Insimenator.org

By way of a friend of mines who's a manager at Gamestop. They received their shipment of the game yesterday, but aren't permitted to sell it until the release date of June 2nd. But that didn't stop him from taking his copy that he had reserved home with him. So he calls me over to his place to check it out, and after about 2 hours on it...I turned it off and went to play me some Left 4 Dead. Needless to say after hands on with the game, I'm not impressed nor amused. Granted, there are some positives about the game. The landscaping and scenery are visually stunning, especially if you have a high end machine. (As he does.) SOME of the gameplay elements are actually well thought out, such as the moodlets. But that's about where my praise for the game ends. The CAS mode is a total nightmare. The sliders work nothing like TS2, and it is virtually impossible to come up with an anatomically accurate face. You can forget about ever having a self sim on The Sims 3, not unless your face looks like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. I sat there for a good hour trying to tweak the sliders to the most minute detail, but couldn't come up with anything that even remotely looked like me. (God I wish I would have taken pictures.) Add to that the texturing of the plastic...I mean skin looking down right dreadful, and I simply put can't see myself ever getting into the game. The game is called THE SIMS 3. You'd think they would have put more detail into them and not the neighborhood. And the neighborhood is a farce in and of itself as well. All of the beautiful buildings you see? All PRE-RENDERED buildings that have nothing remotely close to the structuring of the actual lots. And then let's not even go into not being able to see your sim inside of some them, or all of the recycled objects AND interactions from TS2. Oi-FRAKKIN'-vey...

Speaking solely for myself, I'm not liking the game. It offers very little in the vein of new innovations, and what little bits of new things that are good about it get overshadowed by all that makes the game fail by comparison to TS2 like and ant would be by the Empire State Building at high noon. (That's a frakkin' big shadow.) For the casual player, or the person who just wants to try it out for kicks, you'll get a few hours fun out of it. But if you're like me, and don't like to settle for a little White Castle slider when you've been eatin' steak dinners the last few years, do yourself a favor and keep eating your steak. (The steak being TS2.) Because TS3 is just an appetizer, and not a very good one at that. If you want one big neighborhood, moodlets, a color wheel and a few other niceties the game has to offer, by all means...have fun. But if you want a robust experience where you can let loose your creative best (or worse.) stick with The Sims 2. In my own personal, objective opinion, TS3 offers very little to keep me entertained. And that's the whole point of a game right? To keep the user entertained. And that's just after 2 hours of hands on with it. By NO MEANS AM I SAYING IT'S A HORRIBLE GAME. It just ain't The Sims 2. Maybe down the road, a few years from now when there are EPs on the market and HEFTY improvements to the game by and by, I'll give it a 2nd look, but for right now in my opinion, The Sims 3 isn't worth my money.

and it's such a shame when it could have been SO much more, but I guess that's what happens when cash comes before loyal consumers

Is your friend aware that he has committed a crime, though? Legally, paid for or not, those games are NOT to leave the store until their official release dates and high fines and loss of job and freedom can be the consequences if the authorities find out. That game is not street legal in the US until June 2nd, period. It doesn't matter if he's the manager or the owner of said store, he doesn't make the rules and regulations of when the game leaves the store, the company does.

Actually, Paden...release dates only really matter for the actual publishers as far as working promotions and syncing up their sales numbers with the major retailers. I worked for Gamestop for 3 years while in college, back in the glory days of the Playstation 2. The very same store my friend is manager of in fact. The street date for games is the designated date set by the publisher distribute the needed amount of games abroad to meet potential demand. While the 2nd is the street date, the game can actually be sold on the 1st if the retailer chooses. Once the game is past the distribution phase and if officially given a SKU, it's on the retailer if they want to do so. They just can't sell it until with 12 hours of the proposed release date. Meaning that stores can actually start selling the game June 1st at around we'll say...noon. When I worked at the store we were good at running store promotions to sell games a day before the release date. And there are smaller mom & pop game stores here in NYC, like Game Box (The best video game store in New York, to the point where I get all of my games from them. I get my consoles sill from Gamestop because they offer warranties.) That's had the game on the shelves since THURSDAY. I don't know about where you're located, but here in New York, games always get hit shelves before the release date. Last year I bought Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 a week before it was released nationwide from Game Box. Nothing illegal about it at all, not around these parts anyway.

