Insimenator.org

Greetings:

What is wrong with me? Sims3 is coming! June 2009 is just right around the corner! Oddly enough I am a lost sheep...(!!)
I really want to like sim3! I even watched some of those cheesy sim3 videos-More times then I wish to admit! I want the game to do everything that EA claims it will do...Though I do have my fears! What if this isn't the game I want it to be???  :confused:

Clearly Sims3 is a jump up, graphic wise, from Sims2-Though not the big jump I was expecting. I was hoping that we would get more photo real looking sims and less cartoonness (rw?) with this one. I must add that some of the sims seem kinda chunky even when they are trying to look skinny...Some of the skins looks barbie dollish plastic and they have lifeless eyes! You would think with all the skin/eye and body mods for Sims2 that EA would have an idea what people here in Sim-land want...Oh, sure June can't get here fast enough, but I can't get over the feeling that this is just Sim2 for 2009...

If you happen to be fat, plastic looking with lifeless eyes-I mean no disrespect.... :p

Cruz'd  ;)

If you happen to be fat, plastic looking with lifeless eyes-I mean no disrespect....


LMFAO ^

Yeah I don't think TS3 is going to be the best game of all time like everybody thinks either. . . and about the way the sims look and why maxis made them like that is because they are complete and utter morons and don't really give a damn what the sims community want and don't take into consideration that if they don't allow CC to be in the game (which to my knowledge at this point is not going to happen) that there sales for the Sims franchise will be a complete flop and there company will more than likely go under because of loss of sales and angry angry simmers because I hear there shipping that devil of a software SecuroROM!! :mad: to screw everyones computer up hence shelling out more money to this shady and corrupt company we all love to hate :rolleyes:

 ^^^^^I Know that made me LOL [ regarding the fat plastic looking sims] haahaha ;D

I agree about the securom thing and if they disallow any custom content I can fast seeing this game being shelved by myself after the initial novelty has wore off. A ctually if they put and updated securom I probally wont even buy it. :rolleyes:

I agree... the sims look awfull. They said that we're given more options when it comes to creating a sim but it seems that the options go from chunky to even more chunky and that's it. I too was expecting something so much more than what we're being given. I really want to buy Sims 3 but right now the characters in it reminds me something out of Disney's Toy Story. Even the faces look the same no matter if the sim is male or female. I'm not a kid and I don't want to play with something that looks more suitable for ten year olds. What were they thinking???  1headwall

I only wish that when all the talented CC makers get their hands on that game, they can undo what the "great minds" back at the EA managed to screw up. Oh, and SecuROM... I better say nothing. Just the word leaves a bas taste into my mouth. :p   

EA needs to hire some of these custom content creators. I've seen them do wonderful things. The custom stuff I get from the web is what makes my sims look realistic. They put the people at EA to shame. When I first saw The Sims 3, I thought it looked awful and a step DOWN from The Sims 2....it's even poor style wise. I am not intrigued.

I don't think that EA is foolish and doesn't have skill to make a great body mesh.

It's their dessicion to make such kind of body mesh....a barbie type.

The male body is too small and thin....even in some clothes it look smaller than the female....very ugly.  :-\

I hope there's a competitor out there, so EA will not feel like "an absolute king".

Well I'm perfectly happy with TS2 for now and I don't plan on buying it for atleast a couple of months and besides I have bigger things to worry about, my boyfriend is about to start a new job in the spring and were investing our money in a new home very soon so TS3 is out of the question for probably a year or so OR if I see some significant modding, hacking and just overall re-making of the game because I agree with Sierra I too am an adult and do not have any desire to play with these childish looking sims that EA was supposed to take a step UP from Sims 2 and not DOWN, what idiots I could curse and scorn Maxis all day and all night but I'll just leave this thread with this thought in mind Maxis better re-consider the CC thing and making elements in the game more realistic including the sims or they are in for a very big surprise come there next fiscal year, and I don't think Maxis is going to be very successful with this game until the intial novelty has worn off like simpleprincess said because simmers CRAVE more and more and more CC for there game, thats what makes it seem so realistic and why the sole purpose the sims franchise its such a success like it is today. . . NOT because of maxis but because of the thousands of creators out there that make it a game ;D

Here is some more horrified screaming for you: Consider that our present research indicates that something like the Insim may not be possible in TS3, leaving you stuck with EAxis-mode only.

I am not surprised, Pescado.  I just wondered if a Sims Program Editor will be possible, but I guess not. They want to control everything, so I will have to stick to sims 2.   1mad

We need Pescado to apply for a job at Maxis and then loot the place blind while singing piratey songs.

The sims looking awfull and having fat floated faces even when they are skinny has a large part to do with the ugly skins. they are toonier than in sims 2. its just a mattar of time till someone makes default replacements with the louis skins for example. im not sure if ill buy sims 3 right away or when a few good hacks are out (no social workers, gay making kids, etc) but probably im too curious not to.

What? no hacks? sims 3 will suck then. I hope some hackers are smart enough.. i really hope so.

you know the funny thing for most of us its easier just to play the sims 2 we allready have what we want know how to create and the sims3 looks like a waste of money and for me to play it i will have to get a new comp so i will not be playing the sims 3 unless i  win the lottery and buy a new computer ...lol

Don't worry. We've been howling about that for months.

I'm not too keen on the Sims 3.Think I'll stick to Sims 2.

Sims 3 has a lot to overcome before it will be allowed in my house on my computer.  Yeah, it'll run it, but who the heck cares when all it's looking to be is a kids game.  I'm not a kid, nor am I buying it for a kid.  I write and need a vehicle for that.  If I wanted a kids game, I'd go play on my wii.  *and even that doesn't have kid games on it.*

I was on insimadult and one of the posts were about how pissed everyone is especially the top adult modders on that website the fact that you can't mod or hack or create ANYTHING for the sims3 without going through a very great deal of trouble and if you read the whole thread it does make sense because I think EA Games are ASHAMED of what the we the community have put into there precious franchise and they should be HAPPY that we the sims community have made the game such a success like it is today because without us it would be played for about a week and become very repitive and boring and I think they honestly don't want Sims 3 to be 'corrupted' like they think the Sims 2 has been over the years So long story short I will NOT give EA games one red cent for this crappy game which is going to be the biggest flop of 2009!

I'm going to continue to "guess" why those sims in TS3 look the way they look.  I say guess, because the game isn't out yet, but based on what I know about programming I'm absolutely convinced that TS3, and not just its sims, looks that way because the game was ported to the PC, as opposed to TS2 which was designed for the PC from scratch.  I'm pretty sure that this game was originally coded for consoles and is being ported to PC's and Macs, even the interfaces look like those EA created for console games.  If I'm right, the whole thing is very much in line with EA's recent thinking about giving priority to the hot console market over a declining PC gaming market.  I would imagine that in order for EA to release a much improved sims game for the PC, an I mean, really improved in every way, the system requirements could be met only by a very hefty gaming PC most current TS2 players wouldn't be able to afford or be willing to spend money on.  The seamless neighborhood with beefed-up graphics would probably be too tall an order for any other machine and the game would go the way of Crysis.  I may be one of those who wouldn't fork out $1400 for a super PC, but judging by the way TS3 is shaping up, I'm pretty sure it's not the game I want, and if custom content will be a thing of the past, then I know this kid isn't buying the game.

*Raises Eyebrows* You do make a good point there fornax but I'm STILL not buying the thing lmao. . .

TS3 shows every sign of being ported from console, yes. The graphics, the models, all of them are nearly indistinguishable from the console versions, if you look at the console crap. Also, the gameplay and quite possibly the code also looks consoleish.

I think they're doing this because of the adult type of mods and custom content. I've read some complaints and maybe even claims that some adults have made against EA/Maxis because of Adult downloads people can get. The no CC or harder accesibility of it is there way of making sure of no porn type CC because there purpose of the game IS really to appeal to all ages, kids and adults. I might buy it though and see what I can do with it.

