The Sims 3 Arrives in 2009, First Screens Released

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The third entry in Electronic Arts' lifestyle simulation series The Sims will be released on PC worldwide in 2009, the company, as promised, revealed today.

Running on a new engine that is said to have been in development for almost three years, the sequel is being developed at EA Redwood Shores. A set of nine screenshots accompanied the announcement.

Described as a "next-generation flagship PC game," The Sims 3 features a new seamless open neighborhood along with expanded options and a more realistic aesthetic for both character and home customization. Characters can now be assigned up to five personality traits, which EA claims allows 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.

"It is this type of open-ended gameplay that inspires endless creative possibilities," added The Sims Studio head Rod Humble. "The new goals and rewards systems will give players of all kinds from core gamers to storytellers the ability to enjoy long-term gameplay."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    March 19, 2008 8:12 AM

    I am surprised that have not made an MMO Sims yet, where you have your own house on the server (maybe one big city, or several cities) and you embrace materialism as you work your way up the corporate ladder so that you can have the largest home in the neighborhood.

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      March 19, 2008 8:17 AM

      They did, The Sims Online. It had one major flaw, it was increadibly boring. It made you actually "work" for income.

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        March 19, 2008 8:27 AM

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_Online

        Oh wow, not only did the servers for it get shut down like three weeks ago (what took so long?) but it's been renamed "EA Land" and is now free.

        Yeah the biggest issue with The Sims Online supposedly that it was essentially a thick 3D IRC client.

        The Escapist has an excellent article on this, The 20 Million Dollar Failure
        http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_55/331-20-Million-Dollar-Failure

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          March 19, 2008 9:04 AM

          lol wt - "EA Land" Oo

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            March 19, 2008 9:43 AM

            Yeah, this is why I laugh when people say "OMG PlayStation Home is going to change the world!!!" - no, it won't, because it didn't six years ago when it was called The Sims Online and still no one cares about EA Land.

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              March 19, 2008 9:48 AM

              The insane thing is it still makes money. For a game that wasn't really a success at all, it's still running (in a limited form) and some people are still paying for it. It's crazy.

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      March 19, 2008 8:18 AM

      Yea....that's called America. I think people go through that enough on a day to day basis. On the other hand, it would make for a true second life in a sense. People like that kind of shit I hear.

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      March 19, 2008 8:25 AM

      There was the Sims Online. We had a Shack group in the beta. We had a house, it was kind of fun for a few days.

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        March 19, 2008 8:31 AM

        I played the sims online during beta. It was all about whoring your self out for friends and shit.
        All you had to do is find a house that had every thing then everyone would come over and stay there to get all their needs. It was just whore popularity contest and how well you could ecyber people to stick around.

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      March 19, 2008 11:08 AM

      I guess I am out of the loop.

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