq Ayoub.

This is probably a reference to the term "Mary Sue," which is used to describe an idealized character in a work of fan fiction. Marines were conducting a contentious assault on Fallujah. One of the characters living in Pleasantview is named "Mary-Sue Pleasant". Bush had considered bombing Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters in April 2004, when U.S. Only one person was in that family...a man named Michael. President George W. The Bachelor family was one of the pre-packaged families that came with the original The Sims. On November 22, 2005, the UK tabloid The Daily Mirror published a story claiming that it had obtained a leaked memo from 10 Downing Street saying that U.S.

As it turns out, a "Michael Bachelor" is her brother (now deceased). [20]. Should one take a look at the Goth family tree, they can find out more about Bella's branch of the tree. On January 30, 2005 the New York Times reported that the Qatari government, under pressure from the Bush administration, was speeding up plans to sell the station. Cows are also seen in University. government. An alternative explanation is that this is paying homage to the work of Jeff Minter, a legendary games programmer who began programming games, featuring all sorts of fluffy animals, for the Vic-20 and Commodore 64 for his company Llamasoft. In 2004 the competing Arabic-language satellite TV station Al Hurra was launched, funded by the U.S.

Speculation suggests that this is an in-joke due to one of the producer's love of Monty Python movies (specifically, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where its opening credits credited llamas for the movie's production). Government spokespersons have often cited what they claim as bias on the part of the broadcaster. Llamas appear in The Sims (as it has in many Maxis titles). While prior to September 11th, 2001, the United States government lauded Al Jazeera for its role as an independent media outlet in the Middle East, since then it has reversed course dramatically. (E.g., Tybalt cannot kill Mercutio to initiate the conspiracy and suicide of Shakespeare's play, but can still laugh if he sees Mercutio die from a satellite falling on his head, etc...) Other names based on plays include King Lear, The Tempest, The "Hal plays", Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Taming of the Shrew. [19]. Although these spoofs are supposed to parallel the plays they parody, the Romeo and Juliet parody is significantly less tragic than the actual play. He denied the revocation has anything to do with the network's Iraq war coverage.

Characters from other Shakespearean plays can be found in the family trees in Veronaville. NYSE spokesman Ray Pellechia claimed "security reasons" and that the exchange had decided to give access only to networks that focus "on responsible business coverage". Her character (as well as a third family, the Summerdream family) was pulled from A Midsummer Night's Dream, another Shakespearean play. On 25 March 2003, two of its reporters covering the New York Stock Exchange had their credentials revoked. The other teens from either household are named after actual characters in Romeo and Juliet, except for Hermia. Nevertheless, CNN cut its ties with Al Jazeera for several months over this controversy. Just like in the play, there are two lovers from each family: Romeo and Juliette. Al Jazeera countered that it was merely making information available without comment, and indeed several western television channels later followed suit in broadcasting portions of the tapes.

Instead, Consort apparently conned Patrizio and the result was that Consort became a CEO and Patrizio got fired. This led to criticism by the United States government that Al Jazeera was engaging in propaganda on behalf of terrorists. The memories of Consort Capp and Patrizio Monty suggest that the broken promise may have been to help Patrizio out in time of need. Friedman called Al-Jazeera "the freest, most widely watched TV network in the Arab world."^[18] The station first gained widespread attention in the west following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when it broadcast videos in which Osama bin Laden and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith defended and justified the attacks. Supposedly (according to the story of the neighborhood) the conflict started when the leader of the Capp household broke a promise to the leader of the Monty household. In 1999, New York Times reporter Thomas L. In this neighborhood, there are two families who are supposedly conflicting with each other: the Capp family and the Monty family (obviously reflecting the Capulet and Montague families in the play). Websites such as Free Taysir Alony and Alony Solidarity were created to support Alony.

The neighborhood Veronaville is supposed to be a spoof of Verona (the Italian city in which Romeo and Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare, takes place). Many international and private organizations condemned the arrest and called on the Spanish court to free Taysir Alony.
. [17]. It will be released 28 February - 3 March. Although he pleaded not guilty of all the charges against him, Allouni was sentenced on 26 September to seven years in prison for merely interviewing Bin Laden after the September 11th attack on the United States. Players can choose to set up businesses like an electronics store, a restaurant, a beauty salon, a boutique shop, and much more. Allouni asked the court for permission to visit his family in Syria to attend the funeral of his mother, but authorities denied his request and ordered him back to jail.