THAT part I find unlikely, considering that retexturing is the easiest, easiest mod to make in any game, including games that are otherwise non-moddable. One merely needs to look at the entire "Nude Raider" phenomenon to realize that making even totally "unmoddable" games "adult" is the most trivial mod of all.

I think I'm gonna wait to see what people can do with it first before I buy it. If there is no CC or anything that can change gameplay, then whats the point? I don't like the crappy EAxis stuff. And personally from the screen shots i think she looks fat and plastic rather than realistic!

Char
xxx

Oh, I wasn't talking about skin, I was refering to parts put on sims. I'm not gonna give detail because this site is for everyone and kids are here, but they said things like that would be difficult. The reshaping or mesh side of things. I don't care for that kind of stuff, but I would like to make meshes for clothes. Does that seem possible for TS3? I know Numenor or the squad of SimPe would more likely have to do that, but that's only if they could majorly hack into it.

I have to say that I am not at all interested in sims3, I don't see what's so special about it. Everything "new" they have I've seen on sites before or were in the sims2. I mean come ON! give us something to work with. sigh. I'm not impressed. I'll stick to sims2. The graphics really don't look great on sims3 and the cas looks like the ones from the console sims haha.

Well, from the videos, sims really look like lego-figures, and the objecttextures...
Do you really want to mix vibrant plaid with tiger stripes? The TS2 textures are scuffed, and now, in TS3, its just... tawdry. We need a lot of CC's!

I am waiting to see what CC (mainly skin, eyes, and face template for me) is made for it, if any. I do like the scenery I see in pictures and videos but I can't shake the feeling that those pics and videos are tweaked to get people hooked. I don't want to buy it only to get bright cartoony weird Pixar-looking things.

Besides I never really got to play Sims 2 because of college but now I've graduated and work at night Sun-Thurs I have more time to play now so I'm content with the Sims 2 ;D. I've downloaded wonderful CC from mods to skins for Sims 2. Absolutely love Gunmod's radiance lighting, ACR, and the like. Like a few others, I'm intrigued but not crazy about the Sims 3.

The most likely reason to make it hard to mod the game is so that the Maxis store becomes the sole provider of new content. Isn't that obvious? They want to make a fortune on their poor quality extra content. If they are the sole provider of new content, people will flock to the store and they will make more money that way than they lose in initial sales. People will buy whatever they put out.

They won't get *my* money, that's for sure. TS3 looks horrible; the seamless neighbourhood does not impress me in the least, I can go play SimCity4 for that matter; the raised level of difficulty for creating CC and modding the game near to impossible makes it even worse.  Why, do they really think that TS2 would be such a success without CC, mods and adult content? Ha! EAxis have proved to be incapable of creating interesting stuff for their game.  I bought TS2 a month after its release and two weeks later put it aside. Boring. I started playing again last year, after discovering the treasures all the modders and CC creators had produced. Without TwoJeffs' ACR, Pescado's mods and all those custom skins and clothes, I would never had gone back to TS2. Period.

As for the complains of adults towards EAxis and the CC created by the community, I have heard them too. I have even read articles on newspapers, laughable articles. One columnist in particular was shocked wondering how her niece could possibly THINK to kill her Sims' kid in the pool because "he was annoying". Please, give me a break! If all the complains are like that, then some people need to get a life -- and maybe a little happiness with it, never it's too late.

Last, but not least, if Maxis aspires to be the sole provider of TS3 content, they should hire some creative and clever designers first. They wouldn't have to look hard and far, just a careful search around TS2 community would  suffice.

In any case, with my current Downloads folder there is no point in getting TS3, no point at all. It can keep me happy for years to come.

I think everyone is pretty much on the money here. EAs partner is Sony, right? Sony, apart from making televisions and stereos also makes PlayStation, hmmmm.
As for the adult mods, so what, If people out there don't like them, then they don't have to download them, simple.Keep away from the adult sites.
And if little Johnny downloads rude bits in the middle of the night, big deal, he probably knows more about the subject then both his parents combined,and I might add Is probably healthier for his physiche in the long run than blowing away half a hundred AIs. in the first person shooter games.
So all those out there that are offended by the adult mods, tough, leave me alone, I'm an adult dammit. I can assure you that myself and thousands others of that play the game ala adult don't transform into sexual predators after midnight.
I think EA Maxis already has some clever designers in mind. The relationship between themselves and TSR. is almost at the hand holding stage.

Sony: Please! Don't speak of Sony! I hate this company and still I will have to buy a PS3 when FFXIII Versus is released. *crying*
Adult content: Ha! I agree. I can bet my life that today's kids are not *that* innocent as their parents claim them to be.
EAxis and TSR? A link to read all the news, gossips or not, please. In this case, I'm expecting EAxis to *change* their ToS. Hypocrites!

I realise this forum Isn't a Sony bashing exercise,but what the heck. I have more trust in some East European porn site than I have in Sony.

I am slightly in agreence with most of you. I agree that the physical look of the sims in TS3 is disappointing. I LOVE that I can make my sims in the sims2 look just like pamela anderson or m yself and my children... WITH the beautiful custom content... skin, eyes, clothes, makeup... that I DL. Without my CC, the sims2 looks HORRIBLE! I even use default replacments so all my townies are attractive. They are flat without it and I dont like that. TS3 faces do all look kinda fat... fat cheeks, fat neck... and the noses look odd and cartoonish as well. I do not like thier eyes either. I do like that the skin is now on a slider so a black as night man and a white as a sheep woman can truely have a mixed baby. Thats pretty cool.
However, all that said I am still excited about this game. The possiblities that I have read... the new things you can do... its very exciting! I will be there the day of its release to buy it. I am hoping that somehow our wonderful modders can find some tricks and bring us some extra excitment. I am also hoping once EA starts releasing expansions (oh please tell me there will be expansions!!!) it will improve some things as well.

   OK, so here's the thing....If Maxis doesn't appreciate custom content, why did they invite all the creators out to their, er, ranch(?), compound, whatever; to play with the game and make cupcakes? I don't get it. I do know this much, if they think I'm paying 60 smackers for the game, then they are severely dillusional, that's for sure. I could see maybe 40 to start and then drop the price to about 30 or even 25 when the expansion packs start coming out. And if they're are going to require all this extra hardware on your part just to play the game, then they better make the graphics far more worth my while. There are free MMORPG's online with graphics that make The Sims3 look like 1980's Atari! BLUH! 2hug

I dont mind sims looking cartoonish. For me sims are sims they are not humans. I think that the skins in sims 3 are much better from sims 2,  but i am little disapointed in the new eyes, i like sparling eyes with lights! First thing i will try to mod is to make new eyes in sims 3, i hope it´s possible. There are many skins and creations i will miss in sims 3 that were made by sims 2 community :(, i wish i could take them and transport in the new game. I think that if maxis made everything for us there would not be modding community?! I just love sims communities and sharing with others and enjoy other peoples creations. If all this already was in the game, what would be left for community to do? Everyone should just think that this makes community creativity possible. If skinning is not possible in sims 3 that would whole another issue then i would be bitching about it and probably wouldn´t stay interested in the game for long. 

I agree except that right now we don't know if custom content is going to be possible. That's the real problem. If the game isn't exactly how we want it on release, we may not be able to change it. At all. And that sucks.

Yes, you have good point. I am little afraid about this too, i really hope that the game isn´t going to be too limited.

It's all about selling the game, positive publicity, which they sorely need after Spore, securom etc. Also the modding rumors, they're saying "hey! look, see it can be customised" Maybe not to insiminator extent, but it can be dressed up ala TSR, you know, pretty colors, different shaped clothes etc. probably all for a price. Bah, since when has that shonky lot ever done anything for free.

Roezman, are u saying that skinning and making eyes is not bossible  :eek:, if so it would be horrible...but i guess we really can´t tell until summer.

