I REALLY hope my computer is up to it. I seriously can't wait <33333

Thank Christ it's offline. Thank you EA

Even good ol' Phreakindee has stepped into the discussion with this video:

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

I am extremely disappointed that EA is moving onto Sims 4 without completing the Sims 3. In particular, the Sims 3 needs both an Open for Business EP and an Apartment Life EP before it will achieve the same level of completeness as the Sims 2.

In fact, I am downright pissed that they have strung us along for four years, and in the end have delivered a half assed and incomplete game. I guess we will have to wait another five years before the game play in the Sims 4 reaches the level it currently is with the Sims 3.

I can't wait, personally. I hope they'll make it easier to play multiple households in the same city in sims 4 though. And that Sims won't look as alike as they do in Sims 3.

I don't understand the hype about Open For Business.

I only played Sims 2 for a few months, so maybe I missed out on something. I ran a few things and all you did was stocking shelves with random thingies and had lazy employees. What did I miss?

On-topic comment so I don't get crucified: I hope skin texture in Sims 4 is better. Because the CAS in Sims 3 is actually very good.

But really, somebody tell me why people love OFB so much.

As someone who's been with TS2 since the beginning, I understand why people want OFB so bad (brings the community together, you can run your own business so there's a sense of realism, let's you go the work with your sims, blah blah blah) but I also don't get why that deserves a full EP. Like I said before, just give us a totally new EP but have the business aspect that came with OFB. That could have worked for Island Paradise but EA in their infinite wisdom decided not to give Simmers the one aspect from the Sims 2 that they've been bitching for the most.

Who knows. Maybe EA's ignoring people's requests for this because they're secretly planning to give us businesses in TS4 base game.

I felt OFB was fun because you could sell anything and customize your shop down to your employee's outfits. It was the perfect excuse to use super-specific decor and clothing that otherwise doesn't fit in anywhere else. I wasn't too keen on running the business so much as switching families and having other sims make use of that business. Plus it was kind of fun to see any neighbors that worked at the shop you were at, gave a sense of community.

I think they're probably taken TS3 about as far as they realistically can. The game is wheezing with all the EPs currently installed. The game engine, which we knew was never a paragon of game engine development, is admitted by EA to not be able to support things they would like to do. They didn't string us along, they gave us what they could with the tools they had, with the budget and time constraints, for better or worse, they were handed.

Starting fresh might be a great thing right now. Provided the lessons learned from both Sim players feedback about TS3 and its content, and the debacle that was SC, TS4 could actually turn out to be a great leap forward. Or, they could just be blowing smoke up our asses and plan to bang out a TS2/TS3 remake to milk us for another round of purchasing the same game again, except prettier.

Still, based on the carefully chosen statements they made, I have a sense they know what is needed for TS4 to be a step forward. They got the message about not turning it into an MMO. If they still insist that in keeping with their fancy corporate "vision", we'll have some type of Simport optional experience, I can live with it. Their statements about this remaining a "single player, offline" experience are too concrete for them to try and back end some enforced online play. At this point, the backlash would probably kill the company after the beating they took on SC (and the bombing of KOTR, as well as the Sims Social/Sims Online that petered out).

My sense is that they're prepared to make a sincere effort of bringing out an improved, next gen version of the Sims. Will we like every feature and development decision? Probably not. But as long as we can still develop and employ tools to play the game we want, and we have a modern, robust game engine to run it, we are likely better off than expecting miracles from more EPs for TS3. IP will be a good test. It seems to have original ideas, and has taken constructive feedback from the community to heart in development. If that works out, and I really hope it does, it will be a nice road map to the development of TS4, namely originality will be enthusiastically embraced, and responsiveness to players wishes and opinions will pay off in a better game, accompanied by better sales. Because at the end of the day, that's what corporate wants to see, sales figures.

They consider Sims 3 to be complete with the futuristic EP. They have given consignment shops and apartments. They consider that covered.



Being your own boss. Having shops that sell all kinds of things from fresh produce to rubbish to coffins. Seeing what funny items your sim has bought next time you open his house. Using the things they bought in play. He bought a pair of glasses at the hospital? I'll give him a pair to wear then. With a ticket business your playable sims can mingle and strike up relations ships for good or for bad. Romance, poking and fights. There are also nightclubs, restaurants, anything you can think up. Right now I'm setting up my residential fire station to be a home business. My sim already has a job as a fireman as well as having a firetruck as his own private vehicle. With a couple of hacks I'll have customers taking fire safety classes at his firehouse.

