I don’t understand…it seems like every month, the same sites (CVG, IGN, TVG, EuroGamer) are able to get hands-on time with The Sims 3 and other games in the industry. What is there secret? Visitors? Writing skills? LOLcats? I don’t know! Either way, it’s not going to stop me from posting about them!
Eurogamer published their hands-on preview for The Sims 3:
When it’s a series of games that’s been as popular as these have been, it’s somewhat insane to wonder whether this will be the Sims which turns around the naysayers. Yeah, Sims fans are going to adore it – the level of customisation on everything in the game in terms of colouring is openly hilarious, and you can turn on and off aspects of the world (aging, or the town’s “story”) which don’t appeal. But as it’s trying to minimise the basic human functionality bits and push towards other parts of the human experience, complaints about having to locate the nearest lavatory all the time may vanish – and make those who are turned off by that stuff play.
Does Chun think people will get it? “I hope so,” she says, “We want to introduce people to The Sims. Because the players and community are so important to making it come alive, it can’t just be insular – ‘We’re sims players – we want more of the same.’ We want to push the game in a different direction, and in a way that makes sense for the game. I think we’ve moved beyond needs, and when I play I look at relationships, skills and their inventories; I rarely look at needs. I focus on their moods. And it’s how I live my life. I’m not sitting here and thinking about how I lack Vitamin C or that I have low blood sugar. It’s not beep, beep, beep, low on blood sugar. It’s, ‘I’m Grouchy… I would like some food.’ You live your life, generally, saying, ‘I want to be in a good mood.’ Unless you’re a loner, at which point… you really don’t. But you can be a loner if you want to.”