Yeah ... pretty much. We don't know for sure, but it's kind of looking that way currently.

I think it looks like EA is going to restrict the modding and skinning to "their" talent pool of creators and only allow them access to the code that you can do it with.
For the rest of us, that means that we get the privilege of paying for their creations. We don't get the tools, because that would mean we would have the power to change their crummy creations into something we like. Not done!

They're keeping very tight lipped about modding tools and distribution of such. Wait for the game to be released, it'll be just like a surprise party, 'ta da'.
What will come of no surprise to me will be the amount of custom content immediately available at TSR on the games release.

To be honest I don't think the sims 3 looks all that great

(http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/586/1241126527041.th.jpg) (http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1241126527041.jpg)

Personal taste of course but for me they are looking bloody fugly.

Has everyone forgotten the early days of TS2? The game didn't COME modded - with tools or tech to mod it. The game came just as 'locked' as TS3 and took a long time to as easily mod as TS2 is now. Have a little faith in the upper echelons of the moding community. If a game is good... modders will follow

Yes, well, there is a lot of talking going on about not being able to modding for TS3 so far, which sounds rather annoying to me.

I do have faith in the modding community, but then again I haven't noticed any program like BodyShop for TS3 yet, which is a rather bad omen in my book.

Grig32,

I think whats trying to be addressed here regarding CC and modding tools is that if EA doesn't include a modding code then creators will obviously not be able to rip the game open and start hacking into it as there is no code to do so BUT I bet like everyone else said that those slimeballs over at TSR will have top choice on what to hack and mod into the game to make it more playable albeit something incrediably dumb that isnt even nesscessary :rolleyes: but who knows right? we are still about a month away and I for one can't wait because I feel TS3 has potential to be a good game if and only if one of those awesome modders out there can rip it and mess with its coding, and if I find out early, after TS3's initial release that modding or CC isn't possible and the novelty has worn off for me I will be throwing it down and go right back to TS2 with haste, but you never know right?

There will be CC. I doubt if there will be mods as in behaviour and animations or possibly even default replacements. The EULA clearly states that.
Teen woohoo and the Hunter type modifacations are gonna be seriously dificult if not impossible, and if achieved, illegal.
 

What you mean "illegal"? What the difference will be whether it's for TS2 or TS3? Care to elaborate a little?

That runs counter to what the TS3 crew have said about trying to make the game as user-friendly and community-minded (if not moreso) as TS2

It seems to me that people are just afraid of change - like, if the TS3 is good, than they'll just HAVE to give up TS2 (much the same Sims phobia when TS2 replaced TS1) which seems silly to me.


Not to call you out on that but TS2, as I said before, didn't COME with modding code included. People had to find it - people like Numenor and other modders. Before there were tons of newby skinners or custom-content jokeys there were the old masters who took TS2 and started finding hidden or borked content and made the game better. Then hackers and programmers designed stuff like SimPE and various other tools used to edit the game more easily. THEN, and only then, skinners and fans came in and made the game even more awesome - the same will happen with TS3. Its inherent to the series.

Your probably going to toss the game if you think the game will be IMMEDIATELY moddable the first day of its release. Modding anything (from Empire at War to Zeus: Master of Olympus) takes time and has a steep learning curve. Patience, more than anything else, is a virture.

The big difference between the first two sims and sims 3 is how you install CC. mods etc. The is't two were done directly via zip or rar. With the sims 3 you have such things as THE EXCHANGE , SIMS POINT, DOWNLOAD MANAGER, SIMS 3 LAUNCHER. as well as tech. protection measures and all this is possible only by registering the game.The way the EULA reads is that all CC. must be verified by EA. before it can be installed.
So all installation can only be done via EA. So there will be no more homegrown mods and hacks. As Mr.Pescado stated "they have clamped right down on the modding" and that's how they police it.

Ah, I see. Well, if they will do it indeed, then that's bad for them, because no one wants to be panipulated so blantantly with a game already bought and paid for. The best tactic for me is waiting, I did the same with TS2. Only chances to buy a copy of it is ONLY and WHEN there will be custom content created and above all tools to do so. I really don't care whether it will be next year or not. I have patience, and most importantly, there is a great number of other games --except TS2-- to play when I feel like it. So... f*** EAxis.

They are obviously trying to create a huge profit and a lot of publicity. Without your modders, ts2 game would not be as huge and as well known without cc. Therefore I believe that they are not as stupid to not let people customise the game to their way as people would rather play ts2, hell even ts1 than ts3 without cc. Maybe it is just going to be a big surprise, and no ones going to find out until someone buys it, and tries it out. Plus, if you go on http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/sims-3/544356-play-sims-3-a.html (http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/sims-3/544356-play-sims-3-a.html), there was recently a competition in the UK where 40 fans could play the game for 2 hrs each. In the game they saw the little customise star so there will be cc correct me if Im wrong. Go towards pages 18 onwards.  :cool:

The custom content mark is there for the content you create from inside the game, by using different patterns and a colour palette (similar to photoshop programs' one) to alter the furniture and clothes already existed in the game. I haven't yet seen tools for creating new objects, skins etc. Sure you can alter the colour of your Sim's skin in CAST but who cares about EAxis' skins or hair anyway.

Not to call you out or anything Grig32...but you say that TS2 was not originally made with coding capable for modding and CC? I believe that you are incorrect there because if there were absolutley NO coding whatsoever put in the game then how did numenor make his mods for the game unless he made his own coding to make mods and everyone else used his coding to make there mods and so on..highly unlikely so yes there was original coding placed in the game by Maxis/EA so others could make mods

I will be buying the game and I will wait for CC I know it won't take long at all for creators to crack the game open and be made possible for mods and CC because creators know more now then they did when TS1 first came out so its going to be real easy to start incorporating simply made mods into the game..but I could be wrong because I have heard that EA has really locked the game down tight with modding and that weasle Grant Rodeik won't comment on anything right now on modding but I wonder what ways we can make sims without the game running? with TS2 we had TS2 BodyShop but I haven't heard mentioned anywhere any other side application that will be included with the game? so I guess we can make our sims in-game with everything available from the start..

There is no bloody way I would play with the skins, hairs and clothes EAxis provides. Once you have experienced all those talented players' amazing work there is no way back. Not to mention that the community has always been fixing stupid game problems and glitches much sooner than EAxis.  Certainly the new trait system is wonderful and probably calls for a lot of surprises, but if I am to bound a nice gameplay to hopeless fugly Sims, I'd better commit seppuku right away.

I can't see why all these new traits etc. could not have been incorporated into another expansion pack, the seamless neighbourhood I can understand, that requires a new game engine. But to take us all the way back to square one just so you can have ugly cartoonish characters that can wander all over the map?
If they must rewrite the entire game just for the teens then they are free to go ahead, they should then try to sell the dam thing in various toy stores. For goodness sakes there is still enormous potential for further expansion and building onto the existing game.
This nothing like the transition from sims 1 to 2, this new thing is basically the same but with a GTA. type game engine, super ugly sims and handcuffs and leg irons included.
Surely they're not assuming that the whole sims community is just going to drop everything, throw the sims 2 away with the sims 1, go racing of to shell out mega bucks for the new thing and then sit back shivering with excitement, our credit cards clutched in trembling hands and like brainless morons start forking even more cash for the s--t that's going to be for sale via their bloody store.
Yea sure, nearly half the dam world is unemployed at the moment and yea no worries I'll go without a meal for the day just so I can download some crappy remesh.
Man I'd like to know what they're smoking over in EA. land.

I, myself, am not hyped up about this one. I was one of the few who actually got to experience the Securom meltdown on my computer. When Sims2 came out, I was so excited. I reserved my copy a couple of months in advance at Best Buy. I watched every trailer. I jumped for joy and raced to pick it up when it got to the store. I bought the expansion packs as soon as they came out, up until Freetime.

