By popular demand (well, one request), I’m writing up my notes on Richard Evans’ talk from AIIDE. Richard Evans is currently working at EA/Maxis on the Sims 3. He talked about how the work they’re doing to make each Sim unique and distinct. They’re goal is to make them more individual and more social at the same time.
They have a large pool of discrete traits. Each Sim gets a selection of about five from the pool of traits. Some traits are mutually exclusive, for example, a Sim can be modest or have a big ego. A Sim can hate TV or love TV.
They’re doing their work on the game mechanics in a 2D prototype. It’s a simple sprite world with box graphics, but the simulation it’s running is complete. Richard showed us several demos of the topics he was discussing in action. He had a Sim that hated TV and one that loved TV. It resulted in a funny setup where one Sim would turn on the TV and the other would promptly turn it off.
Besides individual traits, another big addition is that the Sims actually do long term planning. He created a Sim and gave it the workaholic trait. Then he got the Sim a job as a waiter, which is on the restaurant track. The Sim then independently went off to try to level his cooking skill. It bought a cookbook and read it, it bought ingredients and started cooking. It called his boss and invited him over because becoming friends with your boss will get you promoted.
Their second main goal is to make the Sims more socially aware. Richard previously worked at Lionhead Studios on the creature AI for Black & White. A problem in both Black & White and the Sims that Richard found was where the creature/the Sim will interrupt a social situation, for example, attending to a bodily function in the middle of a conversation. This is because they had no awareness that doing so was interrupting something.
The Sims 3 adds social situations. Some examples he gave were visiting (what to do while over at another Sims), mealtime, bedtime and dates. He showed a demo where the Sims recognized the situation and knew what was appropriate or inappropriate. For example, it’s inappropriate for a visiting Sim to watch TV, take food, or sit on the bed of the host. This actually allows for more interesting interactions where you can force you Sims to violate social norms and the other Sims will recognize this and react. It is fun to be naughty but you can only be naught if people know what’s appropriate.
Richard then talked about Garfinkel’s breaching experiments where students were instructed to purposefully break social norms.
He showed how the actions available to the Sim depend on context. At any moment there are many competing contexts scored and sorted by saliency. There is also some amount of memory of past events. If a Sim violates a social norm, they’ll later have the option to apologize for it.
In addition to the larger prototype, they make a lot of smaller standalone prototypes. If they find one of them successful, they’ll roll it into the larger prototype. He showed a couple of these prototypes. One was a diary generator which takes a given set of events and then spits out a journal of it. They had knobs to tune how formal or informal it was, and how truthful as well. It was neat, though not sure how much gameplay there is in something like that.
The talk was about a month ago now, so unfortunately I’ve forgotten some of the details of the talk. It was quite interesting and I love seeing how other companies do things. The prototype was a great tool. While it was in no way something you could give to the public to have fun with it had everything the game designers needed to figure out how to make the mechanics of social interaction work.
I’m looking forward to seeing how they continue to add to the franchise.
138 Responses to “AIIDE 2007: Richard Evans talks Sims 3”
Thanks Tara… sounds like an interesting talk. Would be awesome if they ever release a video of the prototype. It’s funny, a lot of the behavior you described I already assumed was happening under the hood. Goes to show how much one can read into Sims behavior…
WOW! THanks for sharing this. Sounds GREAT
I can’t wait for this game! Thank you for the heads up!
I would be interested once they get their anti piracy problem (secuRom) taken care of. For now…it’s no Ea games for me.:(
Some people are a little upset because they don’t want Sims 3 to be out because they’ll forget Sims 2 or they won’t have any space for it. But I personally think that Sims 3 will be great! I also think that to the people that don’t like it NOW will love it when they see the trailer!
This is the inspiration I need to start saving money now for a more than just decent computer system for TS3. I can’t wait to see what TS3 will be like, but TS2 at least keeps me occupied…
I love the sims and would jump in a heart beat to play the sims 3 but with everything you said it sounds more like I’m going to sit and watch them more then play them, I also don’t think I like the personality thing I love to self sim and it would be disappointing if I made me and my boyfriend and the sims didn’t get along because of the personality-I hope we either pick the traits or can get a cheat to change them. Also this sounds great for the simmers who throw parties and visit lots often I don’t I usually play them as a family unit so I don’t know if all these things would really interest me I hope they do lots more and that I can bite my tongue for ever doubting the makers of the sims
Hello! Wow, all informations so far sounds more than great. I can’t wait to play Sims 3. I also hope so bad that creating custom content will be as easy and simple as it is for Sims 2. So thanks for that sneak info and keep up working on Sims 3!
simscorner
Would love to see more about the Sims3, but ONLY if EA decides to use another anti-piracy program rather than SecuROM which is currently causing SERIOUS issues for loyal, paying EA customers. Before a user buys or considers buying Sims 3 when it is released, I would hope they would check to see what software is included, and hopefully by that time, EA will have removed SecuROM from all their games, or I think they will see a HUGE decline in their sales.
