The Sims 2: Apartment Life

The Sims 2: Apartment Life is the eight and widely rumored of being the last expansion pack for The Sims 2. It will be released in August 24th 2008. It's notable that apartments, despite the name, won't be the biggest asset of the game.

Belladonna Cove
Belladonna Cove will be the sub-neighborhood added. It is named after Bella Goth, and will contain apartment lots.

Apartment Lots
"Apartments" are a new type of lot for Sims to reside. It's notable that apartment lots DON'T have to be apartment buildings, but just need up to four different sections with a special door separating them. These lots aren't unlike hotels in Bon Voyage or dormitories in University.

Every Monday, rent must be paid, either via mailbox, or collected by the landlord (see below).

Roommates
Sims may advertise for a roommate to help with the rent. Once accepted, the roommate (a random NPC) will move in. They won't be controllable, but instead have a "Satisfaction Meter", which tells players how satisfied they are with the apartment.

Neighbors
Up to four families can live on one apartment lot. If no playable family moves into spare apartments, then NPC's will move in.

Neighbors may become very noisy, so a new interaction, "Bang Wall", will be added.

Landlords
The Landlord is a new NPC. Landlords will repair and clean up apartments and collect rent. Sims may complain about noisy neighbors to the landlord.

Reputation
Sims now have "reputations". The nicer a Sim is to others, the higher their reputation goes (and vice versa). The higher their reputation, the bigger the bonuses to other relationships with Sims. Having a low reputation may increase rent for apartment-owners.

Witches
The Life state added in Apartment Life is a witch. Witches can be male or female, and are divided into five groups: Infallibly Good, Good, Neutral, Evil and Atrociously Evil. These groups are determined by the Witch's "alignment". The differences between these alignments include appearance, types of spells cast and items created, and title.

Building and Furniture
Building is greatly improved.

New features include:
 * Ceilings, which can be customized exactly like floors
 * Vents (and floor heaters), which can moderate the temperature of any room
 * Spiral staircases
 * Decorative objects, such as pipes, cornice (skirting-like features that go on top of walls)
 * Closets, coming in "male" and "female" varieties

More additions to current objects, like doors and windows, will also be made.