Nowegian Sims site SimGoodie has posted their Q&A with EA Producers on Generations!
1. This is something I have wanted a long time. Is it gonna be seasons in the Sims 3 Generations?
The Sims 3 Generations focuses on the Sims themselves; who they are and how they interact with each other at different ages. For example, we really wanted the Child age of Sims to be about imagination and make believe; the things that are going on inside their mind, and not necessarily the outside world. Each life phase is defined by how Sims are feeling internally.2. Will it be some cool new jobs? And will it be like in Ambitions, so you can controll the sims at work?
Sims can join the brand new Day Care Profession in The Sims 3 Generations. In this profession, Sims from around the neighborhood will drop their toddlers off at your house in the morning and your Sim will have to ensure the kids stay happy and healthy throughout the day. How many crying kids can your Sim handle at once?
3. Can the sims go on a university, like in the Sims 2 University?
In The Sims 3 Generations, parents have the option to send their children and teenagers away to a variety of different boarding schools. From Military School to the Sports Academy, parent’s have the options they need to make sure their children get a proper education!4. Will it be more in the real life when your sims get married? Like in a church, or under “bow” that we had in TS2?
In The Sims 3 Generations, players can throw huge wedding celebrations using the brand new Wedding Arches. After the wedding, Sims might receive wedding gifts in the mail, and can even write thank you notes!
5. What is the new neighborhood called? Is it a “city” like in TS3 Late Night?
We wanted The Sims 3 Generations expansion pack to focus on the Sims themselves, who they are and how they interact with each other at different ages. Because of this, we used the development time to make the key features deeper and more intriguing instead of creating a new neighborhood.
Will we get diving boards? No, but check this out!
Will we get seasons? No, but check this out!
Will we get a new neighborhood? No, but check this out!
There is a lot of No in this interview haha.
Also….
19. Can babies fit in the stroller too, or just toddlers?
Both babies and toddlers can ride in strollers.
I thought babies couldn’t? I mean, wouldn’t they have to change the weird blanket thing the babies are wrapped in to make this look right?
… whoever put that list of questions together did a very bad job of removing duplicates 😉
And no surprise there was a lot of “no”, there were plenty of questions regarding things that were never projected in the pack.
There was some new information to me… infants in the strollers was a surprise, sandcastle building sounds like a hidden skill… and… disappointingly… from the answers to a couple of questions, it sounds like only sims you are playing will ever get any memories.
Glad Grant left, and Rod too! This is the best looking ep so far. Finally focusing on gameplay like Maxis did, and going deeper in. The Sims 3 has just took a huge u-turn!
I agree they pretty much dodged all of their questions. They sure have a sick sense of numbers if they call the clothing and hairs for the age groups a ton. There were 3 hairs! That’s NOT a ton.
The whole part about the neighborhood is wack. They don’t have enough to showcase a new neighborhood. It would be like creating another riverview (nothing really new, just some small stuff)
Disappointed with the interview, but I’ll keep my opinion about the game to myself until I play it.
Man, why did they include two new neighborhood questions?
Glad they’re going back to simulating lives and not stuffing RPG crap down our throats. Glad Grant and Rod left.
NOT glad that this EP seems a bit thin on content.
Although they did a REALLY good job on this ep…the new features are so…few!
that makes this ep horrible, the worst thing is that there is no MAIN feature(s)
wtf EA?
This EP is great, yet it feature only few, I mean if this was the first EP, this might be great, It’s forgivable, but after bringing a lot of things from previous EP’s, this game is not “full”. I mean, why not add more things to plant? More recipe’s skills, cross-EP add-ons, which is I think should have been a part of this game.
By Cross-EP add on, I mean addition to the EP’s we have, so anything that might have been left out of the EP’s should have been implemented here…
But I love this EP!!!
You folks do realize why that new age-length feature was added, right?