Then the proverbial crap and fan. Computer crashes, DVD burner frying, CD-DVD programs being altered. I get it checked and, that was when I first learned of Securom. I always overlooked the bugs, I knew there would be a fix, but the whole malware thing proved too much for me. I will buy Sims 3 when it comes out as a whole set 5 years from now; probably about the time they are releasing Sims 4. The bugs should be gone by then, and I will only have to remove one version of whatever nasty anti-customer software they put on it.

EA has embedded and incripted the code for the game so meticulously and precisely that if anyone ever does manage to break it down to the level to be able to change, alter or delete bhav codes, or UI code...ANY codes for that matter, it would be direct infringement of the copyright of the game, hence it'd be illegal. The software of TS2's game source is open source, which means there's very little fail safes to prohibit access to the code to skilled modder, hence there's codes and hack to change just about everything that is on on TS2. TS3's coding is closed source, much like a console video game. Closed sourced coding is usually copyrighted. So any altering of closed sourced software and coding is illegal and in many cases a Federal offense. A shrewd tactic on EA's part to ensure the only people importing new meshes, objects or ANYTHING on the game is them, and them alone. I hope that clears things up for you.

Yes, your post was quite enlightening, many thanks for that, Kaoz!

Of course, I knew EAxis suck big time, but this? this is outrageous if one considers how dreadful their "artists" are.

The developers at Maxis know full well they can could have come up with far better looking sims when the TS2 was released. The reason for them not doing so was the user being able to create beautiful sims on their own. But the way it's shaping out now for TS3 is that all of the halfway decent CC, especially within the 1st year of the game being out will come straight from EA, and thus you'll have to pay to get it. It'd be nice is SOMEONE from EA could maybe offer some better info on the subject, but the fact that even now, less then a month until the game's release they're still being tight lipped about it means don't hold your breath. Plastic sims will be the order of the day for a looooooooooooooong time to come in the world of The Sims 3. Hell, it wouldn't even surprise me to see EA wait a few months and release a Sims 3 Bodyshop...by way of The Exchange that has to be paid for. Oh what a firestorm that would cause, especially seeing that since there's been no mention of a Sims 3 Bodyshop, chances are one won't be shipped with the new game. Of course only time will actually tell...they might have just not said anything about it. But from know how game releases go, if it's not mentioned in the press release, it's not on the game.

I think it is iggnorant on EA's part not to include a secondary application for its consumers to create sims with, but I watched a lot of the videos on the official site and it seems to me that everything is availabe for us to create that 'perfect' sim right in CAS so maybe there really is no need for another program since most of us go straight into the game and create a random sim or family anyway, and besides BS was only needed with TS2 because CAS couldn't do everything BS could do with adjusting sims features and whatnot, but I think the biggest need for a secondary application would defiantly be for creating purposes, so that makes me kind of think that EA doesn't plan on creating CC for the game until they feel the need for another program such as BS. :-\

While that's true as far as molding your sims from scratch, what my point of concern is skintones. I think we all can agree that the default Sims 3 Skins are butt fugly. I've seen Nintendo 64 Games that had better shading and textures. You'd figure since the game is supposed to be a step up graphically from TS2 that the skin textures would at least be realistic, but apparently someone at Maxis must think that's not very important. But as far as TS2, that's what we have BS for. If we didn't like the Maxis skins (And I'm sure a majority of people don't, I know I replaced the Maxis skins years ago) we could just as easily fire up BS and make our own. However if no such application comes bundled with TS3, that in a nutshell means we're stuck with the crap-tastic Maxis default.

Oh, yes! Most definitely fugly! The absence of user-created skins and genetics is my main concern too. 

I think Maxis is not part of the deal anymore. Please correct me if I am wrong, but to my understanding from the little I have read EA and only EA is responsible for the development of TS3.


I refuse to be stuck with EA defaults. Unless things change, there is no bloody way I'll buy TS3. As I have said already, I do like the new trait system, but I have no use of it if it is about a Sim with EA skins.

And to come back to your earlier post, it annoys the hell out of me the fact they chose TS3 to be closed source software.  I do respect copyrights and all --the bulk of movies, music CDs and games I have been buying over the years is proof enough-- but I have no respect for EA screwing us like that. Which in turn means I wouldn't care in the least if someone was to break their software so as to enable us to create our skins and CC.

"Maxis" as an independent entity has not existed since well before TS1. There is no Maxis, there is only Zuul.

If SKINS are your only concern, they are not a realistic one, since even games that lack any ability to load custom textures at all can have the texture overridden in graphic memory by texture replacement programs.

To be honest, skins is not my one and only concern, just the top of them. Game modifications that improve gameplay are of equal importance to me. I use lot of your mods/hacks as well as ACR, stuff that make for a far more interesting --and reasonable-- game; so what if one is in the end unable to modify the game at all?

Sweet. That really is my main concern. At least there is some hope ...

There's always hope. The problem is the measures it's going to take to get to that point on TS3. Like Pescado said, the texturing of skins can be bypassed. The problem is the code needs to be accessed to do so. There in lies the dilemma of the code being closed sourced. If you by pass it for your own use, no harm no foul. But if you even think of distributing it anywhere, even on The Exchange since closed source coding and software are copyrighted 99% of the time, EA will drop the legal hammer on you harder then Aaron Brooks dropped the Lakers this weekend. The code can and potentially will get cracked eventually. EA made damn sure that even if someone does, if they try to distribute it in any form they'll pay a hefty legal price for it, thus deterring hackers in a small way. As I said before, from a business standpoint it's GENIUS. But from a consumer standpoint it's a little one sided, and then there are the legitimate modders who don't pirate the game, just mod code to improve things EA might have missed or was just to damn lazy to improve. They're the ones who really get the shaft in the deal. If you're willing to take TS3 as it is for face value, I'm sure you'll enjoy the game. But if you're looking for any real commanding depth as far as creation and detail to sims, You're best sticking with TS2 until some form of resolution is met with TS3...if one ever is.

Well, sounds sweet. As with many other games that were great once, the developers probably have their pants full when thinking about certain pressure groups. If there's no custom content possible and securom is still part of the deal, I'll stick with TS2.

I have to agree with all here about too much change to Sims 3.  I don't like the fact that they couldn't put more detail into infants. From what I read, they are only going to be in wrapped up blankets, to me, that's lame. I like the infants, they could have added in a whole lot for them. Like, taking them for a walk in a buggie, playing with them to earn life points, feeding them with a spoon in the high chair, rocking them to sleep in a rocking chair when they get fussy. That's just some I thought of, there's alot more. Makes me also not want the game.  :(

Personally, I have a good reason to be hot over that fact.   :mad:  I mean, the idea wasn't that original considering that they probably wouldn't have decided this if similar infant overrides weren't made for Sims 2.  And the fact that there aren't any sort of mentioned clothing options for babies after all this time... royally stinks. 

