That's wrong. The only reason that Brandi gives birth to a boy the first time is that Skip Broke isn't actually the boy's father. Instead, they just impregnated Brandi with herself, which always creates a clone of the parent. except of the opposite gender.

I love Mortimer's dad, he looks very cool.

But Brandi was impregnated by herself as a result of Skip dying. Any time the father of an unborn child dies, the game discards his character data, and one half of the child's genes goes missing, therefore duplicating the other half. I've heard that if you bring Skip Broke back from the dead before Brandi gives birth, the baby will then share his genes and have a chance of being a girl.

So you're both right, in fact.

Wow, what did this promo CD come with? I'm glad they'll be including the Goths in the new game. Any word on any of the other "old" characters?

And what's all this talk of Christmas? The game doesn't come out until February. :o

Only the crumplebottoms and Landgraabs so far. Game definately doesnt come out until February. Some of the top custom creators were invited to play the game for a week in January to start making CC, but that's the only situation of people playing it earlier i've heard about. They're so lucky, but deserved it. It will be cool to have some CC made before the game even comes out.

Man you guys are really into the Sims lol

But the beauty of this reversed storyline is that the game introduces us to more creativity and what not, so now we get to make the story happen. We get to choose if we want Mortimer to be with Bella or not. So it's our own reconstruction of the whole storyline. I personally like that.

And by the way... I suspect that this is the first glimpse of Bella. I think this is the real Bella... not the other picture from above (the current first picture of the kids):

http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/screenshots.jsp

She's tan and Bella has always been tan. And her hair here looks more like the way Bella has had it. I don't think the kids from the above picture are them, I think this picture here is them.

Yeah frankie I think you are right. The above picture that girl is pale and Bella is tanned. Your pic seems more right.

Has anyone thought about having the Newbie's in the game?

Well, I figured because the boy on the slide is definitely Mortimer. He looks more like him than the boy in the first close-up picture. While both boys have the same exact outfit, I think the one on the slide is definitely Mortimer. And seeing as how he is on the playground playing with a tanned girl, it's just kind of obvious. I wonder why Bella's family never made it to that pre-order introduction map. She's actually more popular than Mortimer. You see more Sims 2 paintings about her than of Mortimer. And the whole "where's Bella" deal only boosted her popularity. And then there's the statue of her holding the plumbbob. So I'm just surprised that all this time we never saw her until now.

As for the Newbies, I have thought about them and hope they will make it in the game. They should be kids as well because weren't they the same age as Bella and Mortimer? Then again, in Sims 1, all adults were the same age since it had no aging in the game.

Wow Bella Bachelor and Mortimer Goth look so adorable. Its like an alternate reality of the Sims storyline that we control, as one poster said about Bella giving birth to a boy instead of Cassie.

I think Sims 3 no longer means storyline & progression. Just progression and I must say Gunther and the other Goth look awesome!! I love his hat and her hair ^^

EDIT: Will they follow the Sims 2 Console story of Bella where Bella just married Morty for money? Like some sort of Greed Trait even though the game will no have that well closest is Kleptomaniac :p

They'll follow whatever YOUR story tells. That's what I like about it. It's funny how now their first child could even be a boy. And even if it were a girl, she may or may not be tanned like Cassandra and of course will not look like her either. I'm sure many people will still follow the storyline the same as in Sims 1 or Sims 2 once they grow Mortimer and Bella up.

lol.... and we can make our own situation up on how Bella was taken by a space ship.

OFF TOPIC: Is there going to be the movie camera icon? I wanna film the Sims 3 XD

There will be something called the movie mashup. it's supposed to make things easier for movie makers.

movie mashup? would this be able to be played outside the sims 3? as in put in Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas etc? o-O

Well, the filename for that picture is SIMS3pcSCRNmortbell_big.jpg That should tell you something.

Good find, Treeag! Now we know for sure.

I seriously knew that but didn't bother to post it haha

aaaww, they are so cute- I am glad that maxis have updated their 'gothic' style clothes and stuff. I think it will be interesting to see mortimer and bella as children, and how their personalities develop- seeing as we missed out on bella the second time round, maybe it is third time lucky? I, however, am a dedicated Cassandra fan, and wouldn't want to see her go

You could always make her in the Sims 3 CAS, then pretend that she's travelled back through time to stop her mother being abducted by aliens, unfortunately erasing her own existance in the process and thus being stuck there. :P

People, people, I think we're forgetting something here. Just because Morty and Bella is the default reality when we get the game doesn't mean the others won't be available. It may take some time. But we WILL eventually have them. Looks at all the Sims 1 characters that can be found from mod sites or EA themselves at the moment. From the Roomies to the Mashugas to EA site specials like the Joneses and the Valentinos, pretty much all the Sims 1 characters are out there to be had at various sites. Since the game is scheduled to drop in February, I'll bet we'll have all the casts and storylines from the prior two games available to us from one place or another by this time next year. Even if this planned storyline proves not to be to taste, you won't have to play the canon families. And even if you feel you do personally, it's just while the modders get back up to speed. We all love the old characters. Be it EA or our lovely modders, someone will get them to us.

reminds me of back to the future ^^

hmm... I think Mortimer and Bella as children in "this generation" is a little bit weird because he started out as an adult in TS1 and was an elder in TS2 and in TS3 he is a...... child!
It's so weird. But since I have been gone from TS2 community for so long, have you spotted any other TS3 characters originally from earlier games? It's pity the Goths have to be in the center all the time. I would love to play the young Curious brothers.
But although only 1 neighborhood I think the game is going to be fantastic with loads of new options and game challenges...... I have changed my mind a lot about TS3 and I hate to say it, but I'm getting more and more tired of playing TS2 and having to look after all sims in the hood. TS3 is automatically "playing" them and growing them up so I can focus more on my favourites.....
And I don't need a stupid family playing schedule like I have now.....
But I still LOVE TS2 and I will play both TS2 and TS3.

It all looks far too modern to be set in the time when Mort was young!

I can kinda see that. Reminds me of A Pup Named Scooby Doo that way.

I actually like the idea of having our TS2 characters as children in TS3. They're adorable and I've always been curious about them. It was a big jump from TS1 to TS2 and I always wanted to know how Mort and Bella got there. Now I get to make their story! I'm super excited for February. I'm also very excited that Mrs. Crumplebottom is a controable character. I want to make her life less terrible so she won't grow old and whack my sims silly with her purse. So. I like the idea of "going backwards" from TS2, unlike a lot of people. I also like the look of the sims in TS3. They look more real I think. I'm not sure how I feel about universal aging yet, we'll have to see haha. Overall, I am very happy with how TS3 is looking though.