Fictional-but-Plausible EA Employee: “If you don’t like the baby age stage, that’s fine. Just lower the length to one day! We’re too lazy to steal the rest of the animations from The Sims 2, and re-meshing the maggots really cramps our style. Besides, we only need to put enough effort into new expansions to sell them to the optimists and to the gullible.”
Yeah. So tell me: Do you feel like a valued customer yet?
I’m going to have to wait and play this first before I give my judgement on it. I just feel like it was a great concept but they missed so much. I mean, so many of the items we got in Freetime would have been perfect for this pack. Plus if they would have gave us a few other of our favorites from The Sims 2 like having closets (kids could play in them), diving board, basket ball hoop, etc. Acne too, that was hilarious in The Sims 2.
I dunno, I feel like it was a missed opportunity for a great theme.
The Black Scorpion is not amused. Why did Grant have to leave…
I don’t like how they skipped over the slow dancing question and just went to the reputation part.
I can imagine it now, a nice romantic wedding with some wedding cake followed by the first dance. The dance which happen to be club dancing or the base game dancing (-_-)
I had compiled an entire list of 50 questions (non-repetitive I may add) and only 6 of those questions are in there..
This EP is a let down now.. No new death? No recipes? no skills? no town? What the hell are they selling an EP full of stuff that had Base Game potential?
*shakes fist at EA*
this is Ep is going to be the best one for the sims 3 ever!
ok…..the chemistry set isnt counted as a skill?….and why are some questions repeating?(Or maybe I’m confused with so many questions)
I’m honestly really pleased with the concept of this EP and the stuff it’s included I’m quite excited about, but it’s obvious that the features they’re focusing on aren’t being as delved into as they could be.
I’m particularly not too impressed that the only thing teenagers seem to be getting are pranks and crazy parties; I thought for sure at least acne would make a comeback. Being a teen isn’t JUST about being rebellious. 😉
They definitely seem to be focusing mostly on the ‘Child’ age stage this EP, though, which is fine–that’s the one that needed the most work–but I wish that the things they are adding for the other stages were a bit more fleshed out. There was a LOT of potential there.
Overall, though? I’m not THAT disappointed. I’ll gladly fork out $40 on release day.
This is sounding more and more like a £10 Stuff Pack being flogged as a £25 Expansion Pack. I get the feeling that the reason why the responses given to the questions appear to be thin on detail is simply because there isn’t any detail to offer.
The “tons” of content being bandied about fall back to the handful of clothes, objects and interactions that every fansite who has attended these events so far have already written about (and screencapped) at length. It’s also a telling sign that when he was asked about romantic interactions between teens, his response was along the lines of “Oh, yeah, loads of them, including erm… ah… But the adult interactions are far more entertaining!”
I’m not impressed. Think I’ll wait for the reviews, and then the real feedback from the regulars on the various forums.
Worst Q&A ever. A lot of, “Well, no… BUT WE DID ADD THIS! *minor feature we already know about*”
There’s like nothing to this expansion… But underneath it all I really believe they included a major fix overhaul in the game’s core. Also this EP may cut back on the amount of glitches we’ve been seeing.
Such simple new content won’t break so easily. Hopefully…
Like I said before, it’s a mini expansion pack.
I love how so many interviewers try so hard to break the EA Script™ but the answers are consistently delivered in Perky Marketing Spiel. xD
“No, we do not have this feature, but can I distract you with something unrelated?”
They might as well shout, “LOOK OVER THERE, IT’S A THREE-HEADED MONKEY!”
At first I was disappointed for this pack, then intrigued, now I’m feeling a little hollow about it. I’m not 100% I’ll get it on release day, maybe when it comes down or if the next expansion announced turns out not to be, y’know, that whole THING that video was about. ; )
Totally true! 🙁
i carnt wait until it comes out its gonna be so good
I think you’re exactly right.