Eh... let me stop while I'm ahead with that last one though.   :p  It's not worth me ranting over the same thing from 5 years ago anymore, but it still bothers me that they conveniently decided to have swaddled babies in Sims 3 like that, especially mentioning it about several months after I busted my brain trying to mesh that blanketed baby for Sims 2 per request.  It's not the best ever, believe me, but I feel a bit cheated that they're still seemingly yoinking from the community and profiting off of a few users' ideas again without warning... things never change, huh?   :rolleyes:

As for the two-slider thing that was mentioned... considering that they had more slider options in Sims 2 for console and prior to that in The Urbz, I see no reason as to why they couldn't implement those same sliders into the Sims 3 base game.  Even the Urbz had sliders where you could adjust the chest area on both male and female sims (not so much as breast, but they did increase in size slightly when the chest was enlarged), and not only that, for the arms, legs, and if I can recall correctly, even the waist.  I honestly was expecting that system's return in Sims 3, along with the other additions they had for it.  Problem is, I was expecting way too much for the game in general, so of course it's hard to look at what's being presented now and accept it as is.   :D

One thing is certain, and that is that interest in the sims 2 is dropping dramatically amongst the broader community. I use the exchange as an indicator and only 2 or 3 new posts per day is to me indicative of the interest a lot of people have in the game now.
It looks to me that EA. have done their sums right, and the few of us that still bitch about the new game may well be a very small minority, hardly enough to concern EA.
You watch, by the end of the year the vast majority of these sites will disappear.
All the bitching about the new game was to little and to late, the only thing that was achieved was the removal of securom.
So, those that move on are going to have to accept the new game with all its limitations and constraints and vainly hope that someone can crack the thing in a couple of years to make it playable.
CC. was the driving force that kept these sites thriving, and it was CC. that was largely ignored by the community in favour of securom. Securom was dealt its death blow by the broader gaming community. In my opinion we should all have been more focused ,vocal and united about the locking down of the new game.
Some of us, myself included were accused of rumormongering, presenting hearsay as fact and so on. Well there it is, EA have got their way, and perhaps TSR. as well. So now all we can do is carry on about the limitations of the body slider and what we can and cannot do with the CC.when perhaps with a bit more interest and unity we may have been able to alter that.

Well, I for one am very physced about the new game I can hardly wait till next month to grab my copy. I was telling my boyfriend today that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get to Wal-Mart in time to get my hands on one the day it releases, because I think in a small town such as mine that the games are going to fly off the shelves so I think I might need to get up at around 6 in the morning and hurry to claim mine..yeah I'm obssesed :p

For me, the Exchange and BBS boards have always been indicators of how flocks of sheeps react. Just reading, "MaxoidDrea I love you!" is enough proof.


It might be true, but then again it depends on what ages we are talking about. The ones who keep bitching about the game are apparently adults, and adults tend to be more demanding than kids and teens.


It was too little and too late because EAxis kept their cards close for as long as they could. SuckaRom on the other hand was something we had already experienced and there were issues they couldn't turn a blind eye to.


In all honesty, I am not sure things went exactly this way. As I said above, EAxis kept their cards close for as long as they could --at least that's my impression, and there is always the possibility I'm being wrong. Nevertheless, when you don't know what exactly is being included in a new product or how it is designed to work, how the heck you are supposed to react?


No, I'm afraid you are wrong on the "all we can do" part. We are left with the option to buy or not buy, to play or not play the game. Thing is that if, for example, I, despite knowing already the game's limitations, buy it and then start bitching about it, I deserve to be flamed to death for that.  I hope you can see my point.

Yeah I to have watched one too many videos on Youtube and am disappointed in the cartoony look of the sims 3 it's almost a step back. Unless they allow CC I will not be buying this game. The EA clothes are too ugly, the skins  don't look realistic, the furniture has no imagination, the eyes are lifeless, and the personality trait system, no matter how neat it sounds at first- is bound to be heavily flawed to the point of needing hacks to make it bearable. Not to mention all the bugs that will be in it for the first few months and let us not forget SecureRom. I'll wait to see if it skins or swims before investing any money in it.

There will be no SuckaRom in TS3, PixieStyx.
I'm with you on the rest of your post though.

Really no SecureRom yay!!!

I think it will be on the digital version -- if you download TS3 from their site that is. But if you buy your copy from a shop you won't have to deal with it at all.

I'm with you on that one PixieStyx. To buy or not to buy is about the only option one has when handed the final outcome. But not being able to predict as mentioned by others where EA. were going with the game as a result of their tight lip policy I will question.
They certainly didn't hold back with the sims 2 when they were developing it. The exact opposite policy with the sims 3 plus all the wonderful amenities that will be available to us via the sims store and all that should have been enough for most of us to read between the lines.
I still believe all the talk about their drm measures, on again and of again etc. was there to divert us from their CC. limitations, and I must say it worked wonderfully.
CC. and modding is the nuts and bolts of the game and is the reason for the existence of sites like this. Even Mod the sims 2 may have to change their name to Recolour the sims 3.
In the end It's a money game, a mass uproar at a suspicion that they were going to lock the game down would have been enough to have them scurrying back to rewrite it, but unfortunately the "let.s wait for the facts first" attitude has enabled them to hand us their finished product as is.
So that just leaves one unanswered question, What part will TSR. play in this?

I don't know what part will TSR play, I am so sick of their intercourse with EAxis and vice versa; but I stick with my principal: unless the game is unlocked by any means, be it "legal" or "illegal" in their boook --and I take FULL responsibility of what I'm saying here-- so as to enable mods, fixes by fellow players and freely distributed CC, EAxis won't take my money. Period.

The only thing that will have any influence now is sales. No doubt they have a target, and it would not surprise me if they have contingency plans in place to release an open source version or patch if it all goes pear shaped. The arg. thing is not the answer, in the long run it just makes it harder for all of us.

But the industry aims for kids. For those pesky little bastards bitching their parents into buying. Also the industry has hardly any interest in the longevity of their products anymore. The sooner the gamer gets bored, the better for the industry, since their next product is ready to be released.

Making modding impossible makes absolute sense, since there is a trend to make some additional dough by selling content online.

Well, as has been said. One doesn't have to buy on the very first day. Let's see what the experts say about that newest gem and then make an educated decision.

If you talk about the game industry in general, I'm afraid I'll have to disagree. By now they are well aware,  according to their surveys, that their games are bought by kids and adults alike.  But if you talk about EAxis in particular, I will possibly agree.

As for the longevity of the games, I think it depends on the company and the title. Not that EAxis cares about it. As you said, they are going to get more money with EPs and their online store. I feel pity for the parents. lol

Who are the "experts"?

The modders of course. It's them who influence my buying decisions. Certainly not the mags, who would write anything for the right cash.

Yup, yup. I'm with you.

Question: How are modders considered experts? I mean, sure they probably know what they're talking about, but I wouldn't consider them experts.

Modders like Pescado and Lord Darcy, to mention only two, are considered experts in my book because they had been fixing game problems long before EAxis released the patches. Not to mention that some problems, like a Knowledge Sim getting a negative engagement memory in University, was never fixed by EAxis.

Ah, gotcha. Now with Pescado I could see him having that title. I'm unable to use the EAxis patches because I'm on a mac (a reason why I intend on getting TS3 on the PC).

But what exactly have they said about the future TS3 that magazines might have said wrong? All I've heard (mostly from SnootySims and GameInformer) was good.

And in my case the primary question is if the game is moddable at all. In the long run I never cared much for vanilla versions. At least not enough to fork out 50+ for something.

Every game/program is moddable. The major difference between sims 2 and 3 is unlike 2, sims 3 is closed source. That means modifying the thing is illegal, As in messing with the animations, behaviour or defaults.
Get caught with something like that on your pc, whether for personal use or intent to redistribute, will land you in it up to your chin.

Yeah, I'm aware of the legal implications. And if that close sourced info holds true, EA will have to make do without my financial contribution.

You could well be a lone voice in the wilderness. (no offence please) I know I'm probably repeating myself here, but. All this came about because EA, have been watching the enormous number of sheep who for years still subscribe to illegal paysites even though the vast majority of the good stuf has been freely available at the exchange and various booty sites for years.
You really can't blame EA. they saw a market opportunity that was to good to resist. They link up with the FAs. or their sites, control the installation and distribution of CC. and these same sheep will ensure that the dollars go into EAs coffers and those who come on board with them.

Yes, I can only speak for myself. But a vanilla game of any kind never has been my cup of tea. That's not worth 50+ of my money.

Oh, yes, I can blame EA all right! The paysites, to start with, have been violating EA's own bloody EULA/ToS for years, and one would expect EA to spank those b@st@rs. Instead, EA decided to follow paysites' course --like applausing them for showing no respect to the rules-- turning their practice into an acceptable form, which in turn resulted in the freaking online store for the TS3.
No problem with the online store per se; but when they make TS3 closed source, their practice equals to greed.