Am I the only person NOT getting it on release date? Considering I hardly ever buy expansions on release date (rather when another one comes out and the one before is $19 at JB Hi-Fi)
I'm going to wait and see reviews and until there's custom content

You ain't the only one. In addition to Adode Flash, Photoshop, Fireworks, After Effects, Sony Vegas, and DC Universe Online; my laptop also has every Expansion and stuff pack for the Sims 2 and 3 (minus TS2 holiday stuff pack and that Katy Perry abortion) I'm not sure how much more my poor boy can take.

LaylaRox, you're not the only one. I'm going to wait and may not buy it at all.

Guys, if your PC maxes The Sims 3, it will max the sims 4.
EA is doing some kind of low spec thing with games.

Look at Dead Space 3 and Simcity 2013. Good graphics, but miraculously could be played on 2002 era hard ware.

Its a day 1 buy for me if it truly is offline with no more crap.

Although I did hope there would be a business EP, I think most of us knew after Uni that an apartment life EP wasn't going to happen, as we now have two different types of "apartments" (LN and UL).

That is shocking that their will be popping like "The Sims™ 4", I hope they include in the base game the "Seasons" so that they got weather on the main game :P

My reaction to the announce in the form of a 2-panel comic:



I am so excited for this. Hopefully it will bring plenty of changes and improvements. I also have this weird wish that there will be "sectional beds" in the game that can be combined together to make beds that can hold more than 2 people, maybe up to 8. My main reason for wanting this? 8 - way Woohoo >: )

I can't believe sims4 release is only a year and a half away. And I still don't UL yet. Thank goodness no mandatory online play. It was one of my worst fears of this sequel.

What's so far seen on the official site has already not impressed me, I hope they change TS4 Logo, that's looks very cheap, and those few sims just look like TS3 sims,

This may be true. But I am not willing to wait four or five years for gameplay to reach the level that it currently is with the Sims 3. Dribbling out a buggy new EP every six months simply is not going to cut it for me. I have a feeling that unless the Sims 4 has something which really blows my socks off, I will be playing the Sims 3 for a long time to come.

It's really quite simple. The Sims is supposed to be a life simulator. Shopping is a big part of life.

In real life, when I am out of the home, I usually am shopping for something. I do not go into a big build buy screen to purchase stuff. I go to a store. I probably spend more time in stores and restaurants than I do anything else when I am outside of the home.

I want the same thing for my sims. When they buy furniture, I want them to go to a furniture store. When they buy groceries, I want them to go to a grocery store. When they buy sports equipment, I want them to go to a sports store. When they buy electronics, I want them to go to an electronics store. When they buy toys, I want them to go to a toy store. When they buy a car, I want them to go to a car dealership (but I won't mind if we can skip haggling with a car salesman.) And so on.

Then there is the clothes shopping. This is a real big thing for women. For guys, going clothes shopping with a woman is something of a Zen experience. If done right, clothes shopping could be hilarious. ("Does this dress make my butt look big?")

Since this is such a critical part of life, it seems almost criminal to omit it from a life simulator.

I can't wait for this game to come out

I hope they make more like sims 2 in some ways and like sims 3 in others as in the enviroment detail from sims 3 and the sims detail from sims 2, I have always thought adout sims 3 sims that they were made between sims 1 and sims 2 as I have never managed to make any sim in sims 3 the way I want them to look.

Neither can I but I have worries adout it due to my own personal experiances on sims 3.

Interesting to note how folks are kind of gun shy about this release. We know the biggest deal breaker, online only multiplayer gaming, is off the table, but there are still reservations about TS4. Which, I think, is due to some dissatisfaction with what we've gotten in TS3. It seems clear to me that players here are expecting TS4 to be a major improvement over TS3 before they'll commit to making the move. And given the disappointments that came with TS3, despite the marketing and hype, it's a reasonable response.

I hope EA sees that, and devotes the resources to making TS4 into the kind of game TS3 really should have been. An open world, deep, rich environment, with lots of intelligent sims moving around without being blocked by feathers, and living real sim "lives". If EA puts in the effort, I'll bet the game sells better than TS3 did, which has sold less than TS2 and the original Sims.

I think this is all a part of the move - as The Sims 4 OFB will be the first expansion pack to The Sims 4