Look, we know it's going to have a big online component. They said they would, they did it with SC, and they set up TS3 to morph into a quasi-online marketing tool for their content, which
I actually believe worked in the sense that they sold more shit than they probably thought they could (although I'm sure even that is not enough to them). The question is, will they fuck up TS4 as badly as they did SC on release? My honest answer, based on years of watching their operations, is yes, it will be just as big a disaster.

Remember, the Sims franchise for them is a cash cow. Not technically demanding to produce, but big sales, especially when they can capture so much income directly from the online market, where their only overhead is server space and a little network software. Not a big investment, and it works most of the time. Unlike the SC fiasco. So the question is, just what will EA spend money on in developing TS4?

It is NOT going to be for some super duper leading edge AI driven software. Game engine design that attracts big bucks are the ones that will run not only your game, but other developers will license your game engine to use for their games. Think like the Crysis 3 engine is really beautifully done, with as close to photorealistic real time rendering as you'll get on a high end home PC these days. The game itself, while gorgeous, isn't quite as much fun to play though, but looks great. Probably what dating Kate Upton would be like. Or what's better known would be the Unreal engine, used to spin off lots of games by third party developers. Even Valve got in with that with HL2.

The Sims engine is never going to be developed for use by third parties. It's just not the way that design group philosophy is geared. Hell, the TS3 engine still has blocks of code from the old Spore engine in it, and that wasn't nearly as cool as it first sounded on paper. Do you really think that folks who are writing code in an environment that reuses old code that was pretty flaky to begin with are into pushing limits? Furthermore, given the huge sales numbers they expect from Sims (unlike say, Crysis 3) you know they will design to run on lower end hardware to keep it approachable by many. They are not expecting millions of casual sim gamers to run out and drop a few hundred dollars on a new video card, install a nuclear powered power supply, and use a homemade liquid nitrogen cooling system to overclock their machines to 7 GHz. For some serious FPS players, yes, they will do that. That's also why those games don't sell in the numbers that the Sims does, and why enticing third party developers to license the engine is built into the revenue model. It's never happening for the Sims.

So the only "revolutionary" item they will bring to TS4 is the online aspect. Based on the "revolutionary" SC MMO concept they cooked up, I'm expecting the worst. Maybe there will be some baby steps of better AI (hard to make it worse), and MAYBE they'll allow you to save your game locally (see EA, it wasn't so easy to do that for SC now, was it?), but the login will become mandatory. Even if you never visit another person's Simland, EA will be all over yours planting little popups of how much more fun your sim would have if you would just buy them that new outfit for their big Saturday night date.

Besides that I hope they go and include someone like twallan in the coding process,

I hope they make it more realistic.. what do I mean..?

I want my sim to come home from his work at the science lab, where he has been working on a mysterious rock for 3 days when
Larry from a block away somehow destroyed it. He comes home, slams the door, trows his coat on the sofa and sits down at the dinner table banging
his head on the table. His wife hears him coming in and comes down to see whats up, and makes him a cup o tea while talking about it.

I would love this, because besides telling them what to do I actually love watching them.
I do believe it's what most of us enjoy doing. I know it might be annoying that you then have to make him hang is coat away properly because the cat might sit on it,
and now it's hairy which his boss will pick up on... but I do believe it is still these small human things we miss most in the current game.

Good luck with that one

Here's how I'm foreseeing SIMs 4...

Yes it'll be "always online"...

It'll be "Free to play"... albeit you'll have to download the one terabyte installer by yourself.... via a torrent!

After spending a week (or two) downloading the installer and installing the game you find it is difficult to log in & even if you can the servers are jam packed....

Once you do get in you are welcomed by stunning 512bit graphics and full HD Audio...

You know you are playing a SIMs game but you see every SIM as being extremely life-like....

You create your first SIM and then.... "that username is already in use, please try another username" 0_o

Anyhoo... after all that hassle you start playing.... You try cooking something for the first time & notice your cooking skill IS NOT even improving....

You go to a site like gamefaqs, look for a guide then boom!

You find out you need to buy skill books from the game's "Item Mall/Cash shop system...

So okay you spend $5 USD so you can buy a skill book. Your SIM gains a level on his/her cooking skill....

So now your SIM is at level one cooking skill. You want to learn a new recipe and realize that the recipe books are only ever sold in the Item Mall.... Or from other players who are charging one billion simoleons for that darn "pancakes" recipe 0_o

You are then forced to spend another $10 USD just so you can buy that pancakes recipe from the item mall. Your SIM reads it & learns the recipe huzzah~! Or so you think....

You now have your SIM try out the new recipe and poof! No matter how much you try cooking something as basic as pancakes your SIM still ends up making "burnt food"....

You again consult a walkthrough and bam~! You learn you need to buy a "Cooking success rate scroll" from the item mall that increases the success rate of cooking a recipe by 10%...

Welcome to The SIMs 4 now MMORPG-ized....

BAHAhA! I know, right.

It's a lost cause, really. But I will not let the dream die!!!!!!!