So what do we have here? EAxis' complete disrespect for their own rules that led them to make new rules of sort to accomodate their greed, and all that on the players' expenses. Yeah. They have every right to do so, and I have every right to strike them down for that.

It was CC. pay and free that made the sims into the success they are today. Why on earth would EA.try to shut them down? They were fleecing the public not EA.
It wasn't costing them a cent, on the contrary they were making a mint out of it.
Now it's done the full circle, EA, will become the paysite, anyone else doing the same will probably have to share their spoils with them.
As I said before, it was the tens of thousands of dumb sheep out there who to this day still subscribe to these sites even though all the items can be had for free that have caused this.
That's why some of the more farsighted members of the community set up the booty, they could smell this coming years ago.
It didn't take much imagination to see EA. quietly on the sidelines rubbing their hands and planning a strategy to get their fingers into the pie.

But which pie? A developer or distributor can only go for the lowest possible denominator - in this case kids. Aged 8-12. That's closing out the adult community, adult hacks of any kind and a sizeable portion of the adult audience. If that's enough for them, so be it.

But I can give several examples how this kind of strategy backfired. Molyneux' the movies for example. Advertised as modder friendly, turned out to be not modder friendly and dissappearing into oblvion along with its development team. Oblivion's the next one. They also tried their hands on paid content, thereby angering the modding community.

The CC. pie. They're well aware of what TSR and co. turn over. It's only natural for them to want a piece of the action. What better way to do it than with a brand new game.
I don't think they're going to wait for months or a year for the CC. to start arriving.
It would not surprise me if some of those FAs. that were invited to the creators camp didn't have a ton of goodies for sale via the store that they were miraculously able to create within hours of the games release.

All true, but the denominator problem still exists. Even if they sell goodies, they have to sell kids goodies. Out of legal reasons. So, in my book, they will lose a portion of the adult community. I'm not sure how many adults are willing to run a vanilla game with the option to add paid (kids) content. And I'm not sure how many kids are able to constantly pester their parents into buying some of the offered stuff. By closing down the modding community, they join forces with the losers of the business. I don't know of a single company making a fortune out of that kind of approach.

But that may be a calculated strategy. The product loses longevity, thereby opening up the market for something new they want to sell.

Probably about 98% of the losers who still subscribe to tsr.Thomas and his sycophants are forever blowing their trumpets about the family values of tsr.
As I said elsewhere. EA. should be selling the thing in a toy store.

You are most certainly 100% correct roerzman about the selling of CC via the featured artists from the creators camp, infact if you look at some of the blogs by the FA's on the official site they even say that when the game is released that there stuff they made for the game will be made available for download through the exchange albeit TS3 store for a pretty penny..now who in there right mind is going to buy 50 recolored objects by TSR_DOT when the game comes out, I mean how lazy would it be of someone to not even use there friggin imagination and recolor there own objects for their game instead of funding EA?! I mean isn't that why they included a damn color wheel for almost every aspect of the game? think people, think!

Lazy isn't the word I would be using in these cases. And I can't imagine their neat little trick working out in their favor. Bethesda had a try on that kind of approach and reconsidered pretty soon. And Molyneux had to learn it the hard way by losing his company.

I for one will refrain from buying even the base game. In my experience a game without user generated content isn't worth the money. That might be different for a child though. But on the other hand, a child doesn't have money.

I just hope, that the modding community keeps supporting TS2.

I know this thread is supposed to be about how vile they look but the kid and teen friendly/suitability subject is included from time to time. Also how they could end up in a s--t load of it if they made the game mod-able to the extent that 1 and 2 were.
So this one puzzles me, why do they include actual larceny in the game? To get our kids used to the idea of steeling for a living?
Rather strange that they pull out the adult stuff and add this one. So now you can sit down with the kids comforted by the knowledge that you will not see Sally sims naked bum, but you can watch Jim the sim turn over his neighbors house and also make of with their car. "wow! that's cool mum, gee that's what I wanna do when I grow up, and look you don't even have to work" Yea.

Listen, folks, stop derailing the threads in this section into a debate about EA being in bed with TSR, among other contentious things. We're getting sick of the arguments, and the need to constantly police this section.

...for now though, this is your last chance. If I see this heat up again, I'll start locking threads and handing out warnings.

Dammit! just as it was getting interesting. Going back to the original thread by cruzer. There is a reason for the dull appearance, it's called polly count. The more pollygons the pc has to process the slower the game will run.
The aim of the game is to flog of the thing off to as many people as possible. If people are going to have to replace their old pcs in order to run the game then sales will drop.
Looking at all the previews I can see the game has enormous potential from a mod and CC, point of view. However if by some chance EA. lets go and allows us to mod the game as per sims 2 then the poor old pentiums that barely run the basegame are going to freak out.
Seamless neighbourhood games have been around for a while. Farcry and the GTA. series are just some examples, They run OK. on mid range pcs as long as you tone them down, but, crank up the eye candy and the things become unplayable.
This will apply to the sims 3. Keep it looking cheap and nasty and you can play it on an old el-cheapo machine. But start importing high resolution CC. and you're gonna have to start thinking about investing in something most people can't afford.
Going back to being able to replace the bland skins with some of the high resolution stuf we're all used to, I'm talking about default replacements. That will probably only happen if sales fall through the floor. Or they have to pull the game and rewrite it when this silly klepto. trait lands them into hot water.

Here is a post from the TS3 thread at S2C with some pictures showing Sims and content. Looking closing the Sims at picture #1 leaves you nothing to hope for. Why on earth a thin Sim should have such a round fat face?

http://forums.sims-community.com/showpost.php?p=1356817&postcount=1844

It's less about polycount as it's more about texture resolution. And there's always the detail slider bar.

I have watched the development of Sims 3 since it's announcement and the graphics direction they have taken. I do believe the less "realistic" graphics on the Sims themselves are not artistic so much as intentional for several reasons but one of which is mod content. It is no secret EA is very unhappy with the abilities of the modding community when it comes to the creation of adult content mods found in Sims2 (Ie: realistic body mods among others). My speculation is that the move to less realistic human looking Sims in Sims3 was done in part to curtail those kind of mods or at the very least make them less desirable.

This is of course my opinion as to why the move to more cartoon looking Sims.

Keep in mind, too, sethdil, that they needed a new style to set the game apart from TS2. The Sims has always been a social sim with a (somewhat) whimsical, Utopian take on reality, and the cartoonish graphics reflect that -- even more so in TS3. It was the introduction of CC that allowed us to change our little pixel dolls into something more realistic.

...that's a somewhat-revised take on my opinion of the new look, to which I believe I posted in another thread as well.

It's all part of EA's plan to keep the game "Family Friendly". So that the unknowing Soccer Mom doesn't walk in on her little 14 year old daughter playing a lot with a sim with rippling, bulging biceps. (and perhaps other parts as well.) It's smart in the sense that it makes the game more marketable to a wider audience, which you would supposed would translate to more revenue, but it's a double edged sword as well, as it totally turns off the users who prefer a more realistic experience. I personally see screenshots of TS3 and my makes me want to pull my eyes out of my head. The architecture of the game looks top notch, I'll give them that. But this sims themselves and their texturing, shading and overall appearance IMO looks like walking blobs of clay. There's absolutely no realism in how the game models look. One of the biggest things I myself look at in purchasing a game that allows customization is how deep it is, and how realistic what I make will look. Anyone here who is familiar with the Smackdown Vs. Raw series of video games knows that it's had one of the best character creation engines in the industry for over 10 years now. While you can't change skin textures, you don't need to because the textures in game are top notch, and it allows you to morph EVERY aspect of the game model's bodyshape. What you guy to have bulging muscles? Move the slider to the + range and it's done. Want a curvy, voluptuous female? Same story. It's so simple a 5 year old can work it, and so advanced that someone who's played the game for a while (As I have, being one of the top original character or "CAW/Create A Wrestler" creators on the internet) can come up with something like this...

