The Sims 3 impressions and stuff: Generations

[Harkonis]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

[CeeKay]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

Pirate Bay 

[Lee]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

The only one I have found is D2D which comes with a free guide. But the price is $50 same as everywhere. I was going to skip this one because everything I have read it makes it sounds like the game is going to nickel and dime you to death, but Tom Chicks write up made me bite. I really hope I don't get burned on this one.

[coopasonic]

but Tom Chicks write up made me bite.

Do you have a link? google failed me

[CeeKay]

but Tom Chicks write up made me bite.

Do you have a link? google failed me

this is the only one I could find.

[Autistic Angel]

There are others.

-Autistic Angel

[coopasonic]

but Tom Chicks write up made me bite.

Do you have a link? google failed me

this is the only one I could find.

I read that whole series just now, I don't see anything that's going to convince me to buy the game... I alreayd bought it, but not based on those snippets.

[JuniorDan]

Everyone knows its all about who you know.

\

Apparently it's also about whether or not the people you know are honest, since preshipping requires a contract with EA.

I am laughing my ass off on this statement....If you have not noticed yet all the games I managed to snag early have been EA games...
like I said its all about who you know... Its good to have people on the inside.

coopasonic, let me save you the trouble.
Mercenaries 2
Battlefield bad company
Burnout Paradise
TheGodFather 2
Spore
Sims3
and Fallout 3 this was the only none EA game, It  was from my friends store.

[Lee]

but Tom Chicks write up made me bite.

Do you have a link? google failed me

this is the only one I could find.

I read that whole series just now, I don't see anything that's going to convince me to buy the game... I alreayd bought it, but not based on those snippets.

Hell, I don't know, it sounded interesting and pushed me to buy it.

[coopasonic]

Hell, I don't know, it sounded interesting and pushed me to buy it.

works for me

[Arclight]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

The only one I have found is D2D which comes with a free guide. But the price is $50 same as everywhere. I was going to skip this one because everything I have read it makes it sounds like the game is going to nickel and dime you to death, but Tom Chicks write up made me bite. I really hope I don't get burned on this one.

What do you mean, nickel and dime you to death? Remember this is the first Sim's game I've been interested in. I know virtually nothing about them.

[wonderpug]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

The only one I have found is D2D which comes with a free guide. But the price is $50 same as everywhere. I was going to skip this one because everything I have read it makes it sounds like the game is going to nickel and dime you to death, but Tom Chicks write up made me bite. I really hope I don't get burned on this one.

What do you mean, nickel and dime you to death? Remember this is the first Sim's game I've been interested in. I know virtually nothing about them.

There are going to be couches and doilies and potted plants available for purchase with real money, and also somehow you are going to be forced at gunpoint to purchase them.

[CeeKay]

There are going to be couches and doilies and potted plants available for purchase with real money, and also somehow you are going to be forced at gunpoint to purchase them.

no gunpoint- in order to play you have to ender your bank card info and they'll just automatically take money from your account.

[Lee]

where is the cheapest digital download version?

The only one I have found is D2D which comes with a free guide. But the price is $50 same as everywhere. I was going to skip this one because everything I have read it makes it sounds like the game is going to nickel and dime you to death, but Tom Chicks write up made me bite. I really hope I don't get burned on this one.

What do you mean, nickel and dime you to death? Remember this is the first Sim's game I've been interested in. I know virtually nothing about them.

There are going to be couches and doilies and potted plants available for purchase with real money, and also somehow you are going to be forced at gunpoint to purchase them.

No, don't be silly. The fear is that the game will come with less content because they hope you will shell out more money.

The Sims 2 came out with a fairly good sized portion of furniture, electronics, etc. They didn't release an expansion until months later. The Sims 3 is coming out the same time as they open their online store, where you can pay money for items, hair styles etc. How much stock stuff if going to come out with the game? I am going to have a choice of a couple of couches (with all the cool ones in the store), or a dozen like in the Sims 2?

I guess we will know in 24 hours how much stock stuff there is.

[Bullwinkle]

Eurogamer: 8/10.

