New EA Poland Video - 27th April 09

EA Poland have posted another new video of The Sims 3. This time voice actors, Producers & Designers talk about the language we've all grown to love, Simlish. Watch it below:

I would also like to congratulate The Sims Hub on their new design! Check it out!

Warning! Virus Targets Simmers, Again! - 26th April 09

Last month we warned Simmers of a virus that was masking itself as a so called "demo" of The Sims 3. It looks as though they're up to their old tricks again as a website named The Sims 3 Demo has appeared giving you the oppotunity to download a demo of the game. This is NOT true so do NOT click this link! SimPrograms did some investigating for us and managed to get a screenshot of the website so you all know what to look out for.

Once again, make sure all your Anti-Virus software and Firewalls are up-to-date! I encourage all fansites to display this warning too.

Thanks to SimPrograms for the heads up.

EuroGamer Live Chat Session - 24th April 09

EuroGamer hosted a live Q&A session with Associate Producer Grant Rodiek today. Fans were given the oppotunity to ask questions and to have them answered there and then. Luckily, The Sims 3 News Centre managed to sit in. We got to ask a few questions, although not very interesting ones. Unfortuantly all questions had to go through moderation before hand, so our more serious ones weren't chosen. Here the answers we got:

TS3NC: How long has the idea of a seamless neighborhood been around? Was it something that was originally thought about for The Sims 2?

Grant Rodiek: It was never a part of The Sims 2. It's something you need to think about from the very beginning of a product and Sims 2 was focused on the transition to 3D from 2D and implementing lifetimes and generations. We always knew that The Sims 3 would have a seamless neighborhood, so the idea has existed as long as the game.

TS3NC: Can you tell us a little bit about how transport works in The Sims 3? Can you visibly see Sims get in and out of cars? And now that they can into the road can they also be run over and have their legs broken off? (The broken leg part wasn't asked by me. For some reason Eurogamer added that... Strange)

Grant Rodiek: The Sims have 3 ways to get around - walk, ride a bike or use a car. In the beginning Sims cannot afford cars, but you can use taxis for free. Sims cannot be run over by cars or have their legs broken. So morbid!

TS3NC: What can you tell us about the bonus neighborhood we may be receiving if we register our game online?

Grant Rodiek: We aren't yet discussing details on that - stay tuned!

Read the whole Q&A here: EuroGamer

UK Hands-On Event - 23rd April 09

EA UK are giving British Simmers another chance to play the game before release. They have started a competition on the EA UK forums open to everybody. (As long as they're over 16 years old).

The two events are being held in London and Manchester on the 4th May 2009. The Sims 3 News Center have also entered for a chance to win. Let's hope we do so we can answer many of your burning questions.

Read more info: EA UK Forums

USB Plumbob Flashdrive - 21st April 09

We all knew that The Sims 3 Collector's Edition came with a USB Flashdrive in the shape of a Plumbob. But we didn't really know what it looked like. Until now:

Thanks to SimPrograms.

New Video From EA Poland - 21st April 09

The Youtube Channel for EA Poland have once again uploaded a new video of The Sims 3. Designers and Producers talk about Create-A-Style, object interaction and more.

Target's New Promo CD - 20th April 09

SimPrograms was lucky enough to find the new Promo CD from Target. "The Sims 3: An Introduction". It includes new stickers, coupons, posters and more. See photos: SimPrograms

If you're in North America, then you can buy this CD for $0.99.

Creator's Camp Week 9 - 18th April 09

The Official Website for The Sims 3 has finally updated with info from week 9 of the Creator's Camp. This week Decorgal and Bacon&Eggzie's creations are showcased, including their machinima movies which we posted a couple of days ago. Read more here: Week 9

You can now get interactive with The Sims 3 News Center in many different ways. Sign our Guestbook, follow us on Twitter or take our weekly poll. This week's question is "What is your favourite feature in The Sims 3?"

IGN Website Preview & Twitter Winner - 17th April 09

Ashton Kutcher successfully won the race for 1,000,000 followers against CNN on Twitter. He is now purchasing 10,000 malaria nets and EA are giving 5,000 for the win. EA also stated that the 1,000,000th follower to Ashton Kutcher would win the chance to become a Sim in The Sims 3 when it's released. This person will also recieve all the games that are created by EA this year for FREE. Quite a good deal!

Watch Ashton Kutcher and Friends at the event:

Read more about why he is doing this challenge: GameDaily

Also today, IGN have posted a preview of the new Movie Mash-up Tool which will be available on the new The Sims 3 Website in a couple of months. Much like Gamespot have done, they talk about it's new features and show you the same Vlog from Jenn Lane: IGN Movie Mash-up

Player Spotlight & Machinima - 16th April 09

This week's Player Spotlight has been posted on the Official Website today, this time focusing on Parsimonius and her creations. Two machinima videos were also posted showing movies created by Decorgal and Bacon&Eggzie. View them all below:

Decorgal: Rejection For Two

Bacon&Eggzie: Morning Run

Thanks to SimPrograms for uploading these.

Movie Mash-up Tool & Twitter News - 16th April 09

Gamespot have posted a Preview of the new Movie Mash-up Tool as well as four new videos of The Sims 3. The first one is a vlog by Jenn Lane as she takes you through the new Movie Mash-up Tool on The Sims 3 Website. Gamespot then try their hand at movie making and show off their embarrasing attempts. Please note, these movies do not do The Sims 3 or the Movie Mashup Tool any justice.

Want to see Gamespot's attempt at movie making? And if you would like to see some screen captures from the movies then you can do here - Screen Captures

Also in the news today, The Sims Team have announced they are getting involved in the Kutcher Vs. CNN Twitter race to see who can get 1,000,000 followers first. You will have the chance to be made into a Sim by The Sims 3 Team if you're the 1,000,000th follower of Ashton Kutcher! (If he wins against CNN)

Follow him now! - Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher has also offered to purchase 10,000 malaria nets if he wins, so The Sims 3 have now offered to give 5,000 nets in the name of the 1,000,000th follower to him!

New Youtube Video - 14th April 09

EA Poland have posted a new video of The Sims 3 on their Youtube channel. Many of the Designers and Producers talk about the game while showing some gameplay footage.

New Videos - 10th April 09

A few videos have popped up today. First we have one from the Official Website for The Sims 3 where Custom Content Creator, Lightside talks about his time at the Creator's Camp. He also shows us what he built and what he thought of the game: Lightside

Next there is one from the Official Norwegian site showing a recent fan event: Norwegian Sims

And the Official Italian site also posted a new video of Rod Humble talking about the game as well as showing some gameplay footage: Rod Humble

Goodbye Will Wright... Kind Of - 8th April 09

Will Wright, creator of Simcity, The Sims, Spore, to name a few, has made the decision to leave EA and Maxis. He is, however, working on a new project which he has not yet revealed. He writes in his letter that:

"...I'm leaving EA (well, not really, I'll explain) ...let's say dive into a new venture, The Stupid Fun Club. This was actually started many years ago by myself and my friend Mike Winter... Along the way we ending up building and prototyping a lot of... odd stuff. At some point we started showing some of this stuff to the people at EA. They got excited by the prospect of us pursuing these projects commercially... So we started talking to them about getting involved and investing in The Stupid Fun Club... So as things worked out I decided to jump into my work at the club more or less full time. But at The Stupid Club we'll be working on new games (along with EA) as well as other kinds of projects with different partners."