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The Sims 3 To Mesh With Social Networks

Posted by Soulskill on from the linked-sim-book-space dept.

Electronic Arts has released a good bit of information about the online aspects of The Sims 3, which is due for release in early June. The game will have downloadable content available on launch day that includes a second, separate town called Riverview. They'll also be revamping the game's website to allow the sharing of content and integration with social media. In addition, EA mentioned that the game will make use of micro-transactions, which players can use to buy things like furniture, clothing, and other items.

25 comments

  1. microtransactions eh? by flerndip · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought the magic of The Sims was the user-created content. Pay what to the who-now?

    1. Re:microtransactions eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      While you could find free content, many sites made you pay. As long as people keep the possibility of creating their own content for this game, the only thing new will be that EA will take some of the money in a market which already existed. Of course, they might kill a few paying sites by doing this as they can create all the unfair advatages they want (direct link to the store from inside the game, in-game ads...).

    2. Re:microtransactions eh? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Umm... you make the content, EA charges for it?

      What part of Web 2.0 didn't you understand?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:microtransactions eh? by rachellena · · Score: 1

      the content users have created for the sims 2, has already make a huge shift to just being EA bought thought their store to buy giftcards for points. Plus the user content was sketchy at best and contained many viruses that would ruin the program.

  2. it's so web 2.0! by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 2, Funny

    Micro-transactions is a way of saying they'll nickel and dime you to death.

    1. Re:it's so web 2.0! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is playstation home all over again.
      Players will feel like clones out there, so they'll buy things so that they can stand out.

    2. Re:it's so web 2.0! by dyefade · · Score: 1

      Players will feel like clones out there, so they'll buy things so that they can stand out.

      How life imitates art...

  3. I miss the original release of The Sims by bonch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I miss the period of time when The Sims had just come out, and it was such a neat toy to play with. It was more of an architecture and people simulator with a tongue-in-cheek, 1950s nuclear family tone, especially the music. The game began to morph into something else, with people roleplaying and storytelling. Websites started charging for access to their downloads. EA went overboard with the number of expansions, adding crazy stuff like robots and wizards. Even the music shifted into hip techno tracks as the game got huge in the mainstream.

    They advertise the game now using Sims that look like teenyboppers out of an MTV reality show, and the clever 1950s tone of the original is gone. It's no longer a life simulator as much as it is a mass-appeal sandbox for user-created clothes and stupid machinima sitcoms, which bores me. I don't need a videogame to write my own stories. Guess I'm not a part of the core audience anymore.

    1. Re:I miss the original release of The Sims by wisty · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You think it will converge with nethack one day? That could be cool.

    2. Re:I miss the original release of The Sims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Greedy? It depends on how you look at it I suppose. Personally I would rather buy items I want than buy an expansion pack to get one item out of a bunch I don't want. Is it any more greedy than selling a single song online than trying to sell a disc filled with songs?

    3. Re:I miss the original release of The Sims by R.Morton · · Score: 1

      So I guess that Will Wright's original plan to merge one day the Sims and Sim City in to an interactive paradise died the day EA bought Maxis.

      That is very sad,oh Well I still have all of the Original Sims games to play still.

      R.Morton

      --
      modded quote "what's that he's talking about? Windows , Never had a problem with Windows till I tried to use it."
    4. Re:I miss the original release of The Sims by sharpeye00 · · Score: 1

      The gaming industry will continue to evolve, and there isn't much you can do about it but continue to play what you have been. You don't necessarily have to change too. Just keep finding emulators that will slow your processor down enough so you can play the older games.

  4. extra, premium dlc on launch day? by sp1nny · · Score: 1

    what possible reason can they have for releasing dlc on launch day and not including it on the disc. what a bunch of greedy fucks ea are. i find it's a disturbing trend these days where devs talk about their dlc plans even before the game has launched and they try and justify the fact that it's not free by saying that the dlc is a separate software project, with it's own budget and resources etc. at least those 'dlc' patches come out 6 months after the game so you can perceivably imagine that it was created after the game shipped (although it's proven that that is not always the case). but here, dlc on launch day?? come on...

    1. Re:extra, premium dlc on launch day? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Having DLC on launch day is definitely a polite way of saying they've taken some files off the disk and put them online for purchase. It's just a way to increase the price of the game without people realising it.

    2. Re:extra, premium dlc on launch day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Having DLC on launch day is definitely a polite way of saying they've taken some files off the disk and put them online for purchase. It's just a way to increase the price of the game without people realising it.

      While in some cases this is true here is something for you to consider:

      Because they plan on having launch day DLC they can afford to expand the budget of the game and put more money into developing it. Without the DLC this would simply raise the price of the game but now you can sell the core game for a reasonable price and allow people to spend more to get a more expanded version if they so wish.

      I'm not saying it's what's going on here, it's just a scenario where day one DLC is not so bad

    3. Re:extra, premium dlc on launch day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Without the DLC this would simply raise the price of the game but now you can sell the core game for a reasonable price and allow people to spend more to get a more expanded version if they so wish.

      I'm not saying it's what's going on here, it's just a scenario where day one DLC is not so bad

      Interesting theory. I guess we'll learn if it's true when the pricing is announced.

      Avalon Hill did something like that with the Turning Point: Stalingrad board game around 1989. It only came with enough unit counters to represent the first few weeks of the campaign and the victory conditions were weighted toward a quick resolution since they figured most players weren't interested in the whole, grueling affair. But hardcore grognards could buy the extra counter sheets via mail and use more historical victory conditions if they wished.

  5. Sims + Twitter = AUGH by Nakor+BlueRider · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please, PLEASE tell me that "to mesh with social networks" does not mean twittering Sims...

    1. Re:Sims + Twitter = AUGH by IBBoard · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Given the language the Sims speak in, it'll be about as intelligable and interesting as half of what's on Twitter. No-one would probably notice if they did suddenly start Sims posting on Twitter!

    2. Re:Sims + Twitter = AUGH by imamac · · Score: 2, Funny

      What am I doing? Ahhh...Va vasnah...

  6. I'm not surprsied by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With a microtransaction model, they want as large an install base they can get. No wonder it's "DRM-free".

  7. DC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah... it was all good until this... those bastards.

  8. The Sims and social networking... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In other words, A graphical chat room overloaded with "bars", where people go to at least pick someone up in a virtual world, then go home with them to have cyber sex?

    Did second life close down or why should anyone pay for that?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Why don't they allow in-game ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, why don't they?

    Sims has to be one of the best games for such a thing.
    Non-intrusive ads would fit this game perfectly.

    How about that billboard up there, new Pepsi flavor, oh nice headphones, get in there.

    Maxis could have been making a killing with Sims advertising, but they don't.
    Such a silly mistake IMHO.