Sims 3 delay [June 2nd 2009]

MrsMarsters · February 6th, 2009, 01:35 AM

Sorry to all the Sims fans

Yup, all those indications of an incoming delay were on the money. Electronic Arts has officially announced that The Sims 3, previously set for release on February 20, will now ship for the PC on June 2.

The press release gives no explicit reason for the delay, but by the way EA is spinning it, it sounds like it may have been as simple as giving them more time to promote and hype the game's release. "The June launch combined with the break-through game the team is building gives us the perfect runway to create awareness for The Sims 3," said Russell Arons, vice president of marketing for EA. "The Sims 3 will be the original IP summer blockbuster of 2009 as we build off the success of the best-selling PC franchise of all time to create awareness with both loyal Sims fans and new players."

Well, fans who were looking forward to playing the game at the end of this month are certainly aware now. There will also be Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, and mobile versions of the game, but today's announcement only specified the PC version would be released on June 2, with the others given a vague "summer 2009" time frame.

MrsDark · February 6th, 2009, 09:41 AM

You've gotta be fucking kidding me... Is this for real??

**NoDayButToday** · February 6th, 2009, 09:48 AM

Yup, it's on the Sims 3 website. They announced the change a couple days ago.

Karistiona · February 6th, 2009, 12:53 PM

I'm gutted! I was so looking forward to getting this in 2 weeks.

MrsMarsters · February 6th, 2009, 05:02 PM

Yeah so far they've only said it is for marketing reasons, not additions to the game.
Also EA made around 1.4 billion last year, and had over 600 million in loss.
Not only that the game MAY ship with securerom.

These are some of the features in/ not in the game Kate from Parsimonious found after going to creator's camp.

If the Wind Changes you'll stay like that...

Anyone who has participated in a community discussion about Sims 3 over the past year will likely have encountered at least one person who has said all the Sims 3 Sims look very bland and very 'samey'. This is something I firmly kept an open mind about when going to the Creator's Camp because whilst it's certainly a fair statement about the previewed Sims, custom Sims 2 Sims look vastly different and quite often more original, from the Maxis Sims that shipped with the Sims 2. In that respect I was very interested to see what could be done with the facial controls by someone who is perhaps less encumbered by Maxis' middle of the road approach.

All in all, despite Maxis' assurances that the options are much more subtle and it's possible to create anyone as a Sim, I am not 100% convinced having seen it first hand. To an extent because each subset of controls is hidden away in a sub-option, it's easy to get an impression of there being less compared to Sims 2 Bodyshop, but in practice even pushing the sliders to the extreme did not really produce particularly unique results. No doubt the faces are smoother and do animate better, but the essential nature of each Sim seemed to be very much the same. I understand this was a deliberate choice by Maxis, but I'm not sure that all fans are going to respond as well as they'd hoped. On the plus side, it is easier to create more realistic looking Asian Sims, something that was a problem in Sims 2.

There's no Elf ears option in Sims 3. I mention this because it's a popular component of Sims 2 and something I knew many creators and players would miss. All I can say is I did ask Maxis, I begged and pleaded but no, it is not going to happen!

The Shallow End of the Gene Pool

Maxis are giving us 4 basic colours, green, blue, red and brown with Sims 3. Each of which can be adjusted to be lighter or darker with a slider. With the slider feature there are a lot of different colours to choose from in a lightweight format that compares well to Sims 2, where every individual colour would need to be created afresh. Of course many of us have been spoiled by the beautiful skin tones of Enayla, Louis, RenSim etc, so disappointment with the rather flat look of Maxian skin tones is inevitable. It certainly is a shame that importing new ones and adding new colours isn't very probable. Personally I'm somewhat curious as to why Maxis didn't bring the skin tones into the Create-A-Style colour mode as this would provide a vast array of choice for players, being able to pick any colour for their Sims - a question they haven't yet addressed.

You can choose any colour for your Sims eyes, this is obviously useful but again, on the negative side it isn't possible to change the look and size of the eye itself. Although there may be room for improvement on the facial controls, it is really the lack of eye customization options that is at the heart of the Sim-sameyness problem I feel. The eyes may come in different colours, but each Sim still has the same eyes.

You can view more here: Parsimonious - Free Downloads Sims & Sims2: Clothes,Furniture,Houses, Hair, Makeup

Also there is not at this time going to be a body shop or a wait for an artist to create meshes/custom content as extensive as sims 1 and 2.

Buffy Burnett · February 6th, 2009, 10:06 PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!

Glitter · February 6th, 2009, 10:16 PM

Damn, now I have to come up with another gift idea.

southernbelle · February 6th, 2009, 11:36 PM

Reading these reviews makes it sound like the Sims 3 is actually a step backwards from the Sims 2. I'm not too impressed.

NicoleWasHere · February 7th, 2009, 12:19 AM

I'm mad.

Obviously, I've been waiting for this forever, and now this comes out? Ugh. Fuck it. I heard it wasn't gonna be as good, anyway; a lot of the community lots are gonna be 'rabbit holes', and not actually places you can visit. Also, you can't have aliens! Wtf!

MrsMarsters · February 7th, 2009, 06:25 PM

Yeah, it sounds like it is a step back. The graphics are only slightly improved so that users with older computers can play it. Sorry, but anyone with an "older" computer is not going to enjoy it much anyway, with the graphics turned down as low as possible.

Let's not forget these idiots at EA GAMES opened up a sims 2 store selling each item at practically a dollar an item, which they hope to do for the sims 3.

I love this game, but I cannot believe that some of the parts of the game are so amazing, but the majority seems primitive compared to the other game.

I guess they are going to release info and pics every week...to tide people over. I honestly do not know if I will get it, unless it comes out earlier, or if there is some major change like adding a custom body shop.

Yeah, it said on Snooty Sims that you cannot have vampires either..you can't adjust sims "eyes" as well as you did in sims 2.
Pregnant sims can go to the hospital
Sims continue to age no matter which house you go to unless you turn aging off, or slow it down.

Hm, I saw Obama, and Palin in one of the youtube clips.

YouTube Video

Palin/Biden Fight

I think it's funny people on those boards are telling people to calm down, and saying they are finishing the game..when they clearly announced the game is delayed due to MARKETING reasons.

**PurpleHaze** · February 7th, 2009, 07:23 PM

i am wondering if the delay has anything to do with all the complaining that has been going on about "SecuRom". maybe EA doesn't want to admit it that things have been looking bad for sims 3. i know and heard of more people saying they won't buy the game because of SecuRom than the ones saying they'll buy it nonetheless.

MrsMarsters · February 8th, 2009, 06:52 PM

Yeah, I heard that too..and EA kept saying it was because of marketing..yeah right.

southernbelle · February 8th, 2009, 10:06 PM

SecuRom?

MrsMarsters · February 8th, 2009, 11:30 PM

SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection product, most often used for computer games running under Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM aims to resist home media duplication devices, professional duplicators, and attempts at reverse engineering the game. The use of SecuROM has generated controversy due to the fact that it is not uninstalled upon removal of the game. In 2008, consumers filed a class-action lawsuit against Electronic Arts for its use of SecuROM in the video game Spore.[1]

southernbelle · February 8th, 2009, 11:52 PM

Hmm. So if you had the game and you have more than one computer, you could not install it to both? Or will it just prevent you from making bootleg copies?

I have a Microsoft Zune and it has something that sounds sort of similar, where it basically prevents you from playing any of the music in certain programs and from burning a CD from it. It's really frustrating. You can't use it in slide shows on Windows Movie Maker and things like that because it is "protected".