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On May 4th, 40 fans of The Sims were invited to two events (one in Manchester, the other in London) and got the chance to play The Sims 3 for 2 hours. The game starts with the option of selecting which neighbourhood you wish to play. The version I was playing only had Sunset Valley, but when the game launches, a second neighbourhood, Riverview, will be available for download. Selecting a neighbourhood takes you to a brief loading screen, perhaps the same length as a typical neighbourhood loading in The Sims 2. Upon entering a neighbourhood, you are greeted by a scenic fly-through of the town and surrounding areas. Once finished, you have 3 options available to you; Create-A-Sim, Enter a Household, and Edit Town (if I remember correctly; I was too excited at this point  ). It only takes a few seconds to load each option, after which you're pretty much set to go.

I first went into Create-A-Sim and made myself a quick character. Let me first of all say that there is literally an infinite amount of unique Sims that you can make. Each part of the face has more sliders than that of The Sims 2, and added with the Create-A-Style tools and traits; you're on your way to spending hours upon hours making the perfect Sim. I created a basic Sim without worrying too much about detail, but for those wondering how many types of clothes there are, you're looking at around the same as The Sims 2. But as the Create-A-Style tool allows you to go into so much depth, you can multiply that number by thousands.

The Create-A-Style tool offers you around 10-15 different types of patterns, such as rocky, abstract and fabric, but within those you have around 20 different styles. These styles can then be edited by selecting an individual colour for each part of the design. The colours you can pick from are infinite as it uses a colour palette similar to that in programs such as Photoshop. These patterns can then be saved and transferred to each piece of clothing, object and building element allowing you to go crazy with different styled themes. Because of the immense depth, you're looking at around 200-300 standalone patterns, but more taking into account the ways you can edit them.

After I had created my Sim, I edited his personality. I picked a variety of traits such as Slob, Computer Whizz and Lucky and each presented me with an animation based off that trait (such as winning a coin toss for the Lucky trait). After selecting these traits you can pick a Lifetime Wish. These change depending on the traits you choose and are similar to Lifetime Wants in The Sims 2. You can also select your favourite colour, food and music which will influence gameplay in some way or another. I was now set to move my Sim into the neighbourhood.

Moving into a household is pretty similar to The Sims 2. You can pick either an empty lot or an already built house. Each lot has an icon above it which you use to select and upon doing so you are presented with a popup giving you further information about that lot. I purchased a pretty standard sized empty lot for $3,500. Entering the lot is extremely quick compared to past games in the series. You are essentially ready to go within seconds. There are no special event cameras in this game, so don't expect the same taxi scene from The Sims 2. Instead the camera zooms down from the neighbourhood view into the lot. Building as you can expect is fairly similar to The Sims 2 but with the added features such as the auto-roof (handy for those who always forget about the roof, i.e. me), wall drag (moves the appropriate objects and walls to make it easier when making adjustments to your house) and free placement of certain objects such as trees. Buy mode is also fairly similar to TS2 but again you can use the free placement tool to place and rotate objects wherever you wish to. There are also quarter tiles if you want slightly more precise placement than in TS2, but don't feel like using the free placement option.

As time was limited, I didn't spend a lot of time building a house (in fact I ended up placing a bed inside the open plan living room/kitchen). So I quickly threw some objects inside and started to explore the new seamless neighbourhood. First of all I wanted to visit the town's park, so I selected the park from the Map View. The Map View can be entered by clicking on a button on the User Interface (UI) or by zooming out and clicking on the magnifying glass icon that appears. Here you can filter out different types of lots and easily zoom to different locations. Visiting a location is as easy as clicking on the appropriate icon above or by zooming in and clicking on the ground. It's also easy to see where your Sims' are as they have an icon on the map as well.