Thanx for the info, I’ve been wondering for so long what they could possibly do to the sims 3 that they haven’t already done. But I guess that shows how much I know about programming, lol!
So they are salienting up the social engine separately from the 3D engine. The 3D engine needs some improved salience too. I am sick to death of the same old scripted static animations. If they can’t do dynamic or improvised animations then at leat allow the community the same freedom to create and inject animations the way we can create sims, lots and objects. So fore making out, there might be hundreds of scripts to choose from instead of one.
How cute. More same old same old interactions and more buggy, malware infected software from EA Games. After the SecuROM debacle and the flagrant mistreatment of their customers, EA cooked its own goose in my kitchen and we didn’t like the taste.
What does this phrase mean?:
Each Sim gets a selection of about five from the pool of traits.
Does that mean they can get only 5 traits from a large pool of options?
And why is this going to be done in 2D? Isn’t Sims 2 done in 3D?
I’m not buying any more EA games until this SecuRom issue is resolved. Thanks for the information, though.
I have been reading anything I can about this SecuROM issue and quite frankly I am happy now that I only have Sims 2,University,and Night Life.I was planning to get the rest of the expansions until I heard about all this.I am now going to be saving myself ALOT of money!To bad EA isn’t owning up to the problem completely and or tryig to correct it.I think they shot themselves in the foot with this one.
Huh… so far this tidbit is not enough for me to buy into Sims3… as I agree that we need a lot more spontaneous social interactions and better animations overall… also LOVE Mick’s ideas about new scripting and allowing us as players to add animations… EA needs to really focus on bringing a lot of new elements to the table for Sims3… especially since their loyal fan base has spent A LOT of money on the franchise thus far… regarding in particular upgrading our computers to keep pace with the enormous load on RAM that the current game now requires… I’d like to see a lot more autonomous reactions… not the simplistic “What’s This” in response to new objects… or a slumping of the shoulders with a muffled groan… Come on EA you took this game from Maxis for many reasons… Now give us as many NEW reasons to once again “Buy into” your newest Sims creation with generation 3… I’ve heard lots of boasting about all the awesome new technology… and AI… even though I’m not from Missouri… but for Sims3… ya gotta “SHOW ME’ something incredible for me to buy it !
Great Googley-Moogley! How very exciting. As a player from way back when Sims were simple minded little things, I think it is amazig to see the evolution of these creatures. I wish however that people would get over the SecuRom thing, seriously people, we don’t need to hear that you aren’t impressed with it, no one is, deal with it. Thanks and have a nice day!
do you have any pictures or videos of gameplay from the Sims 3? or any further information on how the visuals are?
and if not, then when should I should i expect to see this information?
Myself, I can’t wait for the Sims3! Wasn’t that excited, as I’m loving my Sims2 at the mo - have all ep’s - but that’s just enought to also get me saving for a new comp =)
And onto this securom thing - As I said, I have all EP’s - so that means H&M and Bon Voyage, which have Securom on it. And I have had no problems. I always think, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
I personally think that everyone whinging about it is giving all of us happy sim players a bad name. Grow up people!
But hoorah for sims 3 and thank you for the info!
The Sims 3 won’t be in 2D. That is just what they are testing the simulation out on at the moment. I should imagine they are still working on the actual 3D graphics at the moment. Hopefully we should see some screens of it in the next 6 months or so.
i’m just wondering if the sims 3, will come out on 360
I can’t wait for TS3 and I hope they do a makin magic EP for it because it’s been soundin awesome.But ya I can’t wait.Maxis hasn’t let me down yet even with all the securom crap I’m still a sims fan and I love ya Maxis.
A true fan all the way,
Ashley
It sounds like this will be okay, but I’m not sure I’m going to continue as a Simmer. SuckuROM screwed up my anti-virus software so severely it now thinks my other legally purchased games are viruses and quarantines bits of them so they no longer work, it hangs my hard drive, randomly disables my email scanner, and no longer updates correctly.
IF, and only IF, EA owns up to its mistake, comes clean with its fan/customer base with a formal apology (press release), and utilizes some other anti-piracy software in this new manifestation of The Sims will I consider reformatting my hard drive so I can cleanly install this new version. Otherwise, I’m going to move on to some other game obsession.
Sounds awesome! I wish, myself, that they would give you an option or different levels of jealousy for the sims. I’ve hated not being able to re-create one of my Sims 1 families with multiple spouses because the Sims 2 can sense their spouse “cheating” anywhere on the lot. Not cool.
Does any one know how to contact either Richard Evans or Will Wright? Thanks!
Here from israel i say i dont know english very well but from what ido know it¨¨s sound grate sorry if i¨m worng
Can’t wait for the tralier A.I. sounds great but i dont know how they can improve on the sims 2 more than that but i am sure they will find a way!!!
i am so bloody excited, but the only thing im probably gonna get angry about is the WAITING… every single time they tell us about a game… its like AGES until it comes out.. lol its going to be SOO amazing - but it will mean suicide for me - i wont be able to sleep! AHHH
lol oh well…. - death it is
lol
x
Hooray! It’s amazing to find out about the AI evolution that’s happened within just 7 years. I also love the way that Richard Evans is insinuating some things in The Sims 3 (i.e. following your sims to work and the possibility to muck up their career in a hilarious way, and FINALLY going to other sims’ houses).
