The Sims 3: Ambitions Expansion Details, and Trailer

The Sims 3: Ambitions

I know I’m a bit late with this, but I was just busy working on one big editorial, or AAA original lately. I’ll give you a hint at what it’s about: St. Patrick.

Now, EA are going to bring out their second expansion for The Sims 3 this year, called Ambitions.

Players have long been dissatisfied about getting their Sims out of bed, had them shower, visit the bathroom, brush their teeth, and just make it down to the kitchen to have a breakfast on the run, before they had to dash outside and catch the car to work [or take their own car, in the Sims 3).

Ambitions will let you control your Sims at work too, and provides you with more career options, like firefighter, investigator, architect, ghost hunter, stylist, doctor, a tattoo artist, sculptor, or inventor.

Some say this has been done in The Sims 2 with Open for Business, but the scope of the idea will be taken much further in The Sims 3, to the point where you will be presented with challenges and such like you would at the Sim’s home. There was an interview on Gamespot recently where Grant Rodiek elaborated on the subject:

“The focus of Open for Business was creating and managing a retail establishment. The Sims 3 Ambitions is more about your sim's personal venture. Each career presents a unique experience.”

Scott Evans also had this to say about Ambitions, recently:

"The variety of careers to choose from is unmatched and we've never given players the opportunity to follow their Sims to work and affect their actions on the job."

Tired of riding bicycles around the neighbourhood while in your business suit and getting laughed at? Then another great thing that this expansion will provide is motorbikes!

The expansion pack, The Sims 3: Ambitions, should be out in June, a year after the release of the original Sims 3, and will be available on PC, Mac, iPhone and iPod touch.

By the way, if you’ve watched the trailer above, the song playing is called Saviour, by Rise Against.

----

Sources: Gamespot

The Sims 3: Ambitions Expansion Details, and Trailer

Apocalypse Then: The Sims

10 Years of The Sims

I was just reading the other day that the 31th of January was the tenth anniversary of The Sims!

This title was apparently released on the 31th of January, 2000.

I remember waiting in my room one evening for my dad to get home because he was going to buy it for me as a gift one day (probably good grades or something).

Who can believe it’s been ten years since then? The game has since had numerous expansions, addon packs as well as two sequels in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, and no doubt more expansions and addons to come (for The Sims 3 anyway). Out of all of these I only bought two for The Sims, and two for The Sims 2. Livin’ Large and Hot Date for The Sims, and University and Nightlife for The Sims 2.

Countless hours I’ve spent ordering the b@stards around, and living vicariously through my virtual avatar. And not to mention countless hours of sleep lost as I stayed up late into the early hours of the morning playing this addictive title.

Hey, some of you may still think The Sims is a girl’s game, but it hasn’t done badly, considering it’s the best-selling PC franchise of all time, and last year The Sims 3 was the best selling PC game, even beating the mighty Modern Warfare 2 on that particular platform.

Apocalypse Then: The Sims

Apocalypse Then: SimCity 3000

Earlier on in the month, I talked about the fact that it was Will Wright’s 50th birthday (the 20th of January). On this day in gaming, the 31st of January, 1999, one of the titles in one of his most successful franchises was released: SimCity 3000.

The game, a city-building simulation, and the sequel to SimCity and SimCity 2000, was developed by Maxis and published by EA, and released for the  PC, Mac, and Linux. Later on a special edition of the game was released under different names in various countries.

The designer was credited as being the legendary Will Wright.

I got the game and played it myself for a while back in 1999 when it was nearly brand new. I remember once I left the game running on my dad’s PC in the study for the whole night because I hadn’t figured out how to save a game or something and so I didn’t want all my effort going to waste by exiting the game.

Although I’d even played the original SimCity years before, this was likely the best one I’ve played, and I haven’t even touched it in years. To be honest, I prefer The Sims, a series which started a little over a year later.

It was eventually succeeded by SimCity 4, which made a cameo appearance of sorts in The Sims 2, or rather the expansion, SimCity 4: Rush Hour, did.

You can pick the game up here if you want to play a classic.

Apocalypse Then: SimCity 3000

What the Hell is That Green Thing in The Sims?

It’s been there since The Sims 1, and has been there through every expansion and addon. Then there was the sequel, The Sims 2, and every expansion for that one too. Then this year saw The Sims 3 and the brand new The Sims 3: World Adventures.

All the while, I’ve never really known what the hell that green thing is hanging over a sim’s head. I read on the official Sims 3 Twitter account that it’s called a “plumb bob”.

In The Sims 2, it even changed colour from red, orange, yellow, right through to white. So what the hell is a plumb bob?

I was talking to my brother, and all the while I was playing with this thing, a led item hanging on a thread, which almost looked like a spinning top. It turns out that is a plumb bob.

Also spelled as plumb-bob, or as The Sims 3 wiki spells it: PlumbBob. Some even call it a "plummet".

Mystery solved.

What the Hell is That Green Thing in The Sims?

The Sims 3: World Adventures lets you Build Tombs and Torture Chambers

More details have been revealed about this expansion for one of the year’s biggest titles.

The Sims series may not appeal to most hardcore, manly gamers who say “That’s for sissies, I want to kill things!” but it’s still has a major following. Most Sims expansions have been “cute”, but didn’t really ever add anything that mind-blowing, apart from a few new objects and stuff. World Adventures may just change that perception though.