(http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8397/evanfatev2.png)

And that's on the PS2. So tell me why for the life of me a console wrestling game has a creation mode that exceeds a social simulation game where one of the core aspects of the game in general is user customization of an avatar. No...don't tell me. I already know. EA's gone soft. Instead of giving the core sims users something that satisfies as far as gameplay, presentation AND visual appeal, they'd much rather give us something that looks "cute" that can be sold to any audience of users that either are just getting into the franchise or probably won't stay interested. They're banking on capturing a new market, and in doing so they've pretty much alienated the existing one that likes their games "real".

It's all about being able to play the thing on any old pc. so they can flog it of to people with old at the end of their life pcs. Interesting though I read at MATY that some people there are having serious issues with some low end cards. Cards that are well within the specs. as in the so called test.
I've always had my doubts these so called tests and it is beginning to look that EA. has been less than truthful about these minimum system requirements as well.
Perhaps it's just card specific or perhaps a lot of duped people are going to be looking at a black screen and smoking pc. after 1 hours play.
I wonder if EA. will take responsibility for any pcs. that get destroyed by this game, installed by people whose knowledge of pcs. doesn't go much further than being able to turn the things on and of.

EA won't even take responsibility for the inclusion of Securom in the past Sims 2 games, and you want them to take responsibility for PCs that can't do the Sims 3?  That's why they have four outstanding lawsuits about Securom pending right now in Federal court. That's how far their responsibility goes.

Not gonna happen. EA does what EA wants. If your computer can't handle it, "Tough titty, buster-get a better one and then buy our game", so sayeth EA.

Saying that you are going to have to invest in a mid to top range pc. to run the thing will ensure that it gathers dust in the store.People just don't have that money anymore.
On the subject of gathering dust. Surely EA. realises that the sims became what it is because of the ability to mod it. If not it would have been nothing more than a fringe dolls house game.
They must be aware that this anti modding stance they have taken is going to polarise the community. The community that made them the success they are now was founded by being able to mod the game, exchange ideas and CC. It didn't mater if the mods were adult, that got an even wider group interested, people who normally would not entertain such a childish game.
Using these so called legal implications as the result of the Hotcoffee hack doesn't wash with me because they released several EPs since and as far as I know none of those were challenged.
If the sole purpose is just to corner the cc. market than it will split the community and ultimately destroy the game. As has been said by many people. It was freedom to create and share that made the game, Remove that and the game will self destruct.

I don't think that an "utopian" take on reality can be reflected better with cartoonish looking people. Personally I doubt there is an urelealistic concept in the Sims series if one considers Sims have to make a living to pay the bills and eat, or make friends to get promoted etc. It seems to be rather a satire of reality than anything else.

From the pictures I have seen so far Sims 3 are unbearable to look at when compared to the Sims 2. I even find the default Sims 2 be better-looking and more attractive. Honestly, I don't know what EAxis is thinking. Why should they be unhappy with the modding community? What is it they find so scaring in let's say Ephemera's skins and make-up?

I have been playing The Sims since TS1 and have always enjoyed building houses. It was the custom skins, hair and clothes that made me playing TS2 so much and for so long, keeping buying one expansion pack after another and starting frequent forums like S2C and Insim. I see no point in buying a game with such a horribly-looking Sims. Yes, the custom skins and all have made Sims 2 such a delight that there is no way back.  Not to mention that I don't like these little signs over the neighbourhood which remind me of Sim City.

@roerzman
What is the Hotcoffee hack?

Hotcoffee was a hidden animation in GTA. Sanandreas. When the main character is invited in by his girlfriend for some hotcoffee the house starts to rock suggesting the obvious.
The thing was actually written by Rockstar but remained hidden until some wag found it. To get it to run you had to download a mini program and then get it to run via command prompt, You could not do it accidentally it had to be a deliberate action.
J.Thompson heard about and made a big noise about it. Rockstar had to pull the game and write it out.
The animations were no more raunchy than what is legally  included in the Playboy games.
But Playboy is Playboy, you don't mess with them.
The difference is that so called adult animations are not included in any of the sims games. They are all produced by the modding community.
In effect any game that has two playable characters interacting could be modified to the extent where instead of belting each other they engage in a bit of rumptypumpty and then in turn be described by some idiot as a venue for pornography. 

Very true!

I think I will wait until I am old and blind to start enjoying this installment...at that time it will not matter to me how crappy the Sim characters look  ;D

If I remember correctly, even Hillary jumped the waggon when the hot coffee nonsense was boiling. And that's why I still claim they have their pants full. Not only EA. Better to produce ugly throwaway games with serious limitations than to be harrassed by some zealous pressure groups. EA will make their dough, even with ugly clay models, paid content and the no modding policy.

They got bump mapping on their clothes. But their skin remains plastic looking.

It lacks the ruggedness that everyone of us have, unless you're an extremely perfect supermodel that looks like a moving, talking, oversized doll.

plus THEY HAVE NO NIPPLES!!!!!!
tha horror. lol, JK

I was going to say, was that comment REALLY needed? ::)

i lol'ed

male skins have nipples by default, but not the female ones

ROFL
Sorry, Paden. It was really funny. :D

Sorry  :-X
lol
i couldnt help but notice it on the Youtube videos.

This was in Game Informer last year, I can't remember for sure, but Oct-Dec. somewhere in there. They had a little write up and a couple pictures of these sh.., oh yea, PG-13, almost forgot.  Any way these things,(did not look close enough to a Sim, to be called. a Sim) were standig and roaming around a Downtown area. Right Then I said to my wife; "No way can I tolerate this on my computer. If you want it get it. They will need massive improvments to the sim creations to lure me in again."

Of course I mean lure me into Base Game, :patch, EP 1 :Patch, SP1.......  We all know this story! How many of us have every darn EP, SP and a ton of CC?? I would wager everyone who is a member and can afford it. In my case times 2. We are totally legal in that my wife and I have our own store bought copy of every thing. We bought new computers to be able to enjoy our game. We talk about our game to each other because it is relevent to us. We see things on a ride through town and say "Wish I had that for my Sims!. Oh! Look at that girls outfit!! Almost like that H&M SP one, wow!"

I have spent this day reading from various sites peoples first impressions of the Sims 3. What is the first complaint from almost all?? Look at them ugly sims. They look like plastic, have sucky hair and creepy eyes!! My impression from GI last year. EA will not get the business from me until they put out a good game as a sequel, not some far in the past story like in Star Wars. It worked pretty good for Star Wars, but this crap don't fly with the Sims. My opinion not the web sites, owners, or moderators. Good luck to those who venture in. Good luck that the great minds that have helped make the Sims 2 so much fun might improve this fiasco.

I can argue about Sims 2 sims looking better than Sims 3 looking better right out of the box. The ones from Sims 3 look like some demented cartoon from a Pixar animator gone mad after sniffing too much airplane glue. Nobody in a town full of people has the exact same chipmunk cheeks and dead looking eyes, there is a scad of genetic differences even in families. For me, Sims 3 is nothing but a big bunch of fail, but that's my opinion.

I agree Paden.

And that's what's been bugging me and I only now realized--it's the cheeks and eyes that make them all look alike. I knew it was something but couldn't put my finger on it. Chipmunk is a fitting term, too.

Ever seen night of the living dead?  ;D

I came into The Sims 2 in 2006, so compared to others here, I was a newer kid on the block. I never knew about custom content until a few months later. And strangely, I did NOT have the same reactions to the skintones and facial features with Sims 2 that I do with Sims 3. Not even close.

Did many of the templates in the Sims 2 make me wonder, "Why would I want a Sim looking like THAT?" Sure thing. I confess that for a long time, I relied on about 8 or so of the EA facial templates for 70% or so of my Sims. But even using my "basic 8" so much, my Sims STILL looked more distinctive, and to me, more attractive, than the Sims 3 base ones now.