I appreciate all the folks that have done these interviews and compiled the info and have tried to get EA to fork over more info. I know they have gone to a lot of trouble and I appreciate it. What I don’t appreciate is EA and their ways of making each EP more and more sparse, and for the same price, no less. It seems to me they are obviously quite happy with themselves that they have been able to scale back on the features/content per EP and have gotten away with it. It saves them $, time, and effort — while cranking out more and more store content to sell fans on the side. Things that should have been included in the EP’s. So they’ve got a win-win situation all around. Great business. But poor in fan service. Just horrible.
Sadly, the vast majority that we are hearing about for this EP – is no, no, no. Everything no. Oh but look we’ve got BUNK BEDS!! The most requested feature ever. SO excited!!!!!
Not.
Ambitions could have been really great too had they added more to the ‘professions’. Like I remember I was so excited for the doctor profession and then found out it was next to nothing. Several relatively simple additions could have made it SO much better. But it seems like they just don’t care to bother. It doesn’t matter to them. They will still get their $. I guess we all have to lower our expectations, seems like they are counting on that. 🙁
Agreed. What is outrageous is that the EP’s are now $10 more expensive than TS1/2 EP’s. Remember that $10 price bump that seemingly was “justified” by the 1000 SimPoints that came with WA?
Well, now we get no SimPoints (which I don’t really care about anyway), AND the price stays $10 more expensive!
The EP’s are so empty now. NL had restaurants, lounges, diners, clubs, bars, karaokes, cars, a whole slew of great interactions and animations, etc. Late Night had bars that are empty half the time, a celebrity system that takes over the whole town, and boob sliders…. Wow I’m so impressed. /sarcasm
Following on from what funnykid said, let’s look at the advertising info printed on the backs of three similarly-themed EPs from the three games so far, and try to pinpoint the moment when EA’s offerings in terms of value for money plummeted faster than an Icelandic bank:
The Sims Hot Date:
“Take your Sims downtown”
New downtown neighbourhood – Create a downtown neighbourhood complete with shops, restaurants, parks and a beach.
More social options – Improve long and short-term relationships with over 40 new one-on-one interactions.
New characters to meet and date – Blonde Bombshell, Femme Fatale, Dream Boat, Lounge Lizard, Jock.
125+ new items including Cuddle Couch, Fish Pond, Ice Cream Counter, Picnic Basket, Lover’s Swing.
The Sims 2 Nightlife
“An epic night out with your sims”
New pleasure life aspiration
New attraction system and dating meter
Over 125 new objects including: DJ Booth, Dance Sphere, Bowling Alley, Karaoke Machine.
You sims have their own cars!
The Sims 3 Late Night
“It’s a whole other world after dark”
Skyline views and rooftop terraces.
Dance Clubs to Dive Bars.
Rule the night as a Vampire.
Play the coolest clubs.
It is noticeable that nowhere on Late Night’s packaging does it state the number of new actions (I’ll bet it’s far lower than 125!), or any mention at all of new interactions, which from experience is certainly less than the 40 or so Hot Date offered back in 2001.
Both Hot Date and Nightlife were priced at £20 in the UK on release, and Late Night, for some inexplicable reason beyond EA’s money grabbing cost £25 with seemingly less content than either of the two equivalent EPs for the Sims 3’s predecessors.
“It is noticeable that nowhere on Late Night’s packaging does it state the number of new actions (I’ll bet it’s far lower than 125!), or any mention at all of new interactions, which from experience is certainly less than the 40 or so Hot Date offered back in 2001.”
I meant objects!
I think you’re right uknotherner !!!
And I’m glad to see in comments posted below that people (most sims fans) are finally seeing how EA is really are ! LAZY !!!
That EP’s are most of time just a bunch of “crap”.
Sims 2 seemed to be the golden age for us (many interactions, objects, etc …) and now Sims 3 is the golden ($) age for EA … (SP, EP, Store, Barnacle Bay, …) Most of the features offer in all of that… were supposed to be in the base game. When did you pass to a new version of a game… a get back in the past in terms of contents and interactions ?! Non-sense !!!
If a Sims 4 comes one day… what should we expect? I’m wondering…
[Sorry for my bad english, i’m belgian ^^,]