POPPIT is a very popular casual online game from Pogo.com. Now the fun of POPPIT is downloadable to play online or offline. You can still compete for cash prizes. The POPPIT Show retails for $19.99 and plays like a game show. You have to release all of the prizes that are located in random balloons to advance to the next level.

I like POPPIT because it’s a bigger playing area than the web version. I’m not too sure it is worth $19.99. Right now I’m playing the demo. Maybe there is more to the full version that makes it worth the money. I can play POPPIT at any given time, so I’m sure I’d get my money’s worth. I just have to decide if cutscenes and the graphics are worth the price.

Scheduled for release November 17th is The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff. You can get your Sims into the holiday mood with these items and other seasonal goodies.

Holidays fashions, objects, and parties are available in this release. The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff will retail for $19.99.

I just reinstalled Windows XP onto my computer. I finally threw in the towel for now on Linux. I installed The Sims 2 and the one expansion that I have University. (It’s been a busy year with a new baby and all. I have a lot of catching up to do!)

I created my Sim and named her after me. I’m playing her household in a way I haven’t played in a long time. I’m using no cheats. I usually love the money cheat and pretend my Sims “inherited” the money. My Sim actually found a job and went to work today. It’s been a while since any of my Sims had jobs. Now to create my husband and let the romance begin. At least when our Sims get married we’ll have more money when we combine our households.

With the original Sims I had done a similar household. After months of playing, the file went corrupt, and I lost it all. Hear broken, I just couldn’t bring myself to play through the game like that again and started using cheats. I guess time does heal all wounds because I have a renewed interest in playing the game without any help. We’ll see how long it lasts.

I ran across this through the forum at Aeoncube and thought it’d be perfect to mention here. It’s the game Savage, which you can download the FULL, that’s right FULL, version for FREE. Another thing that makes Savage awesome is that it supports Linux! Hooray! Now with my Linux newbie self, hopefully I can figure out just how to install it on Linux.

Savage is an RTS(real time strategy)/first person shooter game. You play Savage online. I’m not a big fan of RTS but will check this one out just to see how it does on Linux.

Five or More is a puzzle game for Linux. You start off with five balls randomly placed on a grid. Each turn you can move one ball in a straight line and as many blocks as you would like to move it over. Then the computer randomly drops three balls onto the playing field. The premise to get five or more in a row. This clears the balls from play.

It’s a fun little puzzle game. It’s hard to keep an eye on the big picture of the whole board since you have a tendency to pay attention to just one spot.

Five or more came bundled with the Debian Linux. Check the package manager if it is not installed on your version of Linux.

A huge plus for The Sims 2 PC version is the versatility that players can have with their Sims. Programs like The Sims 2 Body Shop give users a chance to add personal touches to their Sims by making their own clothes and genetics. This feature is one of the reasons that The Sims has kept its popularity and hasn’t fallen by the wayside. It can be so easy to create custom content for your Sims that I?m going to show you how to create custom hair color.

To use The Sims 2 Body Shop is straightforward. Simply open the program and choose where to build or Sims or create parts. For customization, click create parts. Next click start new project. You will have three choices: create genetics, create facial hair, makeup and glasses, and create clothing. A good easy start is to create genetics. From here click on the hair icon, and choose a color. Click on a Sim and then click export selected textures. Name your project, and click accept project name (checkmark). At the top of the screen will be the path to where the Sims 2 Body shop saved all of the texture files associated with that hair. The next step to customize will be to open your graphics program, open each file and change the hair color to whatever you would like.

I use Paint Shop Pro. The quick and easiest way to change hair color is to create a mask layer with the color you want change the hair color to and change the opacity of the mask layer. Then copy the mask to paste on the other texture files. Then merge all layers, and click save. Do not rename the file as the Sims 2 Body Shop has already created the names of the files. There are several files that will be associated with one hair style so make sure to change all of the appropriate texture files.

You can reopen your saved project in the Sims 2 body shop to check out how it looks before importing it into the game. If you are satisfied, click import to game.

You can also share your Sims with the world by packaging your creations. To do this, close Sim bin to go to first screen of the Sims 2 Body Shop. Select build Sim and package Sims. You can either select package Sim to file or package Sim to the Sims2.com to directly send your Sim to thesims2.com website. Once a package is created you can double click to have the Sim installed into your game.

The Sims 2 Body Shop is a great free program that gives you freedom to really personalize your game playing experience. If you have problems, the program comes with both a tutorial and a manual. Have fun exploring the possibilities for your Sims with The Sims 2 Body Shop.

I have added a more in-depth tutorial on How to make blue hair for your Sims if you would like further information.

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