Create prized items to bring in top dollar or watch as things go haywire while they are making the next big thing. On 19 September, a Spanish court issued an arrest warrant for al-Jazeera correspondent Taysir Allouni, before the expected verdict. They will be able to manage their staff and develop their talents. He was nevertheless released several weeks later for health concerns, but was prohibited from leaving the country. The Sims 2: Open for Business, the upcoming expansion pack for The Sims 2, will allow your sims to operate their own businesses. Judge Baltasar Garzón, who had issued the arrest warrant, ordered Allouni held indefinitely without bail. However, the pack on its own is available through European retailers in a CD-ROM. Reporter Taysir Allouni was arrested in Spain on 5 September 2003, on a charge of having provided support for members of Al-Qaida.

This comes alongside the limited-edition The Sims 2 Holiday Edition core game, which contains the Holiday Party Pack already in the core game with most bugs removed, in a way similar to the way that The Sims Deluxe Edition included both The Sims and The Sims: Livin' Large in a single package. Bahrain Information Minister Nabil al-Hamr banned Al Jazeera correspondents from reporting from inside the country on 10 May 2002, saying that the station was biased towards Israel and against Bahrain.[16] After improvements in relations between Bahrain and Qatar in 2004, Al Jazeera correspondents returned to Bahrain. This adds over 40 new objects to the game, allowing for better depiction of holiday celebrations (mostly Christmas) by sims in decorative ways not possible with the standard game. Also, it is alleged that several Algerian cities lost power simultaneously to keep residents from watching a program that implicated the Algerian military in a series of massacres. The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack (The Sims 2: Christmas Party Pack in Europe) is a semi-expansion available only through the EA Online Store, select Costco stores, and other video game retailers. The international pressure group Reporters Without Borders says, however, that the measure was really taken in reprisal for a broadcast the previous week of a debate on the political situation in Algeria. Nightlife also added two new aspirations:. The official reason given was that a reorganisation of the work of foreign correspondents was in progress.

Vampires can be entirely avoided if the player does not want to play with them. The Algerian government froze the activities of Al Jazeera's Algerian correspondent on July 4, 2004. In addition, players can now own cars instead of taking the carpool. It has more than a hundred editorial staff. Players will now be able to see other lots in the neighborhood from inside a lot. The Editor-in-Chief of the Arabic website is Abdel Aziz Al Mahmoud, and the editorial head is Mohammad Dawood. Maxis has also added vampires that will bite sims, making them vampires as well. The latest in a string of managing editors of the English-language site is Russell Merryman, who is currently caretaking the site after the departures of Omar Bec, Joanne Tucker, Ahmed Sheikh and Alison Balharry.

A new attraction system introduces turn-ons and turn-offs that cause Sims to be attracted to or disgusted by other Sims. The managing director for the yet-to-be-launched Al Jazeera International is Nigel Parsons. Based loosely on the original Sims expansion Hot Date, it includes entertainment options like nightclubs, restaurants for romantic dinners, and bowling alleys, in a new neighborhood type called Downtown (much like the University Town in the first expansion pack). The current Managing Director of the Arabic channel is Waddah Khanfar, who is supported by Ahmed Sheikh, Editor-in-Chief, and Amen Jaballah. The second expansion, The Sims 2: Nightlife, was released on September 13, 2005. The Chairman of Al Jazeera is Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani, a distant cousin of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. A more minor introduction in University is the addition of "influence points" that can be used to influence others to do a certain thing. Al Jazeera's web-based service is accessible subscription-free throughout the world, though the English and Arabic sections appear to be editorially distinct, with their own selection of news and comment.

Sims that don't attend the university will skip Young Adult and become Adults, as in the original version of the game. Al Jazeera can be freely viewed with a DVB-S receiver as it is broadcast on the Astra and Hot Bird satellites. A "Teen" sim sent to the university will become a "Young Adult," a new age group introduced with this expansion, and that sim will become an "Adult" when it graduates or flunks out. In the US, it is available through satellite. In it, sims can be sent to college in a new neighborhood type called University. Al Jazeera's programming is available worldwide through various satellite and cable systems. Maxis released the first expansion pack, called The Sims 2: University, on March 2, 2005 for PC and December 12, 2005 for Mac. In the United States, video footage from the network is largely limited to showing the mercy pleas of hostages.

These have been tackled with patches released in October 2005. Al Jazeera is now considered a fairly mainstream media network, though more controversial than most. Bugs also surfaced relating to both expansion packs. In January 2003, the BBC announced that it had signed an agreement with Al Jazeera for sharing facilities and information, including news footage. Many of the bugs listed below have been corrected in a downloadable patch (Note: The installation of The Sims 2: University should correct most of the problems below). Increasingly, Al Jazeera's exclusive interviews and other footage are being rebroadcast in American, British, and other western media outlets such as CNN and the BBC. The Sims 2 contains a number of bugs. As a result, it is probably the most watched news channel in the Middle East.

