The Sims 3

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The Sims 3
North American Box Art
Developer	EA Play
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, iPhone, Mac OSX
Release Date(s)	June 2nd, 2009
Genre	Life Simulation
Rating	Teen

Game Information

The Sims 3 is the third-generation game and a reboot to the series, ignoring (but not completely) The Sims and The Sims 2. This was confirmed on November 2, 2006, by EA chief financial officer Warren Jenson who said, "Yes, there's a Sims 3 in development and it's likely to be a fiscal '09 title." In July 2007 AI researcher Richard Evans, who is part of the TS3 team, gave a talk at the annual AIIDE (Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment) conference in California. The title was to be released on February 20, 2009 according to the official Sims 3 website, but was delayed worldwide to June 2, 2009. Electronic Arts cites the reason for the delay was to "create awareness for The Sims 3".

Creation

Create a Sim now has more customizable options for your Sims than the CAS in Sims 2. You now have a larger selection of body types for your Sims, and are able to create different hair styles for every Sim. It was also shown in The Sims 3 game previews that you'll now be able to pick your Sim's shoes.

There are a total of 22 hairstyles for female Sims and 17 hairstyles for male Sims. There's a variety of hats and hair accessories that you have an option to use, but they all come with set hairstyles. But each of the hats and accessories can have their colours and textures altered.

Compared to the previous game, a lot more things can be modified. It is possible to just change the nose, for example, but it is possible to use the 'dot' system to go into more depth, i.e. change nostril definition, nose tip scale, bridge height, etc.

Accessories can also be added (gloves, socks, eyeglasses, bracelets, earrings, shoes...) and customized with Create a Style tool. There are more styles for hair than before. Changing hair/clothing/face is easy: All clothes can be customised. You cannot choose layers, but if the clothes already have layers then you can alter the colours and texture of both parts. You can just click on them and the CAS takes you directly to the right menu for editing whatever you selected. There is an eyelash length slider bar. Socks and shoes are also fully customizable. They are chosen separately per outfit as well.

The player can choose the Sim's full name, age, gender, skin tone, weight and muscle tone.

A skin tone is chosen by using a color wheel along with a slider from light to dark. The slider that is used to change the color of the skin tone includes many tones. The Blues and Green can be altered from light to dark, and also light pink to dark red.

Body modifiers also use sliders that adjust weight from thin to obese and from flabby to muscular. Height still cannot be changed (this is due to animation conflicts it would cause. Even in neighbourhood view you can see the different sizes of Sims.)

Players can now create twins in Create-A-Sim using a button.

Five of over 60 personality traits can be chosen for each Young Adult Sim and above, with the chance to change them with a Lifetime Happiness reward. (Younger Sims have fewer traits. A teen has 4 traits, kids have 3 traits, and toddlers have 2 traits). You have the option to pick from five different Lifetime Wishes, each based upon the traits. Ex. if your Sim is Family-Oriented, you would likely get the option of the Lifetime Wish "Surrounded by Family." If your Sim is Evil or Mean-Spirited, the Sim would have the option to reach the top of the Criminal career, and so on.

Players are also able to choose from three types of voices and a slider to choose the pitch of a Sim's voice.

Destiny

Control your sims' life and choose to fulfill their destiny or not. Wants and Fears are gone, but a feature much like The Sims 2's Lifetime Wants (called "Lifetime Wishes" now) will be in their place. Keep your sims happy and achieve their lifetime goals to give them the ultimate life!

Customization

Customization is key in this new sims game. You become the designer and can flesh out lush neighborhoods, swanky locations, new fashions, item variations, and much much more! With Create-A-Style, there are endless possibilities as to what you can build.

Movie Making

With The Sims 3, you get vast movie making tools. You no longer have to exit the game to edit your movies - you can do it all in-game and very efficiently using the new tool set available just for making sims movies.

Sharing

Now, it's easier than ever to share your sims creations. Join The Sims 3 community and get sharing! Upload houses, patterns, movies, objects, sims, fashions, and more. You can also download tons of custom content for your sims to enjoy and read or watch stories and movies that other Simmers have created.