Thanks, that is indeed enlightening.I may get the thing in 12 months time. That is if the sims community are given the opportunity to clean the thing up and transform those downs syndrome zombies into something resembling humans.
By community I mean all the sites and all legal and above board.

Of course. In the end, my overall impression isn't a negative one, it's just not very positive either. There just isn't enough in TS3 that appeals to me. And the lack of a TS3 Bodyshop GREATLY hurts it in my opinion as well. I might even be able to stomach the god awful morphing physics of the CAS sliders if I could do away with the nasty default skins. But the fact that you can't and won't be able to for the foreseeable future pretty much makes me purchasing the game slim to nil myself. When more options are available to us skinners and texture modders...IF such options ever are, I'll revisit the prospect of adding TS3 to my library. But for now, that's not happening.

As to the legalities, check out a certain MATY thread. Also, a friend of mine owned a store that sold games and videos. He told me that if he let the stuff go out the store before the publisher said it could, he could be fined up to $250,000 and lose his business. I believe that pertains nationwide. Also, this is EA and do you really believe they won't bust chops for selling before the moment they dictate that you can? Just asking.

Im my experience working in and dealing with Video Game retailers, it's never came up as an issue. The most I can attribute it to is the region. Games always end up on the market before the street date here in New York, and that dates back way into the old Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis days. If they do bust chops, it doesn't happen here in the greater New York area. When the XBox 360 was 1st released, you had stores selling it a week before the release date, and all of said stores that I go to are still open to this day.

Stores may well have always got away with it however perhaps advertising the fact on a public forum might not be the best idea ;)

Well, I didn't expect a good review from you anyway Kaoz666. You and roerzman have been bashing the game since the leak so why should any of this surprise anyone? I am still going to buy the game, because I said I would to add to my collection, whether it be bad or good is not the point. I want it strictly for the novelty and gameplay. I have made bad choices before as far as money goes, so if I make a bust of 50$ then I will oblige that after I get the chance to play it for myself. ;)

I hear that Simgirl. I bought mine in January, and they are ready to be shipped out(UPS is doing the shipping). Hopefully it will be delivered by the 2nd of June. I don't care if it is better or "far worse" then TS2, I just want it because it is a Sim game. I have been playing Maxis' Sims since the NES. But with out Maxis the games have been going down hill and taking longer to load. It now takes 10 minutes for my game to compleatly load now. I don't have my Sims leave their property because it takes 5 minutes to load. I only have a max of 4 hours to play, sometimes less. Starting a new sim takes almost an hour for one female and 20 minutes for some males, CCs have alot to do with it, but overall I hope TS3 does play well.

And yet, it doesn't surprise me that one of the same people that was trashing the game gets to play it first and trashes it some more.

Considering the posts kaoz666 has been making, I thought her evaluation of playing the game first hand was fair.  It was even more favorable towards TS3 than I expected.  I hope that one you get your games, that when you post your initial evaluations, that you show the same fairness and report your disappointments in addition to your likes and joys over it.

Well, I'll tell you, I am critical of the game because of what I've seen of the screen shots shown so far and what I've read from people that have played it. You know what? I'm not going to buy it. I go for quality and so far, this isn't showing any.

I don't care if it is a Sims game, I'm not going to get it because I don't want it. I'm more than content with the game I have because it's got the stuff that I want. Maybe, far down the road, if Sims 4 captures my interest, I might buy that. There's going to have to be one hell of a lot of improvements over the game I currently play, though.

That's just my opinion and I'm not putting anyone down for their decision to get and play the one coming out on the second of June, so don't knock me for my decision. Thank you very much.

The whole purpose of knocking this game had very little to do with the actual game, all us so called negative people were well aware of the limitations of a base game. The point of the exercise was to draw as much attention as possible to the limitations in this game insofar as modding goes. It was the mods and hacks that made the last game last as long and interesting as it did. I don't intend going into a full page explanation about the pros and cons of modding but what I will say is if EA gets away with locking this game up then it will continue with sims 4 and 5 and so on.
As Kaoz said the game is alright, but given the opportunity it can be unreal,and that can only happen if they alter that stupid EULA, and the only way they will back of from that is if the thing flops.
If the modding community is allowed to alter the characters and make them look human then I will consider buying the game,in the mean time I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot by buying the thing next week.

