Well I have now actually had hands on experience with this game and I now HUMBLY state that I was indeed far too optimistic. 

THE GOOD...

I love not having to constantly input cheats to rotate things and place them off of the grid.

I love Create A Style WHEN IT WORKS, I couldn't get it to work on stairs or fences at all and I was like oh NOES! On top of that you can't recolor the hardware on doors separately. I'm sure there are more things it DOESN'T work on. When it did work it took forever for it to change.

The water and sky effects were awesome.

Bikes are cool.

The open neighborhood has potential, but only potential, none of it realized.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY... 

The animations are either non-existent (getting in and out of cars) or are crappy (Sims stop for long periods before doing anything).

The Sims are horrendous, I thought that perhaps people were missing parts of CAS but I was wrong, I looked for hours and the tools that were there didn't do too much at all. I would love the weight adjuster if it was more selective and allowed for more tweaking than simple fat and muscle. The Sims look like the spawn of a TS1 Sim and a TS2 townie. The eyes bother more than anything else they're verging on creepy. The voice adjuster is nifty but I don't find it a big plus.

The graphics in most aspects, at least to me, are downgraded or flatline from TS2.

Many objects and clothes bleed through terribly.

Their textures and patterns are mostly terrible.

The lighting sucks.

The UI is confusing, inefficient, crowded and did I say CONFUSING!

Very little music.

Following them to work does indeed SUCK!

The clocks higher speeds are barely higher at all.

Relationships are hard/confusing.

GOOD GOD I COULD GO ON. 

I only see two glimmers of hope in the end.
1) this is an early BETA (I know it's not likely but you never know)
2) enough people realize how bad this is, boycott it and cause a Batman like reboot to take place resulting in ensuing awesomeness down the road. At the moment I want to go find a torch and pitchfork somewhere and march on EA's headquarters and the creators (DAMN YOU BEN BELL) and skewer their brains for zombie style kabobs .

Now in order to entertain myself for a while I'm going to do a clean TS2 install and start my legacies over. I hope that until EA realizes what the HELL they are doing that TS2 community lives long and prospers.

Paden, you have nothing to say that is not negative, you are not willing to at least try the game, I started this thread to find people willing to give it a fair shot not to be bashed for having some hope that the game is not as disastrous as you are making it out to be. I mean come on even Pescado is acknowledging the good in the game without bashing everyone who is optimistic about it. So could you at least let us speak without flipping out and screaming YOUR opinion over and over at us? We have opinions too.

I have read the entire thread on MATY and the reception actually seems to be improving as more time passes and while the UI said to be hard to figure out there are less complaints than I anticipated. One of the more recent posts shows a picture of a sim that actually looks quite good. I still am feeling that the game will be better than anticipated. I'm near 50% on my torrent so I'll do some talking after I play it later tonight or tomorrow (IF IT IS GOOD I ABSOLUTELY INTEND TO BUY IT LEGALLY ) We shall see.

I was referring more to Paden

I never said I was dumping the Sims 2 either. I love the Sims 2. But I'm going to give The Sims 3 a fair shot. I apologize in advance for this Paden but I do not know WHOM ever said (someone whom worked on the game?) there couldn't be any CC. Even if it starts out that way it will most likely only be a matter of time before it is modified to allow it.

So many are posting terribly negative comments about a game they have not yet played, those who have played the REAL version (i.e. creators, major gaming sites) seem quite pleased with the game. I would never judge the game by that pirated copy. I find that from what I have seen I like how the game looks, if it got too realistic it would be creepy so I like the look of it. The new gameplay systems seem to be quite well received by those who have had the opportunity to play it. Yes I do have some reservations about the game but that isn't going to stop me from at least trying the real version. It would probably kill the game for me if it is in fact impossible to put in true custom content but I highly doubt that is the case. I'm going to wait and see and give it a fair chance. I'm still excited about the game and want it very much, I can't wait until June 2nd, if it sucks I'll say so but I won't say so until I have it on my computer and I have played it. I just wanted to get that out and hear if anyone else is still excited to see what the game has to offer.

Thank You!  I never used the sauna, couldn't stand to see my sims shrink into normal-ness every time they went in the sauna now they won't 

Hey everyone. I don't think anyone else has caught this yet thought I'd share it. The official Sims 3 site just posted a letter concerning copy protection on The Sims 3! The later basically states that it will use a serial code system like the previous Sims games and will not require online authentication! YAY!

Here's the link if you'd like to take a look
http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/newsItem.jsp?item=-608201177

Makes me affirm my choice to buy the game 

While my Sims all pale in comparison to the gorgeous specimens already here I figured I post one anyway. This is Erik  . I hope he's as gorgeous as I think he is! Enjoy!

I'm really happy to see this thread resurrected, the original was the first place I had ever expressed my true feelings in any form whatsoever. Since then I have come out to one friend who said that it didn't change a thing and that she suspected it anyway. Unfortunately I have since been very emotionally unstable. The days I accept and am happy with who I am I feel like I could fly into the clouds, but the days that I don't I feel like I'm falling into a bottomless pit I may never be able to climb out of again. I have really been struggling to hide from my roommates lately, I want to tell them but I am afraid. I just do not know what to do right now. Anyway I'm glad to see this thread again at least here I can be honest without being bashed or looked down upon.

For anyone who wants to know I'm gay. 

Hey, that's MY last name =p!
Nice sim too, thanks for sharing.

I have some clothing in my catalog that does not show up correctly and is I believe missing its mesh, I do not know what it is. Does anyone know of a way to easily discern what mesh I need in order for the clothing to work? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the compliments =p

Nykus79, I love this house too, but the windows really make it and I don't know if I can upload it here because the windows are by Windkeeper from TSR (not sure of her policies).

Thank you for liking him!