I REALLY hope that they don’t delay this like they did The Sims 2 and are doing with Spore, but I guess if it leads to a better game then Maxis/EA knows what they’re doing.
[quote comment="56906"]What does this phrase mean?:
Each Sim gets a selection of about five from the pool of traits.
And why is this going to be done in 2D? Isn’t Sims 2 done in 3D?
quote]
Kanji, to answer your questions:
Yes, it is likely that a sim will have a limited amount of options from a large pool of characteristics; The Sims and The Sims 2 has always had that in interests, personality and attractivness.
And the testing is done in 2D because there’s no point spending a lot of time and RAM usage on pretty textures and depth when the interactions and logic in the game doesn’t work. Also, there’s no point in 3D when they’re testing REACTIONS. 3D only really matters in artistry, layout and animations.
Note: to those who think that protesting by not buying Bon Voyage is leading anywhere: EA AND Maxis have spent large amounts of time giving out technical help specifically to do with this mistake. They can’t take back Bon Voyage and redistribute it, and I hardly think it’s fair to blame it on them. Just wait until the last EP is released, and if it still has SecuROM on it then you can do what you like.
sounds exciting cant wait for the sims 3 to hit the stores in the uk!
WE WANT PICTURES PLEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
WE WANT TO SEEEEEEEE IT!
when u said that the sims 3 will be 2d i was really disappointed about that. i thought it would be like kind of 3d ina 2d world like the sims 2. even the sims 1 is 3d(kindof). if u meant the sims 3 will be like sims 2 its ok.
i was thinking that i wished u told Richard Evans that maybe they could work on the sims 2 game, make the sims 2 better,add more skin, hair and clothes, add more controls and these kind of stuff. i am waiting for the sims 3 to come! AND GÄ°VE US SOME PÄ°CTURES PLEEEASEE!!!
Sorry about what i said! i just saw a picture of the sims 3 in google and it rocks! it lookes totaly real! it rocks!!!!
Listen, those pictures on google are EXTREMELY fake, completely fake!
Thanks for posting. You’re linked from our best Sims news site http://www.snootysims.com - hence the influx of sims fans.
Interesting to see that they’ve got input from a guy who worked on B&W - that creature learning was an interesting idea if tedious in real time. I’m hoping EA are going to be able to move away from the discrete, segmented nature of things in sims2. Have a sim age gradually… move between areas of the map smoothly… that sort of thing.
What do the Sims actually look like in The Sims 3? Any one?
Thanks Tara! I am waiting to see what the next evolution of The Sims look like. I am grateful to you as well as other sims fans! If you find more info, please inform us. I am dying to know what they look like…lol!
LaTasha
WOW !
i really want to buy =]
cant wait
thanks for sharing
Just to clear up any real questions: This is actually the first (and only) article with gameplay information on The Sims 3 that has been found since they announced it. They are unveiling it next year (there are some shows of The Sims 3 at the GDC next Feb), but nobody other than the people (and the people that know the people) at EA have any idea about what sims will look like, where the game will be placed, how the gameplay structure is different, or anything other than this interview from 4 months ago.
Nobody else knows anything about it. Really. There are no pictures, or videos, or video interviews, or anything.
Sounds bloody awful right now. I don’t want the sims to live their own lives or know about appropriate social interactions. I want to control them. It’s a game, not a movie. They better come up with something better than this because right now, there is no way I’d buy that.
I sure hope that they’re giong to use another program besides SecuROM. I am direct downloading my games and will continue unless they change. I’d rather in a way have the c.d(s) then have a download incase of net problems, but since you don’t have to actually have secuROM on the pc if you direct download it then that is atleast good. It just checks the liscense.
Any way, I love The Sims games and will continue to purchase them as long as at least I can download them.
~SB333
You know what I’d like to see? More cooking options… like in the console game where you had certain ingredients and could make whatever the heck you want…. Or something also like in the Desperate Housewives game.
I’d also love to see more options in body size as well, for a sim. We should be able to make them fatter or skinnier, and different parts of the body. Like for a woman, being able to choose her breast and him size, or even the size of her butt. That would be neat.
And I hope there’s more than 5 choices for personality. 5 isn’t a lot. Oh, and WAY more choices for turn ons and offs. Should be able to choose if they like knowledge sims, family oriented sims, etc. As well as how much money a sim makes, personality traits, etc.
Oh man…. yeah…. Also, being able to build houses like in real life, would be great too. For instance, if a person has blue prints, they can copy the square inches exactly onto the game.
Guess I want to see a lot more than I thought… LOL
Oops… that was HIP size, not him size.
I just hope they make use of modern graphics cards and multi cored processors in this latest release.
OMG! ok so i guess ive been living under a rock for the last year or so but i had absolutely no idea there were even plans for a sims 3 game!!