It's also perhaps a shame that the roster of content in the game - clothes, items, wallpapers - is relatively thin. EA has elected to push community-built content front and centre, a pre-game launcher app offering a raft of player-made goodies to download. Despite knee-jerk grumbles that there are only three types of hi-fi to choose from, realistically this is a good thing. It'll quickly make the game far more visually diverse than it could be just with hired EA monkeys constantly churning out new curtains and tables. It's borrowed a big old page from Spore's book, leveraging the community to push the game far beyond its out-of-the-box limits.

Clearly, that stuff isn't available in our review code, however, resulting in a game that perhaps looks a little more austere than (hopefully) it ultimately will. What is in our code is the Style tool, with which you can dramatically alter item colours, then save them as a new object you can yourself upload to the shared servers. It may not sound especially profound, but it's incredibly straightforward.

It's the raft of minor additions like that which mean, despite a few pulled punches, that The Sims 3 is a broad and ridiculously charming game that manages to significantly expand upon its critical formula without ever becoming overwhelming. It's that much closer to what a Sims player has always wanted from The Sims: to create themselves, and their friends, and then set them loose upon the world. It's both more of a role-playing game than it's ever been before, and more of a design game than it's ever been before. It may suffer a few glaring compromises, but it's an essential play for anyone with an interest in what videogames can achieve outside of a targeting reticule.

[wonderpug]

Do you have to pay for community-built content?

[Farscry]

Do you have to pay for community-built content?

Yeah, that's my big question too. If not, this sounds awesome.

[Autistic Angel]

How much stock stuff if going to come out with the game? I am going to have a choice of a couple of couches (with all the cool ones in the store), or a dozen like in the Sims 2?

In the base Sims 2, there were a few different designs of couches and loveseats, and each one had three or four different color schemes to choose from.  A major change in The Sims 3 is that you can reupholster furniture with any color scheme and fabric texture you see fit, and you can even save your template and easily apply it to other furnishings to create a complete custom decor.  There's no cost for those customization tools: they're built right into the base game.

Also, remember the second neighborhood that everyone (including me) was predicting would cost about $10 from the Sims 3 Store?  It's free.

According to Sims 3 producer Rob Humble, the Sims 3 Store is going to act as a replacement / supplement to the type of "Stuff Pack" furniture and fashion content they published for The Sims 2, while the major gameplay expansions will still be optional retail packages that will offer just as much content as before.  He also says that the development team has already been working on creating tools for the community to create their own content to be distributed through the game's front end.

The Sims 2 expansion packs were among the highest quality optional add-ons that I've seen produced for any game, and at this very early stage, I'm not hearing anything that would make me doubt they're planning to continue that tradition with the sequel.  I really hope I'm right, because I'd love to see the Sims 3 equivalent of the Nightlife, Open for Business, or Seasons content....

-Autistic Angel

[Arclight]

Ok just purchased this from D2D. I can start the download at 7am tomorrow(Pacific)..............If it gives me a month or two of prime time playing, I'll be happy.

[Farscry]

Thanks for the details AA, that's good stuff.

[Godzilla Blitz]

With the gentle PC requirements, I'm actually getting pretty interested in this one. I'll be traveling for a while, but might pick this up mid-month when I get back.

I like the idea of an open, dynamic world, and like the decrease in peeing and increase in personality complexity.

[coopasonic]

I have it pre-ordered on D2D but can't be home to start the download at 9am. I'm considering buying the box so I have something to do while the game downloads tonight. I think I need help. 

If what they say is true and the box has mac and PC versions, I could always turn the box version over to my wife to try... ok who am I kidding there is no way that will play on her macbook.

[Arclight]

Getting it at 550kb a sec. About another half hour and I will be firing it up.

[CeeKay]

ugh, I have a list of the pre-orders I've placed and looking over it I don't see the Sims 3 on it.  I guess I'll be finding out in a few hours if I'll be scoring a copy at the local Gamestop.

[Lee]

Getting it at 550kb a sec. About another half hour and I will be firing it up.

I did for the first hour, now I am getting about half that. (D2D)

[Lee]

ugh, I have a list of the pre-orders I've placed and looking over it I don't see the Sims 3 on it.  I guess I'll be finding out in a few hours if I'll be scoring a copy at the local Gamestop.

Hell I bet even grocery stores are carrying this thing.

[Razgon]

ugh, I have a list of the pre-orders I've placed and looking over it I don't see the Sims 3 on it.  I guess I'll be finding out in a few hours if I'll be scoring a copy at the local Gamestop.