What a damn nightmare! USERNAME... Online MALL... Other PEOPLE! HELL!




Oh MAN! I FORGOT about that! I LOVED that window in window feature! Why in the heck did they EVER remove that! I hate when I "hear" that something has happened in my game now, but I can't see who it is happening with or what exactly it is because I am in another place. It drives me bonkers.

Wake me from this nightmare!

Hmm, with people mentioning Spore... That could actually work for The Sims. Although I'd prefer it being pull rather than push. Meaning I don't get new Sims sent to me automatically, but I can go on the ingame Exchange and pick a few Sims other people have made and have them move into town. Obviously, The Sims Store would be ingame, too. I wouldn't use it, but it'd be there. And, of course, this feature would need a paranoid sanity check built in. If a Sim is not 100% stock, it's rejected. Otherwise, mods could really mess things up...

As for what The Sims could do that's new, I'd love to see it divorce "household" from "controllable Sim". I want to, with the picture in picture or split screen feature, be able to play multiple Sims living in different households. And pick on a whim who's controlled and who's not. Let me play the neighborhood instead of the lot, basically.

Yeah, just like the swore they beta tested Simport for SHT to make sure sims went through stock only, but it took less than a day for that extensive testing to have been flawed, and cc sneaking through on Simport was readily apparent. Yes, they did patch it quickly, but I'll bet it is just another argument they will use for the evils of third party cc creation, and want TS4 to be 100% EA content from the game and online purchase (I doubt they will even make the pretense of a Store, as you will always be connected while playing for sales during game play).

Actually THIS could have been SIMs 4...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFS4l5B547s

Yeah, I never used SimPort. I took a look at it and went "How many was can this go wrong with the mods I have installed?" and decided to continue playing offline. It's kind of a hackjob added to a game that has plenty of ways to mess up as is.

But in a perfect world... I mean all EA made clothes, skin, hair, and even parameters have got to have an ID. Just don't accept anything that isn't that. Unknown trait? Rejected! Life state pregnant that shouldn't be able to be? Rejected! Unknown clothes? Replaced with stock, color possibly retained. Sim has data added that isn't stock? Data ignored! That's how it SHOULD work. The server should ask for the bits that make up a Sim, not just eat the file whole. And if in doubt, reject it!

So, I'm looking forward to seeing the horror show that it will end up as if Sims 4 has a SimPort 2.0 built in. And I can't really imagine it won't.

Keep hope alive

I would really like this feature and I think the idea of selecting a few sims (like what I currently do with Townies in TS2) and then having them populate my neighbourhood or be friendly-ables around town would be a great development to the sims framework.
What I /wouldn't/ like to see, however, is it an automatic feature that EA would control. I want to select the sims /I/ want, tell the game how much they can populate and basically have full manipulation to make sure I don't have (while it could be fun) six copies of Keely's Pirate McSkittles in my town.


ETA: A completely new feature that I would also like to see is an IN-BUILT NEIGHBOURHOOD CREATOR. I MEAN SERIOUSLY EA, you TEASED me with the neighbourhood terraining tools at the end of TS2 and then just went back to square 0 with TS3.. actually, worse than Square zero since the Editor tool wasn't there at launch and then the World Creator program needs manually bringing up to include new features.. it's just a mess of a system, really.
So, yes. I want to sandbox my sandbox mode please.

What I want very badly from the Sims 4 is more meaningful interactions. Specifically, with my sims children.

As it is in TS3 I can't seem to feel connected to the children. I usually can't wait for the bland larvae stage to be over. The toddler stage feels a lot like it just simply revolves around walking, talking and potty training. I would like it if my sim could sit and just talk and rock her child, while patting his/her back. Even with the rocking chair, the sims use the same animation as when standing with the child to rock with them. It just felt impersonal.

I love the gradual aging ideas. I've noticed them before and would love to see it implemented. I would like to see my sim childs parents be able to pick them up at at later stages in life - such as five (should this stage be included) or even higher, if only to play and wrestle with them. I would enjoy sibling rivalry such as watching my sims son pull his sisters hair, argue over the television, or even wrestle among themselves.

I would like to see the life and the memories around my sims have a greater impact as to who my sims become and not just what trait was assigned to them. For example, a parent sim who spends a lot of time playing with their child and helping them as oppossed to a neglectful one. I would like to see that in how they react to other sims, without my direction. I would like to see meaningful playdates, children playing with toddlers - more than peek-a-boo or tickle - kids and toddlers interacting with infants. and so on.

I would like to see babies with legs and the option to bathe them again. Little onesies and booties and more items included with the base game such as strollers, walkers, bouncy seats, toys and even car seats!

Animations such as putting your child in that car seat, walking to the bus stop holding your young childs hand, going to his/her little league games or ballet recitals without it being a rabbit hole interaction.

These and so much more. I want my town to feel alive and progressive, and not just with the kids - with every sim.

I don't want to worry about glitches that require mods from the start and I would like it if they listened to people and fixed things instead of constantly pushing out new content in their store.

I understand having an online option might appeal to some, but if it is included, allow us to turn it off if we have no interest in it. Never force us to play while connected.

