Something annoying with EA.com... Lured you in to my boring rant, didn't I? Or maybe not. Whatever. As soon as I got my copy of the Sims 2 on my birthday, I registered on the Sims2.se, the swedish version of the Sims2.com. I really don't know why, actually. When I later found the glory of *free* downloads, an how to install them in the game, of course I checked their downloadsite. Okay, so the people in Sweden are not very productive. There were like three downloadable files, music, I think. Oh well, I thought. There is the Sims2.com right? I quickly jumped to that site, logged in, downloaded everything they had, and... No. I quickly jumped to that site, yes. But I couldn't log in. "you have to be product-registered to log in". WHAT? I've already typed in my cd-key once, and I've already gone through those 100 pages that is required to go through when you register, once. In swedish, of course, but why, WHY would that matter? why can't that information be used in their database too?? The Sims2.se is *not* a fansite, it IS the Sims2.com but in swedish..!!! Gaaah, I really don't care for register ONE MORE unnecessary time, just because of their bureaucracy.. please don't flame me for this =P
Unfortunately, no Otherwise, I'd simply downloaded the stuff I wanted on the Swedish site. I'm a member in so many forums, so writing and chatting in english is not a need I have to satisify on sims2.com.
Josh, the Swedish site looks like a very lite version of the full-blown english language version. I remember that there used to be a UK version of the original sims official EA/Maxis website. It was very thin on content and on interactivity ... though the latter may have been due to lack of interest (not enough returning hits). I would guess that EA's stragetem to internationalise TS2 via a universal (access for all) main website (http://thesims2.ea.com/) is to keep it to english only. Maxis' original reasons for barring upload access to the TS1 exchanges for non-North Americans had some reasons grounded in language incompatibilities. It seems that they have provided some basic website facilities in (at least) some languages for the benefit of non-english speakers. But it would seem that the best advice for those confident with english as a second language is to register with http://thesims2.ea.com/ as this provides the best portal for exchange and content.
Generally, I find it to be an extremely risky deal to purchase foreign-localized versions of games. It is nearly invariably a bad plan, and should always be avoided at all cost, due to issues such as incompatibilities, poor support, etc. This holds ESPECIALLY true if you can actually understand the language the game is natively written in, and in some cases, even if you do not! Since your English appears to be better than that of most native speakers, I'd recommend you just get used to dealing with everything in English when it comes to TS2. All the custom content is unlikely to include any foreign localizations, and frankly, you're going to be left in the lurch if you count on it.
...then why did my game, purchased in Germany, give me the options to install it in: German English Italian Swedish French Japanese Turkish etc etc? There were fifteen different languages I could choose from. I did choose English in the end, because I mostly move in English-speaking forums and I like to think that I do speak the language passably. However, I had installed Sims1 in German. Where the downloads came from made no difference in the end. I downloaded tons of stuff from the English Sims1 site, installed them into a version of the game intended for German users, and there was no difference.
It's possible that the Sims isn't really localized, it just ships with all languages. When you consider Sims don't really use a real language, you don't really need to understand squat to play the game, so they probably just packed all the languages in at once. The fact remains that by picking any other language other than English, you're asking for trouble.
If that compliment was meant for me, thanks, appreciate it. What if I product register at eagames.com and they're like; "you've already registered with that key, you can't do that a second time"? and if there are 4 'men in black' coming too take "care" of me in just a few hours? "Orders from Will Wright, we're sorry miss"... Not that anyone would miss me.
I wouldn't worry about maxis sending out "men in black"! lol My friend in Canada bought a game and tried to register it and they said her number was already used. She wasn't able to download patches or anything. She emailed them for over a year and WISHED maxis had sent someone to her house to straighten the mess out.
I feel sorry for your friend. I hate people that steals cd-keys.. I played counterstrike a lot before, but when I was to create a steam-account (man, I hate cs 1.6 and steam), someone already had registered with that. With *my* cd-key, that I've played with for like 2 years, that I've payed for, that I've loved... I was so mad that day. I haven't played cs since then. And that about men in black, you never know with the U.S I'm a red european y'know. Btw, Zydeco, I haven't asked managerJosh about the skin upload yet, I'm sorry! I'll do it right away!
It's very odd that she had that kind of problems. I've twice had it happen that my serial number was "taken." All I had to do is send in a .jpg of the CD itself and the case with the number on it and within a couple of days, EA/Maxis has me registered (by sending me a new number both times). But, without the .jpg of the proof that I was the legal owner, they probably wouldn't have done it.
I don't think they gave her that option! She was very late to the game and there was a major problem with this at that time. I couldn't tell if her problem was because she was in another country or if maxis was so bombarded by customers with the problem they were putting her off. I've always received great customer service so I was surprised. I did sign up for the EA in Great Britian at one time. I was surprised by how different it was from the U.S. site. I'd wondered how the support was for international customers. I know a few people in Singapore that finally broke down and bought sims2. I've been getting emails from them daily asking the funniest questions. I realized they were driving themselves crazy trying to interpret the simmish! They didn't have a clue what "woohoo" meant either. Everyone I know has played sims for years. It's been fun watching them experience it for the first time.
I guess Singaporeans aren't in the habit of creating euphemisms for woohoo out of thin air. I think the most amusing definition I've found for it is "It's like love, but leaves stains".
We taught our parrot "woohoo" to express joy but now it makes me grin everytime she hollers it! lol I almost expect to see fireworks.
If I ever were to get a parrot, I'd be somewhat divided between teaching it to talk like a pirate, or swear like a sailor.
I inherited this parrot..the blasted things live 90 years. Don't get one unless you have someone to leave it to in your will. She seems to have an extensive vocabulary of curse words...so I'd go for the pirate. Her newest word seems to be the affectionate term my son uses for his dad. Her version comes out "ole batard". It took us a few moments to figure it out but she's pretty proud of this one at the moment. (It does have a slow southern drawl so that might drive you crazy.) Give me a drop off point and she's yours! lol
I suspect that the various International divisions all work differently. I'd be willing to bet that they are pretty autonomous from the main company. But that often leads to problems if they don't have the same standards as the main division.
