Sorry if this has been posted before - I can't see any threads relating to it at the moment.

The official Sims 2 website is shutting down.
There's an announcement on the website and it also states on the EA website it will be closing

http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates
http://thesims2.ea.com/

This sucks.
Also it seems I can't get onto the forum right now.

I can't get in at all right now, unfortunately. I saved my story uploads years ago, but I'd like to grab a few posts from my blog that I never got around to copying to a doc.

I can't say I'm particularly sad to see it go, other than for the sake of nostalgia. Otherwise, it has been nearly dead there for a very long time now.

Yeah, I can't log in either, which kind of makes me sad because there was one lot I had downloaded from the Exchange before I discovered the wide world of TS2 cc sites that has a bit of nostalgic value for me because it set me off on downloading lots, which in turn introduced me to all the cc available. I would like to find that lot and save it in my messy archive of TS2 cc.

My real concern, though, is whether EA will be hosting the patches anywhere else. I just reinstalled TS2 on my new Christmas laptop this week (yes, it's early. Don't judge me!!) and I do have the patches archived, but my AL patch was corrupted and I had to re-download.

Judging by how new the other games whose pages are being shut down at similar times, I can't say I'm surprised. I can see EA's point - if the visitors aren't going to the official site, it is difficult to justify keeping the official page open. Thankfully Sims 2 has the benefit of a very strong "off-site" fan community who will keep each other's excitement high.

It would be nice if there was a safe place for the patches though. I can see quite a lot of people needing them for reinstalls on new computers and, perhaps, for some new players as well.

Would MTS be interested in hosting the patches? That would be great! *wink wink, nudge nudge*

Agree with you Mangaroo that is my concern as well, will we still be able to get the patches we all will need for our Sims 2 game? I have save all my patches, but I am wondering if by some chance we should have to installed our game again will the message while installing still popup that it is checking for patches updates and then do so if needed for that Ep or more.

I wonder if this is another way for EA to try to make consumers or Sims 2 fans upgrade to Sims 3, If so they can count me out. Oh well if it is not one thing it is another.

Actually the site there hasn't functioned right (as in even allowing logons) in weeks. This does suck, even though there hasn't been anything good there in a very long time. Only way I'm playing Sims 3 is ON Sims 2 (ie how you can with FT.)

ETA they even shut down the fb page - it goes to stupid sims 3 now.

I'm hurt by this:

"The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired. But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level -- fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles -- where it’s no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games."

Yeah MMAA that's pretty low of them. I hate to tell them but probably more people prefer TS2 over TS3. I'm concerned about Homecrafter as well.

Still can't login there, and my name/pw is posted automatically via Norton. I also wasn't able to register any of the EPs or SPs I added (all since late SEP.) Also, with all the games EA has out, isn't 1% of the players across all titles pretty huge?

Since EA has proven many times that they are money grubbers, they are probably trying to get players to stop playing Sims 2 and switch to Sims 3 so they can get the money from the EPs, SPs and Store Items.

I'm also concerned about the Sims 2 patches. I have them on my hard drive but if something happened to my computer where would I get fresh copies of the Sims 2 patches?

I've logged in about a week ago, I'm SO SAD to see this go away, because a lot of meshes I need are only available through there. Somebody should archive it and host the Exchange on their own servers . . . if only, eh?

I still can't login there. And of course it's been YEARS since people with any EPs could even upload there. Only thing I liked was there were some clothes you couldn't get elsewhere and (once it wasn't modded) there were sims that didn't have barbie skins.

I think they're making a really big mistake. Sims 2, with all its flaws and quirks, is better than Sims 3. Sims 3 doesn't have those adorable cutscenes for things like alien births or toddler birthdays.

BTW, with the patches, I'd recommend downloading all the patches that you can, whether you need them or not, and host them on a website or in some other way. Patches are free, even if the games aren't.

They say we have until the 14th to grab stuff, but it's a bit hard when most of the site isn't working now. I'm trying to grab a few tutorials I use, on slidefy. I grabbed my own stories last year with that. http://wtsims.livejournal.com/46078.html for those that might not know about this method of saving Exchange stories.

Yeah. Like right when Sims 3 came out. They disabled the majority of features that drew people to the site and then use that for justification to shut it down. Very convenient.

Yeah, sims 3 does not look like a game I would like at all. It's pretty much a Sims game for people who don't like SIms games. Oh, btw as to the Facebook page, it actually redirects you to the SPANISH Sims 3 page!

Yeah, we'll host the patches. And homecrafter (probably) .

I miss uploading content to the site. I could upload Sims, lots, and stories once upon a time. Now, it's gone now, so the Exchange feature that is in everything's game is probably defunct.

I haven't uploaded there since sometime in 2009 I think. I never quite got why people kept trying to upload after the huge shut down as it was obvious at that point that EA didn't care for the place and that it would be going. If they had cared it wouldn't have been down for as long as it was. I got an LJ and Box account and didn't bother trying to upload there again. Also downloading stuff from there gave us files like this g8tjg946fjgkh98ik which would be dumped into Downloads with no clue as to what it was and there were heaps of lots there with sims and hacks just waiting to wreck your game. So it wasn't a good place to download cc from either. What is bad is they are dumping peoples stories, some of which are really good. They could have made some kind of archive for those. But no that wouldn't be EA's style would it, to actually think about their customers.

My last legacy update to the exchange was on the 29th of April 2009. Looking at it I can't believe how small the pictures were. Fond memories. Goodbye exchange.

YAY! Thaaaaank yoooooouuuu!

If not I'm sure MATY would.

This is sad, the Sims 2 site was the first place where I ever joined an online community. I learned about downloading, and chatting with people about the same interest. I also learned about MTS, and never posted anything until this past Summer. So, I'm glad I've had the time to get to know this site better, and become familar with new Simmers. I saved the patches for all the ep's a long time ago, and I didn't have any uploads, except for my one glitch picture of a Nanny trying to empty the potty, while a teen was standing there, with his toddler brother on his back-the glitch part!

Over the years there, I got used to the more known Sim players, as they came and went. So, unless some of you that were on the Sims 2 site, are here under another name, I will miss them. Waves at Darby!

I'll miss the chats about upcoming EP's. But, since I never went on to Sims 3, I kind of got used to being in the dark!

So, as long as I have some place to go, to talk, ask questions, and share things, with a hobby that we all have in common. Then I guess my time at MTS is permanent, for as long as I keep playing Sim games, and for however long Delphy, that doesn't sound right?! Keeps the site going!

RIP Sims 2 Site.

I can't say I actually used the site all that much anymore but I still feel sad at this news; feels like the end of an era.

I knew this was happening, I haven't been able to access any page besides the home page for about a month now. Sad to see it go.