All day ive been selling alot of my old pc games on amazon.co.uk and ive been putting off deciding whether to sell any of my old sims games. I dont play them very much anymore but its hard to finally let go of something thats been a part of your life for a good 7 years! hehe but now that i know a sims 3 game will be released at some point, im happy to let go of the past and wait eagerly for the next installment!
Does anyone know when the game is likely to be released? end of next year maybe?
Jas.x
it is said to be released sometime in 2008, but i’m assuming that it will be toward the end of the year.
so don’t sell your sims games too soon!! it will be a while!!
I love the sims 2 so I know the sims 3 will be great! I never had the sims i started out with the sims 2 so i didnt have to wait for something new and exciting to comw but now i do and i love it! I watched the sims 2 video before it came out for what it was going to be like and it is nothing like the way it really is..the video was kinda cooler so i hope i dont get diddapointed on this one! cant wait!!
[quote post="452"]I think that a new the sims is not good for those who boot all the sims 2 games thats unfair for not just me but for every one that has paid a lots of money on your krap to game ones.[/quote]
[quote comment="61358"]Sounds bloody awful right now. I don’t want the sims to live their own lives or know about appropriate social interactions. I want to control them. It’s a game, not a movie. They better come up with something better than this because right now, there is no way I’d buy that.[/quote]
TS2 has the option of free will being turned on or off. I imagine TS3 will have the same control.
Myself, I want to be able to use the Sims as a screensaver. So I want the Sims to be able to care for themselves! With aging turned off and the ability to order food for themselves this would be possible.
This is very exciting. I can’t wait! The new AI sounds wonderful, I hate how stupid my Sims are in TS2 sometimes. I would really like for them to be able to take care of themselves.
I would also like to see our Sims know which rooms/beds are theirs (TS2 can do this but it doesn’t always work very well), and I would really like to see apartments made possible - i.e. a family would know which apartment is theirs and not go into another one on the same lot without being invited or let in.
And get rid of the darn grid, or make it half the size. It’s so constricting!
cool does it go in console
The thing that would be ultimate coolness would be gradual aging. I remember back in TS1 when you were either a kid or an adult, and that was it :’) good times.
I absolutly love the ideas Maxis/Ea for Sims 3 so far, it sounds so good am getting a bit worked up and just have to make a wishlist:
Less sectional interface, more social awareness, less stupidness and perky sillyness, more intriguing and plotting and stuff for the sims to compete abut, jobs, items, partners, business, ideology, power…
Ability to gather information, and to communicate information, experiences and things they witness and to have the option to lie about it.
Reputation good/bad, Clothing/hair/accessories that matters ( /- influence, attraction, fashion-sens, rich/poor…)
More body difference; hight, slim, realistic fat and fit, and for women different breast sizes. Different walkstyle and voice maybe?
Personal economics, personal objects-ownership, banks (optional macro-economic?)
Interactive crime/law, hospital, school, politics,(religion?)
Places to put smaller objects, like inside cabinets, drawers, bags/purses, pockets. the option to hide/search stuff.
Some good free tools fore making CC, obj, hacks, animations…so there be an compatible standard from the start. (hard to do, I guess but it would make creating and using CC so much easier)
Hmm…That was at least some off it ;D, - Much,you say!!?
Hey, after all its christmas soon so I recon ea/maxis realy couldent let me down, could they…;D
I’d love it if TS3 would have an option to turn off some of the needs, or slow down the pace they need to be filled (especially when a Sim is outside his/her home). Sometimes you’d just like to play and plan a little… It is frustrating and boring to have to stop and go to the bathroom every few seconds. :o.. and if you don’t the sim starts complaining and that is annoying.
Sound really interesting, more the sims will be *unic* more the game will be different, and that sound cool
I Wish, this time they will talk with other sims about their experience, and knowed sims much more than TS2, this will made the game much more expandable.
I hope, this time they will support the modder community with some 3DMax / Maja Plungins ’cause the actually situation is really frustrating.
I Hope they will find a way to clean the hood, ’cause the main problem in TS2 is the limited number of the sims, so if you play for 1 year, when you will meet the critical sim## the game will crash without chance to save it :p
so a kind of tool to remove all dead and usefully sims with a re-sort of the existing one will be really welcome
I like the gradual aging and diverse body weight/height options, too! Also they should have a more realistic pregnancy: maternity clothes, changes in weight (like after baby is born) and have to drive/carpool to the hospital. Also more illnesses and disabilities!! Like blindness, paralysis (wheelchairs) minor surgeries (tonsils removed, etc), and broken bones (casts) If you wanted to avoid these, it could always be turned off, just like aging.
yea I completley agree with honey..I want more realistic pregnancys and also id like to be able to have the choice to make youg sims packed lunches for school,let teens woohoo cz hey they do in real life lol,and id like more challenging gameplay.
