The Sims 3

The freedom of The Sims™ 3 will inspire you with endless creative possibilities and amuse you with unexpected moments of surprise and mischief!

Create over a million unique Sims and control their lives. Customize everything from their appearances, to their personalities and even the home of their dreams. Then, send your Sims out to explore new locations around town and to meet other Sims in the neighborhood.

Go online to download exclusive content and show off your own creations to the world. With all-new quick challenges and rewarding game play, The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to choose whether (or not!) to fulfill your Sims’ destinies and make their wishes come true.

The Sims 3 lets you immerse truly unique Sims in an open, living neighborhood just outside their door! The freedom of The Sims 3 will inspire you with endless possibilities and amuse you with unexpected moments of surprise and mischief.

New Seamless, Open Neighborhood—Explore the neighborhood freely.
Your Sims can roam throughout their neighborhood, visit neighbors’ homes, and explore the surroundings. They can stroll downtown to hang out with friends, meet someone new at the park, or run into colleagues on the street. If your Sims are in the right place at the right time, who knows what might happen?!

New Create A Sim—Create any Sim you can imagine.
New easy-to-use design tools allow for unlimited customization to make truly individual Sims. Determine your Sims’ shape and size, from thin to full-figured to muscular—and everything in between! Choose your Sims’ facial features, their exact skin tone, hair, eye shape and color and select their clothing and accessories.

New Realistic Personalities—Every Sim is a unique person, with a distinct personality.
Create realistic Sims with distinctive personalities. Select from dozens of personality traits and combine them in fun ways. The combination of traits you choose—brave, artistic, loner, perfectionist, klepto, romantic, clumsy, paranoid, and much, much more—help shape the behavior of your Sims and how they interact with other Sims. Your Sims can now rise above their basic set of every day needs. They are complex individuals with unique personalities.

New Unlimited Customization—Everyone can customize everything!
Build your dream house or design the ultimate home. Customize everything from floors to flowers, shirts to sofas, wallpaper to window shades. It’s fun and easy to change colors and patterns giving you endless personalization options. Or you can populate your Sims’ neighborhood with pre-designed buildings and furnishings. Which of your Sims will live in high-end mansions, cool bachelor pads, ultimate dream homes or low-cost cottage.

Sims 3 Facts

The Sims 3 is the Next Generation of Sims Games from EA. But with all the news and previews, interviews and information what are the actual facts behind the game which lies hidden amongst all that text. Here is a quick summary of information collected from all those pages of information.

>> Items marked in red, have recently been added.
>> Items marked in blue, have recently been updated..

Sims World, General & Neighbourhood - Get the low down on The Sims 3

• Seamless Neighbourhood, no longer will there be multiple neighbourhoods such as Down Town, Vacation etc...
• Load Time when moving around the neighbourhood has been eliminated
• A whole town to explore, includes Neighbours, Shops and Recreation
• Play pranks on the neighbour
  
• Follow Sims while on their way to work.
• The Sims Town is now compared to the engine which runs SimCity, but on a much larger scale
• Close to 90 houses in the town, each with its own family.
• When released only include 1 neighbourhood, but the developers plan to release a tool at a later stage to add more neighbourhoods.
• They also have plans to include a neighbourhood editor to allow you to build your own town. But these will only be released after a few weeks of the game being released.
  
• Everyone in the town will age together.
• Confirmed community places are: Pool, Gym, Park, Bistro, Art gallery, Library, Clothing store, City Hall and Bookstore.
• When the wind blows, you will be able to see the leave move on the trees.
• Sims can enjoy the beautiful sunsets.
• Seasons have not been confirmed in the base game, however it is expected that they will be an add-on feature in future expansions.
• Wind however is a factor which will be available in the base game of The Sims 3.
  
• Trees and shrubs sway in the breeze!
• There is no longer a grid, all objects can be placed at any angle, ie, 360 degrees, this can be performed by holding ALT.
  