Hell I bet even grocery stores are carrying this thing.

LOL! actually, bookstores in Denmark have all the old Sims games, so..you'r probably right! Isnt Sims like the biggest franchise ever?

Too bad Steam or Impulse doesnt have it, though

[CeeKay]

ugh, I have a list of the pre-orders I've placed and looking over it I don't see the Sims 3 on it.  I guess I'll be finding out in a few hours if I'll be scoring a copy at the local Gamestop.

Hell I bet even grocery stores are carrying this thing.

I figure Target will have it, and I'll be surprised if Gamestop doesn't at least have a few copies out on the shelf even if I did forget to pre-order, which I may have done and just not updated the list I have on my iPhone.

[hepcat]

I picked this up solely for the purpose of creating a race of light intolerant cannibals who I will forcibly breed in the basement of my sim's home.

[rittchard]

I picked this up solely for the purpose of creating a race of light intolerant cannibals who I will forcibly breed in the basement of my sim's home.

That sounds fun!

What I'd really like to do is recreate the Lost island and all the Dharma initiative and Others, etc.  Just don't have enough time so I think instead I'll just try to make a bunch of hot guyz, or perhaps a house full of my favorite American Idols 

[coopasonic]

Do you have to pay for community-built content?

That's a resounding, "We don't know!"

[Arclight]

Wait................this game is not a jump in and start playing type of game is it? Wow, just figuring things out in the most basic ways takes concentration......who'd a thunk it.
Ok, I'm gonna have to take my time and do the tutorial...I feel all ham-fisted and newbie like...

Graphics are ok I guess. Have them all set to the highest, runs ok, but nothing spectacular in the way of visuals.

Is it better to jump into a family or start one of your own for a new guy to the game?

[Chaz]

If you're not creating your own family of inbred freaks, you're doing it wrong.

Does anyone know if you can have sims sharing the same neighborhood across two PCs?  My GF is getting this, and I'm thinking about it.  It would be much more interesting if we could play on our own machines, and still have our sims interact.  Mostly I want to have mine seduce hers, because it drives her nuts when I do that.   

[Arclight]

I created a guy who has ambitions of being surrounded by a family...........thought I'd start out small and safe..

I do the little pop up tasks that come...working, eating, etc.........but sometimes it tells me to meet so and so. How do I find them?
Will they eventually just show up?

Not getting the fun factor yet...but hopefully things ramp up a bit. I guess I'm not too sure what I should be expecting to happen..

Obviously this is just with a couple of hours in and I'm in no way judging the game............................yet.

I'll keep digging around I'm sure I'll find the game eventually.. 

[Autistic Angel]

I do the little pop up tasks that come...working, eating, etc.........but sometimes it tells me to meet so and so. How do I find them?
Will they eventually just show up?

If your sim has met them, you can use a telephone to Call Sim and find them in your directory.  If not, I'd recommend some social networking by visiting community areas and getting to know people in town.  Sims love to chat about their friends and family.

You can also develop acquaintances at work by setting your work ethic to "Meet Coworkers" and "Chat at Watercooler".

-Autistic Angel

[Sparhawk]

I will create the gamingtrend.com family. Yes, it will be a "good" time.

*puts on the latex gloves and grabs the KY*

Come here CK.

[Sparhawk]

Holy shiz, I'm downloading this at 2.4mbps from the fileplanet download manager. That's like a record man.

[Huw the Poo]

Hey Arclight, I commend your bravery in coming into this thread asking questions about how to play the game.  Because, y'know, twelve-year-old girls play and master these games.

[hepcat]

Hey Arclight, I commend your bravery in coming into this thread asking questions about how to play the game.  Because, y'know, twelve-year-old girls play and master these games.

12 year old boys routinely kick all our asses in Call of Duty 4 and many other games.  Why would this be any more demeaning?   

[Arclight]

Hey Arclight, I commend your bravery in coming into this thread asking questions about how to play the game.  Because, y'know, twelve-year-old girls play and master these games.

Its not that I don't know how to play the game its just that I can't "find" the game. Having a bit of a hard time finding the fun...For all the success of this franchise I'm a bit baffled still as to what the hook is..

No worries. My expectations aren't very high.

12 year old girls can also out skip me, but that never worried me either.........