eu no acho site para jogar eu love the sims se voceis soberem me avise por favor
i think that sims 3 should allow teen sims 2 woohoo and get preggers and that they should make the puppies from dogs have the same markings as there parents and that the puppies should go through 4 age stages ‘new born pup’a bit older puppie’teen puppie’and then adult dog’ and the sims 3 should have other animales like rabbits chipmunks sqirrls birds that can sit on trees and ratcoon’s that are nocktornle as they actully are and it should have bears oh and the sims house’s should have rat mice and bug infestaions and there should also be the choice for your sims to by pet rats and mice and your sims have to be able to ware coats for winter while there preggers unlike the sims 2 oh and kids toddlers and infants have too be able to be kidnapped but then you can call the police and theyll return your children 90% of the time andyour sims can have abortions and your sims can take horse back riding class’s and they can buy boats and take them onto the ocean where your sims see sharks whales dolphins and the sims can eat foods like crabs and dried sea weed oh and your sims can do drugs of all sorts and they can get STD’s and the sims have way better cloathing and you can go to work and school with them if you want and your sims are capible of takeing ther toddlers and infants to communitty lots in stollers those things that you carry babys in oh and when you take your dogs for walks they actully have to ware a leash and you get too wach your sims do the “DO” and no more of that blurry Sh*twhen your sims are naked if you do that im going to tell all of my pals not to buy it and sims have to shave there legs and ther beards and when you rite a bio for them they can remember there past that you rote for them and sims have too start out with alot more money than 20 thou mabye if you raise it up too 50 thou pleeeeeezzz oh and no more of those Z’s when the sims pass out it is sooooooo annoying and the sims have to have accsecorys and the sims dont look so stupid when they cry they have to kind of ween off of the sniffleing and sims have to be able to brest feed and no more of that gross green milk make as real looking as posible and when sims go into laber they have to go to a hospitle oh and they have to have guns and knives and stuff and they have to be able to mug other sims and the sims have to be able to become famus talk show hosts movie stars singers special buddy stars ect.and the animles need to be able to drink water as well as eat food insted of just eating food unlike in the sims 2. and the sims have too have funerells i meen wuts up with that they have weddings but they dont have funerells oh and the sims have to be able to woohoo without being in love or even crushs and i have soo many other ideas but my butts starting too get sore soo any way bye bye oh and plEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!try and fit all of that in PLZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow…
Learn some grammar…
TS3 is looking good so far.
A sims 3 would be great, but to me it feels like too soon. I got the sims 2 about a month after it came out but I feel as though I haven’t really fully played sims 2 yet. I have only one expansion pack, university, and I was actually planning on getting nightlife for my birthday in March. I feel like once I see what the sims 3 will be like, I’ll just want that, and so if I actually buy it, my computer won’t have enough space for it. Then I’ll have to delete all my sims 2 packs and the game itself and I will feel bad because I’d just be deleting all the sims I’ve created and houses I’ve made for them, some of which are very nice.
I also think it’s too early for the sims 3. I just got Bon voyage and there’s still some much to discover in the older EP’s.
And simmer195: nearly 90% of your wants for sims3 are already available for download for the sims 2… just thought you want to know…
To those of you who think it’s too soon or that The Sims 2 hasn’t been around long enough yet: The Sims 2 has had the same life cycle as The Sims, and then some. Seven expansions in four years; the same for both.
I like to think of it this way: The Sims 2 was just a taste of what’s yet to come. This new game is bound to be mind blowing. Yes, we’ve all put time and money into The Sims 2, but so have the developers, and they probably love and appreciate the games far more than we could: these games are their own original work being enjoyed by millions. They want to honor them with new versions.
Anyways, when the game is released any naysayers will wonder why they ever were skeptical.
the only bad thing about the new sims is that it will use up all of the space on my computer and it will make the game very slow.
I don’t understand what people talk about SecuRom and anti-piracy
I want pretty sims… like in the urbz…
Now it sucks..
go sims 3 ! :-D!
I’m excited about the sims 3. I love sims 2. I think what they have going with makeing sims more individual is a great idea. I think that they should add a couple more things…like doing something like rollercoaster tycoon where u or zoo tycone where u can take them and build a zoo or amusment park and then let them run it go to it what ever it is. Add diff animals i like cats and dogs but haveing horses pigs and other animals would be awsome…..Or make it so u can do more interactions with sim city….I think you should be able to go to college with the students i mean to there classess….class with the kids. Mom should be able to go to hospital for the baby though i dont want to see a delivery but see the room and the dr and what not and be able to choose what kinda birth such as water birth c section or what ever. I think there should be better soscial interactions…And better places to go for vacations. I mean what they have now is great but i want something like sea world or vegas or disney world disney land….Great America places like that i think would be nice too i mean not those names for legal reasons but im sure they could think of something….I would love to be able to walk to the neighbors house….or drive to a neigbors house. Drive down the street….if the teens sneak out it would be fun to see what a normal teen would do like tp the principles house or the coaches house when the school team wins a turnament. Make it a little more realisitc but still safe,. Where the parents can set limits if they have kids by blocking the whole tp thing and make a parental control….Or allow it to be open. Just my opinion. Sorry if i offend anyone. It hink they should have an object creater they have a floor and wall creater but there are tons of people out there who love to mod. And if there was an object creator that would be cool too so that maybe we could recolor our own objects and it would be easier for people to create meshes. I mean after all Ea has actually seen some of the objects people have created liked them and has asked them to help with some of the object creations recolors or offered to buy that one item….well from what i heard anyway. I know ea keeps and eye out and something like that would be great.the floor and wall creater was a great idea. just make it safer for people to be able to use there own creativity and ideas. Make a better body shop where we can actually be able to do major changes to a dress or designe change the mesh within a prog so i could make my cinderella dress without haveing to spend hours looking for the perfect mesh. Or change the hair make it long short hundreds of colors with the clic of a button that we can then use paint or what ever program to make the currect hue and exact color we should choose then there would be no limit to our own potential and would not have to worry about destrorying and haveing to do a reinstall because we totally messed up the game do to trying to extract a mesh like i did. Also have it so the hair actually grows and facial hair actually grows where we have to shave and stuff. I like the styles but maybe i want the top half of the hair but whant it to be longer. The mesh limits that i want a mesh editor so dummies like myself could do it. Again just me…..Anyway i am excited. thanks for listening to my rant. Happy Simming
It’s been 5 mounths since this article has been updated. Anyone knows any recent news about sims 3?
