The Sims 3
Friday, June 5th, 2009
(yes, thats me in the photo haha!) So the day I’ve been waiting for since 2007 finally arrived, June 2: The Sims 3 Global Release Day! Of course, as soon as I could, I pre-ordered my Collector’s Edition copy and my bf was so amazingly sweet to buy it for me as an early birthday gift!
“Collector’s Edition!?”, I hear you say.
“Yes indeed!”, I reply, with a knowing smile.
“What do you get with it?”, you enquire, intrigued.
“Aha!”, I say while rubbing my hands together gleefully…
The Collector’s Edition comes with the base game (which incidently is Mac-friendly), a free download of the European Styled Sports Car (see photo insert towards bottom of this post), R114 worth of SimPoints to spend online (total of 1000 points!), a Hints & Tips Guide (not as great as I thought…they really could have done more with this), and a 2gig green USB Plumbob™ Flashdrive (check out the photo, its just toooooo cute, seriously!!!). I dont think I’ll ever use the flashdrive (I have an 8gig anyway) lest it get sratched but its my first Collector’s Item of anything (my sister bought a gold Lord of the Rings authentic ring with elvish engraving and everything for R2k which is her Collector’s Item) and its super cute and I’m so proud of it!
As for the game, well it blows my mind! I’m extra happy with all the new features and how they’ve kicked it up a notch (pun intended, those who’ve played will know what I’m talking about…if they have hungry chef-sims hehe).
After playing for a while, my sim progressed to the dating stage, and eventually got married and had a kid. However, when she went into labour, she had the option of having the baby at home or at the hospital (new feature!). I chose the hospital of course. So I expected her to call a cab (she couldnt afford her own car at that time) but instead she hopped on her bicycle and cycled to the hospital…in labour!! Shortly after she arrived (you cant follow them inside, though its rumoured to be part of the expansions at a later stage) her husband ran in after her to be there for the birth, which I thought was a sweet touch.
After her own kid grew up to the teenager stage, she was working out at the local gym (here you can follow them inside) and an NPC-sim was working out in front of the gym’s TV. I noticed she was pregnant. Well, apparently doing jumping jacks in your final hours of pregnancy is a big no-no as she promptly went into labour. Other sims gathered around to watch, and I offered to take her to the hospital (also a new feature, and there’s me and that hospital again hehe) which I did…but this time in my car haha. Shortly after we went in, the father-to-be dashed in and my sim stayed to watch the birth (after which she had a happy Moodlet for the next while for Witnessing a Birth).
Other weird but funny things that have happened include a sim dying at my sim’s birthday party – talk about a mood killer! People kept mourning! But I guess thats what happens when you invite someone who’s on their death-bed haha.
There are so many cool things I just cant think of them all right now and it would take a bunch of pages for me to elaborate on anything (if you have questions, just ask!) but a few favourites are:
:: Ever-changing neighbourhood – really makes you feel a part of a community. Sims get married, move out, have kids, etc all around you all the time. (tip: read the newspaper daily for neighbourhood updates!)
:: CAS (Create-A-Sim) – this has been revolutionised and you can now make your sims as thin or as obese as you want. You can also customise everything from muscle tone to the shape of the tip of your sim-nose!
:: CASt (Create-A-Style) – this is what we’ve been waiting for FOR EVER! Everything is customisable! You can make matching furniture, clothing and shoes, wallpaper and flooring! Everything! I even made pink appliances!
:: New placement options – this bugged me quite a bit in TS2. If you had a couch that took up three squares, and a TV that took up two squares, you couldnt centre the TV with the couch. You could either have the TV aligned with the first two squares, or the last two…but now, you can work in half-squares, allowing things to be centred and you can finally place items at an angle to make a more pleasing layout!
:: Age control – you can choose whether your sims have short lives (25 sim-days) or longer lives (1000 sim-days)
:: New work options – during your working hours, you control how your sims spend their time. Choose from Word Hard to Suck Up To Boss to Slack Off. Each option has its own reactions and consequences, so choose wisely 
:: Faster loading times – huge plus! Loading saved games are quicker as well as entering CAS/St within the game and this makes the whole purchase worthwhile on its own!
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Of course I miss all the stuff I had in TS2, like weather and vacations, but I’m uber happy with TS3 and how they’ve created it! Very happy! Very, very happy!
So now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to Sim! Hehe!
I’m so excited to say my copy of The Sims 3 is ready to collect!!! I’m beyond excited! Now I just need to find an excuse to leave work sometime tomorow to go and collect it (and pray my petrol lasts the journey haha)!! I’ve been waiting since about two years ago for this game to be released, and the bf was such a sweetie to buy it for me as an early birthday gift (my bday is in Aug)!!
Sounds like a small change, but we’ve been clamouring for more customisation of sims from early days. So, gone are the days of every sim either being thin or fat, we will now have almost anorexic right through to obese! Woot! The next biggie are the “Traits”. Traits such as vegetarian, kleptomaniac, lucky, hates children, etc will define your sims choices and path in life, making each sim more unique than ever before!
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