World Adventures has a new basement tool. Now, you can build a basement level in The Sims 3, just like you could in The Sims 2, but it required planning. If you built a house and only later decided to build a basement, it could mean problems. I’ve never tried multiple levels before, so I’m not sure if you can, but this pack seems to suggest you can’t, seeing as this new basement tool provides you with the means to create multiple underground levels. And not only that, but the underground theme continues, as there will be new objects and even traps to decorate the place with. So, if you’re a big fan Indiana Jones, or of games like Thief: The Dark Project, Tomb Raider, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and other such games which involve tomb-raiding, then this should be quite exciting news. There’s even a Tomb Fogger which creates, well, fog for your tomb. And in addition to this, you can have hidden stair ways, secret passages, and treasure chests, as well as more!

The expansion will be out on November 17th.

Sources:

http://www.simoperations.com/?page=thesims3/worldadventures
http://kotaku.com/5362601/the-sims-3-world-adventures-goes-underground
The Sims 3 expansion pack has tools for underground construction

The Sims 3: World Adventures lets you Build Tombs and Torture Chambers

Current Gaming Trends: Custom Created Celebrities in The Sims 3

Recently we've seen Alice and Kev, and other characters, but something even more inspiring is the creation of real-life celebs and putting them in The Sims 3. I used to try and do this myself in The Sims 2, but it's a lot of effort, and sometimes they don't look quite the part. You can actually overdo it sometimes and make them look totally alien!

There are a few good ones, including a couple of video game characters like:



Marcus Fenix from Gears of War

and...



Duke Nukem!

Source:

Ripped from the Tabloids: Celebs in Sims 3

Current Gaming Trends: Custom Created Celebrities in The Sims 3

Is The Sims Really a Girl Thing?

I’ve always got a list of the latest games that I want to get, and this year, among all the action games, and FPSs, there’s one name that doesn’t quite fit with the overall theme- The Sims 3.

I played the original Sims back in 2000, and for hours I was lost in that game, as my friend and I would compete with each other to see who could build the biggest and best house on an unlimited budget.

In the end, I deleted his house and claimed myself the winner.

In fact, he was just as fanatical over the Sims if not more. He had a friend who collected all of the expansion packs, and he would “borrow” them and play them all in one big super-Sims game.

The Sims 2 was just as good if not better, and better looking to boot. The animation was far better than the original, and I found that the themes of the furniture and other stuff was more varied and grouped to suit the architectural personality. I liked building castles with stone walls and creating moats and walls. Overall, I enjoyed it more than the original.

Then, I met a guy who had a cupboard filled with all of the Sims games, gathering dust on the top shelf. I got excited as I hadn’t played most of the expansions for the original (and still haven’t), until I asked the question, “Do you play them at all?”

“Nah, they’re my sister’s. That’s kind of a girl thing.” He responded.

True, there were times while I was playing, and as I selected different shades of blue for the walls, and got a smile on my face as I saw the Sims interact positively with each other, that I thought, “Have I gone too far?”

It’s funny how we still have these gender roles and such, and stereotypes, even today. You’ve got the aggressive, assertive male (ooh, scary), and the caring, nurturing female. What about the loathsome metrosexual, everybody? The one who is only one facial or mud bath away from batting for the other side? Wasn’t that supposed to be the end, the tearing down of these walls that have stood for so long that dictate what is masculine and what is feminine? It’s just like the old saying, “What boys can do, girls can do better”. Well, I think in this day in age of gender equity, “What girls can do, guys can do just as good” is appropriate.

Some argue that it’s all down to how we see and play the game. Some people have a god complex, and like to have the lives of people in their hands, for better or worse. Then some are control freaks who like people to do things just so, or not at all. There are the tyrants, who like to cause mayhem and destruction, and the architects and engineers who rebuild after the dust has settled. Others like to escape into another world for a few hours to escape their real lives, and look on it as virtual wish fulfillment.

It’s all really down to an individual play style. Some like to load a game, while sobbing silently, if the oven catches fire and the house burns down, while others laugh maniacally while shouting “Burn you little trolls, burn!”

Now, The Sims 3 is nearly ready for release, set for June.

Recently I read an interview conducted by SACM with Mike McCabe, the Regional Head of Publishing for Electronic Arts Mobile. Right at the end, the last question asked was, “What titles can we look forward to in the near future?”

“The most exciting game coming out in the beginning of June will be The Sims 3. It’s appealing to a very broad demographic, as it’s skewed to a more casual, more female audience.”

But look at what’s happened recently. The Sims 3 has been leaked onto the net just weeks before its scheduled release, and is available on all number of sites like Rapidshare and other torrent portals.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t piracy more of a guy thing?

Is The Sims Really a Girl Thing?

On This Day: The Sims

On the 4th of February 2000, The Sims was released and created a huge cult following.

One would assume by the gameplay that only desperate housewives and the like would play it, but there was a wide demographic who took great joy in playing god. 

Several of my friends had the entire collection, including all the expansions and add-ons that were available.

In 2004 there was a sequel, aptly named The Sims 2, and this too had many expansions and add-ons of its own.

Sims fans rejoice as The Sims 3 is due out this month- the 20th of February to be exact, so fingers crossed! In addition to this there will also be The Sims 3 Collector's Edition.

On This Day: The Sims