I am really looking forward to The sims 3. I trust EA/maxis on this one. They have never disapointed me in the past. And to the people who says its too early for a sequel, there were also only four years between The Sims and The Sims 2, with the same amount of EPs. I think it’s time for an upgrade to the sims! I don’t think there are any challenges left in the game. I havent found Bella yet.. but..Speaking of that, I hope they return Bella to the game this time! I really want the Goth family to be reunited!
There are so many things that could be better in The Sims. I mean in terms of intelligence, social interactions, personality, options in creating a sim and building options. There are so many things, I cannot mention them all right now..
But imagine how great The Sims 3 will be! I just hope I am not building my expectations too high, cause I’m scared I’ll be disapointed. Also, I hope the game will be out in 2008. I’m not very patient when it comes to The sims…:)
I think everyones ideas should be put in the sims 3. I really wish that you could dress the babies and that toddlers and infants could go swimming in like a baby pool.I am sure you will be able to control the sims. I mean it would not be any fun it you just made the sims and put them in a house and watched them that would be stupid.They should have a webpage were they could have everyone type there ideas. I sure the sims 3 will be a lot more fun than the sims 2. I can’t wait!!!!
Go The Sims 3 and The Sims 2!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for telling us,
I just want to hear more now,
I really can not wait till it comes out,
Oh my goodness,
I have to wait a whole year,
they should not have told us till the day before it comes out,
that way it would not feel like so long,
Anyways,
It sound super cool from what you’ve said
I just can’t wait
I’m a sims fan all the way
Thank you for informing us that there would be a Sims 3. I own The Sims 2, and I can’t wait for it to come out. Some people on YouTube spread rumours that it would be out in 2008, though.
I absolutely love The Sims, and I just can’t wait!
I’m a big fan of the Sims. Everyone ideas sound great. I think you should be able to make your sims tall or short. Get in to it like real life and stuff like that. Like, teens can do whatever adults can do. Everyone knows teens are not really goody goody. You should be able to mesh anything on your sims bodies. Little kids should be able to play instruments and sing with an actually microphone.All sims should be able to do that. Adults and Teens should be able to smoke to and drink to they can’t drink no more. Oh, and new born babies should have on the usually new born baby cloths. Like, a small hat and wrapped in a pink or blue blanket. Maybe, a hospital band around their arm too. Parents should show more affection towards their kids like, they should be able to hold their kids and hold their kids in their laps when their crying. Rub them on the back when their hurting. Squeeze some of this stuff in if you can. I CAN’T WANT FOR SIMS 3, HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLA!
Everyone’s ideas are wonderful, and I’m VERY excited about the next installment of our favourite game, but something I’ve been thinking of is this: Will Wright’s next game, “Spore”, is on its way to the shelves itself, and I’m hoping that there will be a few things from that game in “The Sims 3″. In “Spore”, you’ll be able to take a spine skeleton and stretch it whichever way you’d like to have a character that is ANY SHAPE OR SIZE. Your choice!
Why not have this in “TS3″?! After all, they’ve already perfected the technology - but instead of a spine skeleton, just a normal human skeleton that you can add flesh to in ANY tone (kinda like the colour sliders on Photoshop or Color It!.) and manipulate any way you’d like. That way, we could HAVE females with smaller breasts and bigger hips, we could HAVE shorter or taller characters (instead of having to use the “stretch_skeleton” cheat every time we enter the same house.), we could HAVE wider legs or longer necks or so on and so on. (And this clay effect could be used for the face as well, instead of having the sliders to contend with. I’d personally love my Sims to not look SO SYMMETRICAL. :))
The other thing that makes “Spore” seem REALLY interesting that should be incorporated is the fact that, however you make your creature, it will determine how he will walk and move and gesture and fight and dance . . . Why not have this be the same way with “TS3″ as well? If you make an adult Sim with really long legs and a short torso, they’ll walk wider and perhaps slower or faster than other Sims. If you make a child Sim with really long fingers, they’d do a little bit better on the piano than a child with stubby fingers. And so forth!
