As we all know, the video game industry is big business and is definitely here to stay. But have you ever wondered how all that came to be? Or even thought about a career in this exciting and fast-paced entertainment field? Author Robert Ferrigno over at the Wall Street Journal has a review on \"Fun Inc.,\" a book written by Tom Chatfield. Here is an excerpt:

\"In \'Fun Inc.,\' Tom Chatfield presents an ambitious overview of the videogaming industry, from its beginning in 1972 with the dramatic success of Pong, a game in which the object was simply to hit a \"puck\" from one side of the screen to the other, to today\'s immersive multi-player online games, like World of Warcraft, a sword-and-sorcery adventure. Currently more than 12 million World of Warcraft subscribers pay $10 a month to inhabit a virtual world where they can choose to be any character they want, from mage to warrior to goblin. Last year World of Warcraft had revenues of $1 billion.

Mr. Chatfield, the arts-and-books editor at Britain\'s Prospect magazine, considers videogames to be a rapidly evolving art form. He notes that the industry is now attracting a higher caliber of professional and that technological advances have made all sorts of new designs possible, from vivid in-game cinematics that visually rival their big-screen brethren to the latest game platforms, which use the player\'s body movements to play the game rather than a traditional hand-held controller.\"

You can read more of the review at the Wall Street Journal website.

Are you in the market for a new NVidia graphics card to play The Sims 3 and/or any of its expansions? Before you shell out that hard earned money, be sure to check out the latest word on the street courtesy of HardOCP:

\"Word on the street is that NVIDIA is changing UMAP pricing on the GTX 460 1GB and the GTX 470 for the better, from the consumers perspective anyway. Expect to see some fairly big price drops in the next couple of days that will bring both the cards down to previously unheard of prices.\"

Update: Price drops confirmed! Check out the news announcement at the HardOCP website.

Today I am pleased to present to you a picturesque monastery that functions mainly as a community library for your Sims. This building occupies a 40x40 lot space and consists of a basement and two upper levels. The design concept for this project is one part medieval fantasy and one part historical fiction. The meticulously built community lot can be used as a stage setting for movies and stories, neighborhood decoration, or regular gameplay. And yes, this has also been extensively playtested and is ready to go right out of the box. This lot does not contain any custom content and requires only the base game.

What can your Sims do while at yon monastery?

- Browse through the library archives in a quiet and serene setting with seating for 12
- Roast vittles at the fire pits inside 2 gazebos
- Enjoy free vittles in the dining hall with seating for 24
- Sleep off last night\u2019s party hangover in one of 35 beds
- Survey the surrounding vistas from the ramparts
- Survey the night sky from the ramparts with the aid of 8 telescopes
- Spy on neighbors from the ramparts with the aid of 8 telescopes
- Play tag or other wholesome sports in the spacious and sunlit courtyard
- Sims with thoughts of matrimony can have their church weddings inside the chapel complete with altar, incense candles, and a chalice!
(Note: This community lot has been zoned as a large park for this purpose.)

Installation

To download this lot, it is recommended that you do so via your web browser and to use the \u201CSave File\u201D link. When the file is downloaded, place it in the following location:

Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3\\Downloads

When that is done, run the launcher and go to the Downloads tab. Now install the lot as you normally would.

This building requires a minimum lot space of 40x40 that has been zoned as a community lot. It may also be necessary to use the rotate icons to orient the front of the building to face the road. If you are using the Sunset Valley neighborhood, a good spot would be the 40x40 lot located next to the oceanfront.

Known Issues

The placement of the fire pits inside the gazebos is such that each fire pit can only accommodate 2 Sims at a time. Of course, you can always direct your Sims to reposition the fire pit objects onto more open space to accommodate more sitters as needed. To put the fire pit back inside the gazebo, it will be necessary to use the \u201Cmoveobjects on\u201D console command.

After placing the building down in your neighborhood, it is possible that the terrain paint will shift - this is a known EA bug and is beyond my control. The only solution is to reapply the terrain paint in build mode.

To view more screenshots and download this lot, simply follow this Exchange link:

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=3209237

Comments and feedback can be left in the following thread:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/85201.page

If you like this creation, please use the recommend button and tell your friends all about it. Have fun and enjoy!