EA has uploaded their long awaited Neighborhood creation tool in it's beta form to their site.
http://www.thesims3.com/game/tools/world

The Sims™ 3 Create a World Tool – BETA*
Create your own worlds for The Sims 3

Put the power of world creation into your hands! Create and share unique new worlds that you design with The Sims™ 3 Create a World Tool – BETA. Download for free and step into the shoes of The Sims 3 development team by using the same tools the team uses to create worlds and towns for The Sims 3. Design and build entire worlds for your Sims, or begin your creations with pre-made Sunset Valley or Riverview terrains. Expand your creativity, and share your creations online through The Sims 3 Exchange.

Be warned! It forces you to patch your game to the newest patch to use it:

Game Update for: 1.8/2.3
POSTED ON 12/15/09
http://www.thesims3.com/game/patches/516943451

Hey guys. I was commenting on a post earlier, and in it I said that my favorite "type" of name for girls is "long, feminine sounding, a bit unique without being too strange"
That is the best way I can describe the type of names I gravitate towards. What names do you guys think fit that description?
for example my number one girl name is Valentina.
I also like Adelaide, Constantina and Victoria.

I have a Sim with an epic lifespan, because I'm using her to test all the new expansion pack stuff. If she has a child, I assume it'll have an epic life span, too...Is there any way to set different Sims in the same household with different life lengths? If not, can I have different lengths set on different saves? Maybe I can move the kid out eventually and have a neighborhood with them.

Thanks!

Warnings: May contain language, nudity, violent twins, and the skilling hat.

( LOVE ME GODDAMMIT! )
Backtrack:
1.0, 1.1, 1.2
2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
5.0, 5.1, 5.2

I haven't bought the World Adventures expansion pack, but I did upgrade the game with the corresponding pack. The reason for this was, ironically, that AwesomeMod expires every few days and the current version requires the patch to be installed. But the patch killed off IndieStone story progression. Probably something about the phone menu, which was the one used to activate and regulate the mod. In any case, it was stone dead, no pun intended.

( AwesomeStory vs NRaas! Verbosity under cut )

So, what about you folks? How are your neighborhoods progressing?

Hi, I'm having a major problem with my game!

I'm playing the Sims 2 Pets on a three-year-old Compaq Presario that has never, ever had any difficulties before. I haven't used the game for about three months (I was away at uni, and left my game at home for obvious reasons!!) and I tried to play today.

It loads fine (faster than usual, I swear!!) and everything seems to run fine - until I try and click on a sim. The 'action menu' appears for a split second and then disappears, as if I was clicking twice!
I have no custom content so that shouldn't be causing a problem.

I've checked out my touchpad, and it doesn't seem to have any funky settings...
Can anyone help me out?