Seamless Neighborhood

Open your sims' front door and go explore the neighborhood. You're no longer confined to a single lot at one time, and no load times are there to interrupt your experience. You can now visit the neighbors and watch them age and continue their lives as you play. Your sims influence the neighborhood they live in. Whether it's a ritzy upper-class neighborhood, or a smelly dump of a town, the sims that live in it get to decide!

Create-A-Sim

The new TS3 create-a-sim come with extreme features to fine-tune your sims to perfection. You can make them look however you like, down to the tiny little features. The new CAS is much easier to use, even though it has many more options. You get to choose things like: hair color, skin tone, eye color, facial features, etc. These selections aren't the standard Blonde-Brown-Black-Red for hair, but it lets you go deeper and choose the exact hue you like, and change the roots, base, tips, and highlights of the hair. Go crazy! You could also make specific adjustments to most of the features, and now add freckles and beauty marks to your Sims.

Personality Traits

Choose your sims' personality points based on a new, improved trait system. There are over 60 options for you to choose from, such as: dreamer, evil, active, lucky, etc. The combination of traits you choose helps to flesh out your sims' character, behavior, job performance, interactions, and their overall attitude. All about traits

Favourites

Now you have to option to select a few favourites for your sims. A favourite colour, food and type of music. These allow you to make each Sim a unique and new person. Before a Sim tucks into their favourite meal, they may look like they're really looking forward to it which you don't see when they're eating other food. When a Sim is going to dance at a stereo, they are very likely to change it to their favourite type of music. Their favourites also come up in general conversation with other Sims. A complete list of favorites.

Collections

Your sims can now collect things such as Gems, Insects, and Fish.

Voices

While in Create-A-Sim you now have the option to change your Sim's voice. This allows you to make each and every Sim unique. Pick a voice and then adjust the pitch using the sliders.

More Customization

Design your sims' homes, clothes, and much more. You can choose any pattern for their furnishings or for their clothes and choose up to four colours to use on the pattern. You can make it your own style.

New Gameplay

Bye-bye Wants and Fears, hello short and long term Wishes! These new Wishes appear based on your sims' personality traits. If fulfilled, your sim gets a bonus in their life, depending on the size or value of the completed Wish. This makes for more interesting game play and can give your sims something to shoot for in life. There are also Lifetime Wishes, which your sims can pick to complete over the course of their life. They are much bigger than normal wishes.

Summary of Features

Sims

• Seven age groups: baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, elder
• Seven needs: Hunger, Social, Bladder, Hygiene, Energy, Fun and Comfort.
• 60 new personality traits; each age group gets a different amount; infant/toddler-2, child-3, teen-4, YA/A/E-5
• Traits can be inherited from parents; a mid-life crisis can give your sim a whole new set of traits
• Sims have advanced AI to take care of themselves better
• More skills (ex. running, swimming, etc.)
• Sims' actions will be based on skills, personality, and mood
• Healthier sims will live longer than unhealthy ones
• Your sims can now interact with ghosts, and even marry them! You get a 50/50 chance of getting a ghost baby, or a normal baby with a ghost.

Careers

• Work is still hidden from players.
• Follow your sims to their workplace, but you may not enter with them.
• Each job has a building where the sim will be during there work hours.
• Sims can apply for either full-time or part-time jobs.
• You control how hard your sims work at their job and what they do, influencing promotions, relationships, and other stuff.
• Promotions now depend more on the sim, rather than their abilities and friends but you still have to depend on friends a bit.

Homes

• Objects can be rotated 360° and moved around without guidelines if you want.
• Players can use their own patterns for objects, wallpapers, floor tiles, etc. and copy them wherever they like, including clothing so it can be your style
• Modding tools are now available
• You can buy empty objects, such as bookshelves, that you can stock with items later
• Tables and chairs now link after you've placed them, and can be moved around as one object (same with beds and end tables)
• Width of staircases can be chosen
• Up to 5 stories can be built

Major portions of this page were written by: Nightmare and ShortMan