I know I'm hoping for a lot - especially from EA, but I'm holding out hope.

If they do add memories I'd like them to be like how they were in TS2.

I just want the game to end with TS3 and be remembered as a somewhat respectable game.. Obviously that won't happen and they'll drag it out for a fourth instalment and above all the other terrible things people have mentioned such as always online and stopping people from modding and using CC, I have this feeling they're going to add in basic features people missed from the sims 2 such as bathing babies or the game being shipped with more then one world, and make it out to be this huge deal like they've solved world hunger or something and use this to justify charging whatever extortionate amount of money they charge for it and to try and more peoples attention away from the god awful DRM, in-game advertising and inevitable server fuckery.

Let an entirely different company build it.

I always thought the way they implemented memories was a deliberate fuck you from the development team because of all the complaints and whining about missing features from Sims 2 at the time. I still think that, actually.

I don't have hopes for a sims 4 game, and one that could be better made.
It's a fact that SIms Medieval wat graphically better than sims 3, but sadly very low on gameplay and customization: and how it ended? They killed it, sadly because it was a nice game aniway.
An huge improvement for sims 4 would be advanced graphics, but taking the risk to cut off many players that use laptops or does'nt have an hi-end pc.
But aside that, what new gameplay they could use for sims 4? The option to go first person with a selected sim? To build a town from scratch? To give a in-depth customized personality to our sims so no one will be similar to the others?

Actually, running a virtual economy is extremely complex. See this article from the Wonkblog: The Economics of Video Games

Of course, economists love the idea of trying to experiment, but that does not necessarily make for a fun game. I mean, how many gamers are interested in the intricacies of Fractional Reserve Banking? How many gamers even know what Fractional Reserve Banking is?

It is very easy for a virtual economy to spin entirely out of control. The players of Second Life learned this a few years ago when one of the onliine banks made risky investments and failed, causing a bank run resulting in a loss of $750,000 in real money for the gamers.

I suspect EA does not want to mess with this. Requiring online play helps them promote store items, kills cc, and allows EA to maintain tight control over the game. Of course, the gaming community will probably rebel at having EA's attempt to lead them by the nose.

After playing the Sims 2 for a while, I've realized that the perfect sims 4 for me would be TS3 Create-a-sim/style options, Open World, and graphics combined with TS2 gameplay. Everything is so much simpler and lag free. And you get more of a family vibe instead of a "people who just live together but do their own thing." vibe. And there's gotta be some kind of way to implement an open world without all the lag and bugs...right?

A slightly different idea there, High Plains. I'm not advocating an actual economy with real actors (barring the player), just a simulated one, and only on a very shallow level - almost the level of kludges (which is what EA does best). I sure as hell don't want them implementing an online economy or making the game online-only.

To be honest, I'm going to have to agree with you Mootilda. Many of the responses I've gotten to this thread are not what I had in mind, so I'll elaborate. TS2 introduced 3D graphics, genetics, sims that can become fat or fit depending on their lifestyle, and aging (The original only had babies, children and adults. Babies could become children but never became adults while adults never aged at all). TS3 introduced an open world and a bunch of crap that probably seemed like a good idea before Maxis/The Sims Studio actually put it in the game.

With all due respect, if I had a simpoint for every post on this site that suggested height sliders, round walls, realistic aging, or traffic accidents, I could buy every overpriced piece of crap in the Sims Store. While I admit that I'd like to see these things as much as anyone else, I hardly think they'd be worth buying a whole new Sims game for, and I'd like to think that most of you would agree. In fact, many of these features could be done with expansion packs or patches for TS3; modders like Consort, Bloom, and Delphy have already proven that.

So, basically, what I'd like to see in this thread are ideas that would justify EA/Maxis building a whole new game from the ground up as opposed to just sticking them in an expansion pack. Some things I myself would like to see are a new, less cumbersome user interface, bigger worlds that actually feel alive, careers that aren't completely meaningless, and the ability to effortlessly build your own neighborhood/world without having to use some lame-ass CAW tool.

Imagine that we see the first trailer for The Sims 4 at E3 (I'm not in any way speculating that TS4 will be unveiled at E3 this year; this is purely hypothetical). How can this trailer convince us that TS4 is a huge leap forward from TS3?

This may sound strange coming from me but the only TS4 advancement that I think would be as big as those that TS2 and TS3 brought would be the real on-line play. By "real" I mean that my Sims could visit your world as well as your Sims (and yours mine) and that they could interact (with your world as well as with your Sims) in every way possible.

That sounds simple and I am sure that it should work great in an ideal world, but I am equally sure that in an Eaxis run one everything that could go wrong - and more - would go wrong, to say nothing about Sim trolls and worse. The problems would be unsurmountable (as they obviously are in TS3) so the real on-line game is not a real option; on the other hand, I am not at all interested in one more repeat of the single player game. Restaurants and dress shops and opening car doors are nice but I've already got all that and more in TS2.

I think the biggest advance would be a very similar game to TS3, but with technical polish and better planning.