It's not really selling if the manager is taking the copy home for himself. And whether or not the game is "legal" does not change the content of something. If anything, being legal makes it worse, because everyone knows stolen food tastes the best.

Well all Il say he one lucky manager to have gotton it sooner to try out.lol
Im defianlty overall sticking with my sims 2 but im going to s ee this sims 3 as a seperate game like the sims stories before I get bored and shelve it.. ;)

That's actually a wise outlook to have. It's clear as day that TS3 will NOT replace TS2. NOT even remotely. But if you play it more as a separate game more so then a replacement, you might actually get "some" enjoyment out of it. But a clear cut, bonafide follow-up to TS2 it's not.

I agree with Ancient.   I'd say you accessment was much milder that I would have thought.    I've alway said it's not about bashing sims 3, it's about passing on information good or bad to help people understand what they're buying.  But you are 100% correct--this game should be viewed not as a continuation of TS2 but as a separate game.  It has it's perks but TS2 is far more versatile & interesting.

If you like Mario Bros and wish you could convert it to simland this game is for you.  It's all about collecting things (as opposed to coins) and making money i.e. he who has the most (toys) valubles wins. Family & relationships are only periferal to it and have little meaning.

What was sad to me was going to EA's Official Sims 3 exchange this week after they opened it online.  Check out the items there that you can purchase and add to the game... see for yourself the quality (or lack thereof) of the items they are offering to us as rewards for buying the game.  I think after that visit you'll understand the lack of effort EA has put into the actual game vs the hype.

I hope to hear all of your honest opinions of the game after you've spent some time playing it.   I think you might find we all pretty much agree that this was a great idea not given the chance to reach it's true potential.  That's not game bashing, it just the truth.

Hahah, whatever.  Do you even know what that line in the EULA, where they forbid modification, is for?  It's to cover their asses when people come up with adult mods that get the parents all up in arms.  EA can just point to the EULA and say they had no part of it, and even took steps to prevent it.  In actuality, I think they're okay with modification.  They'd have to be completely ass-backward stupid and financially suicidal not to be.  They're not going to help modders mod with tools, sure, that would cost them money, but would they really stop them?  Are they able to stop them?

As for my reaction to the first impressions, well the enthusiasm faded a bit when I heard the genetics are a step down from the sims 2.  That was my favorite feature of the second game.  Getting only fugly children and townies kinda turns me off.  So until I can be assured of fixes, I'll be laying my hands off of my copy of TS3.  I'll eventually get to playing it, but probably should wait on when it sounds a better game, and I have a much better computer.

It's a bummer that I have to play an entire neighborhood again (It takes me so fing long just to get through one generation), but it looks like the neighborhood progression in TS3 is almost mortally borked anyway.

Haha, I guess I deleted all my CC for the sims 2 rather prematurely.  I'm such a dork.

Go forth and download anew, I say to thee, and thou shalt have a smegload to enjoy while the borked game is worked upon by the miracle workers of the community! Or not, being as how you and they see fit to spend their time. :D

Improving or upgrading something that works is great,it will insure the further continuation and success of that product. But make that change to radical and people will resist.
Microsoft learned that lesson when they took something that worked well and changed it into some alien and unfamiliar,eg. Windows to Vista now back to Windows.
EA. could well find themselves in a similar situation, if customers start trying to hand the thing back demanding a refund.
Sims 1 to Sims 2 was a huge improvement, that is why it sold so well. From what I'm reading, Sims 3 is basically Sims in name only with the odd piece of furniture carried over in order to give it some resemblance to Sims 2.

Yea really probably not worth my money, I like the gameplay of it tho, but nothing less.

The graphics aren't worth for my rig. Come on I spent big amounts of money to build myself an awesome game machine that will last for five years. They just added the fancy Shader Model 2 into the game. You get water reflections, better mirror reflections, bump mapping, and moar eye candy that were introduced to the world more than four years ago.


