Sims 3 Arriving in 2009

[Haemorrhage]

Electronic Arts announced today that The Sims 3 will be released on PC worldwide in 2009.

From Shacknews: (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/51830)

Described as a "next-generation flagship PC game," The Sims 3 features a new seamless open neighborhood, expanded options for both character and home customization, and the ability to assign each character five personality traits, with EA claiming this allows over 700 million possible personality combinations.

"The new engine and technologies in The Sims 3 are designed to unleash the player's imagination with realistic looking Sims who have distinct personalities and a seamless living neighborhood for them to discover," said executive producer Ben Bell.

As fitbabits would say, official press release after the break.

[fitbabits]

Here's the official press release:

Guildford, UK — March 19, 2008 — Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today the first details on one of interactive entertainment’s most anticipated games, The Sims™ 3. Featuring a brand new engine that has been in development for nearly three years, The Sims 3 allows you to immerse your unique Sims in an open living neighbourhood right outside their door. The initial feature-set unveiled includes the new seamless, open neighbourhood, new Create-A-Sim, new realistic personalities and new unlimited customization. The Sims 3 will launch globally in 2009.

The Sims franchise has long been recognized for its appeal to a universal audience, both male and female, and at any age. Its broad appeal and loyal The Sims community has vaulted the franchise to an impressive 98 million games sold around the world and translated into 22 different languages. Celebrated for its creativity, humour, and community, The Sims franchise has become a global and cultural phenomenon since its inception in 2000.

Now, The Sims 3 is being designed to be the next-generation flagship game from The Sims Label.

“In The Sims 3, Sims can go beyond the boundaries of their home lot, and immerse themselves in an open, living neighbourhood, interacting with other Sims using our new deeper personality system,” said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio. “It is this type of open-ended gameplay that inspires endless creative possibilities. In addition the new goals and rewards systems will give players of all kinds from core gamers to storytellers the ability to enjoy long-term gameplay.”

New Seamless, Open Neighbourhood—Explore the Neighbourhood Freely.

See the sights with your Sims! The new seamless neighbourhood architecture allows your Sims to roam freely around the neighbourhood and visit their loved one and friends—or foes. Discovering other Sims homes and families, traveling around to new locations like City Hall or the local park will create a whole new way of life for your Sims. Storytelling options will multiply as your Sims stroll downtown to meet new acquaintances, head across town for lunch, spy on their neighbours and bump into the boss when they least expect it.

New Create A Sim—Create Any Sim You Can Imagine.

In addition to the open, living neighbourhood, the all-new Create-a-Sim interface will feature easy-to-use design tools that allow you to make truly detailed Sims that are more realistic than ever. Create-a-Sim gives you the incredible freedom to customize just about any Sim you can imagine. From thin to full-figured to muscular—everything in between and even the extreme! In addition to determining your Sims body shape and size, you will also be able to fine-tune every feature on their faces, customize their hair style and select their skin tone, all from a vast selection of options. With so many choices to choose from, it is fun to create more realistic characters that look like you, someone you want to look like, or even a famous personality.

New Realistic Personalities—Every Sim Is A Unique Person, With A Distinct Personality

With the innovative and proprietary Realistic Personality System in The Sims 3, you can attribute each character with five distinct personality traits, helping shape your Sims behaviour and how they interact with others and their surroundings. This new system will empower you to create extremely complex and diverse in-game personalities. Will you create the nosy, inappropriate, kleptomaniac grandmother who loves to meddle in other people’s business? Or the commitment-phobic, hot-headed punk rocker whose rude nature and childish disposition keeps him from scoring a date? In The Sims 3, Sims will go beyond the basic set of day-to-day needs to be distinct individuals with multifaceted personalities, who can focus both on short-term opportunities and long-term goals. With a wide selection of personality traits to mix and match, more than 700 million combinations of Sims await. You never know who’ll meet in The Sims 3!

New Unlimited Customization—Everyone Can Customize Everything!

New and accessible creativity tools in The Sims 3 make it simple for anyone to customize anything, anywhere! From floors to flowers, fashions to sofas, wallpaper to window shades and more, The Sims 3 gives you all the flexibility and options you need to be the architect of your dream house or explore your interior design skills to outfit your ultimate home. Your Sims can make home an ultra-deluxe mansion, a cool bachelor pad, family’s dream home or charming cottage. The choice is yours in The Sims 3.

”The new engine and technologies in The Sims 3 are designed to unleash the player’s imagination with realistic looking Sims who have distinct personalities and a seamless living neighborhood for them to discover,” added Ben Bell, Executive Producer on The Sims 3. “Players are going to be thrilled by the level of realism in The Sims 3!”

[LongStepMantis]

I wanted to like the Sims...but it felt too much like work.
But I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that will eat this up.