My Sim automatically got inside a taxi when approaching the road and the free ride took me to the park pretty quickly. Once I was there, I noticed just how realistic this game is compared to other games in the series. I saw Sims sitting on a park bench reading the newspaper, other Sims sitting on the side of the fountain reading a book, two Sims playing catch and a bunch of others playing Chess. It really does feel a lot more alive. Whilst there, I spotted Bella playing on the swings and Mrs Crumplebottom enjoying the afternoon sunshine on a bench, so that was pretty fun. Wanting to speak to someone to check the new conversation options, I looked around for some interesting Sims to talk to. I found a Policeman reading the newspaper on a bench and I thought I'd say hello to him. You're given the choice to greet them with a friendly interaction or with a mean interaction. Once greeted, you have more options available to you. These range from the basics such as gossip and general chat, but depending on your traits, you have more even more options. For example, I could talk about computers as I had the Computer Whizz trait. This will make it much more interesting when having conversations with Sims. You are also given information on what the other Sim thinks of you, which allows you to change the conversation to reflect that. As time goes by, you'll also learn more information about that Sim, such as the traits they have and whether or not they are rich.

Next I decided I wanted to visit one of the community lots which you can't physically enter, also known as "rabbit holes". The cinema was close and there was a film showing (films only play at certain times of the day), so I took the time to go and see one. Watching a film is as easy as selecting the option when clicking on the building. There were also options to take music lessons and become a partner of the company. Upon entering the cinema, my Sim gained a moodlet that increased his mood by 40 because he was enjoying the film, but he also gained one that dropped his mood by 15 because he was in a crowd, and being the Loner that he is, he didn't quite enjoy that.

I now thought it was time to get a job so I looked around town finding a suitable career. You can find a job by using the computer, newspaper or by entering the relevant building in the neighbourhood. My Sim's Lifetime Wish was to become a Top-Selling Author (or something similar, can't exactly remember) so I thought I'd join the Journalism career in order to increase my writing skills. I clicked on the building to apply for a job and my Sim walked in. Moments later I was greeted by a popup detailing my Sim's hours, days of work, wage ($ per hour) and my boss' name. When working, you're able to select what your Sim ought to be doing, such as meet the co-workers, practice skills (writing for me) or work hard. Of course I had to start from the bottom, so I was a paperboy, who funnily enough never actually delivered papers...It's also worth noting that you are able to leave early and get paid accordingly.

After a few days of living his pretty normal life, I decided throw a party. I thought it would be nice to have a get-together on the beach at sundown and doing so is pretty simple. I got my Sim on the phone and selected the "Throw Party (at Location)" option. The camera automatically shifted to the neighbourhood view and I was able to select where I wished the party to take place. I clicked on the beach and a popup appeared asking if it was ok to rent the location for $250. Once I had done that, it was time to sort out the details. I set the time of the party for 5pm with swimwear attire and then proceeded to invite my friends. A couple of hours before the party I was notified that I should get down there and set everything up. I decided to bring the stereo with my Sim and nothing else, and was able to do so by placing it in his inventory. When I arrived I placed it on the sand and started playing some tunes. Soon enough everyone arrived and we all had a great time dancing during the sunset. A cool thing happened whilst we were there however. One of my friend's favourite music was Indie; however mine was Pop, so when my friend changed the radio station, my Sim immediately changed it back to Pop. The party ended within about 3 and a half hours and everyone enjoyed their time there. It seems like parties are much more casual as I didn't have to try too hard in order to get a decent party rating.

Back at home I was nearing the end of my first hour with the game. I spent some time fulfilling my Sim's wishes. They appear on the UI and you are able to promise to fulfil them or ignore them. Promising to do them with place them permanently on the UI. My Sim wanted to buy a computer, so I purchased him a top of the range laptop. Doing so fulfilled the wish and his mood increased and he gained lifetime points which can be spent on useful 'Sim-upgrades' if you like, such as the "Steel Bladder" we've heard about from other gaming sites.

I decided it was best to try out some of the family based gameplay. Switching families is pretty simple. You click on the Options button and select the Edit Town option. Once in the Edit Town mode you can move lots around and also rotate them. On the UI there is a button to switch family. Clicking on that takes to a screen similar to The Sims 2; you can either move Sims in or click on an existing family. I went for a couple in order to explore family life. It only took a few seconds to load that family.