Left 4 Dead ftw  ;D

Bump maps? Where? I was totally mad that they forgot to include them again. Do I need glasses?

They still use bumpmapping? Ehhhh, sims would look much better normal or even parallax mapped.  Well at least it's better than solid fill LOL

Normal Mapping I believe would be to much for a game like The Sims. You usually see Normal Mapping on games that involved high rates of motion, such as FPS and Racing Games. Plus that would put a huge strain on low to mid-end PCs because they'd have to process those textures at a much slower rate of speed, meaning even the most juiced up GFX Card would be gasping for air on anything less then a $2000+ rig. Bump Mapping is the "safe" way to go, but a game that used Normal or Parallax Mapping in the style of The Sims would be a sight to behold.

lol *blushes* Thanks for saying im wise har. Yeah I agree its not a patch on the sims 2 not one bit.
You know what I noticed? The other day I was in town the local game shop had all this sims 3 preview stuff in the window promoting the game 2 days alter it was replaced,mmm.

That the Gamestop my buddy manages, they're pretty much doing nothing to promote the game. Not so much as a poster for it. It's just listed on the "New Releases" section along with all the other games. Kinda tells you something when retailers aren't going out of their way to sell a game. Needless to say, the saga unfolding as it has on the internet has dampened and in some ways even tarnished the game. But EA will just shrug, shake it off, and cater to the casual gamers they were marketing it to in the 1st place. It's no big thing to them, they'll turn a profit regardless, though it won't even be remotely close to the scale that they turned at the initial release of The Sims 2. Between the 1st game and the sequel it was a monumental improvement. Between the sequel and the 3rd installment it's just a few new bells and whistles. Anyone in sales or marketing knows that when the air gets let out of an IP, there's very little you can do to save or promote it, especially when it's been hyped up so much. (Fable anyone? Or maybe Snakes On A Plane.) Hell, at E3...the biggest gaming expo of the year which started today, you'd expect EA to go to town promoting a game that hits shelves today. Not so much. If that doesn't tell the story of what direction the game's going unless they do some serious damage control, I don't know what will. What baffles me is all of the people who are still going to get the game and still believe in their heart of hearts that they're gonna be blown away by a game far more superior then The Sims 2. Man...are they ever in for a let down. Not just because the game is lacking in some key areas that's already been posted all over the place...so I won't bother mentioning them. But because let's not forget...this is a BASE game. There is to much content available for TS2 for TS3 to even remotely be considered it's better. Maybe 4 years from now when there are 4 or so EPs on the market as well and obvious fixes to the game can you consider it as being EQUAL to The Sims 2, but it still won't be better unless EA does something about the EULA and allows for mods to be made. Then it'll have the potential to be more then what TS2 is. But that's just my opinion.

Well, I can tell you for sure... they've got Wal-Mart in their back pockets.  The doggone "Let there be Sims" thing is at both entrances in two of them in my area.  :P  Other than there, I haven't seen much in physical advertising elsewhere to my knowledge. 

I still say they would've done better if this version were made for next-gen consoles, and they actually took the time to make a truer sequel for PC/Mac... though I'm probably in the minority for that suggestion now.  ;D

What a surprise, i thought sims 3 would be an extension of sims 2. Its interesting to hear about it, so thanks! I still love my sims2, so i'm not fussed. I don't even play that often. (I play sporadically but obsessively.)

BTW i have NO IDEA what half of you are talking about most of the time. (Or is that most of you half of the time??) lol.

 

Good. This means you haven't been corrupted yet. We're proud of you, lol.

OK, the time of ripping the game a new one is over. We've had our say but it's time to lay off and let people play and enjoy in peace. We may not like it, but it's here and dragging every thread into the mud is wrong. We can do better than this, people. Yes, I know, I spoke my mind often but now that it's out, it's time to belt up and keep the negativity about it to a dull, barely audible roar. The thing offers stuff that the Sims 2 didn't, such as a different style of play that others might enjoy. If they do, more power to them. If they don't, well, they won't be leaving Sims 2, will they?

I agree with paden, we need to not judge this game, it's out now, but worry, someone's gonna mod this game up, u'll see people