• The town is fully customizable and allows you to remove and change Lots and Sims.
• "Map Tags" float over areas of the hood - a quick way to find your way around.
• Sims also have Map Tags so you can find them easily
• Sims can move nearer to their place of work, or even find work near home to reduce travelling time.
• Land values based on more than just size, waterfront/beach etc.
• The Neighborhood stories and inhabitants will be a prequel to the Sims 1 Neighborhood.
• You can move your entire house to a new (bigger) lot when your current lot gets too small.
• You can slide in and our of your game to zoom on the netire neighbourhood or inspect a Sim walking in the street.
• There are 2 kinds of buildings; Buildings that you can build yourself and look into, and buildings where your sim disapears into and re-appears after some time.
• These buildings are ploppable; it means that you can just select them from a menu and put it in the Nhood all made and ready.
• That Neighbourhood will consist of about 90 different lots.
• Upon registering your game with EA, an additional neighbourhood will be activated on your game.
• You don’t need to use all five character trait slots.
• You can buy houses furnished or unfurnished.
• You can set lifespans to range from 25–1,000 days.
• Some traits give you special abilities. They can be useful to improve skills (Artistic and Athletic traits, for example) and to get special interactions (childish sims can play with toys. Mooch sims can ask for food…).
• If you wish to, you can disable neighbourhood aging and events, so that Sims will not progress and marry/divorce etc without you telling the to do so.

Babies & Toddlers - When is the due date?

• Clear objectives in life will be modelled by the traits, such as if the Sims wants to attend Tertiary education or if they want to get married.
• Traits are passed down to the child, also what the mother does during her pregnancy will affect the child selection of traits.
• Toddlers can now visit the city, but have to be accompanied by an adult, whilst children can roam freely.

Looks (CAS) - Sims have changed in the way they look!

• Now also includes the Asian Skin Tone
• Sims no longer have to have shoes that are fixed to the suite, as with The Sims 2. These are now separate and can be chosen individually.
• Weight & Fitness are controlled by sliders, Sims will also gradually get bigger or muscular with the sliders.
• Arms & Legs are individually adjustable with sliders.
• Clothes are customizable using the CAS screen.
• Hair, Eyes and Skin tone is all controlled through sliders and colour pallets, allowing for a wild choice of customization for your Sims.
• New facelift feature allows you to completely remodel your Sims face.
• There is a way to choose 4 different hair colours on one sim. Tips, roots, base colour and hi-lites.
• You can add shoes, socks, jewellery, gloves necklaces and earrings as categories on CAS.
• Sims now also have socks.
• Adult now considered more 'middle age' and includes wrinkles.
• Facial detail (now includes moles).
• Foot shape changes with show style (high heels, flat sandals etc.)
• Voices will be selected from a set of 4 male & 4 female pitches, these will be determined by factors such as mouth size, gender and age. Other factors may also influence how the voice sounds.
  
• Able to model the families to TV shows, live out the lives of Desperate Housewives or maybe a bit of Sopranos.
• Sims can now also walk around barefoot
• Shirts and jackets are separate, and can be chosen to hang our or be tucked into pants.
• Clothing can change color using a pallet in the CAS
• Male Sims can wear makeup.
• You can customize facial paint. Imagine giving the tiger pattern green strips.
• Most of the catalog items and clothes were created in-game using the “Create-a-Style” tool.
• There’s a “Create-a-Twin” tool in CAS that lets you make an identical twin of whatever Sim you apply it to.
• Hairstyles can be independently set for each outfit.
• Accessories (gloves, socks, glasses, bracelets, earrings, shoes ...) can be customized with the tool "Create a Style."
• The elderly have gray hair by default, but if we can choose a color.

Work, Home & School - Things that you can do at work or as a family...

• All new improved vegetable patches, to grow what ever food you like.
• Confirmed careers are Athletic, Journalism, Medical, Music, Military, Business, Law Enforcement, Criminal, Politics, Entertainment, Cooking, Education and Science.
• Each career will have its own building.
• Sims will not be intractable while at work or school.
• Any objects you want to move you can drag and drop from one lot to another . You can also, if you start to build a lot and then decide it's not big enough, move the house to another lot!
• Job aspects that you can do at home called 'opportunities'.
• Careers have more gameplay - No longer just sent to work - Can now decide how hard to work - You can choose a less stressful day but will gain less skill - You could sacrifice hard work for doing more socializing at the workplace
• Specific homework tasks for kids, like read a certain book or catch a certain fish.
• Can move around quarter tiles, so can centre a 3 tile couch to a 1 or 2 tile TV.
• Table and chairs link and can move as 1 object (same with beds and end tables)
• Can move the house to a bigger Lot (upgrade as funds allow)
• Upper wall cabinets in kitchens.
• Sims have certain skills like cooking or fishing.
• Work buildings can be re-located if you wish

Emotions, Expressions & Looks - A new look at the happy and sad in life!