When it had loaded I noticed that the couple both worked at the same place, the Science Lab. They were done in a few hours and both got in the same car for the journey home. Once home they shared a kiss and the wife started cooking dinner. The husband needed the toilet and so went to do his business. I clicked on the toilet to get the Sim to flush it, and noticed a unique option; 'Upgrade Toilet to Self-Clean'. Some Sims will be able to modify their objects depending on their traits and skills. After using the toilet and having dinner, I set the two up on the couch to watch some TV...which happened to break. Following a catchy jingle notifying me that it broke, I clicked on the TV and the option to call the Repairman appeared. This makes it a lot easier and quicker to get the Repairman over to your house as you don't have to go through the phone's menu.

Thinking I didn't have enough time to start a family, I decided to adopt a child instead. The adoption menu allows you to pick a gender and age ranging from baby, toddler, child and teen, and you can also name the Sim (I am unsure if you are able to do this with all ages). I chose a male baby and the social worker was soon on her way over to my house. When she arrived she placed the baby on the floor in a cute baby basket. The wife picked up the baby out of the basket and held him in her arms. The baby is always wrapped in a blanket (mine was blue, I imagine girls are pink) but do exactly the same as babies in TS2; it just looks cuter.
Because the husband rang up the adoption service, he was the one who was offered paid leave from his job. The wife continued onto work the next day and interestingly, because she was doing so well in her Science career, she was offered a job from the Military career for her expertise. I accepted and she quickly made her way to her new job. This should help to make careers more interesting. The husband spent a couple of days raising the baby and soon enough it was time for him to grow up. I decided not to throw a party for the baby as I wanted to see what happened. The husband placed the baby on the floor and it magically transformed into a toddler with no fanfare from the family whatsoever. I'm assuming that if you hold a party, the aging process is a little more interesting. My time with the game was pretty much almost over. I spent a few moments just playing around with the family and it felt pretty similar to The Sims 2. Those who love the family gameplay from TS2 will feel right at home here, whereas those looking for more to do will find it in The Sims 3. I hope you enjoyed this report.

Below you will find quick information about things I saw when playing The Sims 3. I won't put everything that other fansites have put however.

•Create-A-Style offers you literally thousands of ways to personalise your Sims and home.
•There are around 10-15 different types of patterns such as Abstract, Fabric and Rock each with around 20 styles that you can edit.
•When building a house, the game will automatically add a roof. Extremely useful for those who always forget about the roof, like me.
•The water has greatly improved. It doesn't reflect everything, but it still looks realistic. It does however refract the light which is cool.
•When wandering around town, you cannot see inside other houses. All you see is the wallpaper, flooring and possibly the Sims. The house only comes into full view if you knock at the door.
•Certain foods in the fridge are already made. For example, my Sim decided to get some cereal and it came out already in the bowl.
•The fridge light has been improved. It's much brighter and also has a bloom effect.
•You can change radio and TV station without interrupting the Sim's current action.
•The Plumbob refracts light just like water. Useless, but cool
•You can change the volume of the TV and radio.
•Certain interactions can be altered, for example, when exercising you can take it easy or go full out.
•There are now two types of exercise; cardio and strength. I should imagine cardio exercising increases body skill, but strength increases body skill and muscular appearance.
•You can change the intensity and colour of the lighting to create the perfect mood.
•Sims rarely stand around doing nothing. They make sure to do the things they need.
•The duvet cover is no longer a sheet which you can see under, but instead solid.
•Loading times are extremely quick except the first initial load (which is similar in length to a typical loading screen in The Sims 2).
•When getting a job you are given the name of your boss, handy when trying to get a promotion
•Clicking on a skill will open up the skill journal. Here you can find information related to that skill. For example, the gardening skill shows me how many plants I've planted and how much money I've gained from gardening. There are also challenges related to these skills (perhaps similar to trophies/achievements on PS3/Xbox 360?)
•Houses, objects and textures around town load very quickly
•When eating at the bistro outside, I was unable to choose the food I wanted. My Sim entered the building and came out with a "Perfectly Quality" Autumn Salad.
•You can change the clothes your Sim is wearing wherever you like.
•You can leave work early but get paid for the number of hours you completed.
•'MaxMotives' doesn't work, however 'motherlode' does
•When browsing the web, websites load and the pages move. It's as if the Sim really is using the Internet.
•The sound from the stereo was slightly dodgy as it appeared to cut out if the camera was in a certain position (even if the camera was right next to the stereo).
•Sims will gain an unhappy moodlet if their house is incomplete (missing wallpaper/flooring).
•You can move certain objects in Live Mode, such as old newspapers to put in the trashcan, objects to put in Inventory.
•There are weekly events which you are informed about through notices or through the phone. There may be a sale on, a chess tournament or an amateur Olympics. These are added to the map so you know where to find them.
•My Sim was sleepy as notified by the Sleepy moodlet and his face appeared to reflect that. Their picture on the UI also changes to reflect their mood.
•You can now set the location, time and attire for parties. Renting a location in town costs a small fee.
•If your Sim is not at home, you can click a small icon on their image on the UI to send them home.
•Sims can take a nap above the duvet on their bed.
•You can select a recipe your Sim already knows or select multiple ingredients.
•If two people work at the same place, they'll share a car home.
•You are now informed if Sims are going to bring a friend home with them.
•Certain objects can be upgraded depending on the Sim's traits and possibly skills. For example, my Computer Whizz Sim could "overclock" (meaning improve) his computer's performance. A Scientist Sim could upgrade his toilet to self-clean as well.
•If you are successful in one career, other careers will offer you a job.
•Clicking on a broken object brings up the option of calling the Repairman.
•Sims can take care of themselves and offers easily, meaning you can look around town knowing they are safe.
•Sims can multi-task. For example, my Sim was holding his baby whilst watching TV. His cell phone than rang and he picked it up whilst holding the baby.
•There are no special event cameras in The Sims 3. When my baby aged to a toddler, there was no fancy effects. This may have been because I didn't throw a party.
•Certain events will trigger a notification asking whether or not you would like to know more about that particular event. For example, when my baby grew up into a toddler, the game asked me if I wanted to know more about that age group.