A similar complaint was levied against another Maxis game, SimCity 4, released more than a year and a half ago. Some scholars and commentators use the notion of contextual objectivity^[13][14], which highlights the tension between objectivity and audience appeal, to describe the station's controversial yet popular news approach [15]. In fact, just the required (and not optimum) system specs meant that many PC's purchased as late as 2001 would not even be able to run it at all. Many people see Al Jazeera as a more trustworthy source of information than government and foreign channels. At the time of release, many criticized The Sims 2 for needing extremely high system requirements. It is widely believed internationally that inhabitants of the Arab world are given limited information by their governments and media, and that what is conveyed is biased towards the governments' views. Mac. [12].

Windows. With Al-Jazeera's growing global outreach and influence, some who thought of them as an "alternative media" source have changed their minds. The system requirements for The Sims 2 (from the official The Sims 2 website) are as follows:. He described his new position as "the most interesting job on Earth." [10] On 6 February 2006 it was announced that the former BBC reporter Rageh Omaar would host a daily weeknights documentary series, Witness [11].
. [9] The network announced on 12 January 2006 that former Nightline correspondent Dave Marash would be the co-anchor from their Washington studio. This also means that while the game still has no set goals, there is a new strategic level to balancing a Sim's life as players now have a limited time in which to fulfill Aspirations, meet needs, progress in a career, socialize and possibly have a family. On 2 December 2005, Stephen Cole, a senior anchor on BBC World and Click Online presenter, announced he was joining Al-Jazeera International.

The Aspiration Meter also affects how long an elder will live for once they enter this phase of their life. [6] [7] [8]. If this aspiration reward is used before the Aspiration Meter reaches the gold level, however, it sometimes backfires and the Sim loses life days. He commented that "In a time when American media has become so nationalised, I'm excited about joining an organisation that truly wants to be a source of global information..." [5] Former CNN and BBC news anchorwoman and award winning journalist Veronica Pedrosa and veteran UK broadcaster David Frost have also joined the team, along with Riz Khan, a former BBC reporter who most recently was host of the CNN talk show Q&A, CNN producer James Wright, and Kieran Baker, a former editor and producer for CNN. For example, the Elixir of Life aspiration reward allows a Sim to live longer. Rushing will be working from the Washington DC Bureau. When the Aspiration Meter is high, aspiration rewards may be properly used. He was the press officer for the United States Central Command during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and in that role was featured in the documentary Control Room.

They may change on a daily basis, and are displayed graphically in slot-machine fashion on the toolbar. In September 2005, Josh Rushing joined Al Jazeera International. Wants and Fears are different for each sim depending on several factors including aspiration type, age and aspiration meter level. The channel will be a 24-hours 7-days a week news channel with 12 hours broadcasted from Doha and four hours from each of London, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington D.C. The level is raised when a Sim fulfills a "Want", and is lowered when a "Fear" is realized. The new channel will have broadcast centers in Doha (current Al Jazeera headquarters and broadcast center), London, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington D.C., when the station launches in March 2006. There are six levels to the aspiration meter: The highest is platinum, beneath that is gold, followed by two levels of green and two of red (red being negative aspiration and therefore an undesirable state). On July 4, 2005 Al Jazeera officially announced plans to launch a new English-language satellite service called Al Jazeera International.[4] Al Jazeera has announced this long-expected move in an attempt to provide news about the Arab world, especially Israel, from the Middle Eastern perspective.

A sixth aspiration, that of growing up, is possessed by all sims when they are toddlers and children, and a seventh and an eighth aspiration, the Pleasure and Grilled Cheese aspirations, were included with the Nightlife expansion pack. Unlike Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya focuses on covering the news without stirring controversies. The five aspirations are: Romance, Family, Knowledge, Popularity and Fortune. In response to Al Jazeera, a group of Saudi investors created Al Arabiya in the first quarter of 2003. Sims will each have an aspiration which is set either when they are created by the player, generated by the game (if they are an NPC), or chosen by the player when they become a teenager. However, it wasn't until late 2001 that Al Jazeera achieved worldwide popularity when it broadcast video statements by Al Qaeda leaders. Aspiration manifests itself in two ways: the aspiration which each Sim has, and the Aspiration Meter. Its well-presented documentary on the Lebanese Civil War in 2000-2001 gave its viewer ratings a boost.