• There will no longer be "happy" or "sad", or even "furious", Sims will now have a new range of Emotions which they will follow allowing them to express themselves even more. The concept of a mood bar in the game has been thrown out and replaced with a set of icons which will show how your Sims feel, these are known as moodlets.
• Events such as Teenagers First Kiss will make the Happy and Dreamy for a several days
• Event such as being fired will make the Sim Gloomy for several days, or until they get a new job.
• Special moods such as embarrassed and depressed are also part of the "moodlets" system.
• Instead of fixed interaction (like Talk or Joke), the options are filtered on your current Mood or your Traits.
• Sims can acquire Dreams. Like if your Sim sees that a Neighbour has a big tv, your Sim can get a Dream to want one too.
• There are 7 confirmed age groups which include: Baby, Toddler, Child, Teenager, Young Adult, Adult & Senior. The gradual ageing of Sims has not been included.
• Sims now have shadows which will follow them as they move.
• Wishes replace wants.
• New socials like "Change topic of conversation".
• Needs will be the same as in The Sims 2 - Hunger, Sleep, Bladder, Fun, Environment and Hygiene.
• Sims no longer require persistent attention, instead they will attend to their needs themselves.
  
• Fulfilling wishes of a Sim (like the wish to get a big screen tv, getting married,etc), gives you Lifetime Happiness points to buy Lifetime Rewards for your Sims. An example is Steel bladder (never pee again) and Haggler (All your shopping is cheaper).
• There are about 30 different Rewards.
• Traits could be passed down, and actions a Sim does during her pregnancy will affect the traits of her offspring.
• You can fulfill needs by simply clicking on an icon.
• Instead of fixed interaction (like Talk or Joke), the options are filtered on your current Mood and Traits.
• Certain traits have unique interactions.
• Athletic skills can help Sims stay fitter and even live longer.
• You can not drive a car in first person; You can only order a sim to go somewhere in its car and then follow it around town.
• Paintings that a Sim makes, will be unique to each Sim. It's based on its personality and mood.
• You may control how much time a Sim spends on certain tasks like sleeping, fishing etc.
• Game will include 60 traits.
  

Build/Buy - Make the house of your dreams!

• You can use your own patterns/colours and then apply it to anything through a drag-and-drop interface.
• Each item has between one and four customizable regions that can be modified
• The game will have modding tools built into it.
• You can move objects 360 degrees.
• You can build 5 stories high.
• You can buy an empty bookcase and then buy and place books in it.
• Table and chairs link and can move as 1 object (same with beds and end tables).
• You can make a certain stair wider (up to 4 tiles wide) with a slider.
• You can position stuff on counters as long as the objects aren't overlapping.
• Gridsize is 4 times smaller. Can also choose no grid at all.
• The walls can be dragged and enlarged at will. All that is attached to the wall itself (beds, furniture, wallpaper) will be moved with the wall - perfect for expanding a room when you run out of space!
• There’s a roof height slider.
• There’s a button that paints / carpets the entire room (instead of holding Shift).
• You can set the stair width.
• You can set light colors and brightness levels (both indoor and out).
• You can place objects against diagonal walls.
• You can rotate floor tiles.
• There is now a square terrain paint brush. Imagine using it to paint a sidewalk.
• Plants spawn with different sizes.
• Sims don’t need ladders to get in or out of the pool.
• You can change the floor / walls of a pool.
• With the "Automatic Roof" active, the roofs are generated automatically when we create the walls. We can also choose the height of the roofs.
• The maximum size of the lots is 64x64.

Technical - Whats the workings of the game?

• The game has been made so that will also run smoothly on older PC's.
• There's no online multiplayer
• The game requires a 1-time online activation
• You can choose 3 dificulty levels on each household.
• You can save your game in different slots
• System requirements will be similar as Spore.
• Your lots and Sims can not be exported from The Sims 2 to The Sims 3

Other - Cool things you didn't know!

