http://thesims3.ea.com/
Gaaah, again? XD

Sorry I don't have some sort of proper news article to post about it...but apparently you'll be able to move your sims wherever you want to now easily, and won't have to worry about pissing and showering so much.

So they dumbed down a game that was ALREADY incredibly simplistic?

They took out the "pee meter" and other irritating things. That doesn't necessarily mean it's "dumbed down", not until you know more about it, anyway.

And I'm mostly interested in my ability to change how the sims look. I spent most of my time on Sims2 just making sims that looked like family members, friends, and celebrities. Somehow making three people live in a house was more fun when they were Mulder, Scully, and grandpa Cigarette Smoking Man.

Hawk
They took out the "pee meter" and other irritating things. That doesn't necessarily mean it's "dumbed down", not until you know more about it, anyway.

Yeah, actually it does. The game ALREADY had next to nothing to make it challenging, let's take out MORE. Let's SIMPLIFY an already PAINFULLY simple game.

Lord Shplane

Hawk
They took out the "pee meter" and other irritating things. That doesn't necessarily mean it's "dumbed down", not until you know more about it, anyway.

Yeah, actually it does. The game ALREADY had next to nothing to make it challenging, let's take out MORE. Let's SIMPLIFY an already PAINFULLY simple game.

You do realize that this isn't a goal-oriented game, right? You don't "win" The Sims. Even if a character dies that could be considered all part of gameplay. The whole "peeing's not so important" thing is basically a way to make the game more of a "life simulator" than a micromanagemnt "make sure these idiots don't die" simulator. I think you're just being needlessly pessimistic because you like to argue with people.

Lord Shplane
Yeah, actually it does. The game ALREADY had next to nothing to make it challenging, let's take out MORE. Let's SIMPLIFY an already PAINFULLY simple game.

You're ignoring the incredible role The Sims played in the video gaming world. It was the first of its kind to successfully achieve a life simulation. It's not meant to be challenging...it's meant to be what it is: make people, build a house, live your life. If you're looking for a game that challenges you, then The Sims isn't for you. But that doesn't give you the right to bash it. It is what it was meant to be. Compare it in simplicity to other life-simulators, and then see where you get.

It certainly wasn't the first life sim out there or even the first to make the genre fun, but what it did do for gaming was expand gaming into a mainstream medium. It had more to do with bringing games into the mainstream market than anything before it and likely anything after it ever will.

As for difficulty, the game is a sandbox game in the purest sense. It's as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. It's all dependent on the scenario you set up for yourself and the personal goals you want to meet. It's kind of like real life in that sense. Want a challenge, create a completely antisocial slob who has to support six children spend all your starting money on a house and try to build him into a millionaire without having welfare take away the kids.

http://youtube.com/watch/v/FqovBm1VldQ
Images of The Sims 3...I think. Or I believe it came from a magazine. Ha ha hey look, an actual chubby sim and not just a sim with a beer belly for a change. XD Wonder if they can get freakishly skinny too? Starving sims to death would make you feel a hundred times worse if they could...

About the only thing I'm worried about with this new sims is that the faces look like they're lacking a little life compared to the Sims 2 faces. Hopefully it's just a "first glance" thing on my part...I'm sure they're just more realistic looking. But often times people think more realistic = lacking expression.

Lord Shplane

Hawk
They took out the "pee meter" and other irritating things. That doesn't necessarily mean it's "dumbed down", not until you know more about it, anyway.

Yeah, actually it does. The game ALREADY had next to nothing to make it challenging, let's take out MORE. Let's SIMPLIFY an already PAINFULLY simple game.

it was supposed to be challenging? it was pretty hard keeping them alive and happy though. you know what's funny? simplify has SIM in it

Yeah, the game can be mildly challenging if you're doing a legacy/apocalypse challenge or the like. Or if you have a family of eight... and you have to get everybody to work and school... and you can't afford another bathroom...
The one thing that drove me absolutely insane in the Sims 2 was that, unlike the original Sims, family members/romantic partners couldn't be in the bathroom at the same time. Especially with showers. If a wife is showering and the husband comes in and then leaves, when she's done with the shower she will chase him down and scold him... even if he's doing something completed unrelated at the time.

I always liked confining a Sim to a teeny walled room with no door, hitting the fast-forward button, and watching the magic happen. It always amazed me how long it would actually take her to die. She would pee for awhile, magically create a bag of chips every once in awhile, then some bugs would zip around her while she lays on the floor crying.....good times, good times.

I hear another "simulator"-type game is Sociolotron. I hear some weird messed-up stuff happens in that game, which is why I avoid it like the plague. Some guy from Germany created it and it kinda went from there. I would post the link, but it's an adult-only site, so Google it if you're curious.