It seems that, considering they already have all this together for “Spore”, it definitely wouldn’t be a stretch for them to put it into “TS3″.
And another thing that has ALWAYS bothered me (as I’m sure it has many people!): There should be different sliders for your voice so you can tailor your Sim’s voice the way you’d like it. There could be a slider for pitch, breathiness / huskiness, speed, volume, et cetera.
With ideas like these, we could actually REALLY CREATE our Sims. At this point, I tend to find (as much as I absolutely love the game.) that most of my Sims end up looking EXACTLY THE SAME - and having the same voice and animations for everything doesn’t exactly fight my theory on that! I look forward to REALER Sims.
I really would love to see Sims multitask. It’s always been strange to me that a Sim cannot hold the baby and talk/interact with their other kids or spouse at the same time. Or cook and chat with your guests/family at the same time.
This article is 6 mounths old, anyone have more recent news for sims 3?
I Am SOOOOO Excited To Hear That There Is Going To Be A Sims 3!!! I Have Been Playing The Sims Since The Original One Came Out On The PS2 And I Have Almost All Of The Expansion Packs For The Sims 2. Let Me Just Say That I Can’t Get Enough Of The Sims!!! I Agree With Alot Of You And I Think That You All Have Great Ideas. =D Some Of The Things That I Would Like To See In The Sims 3 Are…
The Sims To Have The Ability To Multitask.
The Ability To Accesorize Your Cars,(changing the rims, tire size, color.etc,)
The Sims To Be Able To Age Differently Instead Of The Boring Toddler, Child, Teenager, Adult, Elder. And Mabe You Could See There Body’s Change Litle By Little(for example there faces could chang a little bit and they could grow a little bit every other day.)
I Like The Idea Of Having The Option Of Following Your Child And Teenage Sims To School And Being Able To Control Them There.
I Also REALLY Liked The Idea Of Having Different Pregnancy Options Like Walking More Like Your Pregnant, Having Your Water Break, Going To The Hospital When The Baby Is Coming And Being Able To Watch An Animated Movie Of Your Female Sim Having The Baby.
I Would Like The Idea Of Being Able To Drive Or Walk To A Neighbor’s House, I Think That Would Be An Amazing And Fun Thing To Do.=D
I Would Also Like To See The Option Of Putting Objects At Angles And Things Like That Because Im Kinda Bored Of The Way That You Have To Put Things.
I Think That The Parents Should Be Able To Have More Interactions With Their Children. It Wouldnt Be Such A Bad Idea Either If The Sims Could Have Broader Social Options.
I Think That It Would Be Cool If You Could Put Some Objects On Top Of Eachother.(for example, you could put t.v.’s on top of dressers and stuff like that.)
I Would Also Like Too See The Ability Of The Sims To Be Able To Go To Amusement Parks, Road Trips, Sporting Events, Neighbor’s Weddings, Big Parties. etc.)
I Would Like The Sims TO Have Funerals For There Dead Friends And Family Members.
Well…I Have Alot More Ideas But Id Be Up All Night Writinf Them…lol. I Would Like To Say That I Have Faith In All Of The Sim Creaters That This New Game Will Be Amazing And Will Amaze Us All.
P.s. If Anybody Has Any Info Or Pictures Could You Please Send Them To My E-Mail. presten65@netzero.com
Well THats All For Now…Hope You All Have Fun Playing The Sims. =D
Yeah,im looking forward to the game,but the chnges would have to be amazing for me to buy it.No doubt id have to upgrade my computer alot to meet the system requirements.Its also annoying as theyd stop making expansions for the sims 2,although you can never really get enough stuff for it.I like lots of the ideas said,they are good.Although i fell alot of it could be done in a simple expansion pack.While im looking forward to it,if it were simply a huge expansion pack it would be better in my opinion.
Sam Tucker, if you compare The Sims 1 to The Sims 2, that was a HUGE improvement, so if there is a similar improvement going to The Sims 3, we should ALL be happy.
I agree Dave,I just can’t wait to see how they can possible make sims 3 better than 2!I’m sure it’s gonna be great,and I can’t wait to see it!
does anyone know,when it’ll release?
Cool! I want something called “The Sims 3: For Adults” where the sims can have realistic sex, do drugs, murder each other, commit suicide ect. So the game becomes more realistic and better for movie making. I also want them to be able to do different things at the same time.
Let me know if this happens. From Sweden with love. 
Can’t we all gather our thoughts and send it to EA Games?
I honestly think at least a middle-aged life stage is needed. This is sorely lacking. To jump from a 30 year-old looking sim to a 75 year-old is ridiculous. Middle-aged folks are very interesting.