A few of you sent in answers to us regarding The Sims 3 and during my time at the event, I tried my best to answer them for you. Some questions did not get answered as I couldn't fit everything in, but those that did, you can view them below.

faithlove13xxx
Q: How many patterns are there approximately in the game?
A: There are roughly 200-300 standalone patterns found throughout 10-15 different types, but much more if you take into account the number of ways you can edit them.

Q: Can we add or edit graphics onto clothes (not pattern styles)?
A: No, you can only change the pattern by using Create-A-Style. You cannot add an image of a flower for example.

sharkloverplayer
Q: How far away is Stone Falls from the beach?
A: By car it doesn't take very long, perhaps about 10 seconds. If you were to walk or jog, it would take much longer. My Sim jogged there from his house and that took a few minutes, and his house was much closer to Stone Falls than the beach.

Q: How does the follow feature work? Do all Sims get in the car/onto multiple bikes?
A: They all get in the same car. I didn't get to test out the bikes, but I should imagine they all get on bikes.

Q: Can Sims kiss their partner whilst holding their baby?
A: No, they can't. However Sims can multi-task for certain actions. For example, my Sim was holding a baby whilst watching TV and his cell phone rang. He picked up the phone whilst holding the baby.

Q: Can Sims walk and talk at the same time (on cell phones too)?
A: They can't walk and talk whilst on their cell phone. I didn't check if they could do it in person, but I should imagine they can't.

Q: Are there online personals on the computer? Do Sims see a picture of the Sim they chatting to on the computer?
A: No, there are no online personals, and they do not see a picture of the Sim they are chatting online with. However, the interface on the computers is much more realistic, so it appears as if they are actually using them like we would.

Celebriton
Q: Has the AI improved noticeably?
A: In a way, yes. Sims appear to know how to look after themselves a lot more than they did in The Sims 2, but there are times where they do random things. They generally don't stand around doing nothing either.

Q: Do motive bars influence gameplay? Do we need to look at them?
A: Sims are now able to take care of themselves. I rarely had to look at their motives and was able to enjoy spending the day out without really having to worry about them. If they are hungry, they'll tell you and will most likely go off to get food by themselves.

