Previews are popping up everywhere for The Sims 3! Here are a few snippets of previews you can find on various sites:

Bell gave us a short PowerPoint presentation of the new features in The Sims 3, but then he showed us a pre-alpha version of the game running itself. Maxis has been working on The Sims 3 for years now, so it’s in a fairly advanced state, though there’s still plenty of work to do. Much of what we saw was filled with placeholder art or user interface data, as the designers are still trying to tweak many aspects of the game. But right off the bat, we watched as the camera could zoom from a scenic panorama of a town right down to the familiar confines of a single home. Each lot in the town, be it a business or a home, is fully modeled and exists within the simulation. In other words, these aren’t Potemkin villages. Associate producer Lyndsay Pearson told us that the town we looked at consisted of 97 different lots.

Source – IGN’s The Sims 3 First Look

Sharing content is a huge, huge, huge deal to Sims players — and to be honest, we were a bit surprised to find it’s not as huge a part of The Sims 3’s initial blueprint as we would have guessed. EA’s plans definitely involve an online item exchange and a way to sort the good from the bad with a rating system (sort of like YouTube), but beyond that, it’s nebulous. High-concept ideas like content pollination and podcast-like subscription (so players can, say, constantly receive new clothing designs from favorite Sims 3 creators) is being left to Spore. For now, at least — the game’s far enough away that anything’s possible here.

Source – 1up.com’s Sims 3 Preview

When we started work on The Sims 3,” says Rod as he shows us an early prototype, “I had two directives for the Sims team. One: it’s not going to work unless you can cross the street and see your neighbour’s kids playing. And two: no more hamster cages.”

Source – CVG Sims 3 Preview

As it turns out, The Sims 3 has actually been in development for 2 years, and while no release date was provided in the articles, one online retailer (Play.com) has already begun taking pre-orders with a March 27, 2009 deadline. While previous games have been aimed at casual players, this title is specifically designed to appeal to hardcore gamers as well, including some interesting features borrowed from other genres.

Source – MovieTome Sims 3 Preview