[TrackZero]

Wasn't this common knowledge since the GFW issue has been out for the last few weeks, and it's the cover story...?

[Kweli]

Cant wait to see how EA microtransactions this sucker...

[LionEyez]

The previous PC and console Sims games always completely captivated me...for about a week or two, at which point it starts to feel like grinding.

I like the idea of the removal of certain annoying routines (bladder -_-), and of course the idea of actually having an open neighborhood instead of just the 1 house or community lot sounds amazing. I wonder if my PC can handle it though...

[Varsity]

There's a preview of the game on CVG.com (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=184484). I've already submitted it as news, so don't bother trying to yourself. :p

[Nicodemus]

I wanted to like the Sims...but it felt too much like work.

Someone mentioned in the last piece of news about The Sims 3 that EA is removing a lot of the daily grind from the game. So hopefully, no more fitting the real game between bathroom/cooking/sleeping time.

[Wraith]

There's a preview of the game on CVG.com (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=184484). I've already submitted it as news, so don't bother trying to yourself. :pLots of info there.

Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=94996) also has a preview.

[LongStepMantis]

Someone mentioned in the last piece of news about The Sims 3 that EA is removing a lot of the daily grind from the game. So hopefully, no more fitting the real game between bathroom/cooking/sleeping time.

That might actually do it for me.
I hated the fact that when i did play it a few years back, after my guy got home from work, cooked, ate, showered, and used the bathroom (which somehow takes about 6 hours) I had about 15 minutes to fit in whatever fun/skill-building/socializing I could before I had to send him back to bed so he could get up for work.

It was fucking maddening.

I tried making a larger family in hopes that someone would be available to do fun stuff with at most times, but they all seemed to follow the same pattern, and on top of it, often pissed each other off. I quit when the sim modeled after me began crying at random intervals because he was so depressed. Man up Nancy boy! *Uninstall*

If they did away with eating, sleeping, bladder, and hygiene, I'd be far more interested. I want to play a game. Not a babysitting simulator.

[Ancalagon]

So if the game is released January 2009, we can expect the first addon to retail for $40 and be released in February? And monthly full priced addons after that.

The sheer number of addons released for The Sims 1 and 2 is what puts me off. No way I want to invest that much money in a game to stay current.

I do have fond memories of making hot girls and making them get very friendly with each other. Yes I'm still a horny teenager at heart. Wish they made more, *ahem*, detailed.

[Wraith]

http://kotaku.com/assets/images/gallery/9/2008/03/medium_2344783899_c627ff0dcf_o.jpg

[fitbabits]

http://kotaku.com/assets/images/gallery/9/2008/03/medium_2344783899_c627ff0dcf_o.jpg

Which one are you? Me, I'm third from left.

[DangerousDaze]

Death to The Sims!

[Baron Samedi]

Who wants to bet on delays :cool:

[bKangy]

Unngg, my laptop won't play this but I refuse to upgrade for The Sims... do I? Crap.

[Virtuoso]

Cant wait to see how EA microtransactions this sucker...

Because this happened with the first two sims games.....

[Deadend]

Sims 3 will sell more computer upgrades than any game in the last 5 years. Seriously, any game coming out in 2009 or 2010? Aim for running well on a machine that runs Sims 3 well.

[Itchyeyes]

Cant wait to see how EA microtransactions this sucker...
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess they'll do it through expansion packs spaced about every six months and priced about $20-$30 a piece.

[TrackZero]

Which one are you? Me, I'm third from left.

Weird ass "fat" generator. Why in the world does his neck get wider before anything else?

[LongStepMantis]

Weird ass "fat" generator. Why in the world does his neck get wider before anything else?

His family has a genetic predisposition for "Turkeyneck"?

[SlappingOysters]

I think this is really bad news for Spore. Hi-jacking the thread a little, but I have been worried that Spore will fail (http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/FEATURES/FEATURE/tabid/1488/Default.aspx?CID=709bcc8b-c4ec-4ded-bb5e-e47a78d2e973), or be a relative failure anyway and I think the existence of The Sims 3 could be a key contributor.

How EA going to attract those 20 million plus Sims fanatics to Spore when The Sims 3 is being talked about is beyond me. They should have stayed quiet about it until Spore was out and about - it's not like The Sims brand needs months of media coverage to have a chance of success.

[H.Bogard]

I think this is really bad news for Spore. Hi-jacking the thread a little, but I have been worried that Spore will fail (http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/FEATURES/FEATURE/tabid/1488/Default.aspx?CID=709bcc8b-c4ec-4ded-bb5e-e47a78d2e973), or be a relative failure anyway and I think the existence of The Sims 3 could be a key contributor.


That's a good article... although I disagree. Whoever wrote that is HUGELY underestimating EA's marketing power.