The Sims 2 introduces a new aspect into the game: Aspiration. In the beginning, Al Jazeera tried to increase its viewership by means of presenting controversial views regarding the governments of many Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain (ironically, Qatar is not included in this list), Syria's relationship with Lebanon, and the Egyptian judiciary. The Sims 2 Body Shop, a tool which allows a user to design a Sim's body, clothing, genetic features, etc., was available well before the game's release. Many former BBC staff members joined Al Jazeera. The graphics and house design engines have improved with more choices for houses, neighborhood design, food and clothes. In April of that year, BBC World's Arabic language TV station, faced with censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government, had shut down after two years of operation. Good and bad experiences are kept as memories and can affect the Sim's behaviour. The channel began broadcasting in late 1996.

Other unique events such as deaths, birthdays and a first kiss also take place in a Sim's lifetime. Other major sources of income include advertising, cable subscription fees, broadcasting deals with other companies, and sale of footage (according to Pravda,[2] "Al-Jazeera received $20,000 per minute for Bin Laden's speech".) In 2000, advertising accounted for 40% of the station's revenue.[3]. Sims are pregnant before having children (unlike in the previous version, where children just appeared). It aimed to become self-sufficient through advertising by 2001, but when this failed to occur, the emir agreed to continue subsidizing it on a year-by-year basis (US$30 million in 2004,[1] according to Arnaud de Borchgrave). In this installment of the series, Sims can have more realistic marriages with engagements and parties. Al Jazeera was started with a US$150 million grant from the emir of Qatar. As Sims age, get married and have children, these relationships are recorded in an extensive family tree. It now rivals the BBC in worldwide audiences with an estimated 50 million viewers.

Family relationships are much more integral to this version of the Sims than the previous version. Al Jazeera claims to be the only politically independent television station in the Middle East. Unlike in the previous game, when children stayed children and there was little game progress, the stages of life encourage players to move the game along and create relationships between Sims. . Sims age through 6 unique stages: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult and elder (although another stage, 'young adult', was added with the University expansion pack and "preteen" might be added in future expansion packs). It's English language website at http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage, should not be confused with Aljazeera.com, an unrelated English language website that publishes news and opinion pieces of an inflammatory nature about current affairs in the Middle East. . In addition to its TV channels, Al Jazeera operates Arabic and an English language websites.

A port to Mac OS X was done by Aspyr and was released on June 12, 2005. Future announced products include an English-language channel, Al Jazeera International, and a channel specializing in documentaries, and possible music channels or an international newspaper. Customers who pre-ordered The Sims 2 received their copy on September 14, 2004. These include Al Jazeera Sports, a popular Arabic-language sports channel, Al Jazeera Live, which broadcasts conferences in real time without editing or commentary, and the Al Jazeera Children's Channel. The DVD-ROM version, called The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition, contains a Bonus Disc that carries extra content such as interviews and commercials of past Sim products. Al Jazeera operates several specialized television channels in addition to its primary news channel. The game was officially released on September 17, 2004 in both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM formats. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it broadcast video statements by Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders (see Videos of Osama bin Laden).

It is fully 3D, and, unlike in the first installment, characters age and have genetic traits that can be passed on to their children. Its willingness to broadcast dissenting views, including on call-in shows, created controversies in the autocratic Persian Gulf Arab States. It is a vast departure from the previous version and various updates. Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة al-Ǧazīrä), meaning "The Island" or "The Peninsula" is an Arabic-language television channel based in Doha, Qatar. The Sims 2 is a strategy/simulation computer game from Maxis and is the sequel to the popular game The Sims. Naomi Sakr (2002), Satellite Realms : Transnational Television, Globalization and the Middle East, I.B.Tauris. SSX 3 - An actual game that made its apperance in computers and TV sets with the Maxis Game Simulator Console in The Sims 2. Mohammed El-Nawawy and Adel Iskandar (2003), Al Jazeera: The story of the network that is rattling governments and redefining modern journalism, Basic.

Soma - Is a referance to Sony. Hugh Miles (2004), Al Jazeera: how Arab TV news challenged the world, Abacus. Moneywell - Is a referance to the Honeywell electronics conglomorate. Marc Lynch (2005), Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today, Columbia University Press. All the shows always cut to commercials when one of the sims on screen sets the kitchen on fire. Mohamed Zayani (2005), The Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives On New Arab Media, Paradigm Publishers. The Yummy Channel - A comical parody of The Food Network. ^  (da) “Al-Jazeera oversatte ikke redaktørens beklagelse,” Politiken, 2006-01-31.

