The Sims prepare for a sociable future

In an interview with the Times Online, Nancy Smith, head of EA’s Sims Division, has admitted that the monster PC franchise could become a multiplayer game.
She told the Times Online that EA “would continue to invest in more and more robust community features” for the Sims. She said that an online element to The Sims “could be of interest”, EA “would definitely think about it”, and “we’re constantly exploring new kinds of content and experiences”.
Smith maintained that The Sims would continue to be sold traditionally, as a boxed game, although EA would explore micropayments as a new revenue stream. Apparently, you will soon be able to buy Ikea furniture and H&M clothing for your virtual pet people.

The sims Carnival

Check out http://www.TheSimsCarnival.com
Create original games from scratch or personalize any existing game in the website (Open Source style!). No programming skills required. It is completely free and totally awesome!
This creativity tool is developed by the same people who created The Sims, MySims and SimCity.

Sims 3 new photos and info.

Ea has posted some photos of sims 3. Here is a fan made movie with the those photos:

Nancy Smith, President, The Sims Label speaks about one of the most successful games of all time. Here is the entyre interview.

Here are some of the features in Sims 3:

Neighborhood:
– Seamless Nhood: Your Sim can visit neighbors, parks and shops without a loading screen.
– All the neighboring Sims will live their life and age simultaniously as your Sim (They’ll get married, get jobs,etc).
– The game will ship with 1 Neighborhood.
– That Nhood will consist of about 97 different lots.
– When the game is out, you can download towns, made by other people.
– All buildings in the Nhood can be interacted with, so no prop buildings.
– Confirmed community places are: Pool, Park, Bistro, Clothing store, City Hall and Bookstore.
– The Nhood can expand by users and/or by expansionpacks.
– You can zoom out to see the whole Nhood at once or zoom in to a single Sim.

Sims:
– Personality sliders are reduced from 8 to 3, one being a Fun to Stress meter. Bladder, Hygiene, etc. are still there but hidden.
– Sims 3 have Traits. Choose 5 from around 80 types like Dreamer, Evil, Playful, etc. These Traits will affect how a Sim behaves towards others and affects their moods, like the mood of an Outdoorsperson will raise when he/she is outside. An evil Sim may slap another Sim.
– Traits could be passed down, and actions a Sim does during her pregnancy will affect the traits of her offspring.
– Moodlets instead of a moodbar. If something happens like a marriage, the Sim gets a moodlet. These moodlets will affect your Sims’ mood and give abilities like learning faster. An example: Getting fired will get you a long lasting, big impact moodlet, while going to a small party will get them a short, non-dramatic moodlet.
– They will look after themselves better.
– Sims have certain skills like cooking or fishing.
– You can fulfil needs by simply clicking on an icon.
– Instead of fixed interaction (like Talk or Joke), the options are filtered on your current Mood or your Traits.
– Sims can aquire Dreams. Like if your Sim sees that a Neigbor has a big tv, your Sim can get a Dream to want one too. You decide then, to turn it into a Promise. Ignoring a Dream is ok, but ignoring a Promise gives you negative repercussions.

Careers/Jobs:
– You can follow your Sim in its car to work. You won’t see your Sim working though; He/She will disapear in the building.
– Advancing in career is changed as it depends on skills, personality, relationship with colleagues/boss and even certain goals that has to be fulfilled. For example taking work home.
– 2 Confirmed careers are Cooking and Science.
– Sims can take part-time jobs.

CAS:
– Body can be shaped as faces were in Sims 2.
– There are sliders for weight and fitness.
– Arm and legs are seperate so you can have a fat body and thin arms.
– Sims you created fat, can become thin by exersizing, thin created people get fat by eating a lot.
– You can choose specific Asian and African models.
– You can choose a Sims’ favorite color, music type, food, etc.
– Shoes are seperate and can also choose barefoot.
– Clothes are customizable from CAS; Change the color of a certain piece of clothes or use your own patterns.

Misc:- Sims can cook and fish. Buy groceries or grow the food yourself.
– The game has been made so that will also run smoothly on older PC’s.
– Clothes, furniture and homes can be customized.
– You can use your own patterns/colours and then apply it to anything through a drag-and-drop interface.
– The game will have modding tools built into it.
– There’s no online multiplayer
– You can pick up items (garbage, books,etc) yourself with a Hand cursor.
– Wind will move the trees.
– Paintings that a Sim makes, will be unique to each Sim. It’s based on its personality and mood.

Things that will not change:
– Sims still talk in Simlish
– Sims can still pee their pants, die of hunger, etc.
– Confirmed ages: Baby, Children, Adult, Elder.
– There are still thought bubbles that tell which needs must be fulfilled like Hunger. These bubbles show in the control panel though and not hover over the Sims’ head.
– Sims still have an inventory system to put things in like groceries.
– There will be expansions (duh).
– There are still same-sex couples and they can still adopt children.
– You can still design, build, and furnish a home.

Sims – 100 000 000 sold.

The Sims celebrates 100 million sold in 22 languages and 60 countries around the world! The first game from The Sims was sold just about eight years ago and has gone on to become the best-selling PC game franchise of all time, and inspired millions of players to create and customize the lives, surroundings and experiences for their Sims. So, thanks A Million—times 100— to players of The Sims everywhere for your creativity, loyalty, passion, and feedback! Sims players from around the world have created an experience that millions of people love and enjoy. Unleash YOUR creativity with The Sims!
http://thesims2.ea.com/

Sims 3 updates

An EA spokesman said: “EA knows that fans of the Sims just can’t get enough of the franchise” .”As a company we are always exploring new ideas for how we can bring more great Sims games to these gamers, but until EA announces that a new Sims game is in the works, any speculation would be premature.”

Though EA may not be ready to talk about a Sims 3 at this point — after all, The Sims 2 is still in the prime of life — we have little reason to doubt a third title is in the works. Of course, the design work that the above companies would contribute usually comes early in the development process, meaning The Sims 3, if it’s in the works, is likely still years away.
We’ll get to see the Sims 3 probably by 2009 so everybody who has been talking about a sims 3 being released in 2008 was lying.