Also, the basic setup from what you have described does not exactly sound revolutionary. I’d need a much bigger impetus to consider the cost of upgrading my system to accommodate this game. So far, the early word on this game sounds pretty tame to this gamer.
well i just wanna say i cant wait and how long till it comes out , like 6 mounths give or take a year lol anyways love the sims 2 it’s great what is that sercuRAM thing or whatever all about
xoxo tiff tiff
Sims 3 will be available on all next gen consoles and pc, so yes its confirmed PS3, Wii & Xbox360 will be included, but older generation consoles won’t be.
They have also supposedly started working on a remake of all Sims and SimCity games in HD-3D for the upcoming 2009/10 PlayStation4’s 68 gig HD-SanDisc format according to a friend of mine who works for them and possibly the NextGen Sega DreamCast 2 (if Sega decide to stop arguing over what to do with it).
I want Sims to be aware of when another Sim is naked, not just to be able to be embarrassed - which they do to a small extent now, but - well - if Don Lothario walked in on someone having a shower, don’t you thinnk he might sneak a peek? THAT sort of reaction!
O, wow!
Yay, I’m so excited for this game! Finally Sims know what’s right and what’s wrong, I hate it when the neighbors would just go into the house, sit down, and watch TV. So annoying… And I love the idea of them being able to go to Neighbor’s houses! And the idea of them being able to roam around freely, instead of being constrained to a plot of land, not being able to go anywhere but that little ’square’ of land. >__> I’m so excited! Said that a billion times. XD But I really am!
This article got me really excited the first time I read it. It’s been months and months, and we’ve heard nothing more. It makes me wonder how valid this article is. Would EA really let this information slip? This is the only page on the entire Internet with any relevant information about The Sims 3. Can we trust it? Hopefully we’ll find out in two days when Free Time comes out, assuming it is the last expansion for The Sims 2, and also assuming that EA releases information about The Sims 3 instead of the other games that have been announced recently (MySims Kingdom, SimAnimals, SimCity Creator, Spore, etc.)
If this is real, I’ll be extremely happy and I’m really not leaning one way or the other. It just worries me that we haven’t seen anything else and that this information is so old. I just wanted to get that out there, because no one else seems to doubt this article whatsoever.
LOL. Kevin, I didn’t make it up. I don’t know why they haven’t released any other information. I was just posting this for a friend who missed the talk.
I know Rod Humble is supposed to be talking at GDC tomorrow about Sims 3. We’ll see what he has to say! Unfortunately I won’t be able to go to the talk or I’d be sure to post more info for you.
Thanks for clearing that up. That makes me really happy
Sorry I doubted you, but there’s a lot of fake stuff on the Internet about anything and everything.
Now I’m excited all over again!
hey everyone!! Dudes thanks sooooo much for the info!!! I needed it. I was wonderin when it will be out! keep up the good work!
Love all guys,
tayla!!!!!!
WOW! I have been playing sims sence it first came out. It is just so cool to watch it grow up..lol
there are big diferences from sims 1 to sims 2 and there will probably be other ones when sims3 is gonna come out
Wh will this game be coming out its just i was hoping it was gonna come out in april 08 so i have saved up qiute a lot my mum said 07 when will it come it said on this website that it would be coming out april 08 so when please tell
There is a small preview of The Sims 3 in the Free Time expansion pack.It’s a video game for your Sims to play it will be on the computer that is given to your Sim by an NPC by the name of Mr Humble..He will visit your Sims lot and leave a gift and inside will be the special computer.
*Sob*, too bad you couldnt go to that talk on the 21st, Tara. It seems you are the only informant to the millions of eager Sims 2 players desperately seeking for Sims 3 info.
Please let us know of anyone who did go to that talk and has information!
Ack, nevermind. Humble only talked about SimsCarnival >:(
[...] in July of 2007, some notes taken of Richard Evans’ (Senior AI Engineer on The Sims 3) talk at AIIDE were discovered, [...]
[...] Surfer Girl’s just posted that PC and Mac versions will ship simultaneously, and pointed at this blog post based on a Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment Conference talk [...]
Hey people! Check this out!!
http://thesims3.ea.com
It’s nice they’re focusing on Sim uniqueness and social situations, both of which I felt were really lacking in the Sims 2. One thing I was really hoping they would roll with would be things such as aeroplanes and coaches and things, I think it would be cool to have a family on a plane and see what they get up to! Also I think it should be a lot easier for us to make custom content, even simple things such as movies, instead of having to do it via an external source..
[...] you have to wait till the 19th. That is unless you have to amazing ability to travel back in time: AIIDE 2007: Richard Evans talks Sims 3 at Free Candy For Everyone [...]
[...] Read the complete article here or Visit The Sims 3 website [...]
The sims 3 Will not be realesing anymore information until March 18th! so its until then we will find all this new stuff
[...] esta versión, los Sims serán mucho mas inteligentes, y como dice uno de los programadores de la Inteligencia Artificial del juego, los Sims en esta versión están [...]
[...] ma ulteriori informazioni verranno rivelate a partire dal 19 Marzo 2008. Nel frattempo è sbucato questo post in cui Richard Evans, già al lavoro sull’ AI di Black&White, spiega l’evoluzione [...]