Once again, thanks to a FREE site, Sims 3 players can mess around with the sliders a bit more and produce at least somewhat less puffy-faced people. And thanks to a free site again, the skintones now have a bit more definition. It's my hope that someone can work on the eyes next. Then the hair. Then ....

So there's hope. But it's a darn good question why EA felt that most people would like their Sims like that to begin with.

Let look at the townie and premade sims by TS2 creators. NASTY STUFF, right?
Well, the sims 3 is the same way. I have made some very attractive sims in 3.

Does she look bobble headed and freaky eyed? (I created her)
(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c291/peedefamily/Screenshot-223.jpg)


and this one, a teen born in game
(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c291/peedefamily/Screenshot-132.jpg)

my gwen stefani sim
(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c291/peedefamily/Screenshot-115.jpg)





The tools are there, you just have to take alot of time to sculpt them.
And I actually liek the game. Its growing on me more and more. I love the color wheel, the seamless town, the skin genetic sliders, and just the game itself, the way it plays. Once EPs and CC start getting released out the @$$, I hope asll the negitive sallys will eat thier words and give the game a chance finally.

They look cute like dolls, but in no way realistic. I'm pretty sure it's intentional, that all Sims you can create are looking like toy dolls.

Honestly, no offense is meant here, but Nina Caliente seems much more attractive to me than those Sims.

Sorry, but I don't like the gameplay as it is. Surely it has *some* merit, but not that much to make my jaws drop.

Ah, but if CC becomes a possibility then we will talk about something else then, won't we?

For all the efforts everyone has made to make their creations better, the one thing that stops me right in my tracks is the fact that every single sim made has absolutely no bone structure in their face-and while that might not be a big thing for some players, I'm of the opinion that realism is better than playdough.

I know that the "uncanny valley" effect is a possibility in all sims games, but if a sim looks more "human" than originally planned, a player might be able to relate more closely with that creation.

A big shiny toy is all that Sims 3 reminds me of-with very limited possibilities for getting so involved in it that you make stories and post them in various forums, and that people get passionate about them.

Perhaps EA was trying to defuse the effect, but they went so far over the edge in taking out the realistic aspects that they (in my opinion only) have ruined the very thing that made the Sims 2 what it is.

Even with all the CC available, they have made the options to make sims look like humans well nigh impossible.

A cartoon is all it reminds me of. Sad, but true.

wel - I've seen people make sims 2 simmies only with maxis content, EAxis skin, EAxis hair - and thought "why don't my sims look that pretty?". A few times, it has even happened with the EAxis made sims.

Now - no matter how "pretty" and "shiny" people make their sims 3 simmies with EAxis contents, there are always those little things, like the puffy lips, weird expressions (yes, some even weirder than the Sims2 ones), strange bodyshapes, flat-looking stiff faces... you name it. Not to talk about the toddlers and children looking like shrunken, ugly adults (we forget the infants right now, since I think most of us agree they look outright ugly - though it's a positive(?) thing that the game actually differences between boys and girls now).  

If (and only if) someone actually manages to make some default replacements that I like, and also other (much needed, and hopefully free) CC, then I might think about getting sims3. But concidering EA's thoughts about this... Well, it's unrealistic, I guess...

I've played sims2 for a long time (since around when nightlife came out, I think). I played for a long time without any CC (or at least very little of it - at first only some hairstyles and clothing, since EAxis had few choices for toddlers), and I've always been thrilled about all the possibilities around storytelling. I was a heavy user of the storytelling album inside the game - before I realized there were better ways of doing it.

Now I find regular gameplay (Sims2) somewhat boring (unless I'm bored.. then it's fun :/)- but the storytelling business is still always just as funny to do, especially when I found pose boxes, mods, hacks, cool CC, hairs, clothes, furniture... you get it.
I like the fact that I can wreck a lot for storytelling, hide them on the top of a mountain, so that they don't show with neighborview on. I like the fact that with CC I can make any type of scenery, or just import simmies to the lot when I need them. I like the fact that I can make my own clothes with Bodyshop. I want to learn more about SimPE so I can make my own furniture, accessories and maybe even my own poseboxes when I learn how to. I even like to go on CC hunts - just for the fun of it. I don't mind my simmies looking a bit cartoonish. I like the style between realistic and cartoonish that Enayla's, Ephemera's or Louis' skintones makes. I love the fact that I found some really good-looking eye defaults once, which nearly all my simmies tends to end up with. The only reason I've got all EP's and SP's is the fact that I get more options with meshes, hacks, poses and so on - since people tends to make really goodlooking stuff out of seemingly boring EA stuff. I don't really buy them for the gameplay bit. Though, I do tend to mix a lot between CC and (often recolored) ingame stuff.

I just don't see those possibilities with Sims3. I like some aspects about it, like the scenery, the all-use patterns and color wheel (those I wish they had put into sims2 - then my experience of sims2 had been perfect), but there are some things that just makes me think that sims3 might be fun to play, but when you grow bored with that, there's not much more to do with the game. (I'm the type who plays a game days in a stretch, before I grow bored with it.)

That seems like the biggest difference between sims2 and sims3 for me. There are things I'd like to change about Sims2 too - but for most of that, there are mods, hacks, and CC.

EA did a HUGE mistake when they decided to ban most CC. They've digged their own grave. The reason most of us still play sims2 is the CC. Without it, the game will be fun for a while, but then people will realize they need more than just new houses, clothes, hair or patterns to make the game complete. Especially when you need to pay for all of it. I might buy the game someday - but I'll never sink so low that I actually go to the S3shop and BUY things one by one, that they SHOULD have put in the game from the BEGINNING of. Especially concidering the horrible quality on some of the stuff... If they can't put it into the game - then what's the point of spending even more money on it afterwards, on some CC that the community creators could have done thousands of times better? At least, if the EP's are packed with new things and interactions, then they are more worth the money than stuff from the exchange/TS3 shop. (And EA should learn to put in LOADS of new things in the EP's instead of one or two new interactions, and a few hairstyles/clothes...)

I think they have deliberately chosen a more childish approach. The Sims look like dolls, chubby in the face with big baby eyes. This, if nothing else, is intentional. If, and I think it's the truth, they have sold their 1.4 million copies, their strategy pays.

And they probably won't change that. They have already reached dry ground and every additional sale is a bonus. What's more, and I think that's the real reason behind banning the modding community, they don't have to think of the lobbies and pressure groups, moaning about the possibility to introduce adult content.

They have created a toy and as with every shiny new toy, their target audience will throw it into a corner when the novelty wears off. But I don't think that's any reason to worry for EA, since they already made their cash.

That is true-but does it bode well for the inevitable expansions that will follow, or will players just say-"No more, I've done with the game. EP's won't do anything more."

That's where the money is going to come from to sustain this game-more EP's and stuff packs.

However, be that as it may-every time one is released, it will bloat the core game even worse than it already is, and may even make it utterly unplayable in the long run because (as with Sims 2) the EP's will be adding content and behavior-modifying content-the base is 6 gigs huge. What will an EP be-2 or 3?

I can see that with each additional EP the game will possibly need more RAM, and more everything just to run.

For those running it on a laptop, it will become non-playable. Those with a PC might get away with making changes, but at what cost to them or their systems?

Sometimes "progress" is not the apt term. More is not always better.

Don't underestimate people's curiosity. Those who are playing right now they will keep buying EPs -- half of them because they like the game and the other half because of their hope to like it. 

Um, WHY did you bring back a thread that has been dormant since June?

personally i was a sim fan until second life...cant beat that for customization.  the sims is now just sufficient when net is down....they look atrocious. 

Please learn to use the shift key, because I promise that you won't run out of capital letters on your keyboard. Also, bringing back dormant threads is bad, so I'm going to lock this sucker before any hungry puppies come in looking for bones to chew on.