Q: Are there many objects in the game?
A: I'd say there were roughly the same amount as The Sims 2 when that first came out. But with the Create-A-Style tool, you are able to change the way they look entirely.

MagicMan06
Q: In what ways are careers unique?
A: Each career has certain opportunities unique to them and have tasks required to gain a promotion, such as organising a fund raiser party in the Politician career. You can also tell your Sim what to do at work, such as meet co-workers, work hard or practice skills related to that career.

Jonny (aka The Sims 3 News Center)
Q: Is family life different to that of The Sims 2?
A: Family life is pretty much the same as The Sims 2.

Q: Has the car situation been fixed?
A: Sims automatically fade in and out of cars, and cars automatically appear on the road when needed. So essentially, no, it hasn't. However, cars aren't as fast as they appear on trailers which makes things slightly more realistic and enjoyable to watch. Cars also drive through each other and Sims, so there's no accidents either. Finally, cars will also perform a U-Turn if necessary.

Q: How does the Map View work?
A: Clicking on a button on the UI or zooming out far enough will take you to the Map View. Here you can rotate the town and visit other locations by clicking on their icon, as well as filter out certain locations such as Friends or Workplaces. You can also find the location of your Sims with the help of an icon representing them.

xEmilyx
Q: Can Sims take photos with their cell phone?
A: Yes they can, however the size of the image is pretty small. Once you've taken a picture, you can name it and hang it up on the wall.

Q: What kind of radio stations are there?
A: Indie, Electronica, Kids, Latin, Classical, Pop and Custom

T-sha
Q: Is it possible to adopt children?
A: Yes. You can adopt a baby, toddler, child or teenager and the social worker will bring them to your house.

Q: Does the lighting change in real time?
A: Yes, the lighting changes in real time. You'll see the sun rise and set over Sunset Valley, and the shadows and lighting changes accordingly. It's very pretty.

LasLegaPorta
Q: What types of cars are there, and how many?
A: There are cheap cars, vans, jeeps and sports cars and 10 in total. The most expensive car costs $105,000!

This whole thing has been copied and pasted directly from The Sims Hub, and I think most here will have already read through it {yes}

Is The Sims Hub your site?

You can tell by the wording it's all been copy/pasted.

Would have saved you time to just link us to the site instead :3







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(06-05-2009 03:39 PM)Sims3Website.com link Wrote:This whole thing has been copied and pasted directly from The Sims Hub, and I think most here will have already read through it {yes}

Is The Sims Hub your site?

Again, please cite your sources. It's not fair that they should have to write all of this just to have their work stolen and copied and pasted on to other sites who are led to believe it's your work.

You completely mislead me to believe that you wrote this. Not OK.

I agree with everyone else, but I skimmed through that without thoroughly reading it, but one thing caught my eye, that we can watch TV whilst holding babies and answer the phone, YES!

It was copied of course. However as much as I love reading these blogs about that event. I want my own experience. 4 more weeks to go everyone! It seems it has been forever for some of us that learned of the game last year in March or April.

(06-05-2009 09:09 PM)Just Niall :3 link Wrote:I agree with everyone else, but I skimmed through that without thoroughly reading it, but one thing caught my eye, that we can watch TV whilst holding babies and answer the phone, YES!

YES, this is definitely amazing!

What bothers me is that there aren't many more clothes or furniture that The Sims 2. AND I KNOW YOU CAN CHANGE THE PATTERNS AND COLOURS BLAH BLAH BLAH, I still want more shapes...

(07-05-2009 12:15 AM)AbePwns link Wrote:[quote author=Just Niall :3 link=topic=5952.msg232820#msg232820 date=1241640556]
I agree with everyone else, but I skimmed through that without thoroughly reading it, but one thing caught my eye, that we can watch TV whilst holding babies and answer the phone, YES!

YES, this is definitely amazing!

What bothers me is that there aren't many more clothes or furniture that The Sims 2. AND I KNOW YOU CAN CHANGE THE PATTERNS AND COLOURS BLAH BLAH BLAH, I still want more shapes...
[/quote]

I agree. Love this new multi-tasking potential. God those new sims are going to be so much more potent. lol