The Sims 3 World Adventures Preview - Exclusive Details on Create-a-World

The Sims 3 was released earlier this year to much fanfare and acclaim. The third game continued the tradition of letting players create little computer people who led little computer lives as they love, laugh, work, and buy property in the virtual suburbs just outside of SimCity. All versions of The Sims have had a "build mode" editing tool that lets players construct housing and alter terrain. The upcoming World Adventures expansion pack for The Sims 3 will also let players create "adventure" zones with switches and buttons that trigger different events, such as revealing secret passages and treasures. But later this year, the publisher will release a separate new editing tool called "Create-a-World," which will essentially let players build out not only a house, but also an entire neighborhood from scratch.

Create-a-World is intended for serious Sims enthusiasts willing to devote enough time to build entire neighborhoods from scratch. The tool is actually the same one that the development team uses to create the playfields for The Sims 3 and its expansions. Because it's the same tool that the developers use, it can create areas similar to those that appear in the base game and expansions, in four different size levels. (The Sims 3's default neighborhood of Sunset Valley is the largest of the four world sizes.)
Like with the build mode of The Sims 3, you can manipulate terrain by raising it to create mountains or lowering it to create valleys and then "paint" the terrain using either the textures or terrain types available in the editing tools. Or, if you're ambitious enough, you can use image-editing tools, such as Photoshop to create your own JPEG and PNG textures to map onto your custom neighborhoods. Once built, these areas can be exported from the tool and then either imported into your own game install (you can have as many custom neighborhoods in your game as your computer's hard drive space allows) or uploaded to the Exchange community site to share with other users. It's not yet clear what the average file size of a custom neighborhood will be, but EA community representatives assured GameSpot regardless of how big they are, custom neighborhoods will be subject to the same sort of community-plus-EA-oversight content moderation process used for other custom content.
While giving users the ability to create entire lots from scratch will give hardcore fans the ability to create huge new areas to explore, the EA team clarified that the tool will work off of each user's installed games. That is, if you wish to create a community lot using the adventure-based gameplay of The Sims 3 World Adventures, you must own World Adventures and have it installed; the created lot can be used only by players who also own that expansion. In any case, EA states that Create-a-World is not intended to replace the new gameplay features that traditional Sims 3 expansion packs typically introduce, such as the new careers and adventure gameplay in World Adventures. EA plans to continue to work on full expansion packs that not only add new terrain and areas to explore, but will also introduce new gameplay concepts that will be unique to the expansions themselves.
Create-a-World will be a separate utility that will weigh in at about 130MB and be free to download from the official Sims 3 Web site. The tool is planned for release in a beta state this December in all languages--EA plans to support and improve the utility over time as it receives feedback from the fan community.

Source : Gamespot

List of New Release Games 1 - 6 November 2009

NOVEMBER 1, 2009
Rabbids Go Home--WII, DS--Ubisoft
NOVEMBER 2, 2009
My Baby First Steps--WII, DS--SouthPeak Games
Need for Speed: Nitro--WII, DS--EA Games
Playmobil 2 Pack--PC--Dreamcatcher
Style Savvy--DS--Nintendo
Sushi Academy--DS--City Interactive
NOVEMBER 3, 2009
Academy of Champions--WII--Ubisoft
Band Hero--X360, PS3, PS2, WII, DS--Activision
C.O.P. The Recruit--DS--Ubisoft
Diner Dash: Flo on the Go--DS--Zoo Games
Disney's A Christmas Carol--DS--Disney Interactive Studios
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom--WII--Take-Two Interactive
Dora the Explorer: Puppy Playtime--DS--Take-Two Interactive
Dragon Age: Origins--X360, PS3, PC--Electronic Arts
Dream Salon--DS--Zoo Games
Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked--WII--Namco Bandai Games America
Hidden Mysteries: Titanic--WII, DS--Activision Value
Hooked! Again: Real Motion Fishing--WII--Aksys Games
Imagine: Babyz Fashion--DS--Ubisoft
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier--PS2, PSP--SCEA
Jewel Master: Egypt--DS--Storm City Games
Jurassic: The Hunted--X360, PS3, PS2, WII--Activision
Lego Rock Band--X360, PS3, WII, DS--Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration--DS--Take-Two Interactive
Pro Evolution Soccer 2010--X360, PS3--Konami
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron--PSP, DS--LucasArts
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition--X360, PS3, PC--Aspyr
Ultimate Party Challenge--WII--Konami
We Cheer 2--WII--Namco Bandai Games America
Wire Way--DS--Konami
NOVEMBER 4, 2009
Agatha Christie: ABC Murders--DS--DreamCatcher
Yoga for Wii--WII--Dreamcatcher
NOVEMBER 6, 2009
Buck Fever--WII--Destineer
We Wish You a Merry Christmas--WII--Destineer

Source : Gamespot

First of all : Soldering

We will teach you how to solder here :

Whatever it is you are soldering, you should 'tin' both contacts before you attempt to solder them. This coats or fills the wires or connector contacts with solder so you can easily melt them together.

To tin a wire, apply the tip of your iron to the wire for a second or two, then apply the solder to the wire. The solder should flow freely onto the wire and coat it (if it's stranded wire the solder should flow into it, and fill the wire). You may need to snip the end off afterwards, particularly if you have put a little too much solder on and it has formed a little ball at the end of the wire.

Be careful not to overheat the wire, as the insulation will start to melt. On cheaper cable the insulation can 'shrink back' if heated too much, and expose more copper core that you intended. You can cut the wire back after you have tinned it, but it's best simply not to over heat it.

The larger the copper core, the longer it will take to heat up enough to draw the solder in, so use a higher temperature soldering iron for larger cables if you can.

To tin a contact on an audio XLR connector, hold the iron on the outside of the the contact for a second or two, then apply the solder into the cavity of the contact. Once again, the solder should flow freely and fill the contact. Connectors such as jacks have contacts that are just holes in a flat part of the connector. To tin these you put your iron on it, and apply the solder to where the iron is touching. The solder should flow and cover the hole.

Once you have tinned both parts, you are ready to solder them together.

To solder them, you simply need to place your soldering iron onto the contact to melt the solder.

When the solder in the contact melts, slide the wire into the contact.

Remove the iron and hold the wire still while the solder solidifies again.

You will see the solder 'set' as it goes hard.

This should all take around 1-3 seconds.

• A good solder joint will be smooth and shiny.
• If the joint is dull and crinkly, the wire probably moved during soldering.
• If you have taken too long it will have have solder spikes.

If it does not go so well, you may find the insulation has melted, or there is too much stripped wire showing. If this is the case, you should desolder the joint and start again.

Source : http://www.mediacollege.com/misc/solder/