Archives for posts with tag: App Store

The update doesn’t seem to have fixed the glitch affecting many of the joint tasks – and that means that the level 29 task for Agnes and Comic Book Guy to go on a date is also affected. I’ll, tell you what you can do for this particular task in a moment because it’s relatively easy to deal with, but first a recap…

The glitch was first noticed right back at the beginning of Whacking Day, and you can see a post on that here. It became a bit more frustrating when the Rich Texan couldn’t stay on his mechanical bull (as the task is so long and he’s a premium character) and appeared again with Legs and Louie’s level 28 task to interrogate a squealer. You can read about the tasks affected by this glitch here, where you can also see a video that Mike made illustrating the problem, which I’m reposting below:

It seems that joint tasks are likely to be interrupted by a few things – building, decorating and cracking eggs are the main culprits, although snake whacking can sometimes cause the task to stop as well. And it seems that some tasks involving props, like the Rick Texan and his mechanical bull and some of the performances on the Open Air Stage, are affected in the same way.

The easy solution where the task is short, like Agnes and Comic Book Guy’s date, is to make setting up the task the last thing you do before you exit the game, and then to go and do something else for the two hours it takes to complete. When you return to your game, it should have finished normally. You could always spend donuts to speed over the task, I suppose, but this way is just a little easier and doesn’t require any expense.

Hopefully, this will all be resolved with the App Store/Google Play update we should get once Whacking Day is finally over.

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In the last few hours or so, some players seem to have received an app update through their app store. The strange thing about this particular update is that some players seems to have received it and others haven’t – including me. Players who received the update are reporting a version 4.2.3 – on the information page of my game, I’m still showing 4.2.1, with no update registering as available for my game in the App store. As updates happen globally at pretty much the same time, this is a bit odd.

You may have received the update if your game has still been a bit glitchy. I know that some players lost the Whacking Day icon and splash screen with the update earlier in the week, and this may be the reason why some people received an update and others didn’t. I’ve had no problems with my game at all since the update earlier in the week, so perhaps the update has been designed to target those with problems of this kind. I haven’t heard of an update to the game doing this before – but it’s the only thing I can suggest.

It’s unusual for an app update to be this selective – but it’s the second time that’s happened this week. To those of you who received the update, have you noticed any changes to your game?

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There’s now an update for the game for players on Apple devices and, like the one earlier in the day for Android Players, it’s not an in-game update. You’ll need to download it from the App store.

As usual, there’s no information from EA on what the update actually does – but hopefully it fixes some of the numerous bugs and glitches we’ve all been experiencing. Let us all know here if you see any improvements in play.

Update: It seems there was a second App Store update (and I was prompted to update again) – perhaps to fix some errors in the way the first one was deployed (including reverting to the non-Whacking Day icon and spash screen). Despite a comment, below the version number showing in the App Store is 4.2.1.

It’s worth reading the comments below, though – everyone is reporting a different experience, which makes a very weird update, indeed.

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A number of players who have recently updated are getting a message when they try to visit friends that their friend has newer content and that they they need to update. This is a really misleading message in many cases (particularly for readers of this blog) – you’ll see this if you haven’t updated yet and your friend has and it will also appear when you’ve updated and your friend hasn’t (or, for that matter, if you both haven’t).

It looks like EA haare now moving towards what’s called a “forced update” – where players who haven’t update to the Whacking Day version of the game have no choice but to so so. It usually happens within a few days of a major update, and it will be your true indication over the next day or so as to which of your friends play the game regularly and which don’t.

Note: Don’t be in too much of a hurry to delete people, though. As I’ve said in other posts, it can take up to 3 days for everything to work it’s way through the server – and that includes sychronizing updated version of the game as well as adding friends.

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Download it now from the App Store and Google Play. (Note: The Google Play update arrived a couple of hours later!)

Here’s the App description:

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And here’s the new splash screen:

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In the past, I would have said to look for an update on Thursday afternoon US Central time (around 2 or 3 pm) – however, EA have been playing around with the timing lately, so any time in the morning is just as possible. The short answer is – any time really. Just as well I’m working from home that day. (For players outside the US, we’re talking Thursday US time here – the update happens simultaneously all over the world.)