• The inventory of your Sims has been improved, and will now play a much bigger role in comparison to The Sims 2 - such as storing the personal items for your sims.
• Sims will now focus on many new skills, skills will not be static as in The Sims 2.
• Custom content will play a very big role, this will allow you to expand your game with out always needing to purchase expansions.
• Improved AI allows for better autonomy for your Sims.
• Sims have likes and dislikes to certain foods, colours, music and much more.
• Clothes and Furniture are now customizable using a range of patterns, you can even add your own patterns!
• Fishing plays a big role, and will be included as a skill.
• A very diverse selection of editors will allow players to edit everything from walls to furniture and even hair and clothes.
• Paintings that a Sim makes, will be unique to each Sim. It's based on its personality and mood.
• Sims are now able to hold protests and demonstration to show their anger to the government of SimCity.
• Sims still spin around to change clothes.
• Garbage bags still appear from the great unknown?!
• There is more gameplay cantered around pregnant sims.
• Toddlers will have 2 traits, children 3, teen 4, and all others 5.
• Traits effect how well a sim does in certain things...
• Another cool feature is the ability to select by dragging a square over a whole area and then deleting.
• There are waterfront lots, allowing you to build on the waters edge. You can also build on cliffs as well!
• Houses are still limited to 8.
• No specific info yet, but there will be lots of new NPC's and creatures.
• Most of the current Sims 2 cheats will be ported over to TS3, and a few new ones added.
  • While most of the cheats will be Ported Over to Sims 3, they might change names. So typing in 'kaching' might not get you any money, but something like 'mullah' would. (Please note this is only an example, no cheats have been confirmed)
    
• There are now 3 difficulty levels, Easy, Medium and Hard.
• Quick click icons on Sims face in UI to go quickly send them to work or home.
• Can buy an empty bookcase and buy books in the game. There are lots of books!
• New bonus bar, possibly replacement of Aspiration bar?!
• New timeline dragbar which is specific to a few interactions. This lets you control how long a Sim spends on certain tasks like sleeping, fishing etc…
• High level logic allows a Sim to tutor other Sims - Cooking unlocks recipes (Moodlets like divine food) - Fishing unlocks bigger fish (Caught fish can be put in an aquarium at home, and even given a name)
• Brushing of teeth is now back!
• Cell phone notification system to noify you of opportunities and can be used for contacts etc
• Funds and worth as 2 separate values now (worth includes property and object values)
• Athletic skills can help Sims stay fitter and even live longer.
• 'Auto Roof' now fixes the shape when you add/change walls.
• You can also move families between save files, so you can develop one family to a specific point and then merge them with another save file.
• The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.
• Sims can do things that they couldn’t do before, like ride bikes, work out at the gym, go to the beach, grab a snack at the bistro and more!
• A Lifetime Wish is a really big achievement like becoming a rock star, raising a huge family, getting rich or becoming an astronaut. Along the way to achieving your lifetime wish, you’ll fulfill smaller wishes. As you fulfill a Sim’s wishes, you earn points that can be used to purchase special Traits and reward objects that are generally hilarious and awesome.
• All new party types have now been included, such as Afternoon BBQ.
• 
  

Did it get in? YES - Things you've wanted in the game are now there!

• All new modding tools built into the game
• You can pick up items in your game, this is called “live dragging”. In simple terms, you can manipulate some objects directly with your mouse.
• Medium of transport include Taxis, Cars and walking - Sims can now walk to and from work & school.
• The mailbox can now be moved.
• There will be interesting characters, such as vampires and zombies - these have not been confirmed, so may not be exactly as in The Sims 2 Expansions.
• Many of the previous families from The Sims 2 and Sims will be included in The Sims 3. So be sure to check out the latest gossip from the Goths!
• There are over 70 personality traits that players can choose from. When you choose traits they are represented as a simple word that you might use to describe someone you know so it’s easy to understand what they will do in the game.

Did it get in? NO - Unfortunately it never got in...

• No Multi-player
• You can't watch your Sims work, or in school, although you can see them going to work. Once they arrive at work they will disappear into the building, and you will only be able to interact with them again once their working hours are finished.
• The MAC version will only be made after the game has been released for PC, so MAC users will have to wait a while...
  

Quirks - Funny and weird things from the BETA version of TS3!

• Ducks drive the taxis.
• Cars occasionally take off and fly away.
• The shower occasionally breaks, and completely floods the bathroom - in turn not allowing you to fix it.

Source:infinitesims.com