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.

Fine fine, just don't make assumptions about what is going on in my head.  It's highly offensive.  And you're not going to convert me like that.

Fact is, I did without custom content until Bon Voyage came out.  Playing the sims on and off with long intervals in between, for like three years, I didn't have a single file in my download folder.  So I really couldn't care less about the lack for a while.  If it gets to be a problem, and the game as it is annoys me, then I'll just drop it temporarily, and play something else.  Simple.  No need for bitching and moaning about something I have little stake in.

It's okay, the wild speculation is entertaining to say the least.

One thing I'm curious about here is what this Emperor thingit be in the lifetime wants.  I'm thinking either military or a different branch of the political career path.  It'll certainly suit my sim alter-ego, El Lectro, who wants to be a Latin American Dictator.  I or someone else just needs to create a Latin themed hood sometime after release.

All these career oriented perks and idiosyncracies interest me as well.  It looks like you'll be able to throw fund-raising parties as a political person, and an evil or materialistic sim in the political path can skim money off the top of the funds raised lol.  Maybe Captain Hero (if there is a superhero branch of the law enforcement thingit) can actually fly to different places rather than drive a car.  And the different reactions to what your career status are prove interesting as well.

 I'm not so sure that mesh importing or modifications won't be possible, as I haven't heard anything specific about that subject from the developers.  Yes, one could argue that they intend to corner the market on all custom content via the store, but I very much doubt it.  Even if they're not going to help modders mod, can they really stop them? I think it's just a matter of time before some determined soul goes to the work of creating tools that open up the ability to create and modify.  I'd be surprised if they managed an unhackable game, and alarmed that they'd even want to.

At any rate, I don't see it as a loss.  The game such as it is seems like it'll be fun.  I just treat it as a separate game, rather than a hijacking of a game I was already playing.  I'll have fun with it, I think, and time will tell if it's worth playing in the long run.

Plus I might be getting it for my birthday on the 21st, so really no loss on my part.  I just hope my computer can play it for the person I'd be getting it from.

Jeez, I knew I should've put off looking into Sims 3 until a while after it was out, because now that I've read all the information on it, I cannot find it in myself to play The Sims 2, even with all expansions and a gig of hacks and custom content.  What I really like is that the player can recolor things themselves, including skins, eyes, and clothes.  That's going to be so much fun, and tide me over until the community devises tools to create new stuff.

The seamless neighborhood and simultaneous aging... It sounds like it'll be a constant resource hog, but still sounds pretty sweet.  Can finally visit my sim's friend's house and mooch some goods off of THEM.  Unless of course other houses aren't open to you, which would be stupid, considering yours is to them.  But!  Particularly the simultaneous aging appeals to me, since one of the biggest problems I ran into in the sims 2 was having way too many families to keep track of, and hardly enough time to play them all, much less keep them on the same time table if I'm storytelling.

Is anyone else turned off to the sims 2, having done their homework on 3?

Ahh, sorry, I failed to find this in a search.   Thanks a lot.

I don't think this'd be much of a difficult request to implement but if it is, you can tell me.  One thing I've always wanted to do with my sims is have high stakes poker matches or even pool games, with thousands of simoleans on the line for my high rolling sims.  The default amounts that are betted in these games are much too boring to make the activities worthwhile.  I'd like for it to be possible to have a sim that is a professional gambler.  As my game stands, it isn't possible.  Of course, if you go ahead and do this, there should be an option to go with the default amount, in the case of casual games and the like.  I'd need the mod for EP8