As to what kind of an update it will be – my guess is that it won’t be an in-game update. Halloween, Christmas and Valentines were all App Store updates – and if the “something bigger” is what I think it is, my guess is that this update will come through the App Store/Google Play as well.

And, for the people who’ve asked, I really think it will be genuinely bigger – an event that lasts for several weeks, rather than something that’s over in 3 days (and quite possibly the Whacking Day event, but that hasn’t been confirmed by EA). I’m keeping my fingers crossed, though.

Note: for confirmation that the Valentines update was an App Store update, see here.

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As some of you have seen, there are rumors around about a very big Whacking Day update for the game scheduled to begin sometime next month.

I’ve been hearing these rumors for a while, and I know that EA had planned a Whacking Day event for last year until they had to withdraw the game from the App store to work on its stability. That’s why there’s been a long-standing reference to a Ninja Homer in the game’s raw files. At this stage, however, the rumors are just that – rumors. There are quite a few things in the files that haven’t happened in the game and may or may not happen in the future.

At this stage there is no confirmation and there are no images that can be pulled from the files (Simpsonswiki qualifies its information by saying that they could be a mix of rumor and fact – however, the original source for the information is usually reliable). Based on the rumors, though, the event seems much bigger than I would expects – bigger, in fact, than Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s day put together.

But there are four things that are important to know:
- the big events happen every couple of months and we are due for one in April;
- Whacking Day (May 10) is an important enough Springfield event to celebrate in the game and, like Halloween, the celebrations could begin about about a month before;
- when it comes, it will be an App store / Google Play update, as the splash screen will need to change; and
- the friend dimension that’s been suggested could well mean that Android players get Origin in time for both the update and the Samsung Galaxy 4 release.

Does that mean there won’t be anything for Easter? We’ll just have to wait and see what happens this week.

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Running a little behind the update, the App Store and the Google Play descriptions have finally been updated to reflect the release of level 27. Here’s what you should be seeing now:

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A new update is now available for download from the App Store (although it’s unclear at this stage whether there is anything new in Google Play).

St. Patrick’s Day is still mentioned in the game information, though – and Springfield’s rivers are still green. In fact nothing appears to have changed yet except the version number of the App, which is now 4.1.50 (the Google Play version is 4.1.3 and the St. Patrick’s Day information is also still showing there).

There’s nothing in the App description to describe what it’s all about – but that doesn’t mean nothing’s changed. It could be a bug fix – although there’s conflicting information coming in on whether it’s done anything for players who have the infamous harp of death).

Or it could simply be that something’s on the way…

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With two limited time premium items only with us for another couple of days, this news report from a couple of days ago is a timely reminder to parents that there are a couple of steps you need to take to make sure that your kids aren’t spending your hard-earned cash on donuts.

Widely reported last week was the case of an 8-year old boy from Belfast who clearly wanted his Springfield citizens to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in style. In the process, though, he gave his parents a nasty surprise by spending £980 (approx. $1500) on donuts. Fortunately for the parents, Apple gave a full refund, which they were under no obligation to do.

This article from the UK’s Guardian newspaper sets out step-by-step what protections parents should set up on their kids’ devices to make sure that this never happens to them. Maybe you’ve already done everything the article suggests – but if you haven’t, it’s certainly worth a look:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2013/mar/13/stop-children-spending-money-in-ipad-games

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As anyone who plays several times a day will already know, EA released a game update a short time ago through the App Store and Google Play. For the moment, absolutely nothing has changed in the game and, for the moment, EA are keeping quiet about what the update might or might not contain. So, when can we expect any of the changes that may be lurking in the update files to materialize?

Based on recent experience, Thursday or Friday afternoon US Central time seem to see something new happen, so I’ll be making sure I check in then (or as close to it as I can, given that I’ll be traveling again). But exactly what we’ll be checking for remains a question that we’re all asking. Here’s some of the speculation:

- level 27
- a new Gil deal
- a new episode promotion
- an Easter event (with the update released early to avoid the Valentine’s update issues)
- some new premium and regular characters and items to tide us over until a Whacking Day event, which may or may not be scheduled for April
- just some bug fixes (although it’s clear that it doesn’t include a total harp fix)

Anything I missed? Feel free to join in the speculation – but I’m pretty sure that something’s on the way soon.