KidzTube - Is a reference to Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel and Cartoon Network, though the scenes are similar to the children's live action shows of the 1950s like Howdy Doody and Sesame Street in the 1970s. New York Times: A27.. SimStation Dance - Is a reference to the music TV networks such as MTV, VH1, and most likely Fuse. Fathers and Sons. Sim Broadcasting Network - Is a reference to the major broadcasting networks such as NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. (12 February 1999). SimStation Sports - Is a reference to ESPN. ^  Friedman, Thomas L.

After receiving this aspiration, your Sim will want nothing but things involving grilled cheese. ISBN.. Grilled Cheese: Accessed only by unsuccessfully using the ReNuYu Senso Orb. Al-Jazeera: How the free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East, Westview. Pleasure: Pleasure sims' wants are extremely variable as they seek only to enjoy life. ^  El-Nawawy and Iskandar. Boddler Glitch: A dangerous bug that occurs when you don't save sims after they've switched from one age band to another, and then deleted them using the "moveobjects on" cheat. [31].

Another way of exploiting this clone technique for users without the Nightlife Expansion is to click on and move the sim, and hold down the shift key when placing. In 2004, Al Jazeera was voted, by brandchannel.com, the fifth most influential global brand behind Apple Computer, Google, Ikea and Starbucks. Your lot can then be filled with mindless clones of your sim, since the game doesn't know whether to make more sims or more doors. [30]. When you let go of the camera, it will start making more sims, rather than more doors. In December 1999, Ibn Rushd (Averoes) Fund for Freedom of Thought in Berlin awarded the "Ibn Rushd Award" for media and journalism for the year to Al Jazeera. Next, change the pitch of your camera. [29].

Move your sim to some other tile than where they currently are. According to Tifanny Schlain, the founder of the Webby Awards, this caused a controversy as [other media organisations] "felt it was a risk-taking site," . Act like you're about to place a door on the lot, but then, hit the delete key. In April 2004, Webby Awards nominated Al Jazeera as one of the five best news Web sites, along with BBC News, National Geographic, RocketNews and The Smoking Gun. Door-Clone Glitch: If you enter build mode with the moveobjects cheat enabled, go to the door creation tool. In November 2005, Al Jazeera was awarded by Index on Censorship for its "courage in circumventing censorship and contributing to the free exchange of information in the Arab world." [28]. Can be fixed by moving the family to another lot.

Carpool bug: All sims living on a lot refuse to enter cars, taxis, buses, etc, causing them to fail at their job or at school. This was fixed by the Maxis patch. Also would float if use was cancelled during the talk-through action. Can be fixed by buying a new teddy bear.

Floating Teddy: After a few uses, the object of the bear will float in the air and there will no longer be proper animation of use of the bear. Caused by proximity to other usable objects. Unused objects designated as in use: Engine bug which makes unused objects appear as in-use, like doors that don't close. "Vanishing Family Members": Hardly anything is known about this glitch except that it occurs when a family member goes to work or school for the first time, they don't come back and vanish off the portraits of the family members on the left of the screen; there is no memory of the disappearance in any of the other family members.

Solved by the Maxis patch. Invisible Colleagues: Graphics glitch involving colleagues visiting by helicopter, causing colleagues to be invisible. Memory Leak: Memory leak, sometimes caused by hiring non-player characters, causing abnormal use of system resources. Solved by the Maxis patch.

"Jump Out" Bug: Time-out/scripting bug, causing characters to abort ( "jump out of" ) certain animations and interactions. This problem has been fixed in the new version of ATI's drivers. "Liney" Sims: Graphical glitch with ATI Radeon 9000 GPUs. you exited the house of Sim A, B, C+, opened CAS, then pressed the randomize button an arbitrary number more than twelve, it would restart the game's randomization engines, and subsequent children would share different genes.

However, if before birth of Sim D, E, ect. If you opened the game again a day later, and Sim A, who gave birth to Sim C, gives birth to another Sim, Sim D, it would be an exact copy of Sim C, in both personality and appearance. If your sims create a child without using the randomizing tool in CAS, it will be a certain combination of his or her parents' genes and personality. For instance, the first twelve 'randomly produced' sims could be recreated if you exited the Sims 2, then re-opened it, started up CAS, then clicked the randomize button.

"Firstborn Clone": All sims produced in the game are random, but only to a certain point. At least 3 GB of hard drive space. Mac OS X 10.3.8 or better. 256 RAM.

(ATI) Radeon 9000 or better. PowerPC G4/G5. 1.2 GHz processor. At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space.

Windows® XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System or better. 256 MB RAM. 2 GHz processor for systems without a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM. 800 MHz processor for systems with a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM.