Sims 3

Just bought the Sims 3 - It is the first mainstream release game that really works on my MacBook. Whilst The Sims Life Stories worked well on it, it was designed to be Mac laptop friendly, and as a result it was a cut down version of The Sims, working on virtually all Mac’s. However Sims 3 is the first game from EA that has been designed to work on all Mac’s with a recent nVidia / ATI graphics card (one that appears in the new MacBook. MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and it will also work on an Intel X3100 graphics card, the one inside my MacBook. What’s good about Sims 3 is that the game is supplied on DVD-ROM and the same DVD-ROM will work in a PC, and as far as I am aware Sims 3 is the first cross platform release for Mac and PC that comes on the same DVD - It was great to be able to purchase a copy in Game, rather than the Apple Store, as it was cheaper, and earn reward points on my Game Reward Card.

Whilst the game may not look as good as some games, Sims 3 does not really need the latest ground breaking graphics as it a game that is designed around the gameplay. On my Mac the game runs with the lowest graphics settings, but still looks good and runs well.

It’s Great to see when playing, that the neighbourhood is now integrated together, so you can have your Sims living either in the middle of the neighbourhood, near the shops and leisure facilities, or on the edge of town. You can also redesigned the neighbourhood and re-designate lots as residential or community. Whats good about this feature is unlike previous versions of the game, if you take a sim to a community lot, time no longer stands still and others sims continue their life as normal.

All in all Sims 3 is a great game, and I hope that some great expansion packs appear, to make the game even better!

Marcia Barrett

Great to see Marcia Barrett still going strong in the music world. This YouTube video is her performance of Rivers of Babylon on German TV, with her Boney M. lineup.

This year she has released 2 singles - Seeing is Believing and I Don’t Know Why. Both of these singles are fantastic, and its really good to see Marcia Barrett trying to make a go of being a solo artist. I for one am looking forward to hearing her new album when it comes out.

Here’s to a great future for Marcia.

Termiate The Rate

Just found an interesting site on the internet - http://www.terminatetherate.org/ - a campaign to reduce the cost of calling a mobile phone in the UK from a landline, or to a mobile on another network, by reducing the "Mobile Termination Rate". This rate is a per minute charge, averaging 4.7p that you pay everytime you call a mobile phone from a landline, or call a mobile phone on another network. It seems serveral companies including 3, BT, MoneySupermarket.com and others are backing this campaign to reduce the cost of "Mobile Termination Rates". It would be great if they are sucessful in getting Ofcom to look at getting the rates reduced, so that calling mobiles becomes cheaper.

ovi.com

Been using a new service with my new mobile called ovi.com. This is is a new service from Nokia for synchronising your phones calendar and contacts with ovi.com on the internet, as well as a place to share files, download free and paid for applications for your phone etc. Also if you want it you can get an @ovi.com e-mail address.

It’s nice to see that Nokia has developed this service for their phones, as it is a great addition. However, having used the service for a while, I have noticed that there is one thing missing, that would make it even better, and that is the ability to sync from ovi.com on the internet, via iSync to Address Book and iCal on a Mac, as this would then make it even easier to keep all your information accessible, and in sync whether you are on your phone, home computer, or looking at Ovi.com on another computer, and if you could schedule the phone to sync your data at regular intervals, and get your computer to do the same, then you have a MobileMe like software tool for Nokia phones.

Kudos to Nokia for creating this service, I think will become a useful enhancement to Nokia mobile phones, now and in the future, especially this with 3G and or Wireless Networking built in. Maybe this will spur Apple to make MobileMe available to more than just the iPhone / iPod Touch.

Nokia E63 & MobileMe Ponderings

I have just purchased a new mobile phone, a Noika E63. This is a great smartphone, with standard mobile phone functions, as well as some funky features including WiFi, Qwerty keyboard, internet access, media player and a whole lot more.

It’s great being able to synchronise my data with my Mac via bluetooth, but while doing this I was thinking it would be great to be able to sync the phone withe my MobileMe account, without having to go via my Mac. I think Apple are missing a trick here, as being able to sync any mobile phone, that has calendar and contact facilities with MobileMe would be a good thing, however I suspect Apple have thought about this and decided not to do it, thus encouraging people to get an iPhone to use the MobileMe sync service. Thankfully Nokia have a service called Ovi, which is at http://www.ovi.com and does the same sort of thing with MobileMe, offering over the air sycnchronising of calendar and contact data with compatible Nokia phones, either via Wifi or mobile internet connection, as well as offering photo sharing, file storage and a free e-mail address.

I hope that in time Apple will add synchronising with other mobile devices to MobileMe so that those of us who don’t have an iPhone can still benefit from MobileMe on our smartphones.