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A new game update is available. It’s not an in-game update – it’s an App Store download. That makes it a bit unusual so soon after last week’s update.

What it does, though, is still a mystery. The version information on the app (this is version 4.1.40, by the way) doesn’t say anything helpful, and the app description remains unchanged. There’s no new information on the official Facebook page, and no one on any of the forums of message boards seems to know what it’s for.

This may be a bug fix update – or something may be sitting on your device waiting to unlock on a certain day. At I find out anything, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, if you haven’t downloaded the update, go to the App Store now. (And according to Markus, commenting below, the update is also available for Android and, like the Apple version, appears to make no changes to the game).

P.S. It may be that the update contains something that will only be unlocked at the right time – after all, for Apple players, that’s what happened with Ralph and level 26.

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A game update is available in the App Store today to remove the Valentine’s Day event. There no Level 27 yet, but EA have given us another of those free gifts they sometimes give to promote upcoming episodes (Fat Tony, the Cool Brown House, and the Duff Racer have been other gifts this season).

Because Sunday’s episode in the US features Grampa as a bad-boy wrestling star in the 50s, we get Gorgeous Grampa. This isn’t a new character as such – it’s a new costume and new tasks for Grampa (and $100 and an XP bonus just for adding him). And if you don’t have Grampa in your game yet, you’ll be able to find the costume in your inventory, where it will stay until you unlock him.

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You can switch costumes easily by clicking on Grampa and swiping, as you can see here:

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As well as giving you a choice for how you want Grampa to look, there’s a Gorgeous Grampa billboard available in the premium store for 40 donuts. This gives you a 2% bonus on your cash and XP collections.

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But that’s not all – the Scratch game is still there. But there’s a new twist. More on that in the next post…

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Here’s the official information with a couple of bits I’ve added:

The Simpsons: Tapped Out game for iOS has received a Valentine’s Day themed update that brings new buildings, characters, decorations, quests, and more.

What’s New In This Version:
Love has come to Springfield! Send Valentines to your friends and collect Hearts to add a romantic atmosphere to your Springfield with limited time decorations. We’ve got new limited-time characters, quests, and more – check it out…

• New Buildings – Pick up some love handles a la mode at Phineas Q. Butterfat’s, capitalize on insecure relationships at Howard’s Flowers, and even lose some golf balls at Sir Putt-A-Lots.
• New Characters – Send Shauna around searching for young love (she’s a premium character and costs 90 donuts, though), get Homer and Marge to snuggle in the Golf Castle, and send Valentines with Lisa.
• New Decorations – Sweeten up your Springfield with rose bushes, cherub topiaries, and the “I Choo-Choo-Choose You Train.”
• New Quests – Join Bart on his quest for love. Will Bart and Shauna enjoy a blossoming romance, or will Bart be left sulking in his room?
• New Event – Visit your friends’ towns, send Valentine’s Day cards, and generate limited-time Heart currency.
• No snow! – Spring has certainly come to Springfield!

You can download The Simpsons: Tapped Out Valentine’s Day update from the App Store for free.

And remember, it all ends on February 28.

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This is a big update and that means that, like the Christmas one, it’s only available from the App Store.

So, go there, download the update, then open your game. Make sure you have a good wifi or 3G/4G connection as there will be more to download when you do.

Then, you’re ready to begin sending and collecting hearts.

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First, this doesn’t mean that your friend has level 26. As of January 2013 this is not yet available, although there may be be something new in February (check here and on the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TheSimpsonsTappedOut for news of this). It may mean that you or your friend may not have downloaded the latest version of the game from the App Store.

While smaller updates are released in game (the “downloading update” message you get when you are logging in), the really big updates are released only through the App Store. Check that you both of have the most up to date version because you sometimes get this message when you have updated but your friend has not.

Last year, people also got this message if they lived in different countries. EA originally released different versions for different parts of the world to support different languages. While EA has been working in linking up different versions, there may still be versions that don’t support sharing with each other internationally yet. Of course, this is unlikely to be the problem if you are adding people you know in th real world, but it may still be a problem when you are adding people from the Forums or Facebook. EA has been working on the problem.

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