February 4th, at the headquarters of Electronic Arts Brazil, in São Paulo, we had a closed event to the main Brazilian fan sites where we could see in first hand a presentation of The Sims 3 and being the first Brazilians to put the hands in the game and have a taste of all the news!

Alala Sims was represented by the administrator malika and moderator Nandão, who took the most of this opportunity to bring as many as possible news of the new features for you. We arrived at the headquarters of EA and met some friends of fan sites who were also invited. Soon we were received by Marcelo Mark (MM), who started shooting for Simpost. Then we went to the presentation room where we were received by Ian, Lia and Isabelle.

Initially, Ian Freitas, product manager of EA Brazil, gave a brief presentation of the event and took the opportunity to comment about the delay of the launch of The Sims 3. According to him, the studios still need more time to finish the game, leaving it more complete and perfect as possible, to meet the expectations of fans that eagerly await.

We played an alpha version of the game that was compiled in December 2008, so many things may be different and we had some really funny bugs that we will report later. For that reason we were not allowed to any type of registration, photos or videos.

Then Isabelle Henriques began the long-awaited presentation of The Sims 3. After the initial screen of the game, where we choose the neighborhood that we wanna play with, we have a perfect video of Sunset Valley that shows all the details of the neighborhood. The houses, streets, waterfalls, sky and sea are extremely detailed, the neighborhood is much more alive and real. With the help of the Tab key, which also assumes the role of the free camera, we could see more peculiar traits of the neighborhood. The mountains on the horizon, the sunset, every single feature was carefully developed. Only with these details, it was possible to see that play The Sims 3 would be an incomparable experience, but we had not seen anything yet!

To facilitate reading, the news were divided into categories for you to know everything about the new Create a Sim (CAS), the news of the neighborhood, beyond the gameplay and some curiosities.

Create a Sim

• Young Adults are on the game.
• There are four skin colors for Sims: default skin color, blue, green and pink. Using the scroll bar we can do any skin tone. It’s really amazing!
• The Sims body can also be quite modified. We can make fat, thin and strong Sims!
• We can choose this using a scroll bar that gives us even more freedom to create unique Sims.
• The hair customization has no limit. We can do high-lights and give different tones to every part of the hair using different colors.
• The RGB System of colors is used to the colors of Create a Style. Once that you have created a style you can apply anywhere, like hairs, clothes, furniture, wall and floor.
• Hair and beard do not grow.
• We can change the face’s shape (eyes, mouth, eyebrowns, etc).
• If you point the mouse to any part of the body of a Sim, it gets detach. So you just have to click on this part if you want to edit it.
• There are default faces. In the version that we played there were some faces of American celebrities.
• We can add freckles, spots and wrinkles to our Sims.
• There are lots of textures and colors for clothes, objects, walls and floors, like:
• Fabric;
• Leather and fur;
• Rug and carpet;
• Abstract;
• Geometric;
• Thematic;
• Wood;
• Metal;
• Straw;
• Painting;
• Tile and mosaic;
• Plastic and ruber;
• Rock and stone;
• Masonry;
• Miscellany.
• Finally we have lots of accessories for our Sims, like shoes, socks, gloves, earrings, glasses, rings and bracelets.
• The accessories are composable.
• We can use socks with pajamas or sandals.
• Sims can compose five traits. Don’t need to choose all the five when you create a Sim, they can be chosen during the life.
• There are five wished for life.
• Sims can choose between 24 types of food, 7 types of music and 20 colors to be their favorite. This number can change.
• We can choose the tone of a Sim’s voice, making it more acute or more grave.
• In one family we can have Sims with different surnames.
• There are no more signs.
• There is no “turn on” or “turn off” yet.

Neighborhoods and Lots

• Houses can have until five floors.
• The maximum number of Sims in a lot is eight.
• Sims can play Cricket.
• There are insects like cockroach and butterflies. They are really big!
• Sims can recognize objects that have been stolen by cleptomaniac friends.
• Famous artists are recognized by people on streets.
• The biggest lot is 64x64. One square in the floor on The Sims 2 is like four in The Sims 3.
• We can choose between furnished houses and houses with no furniture.
• To use cheats, we need to enable them first.
• We can put furniture in any angle.
• We can expand walls to enlarge rooms, and we don’t need to move furniture and paint the walls again. The feature does it all!
• We can change roof’s elevation, and don’t need to use any cheat to do this.
• Stairs are completely moldable.
• We can move lots, enlarge or reduce it, just like Sim City.
• We can’t create diagonal swimming polls yet and we don’t have diving-board yet too.
• We can change the texture of swimming polls.
• Sims don’t need stair to get in or out of the swimming poll.
• The movements to seat or get out of the swimming polls are much more real.
• We don’t have different seasons and animals.
• The same type of tree can grow in different ways, some bigger and others or with different branches.
• Hairs and trees move with the wind.
• We can put more than one object upon a table, but it depends on the size of it.
• We can change colors, bright and intensity of light. In one click we can make an entire blue environment, for example!
• The mail box still defining where your Sims will appear.
• Clicking on a community lot we can choose between some options, like to work there.
• There is no more cheat to stop the aging of our Sims. Now there is a official button for it.
• When we decide to go to another lot our Sims can go walking, riding a bike or by taxi.
• We don’t need to call the taxi anymore. Our Sims take the taxi alone and go to the lot by their own, and we can follow them along the way, with no loading screen.
• The humor of a Sim increases or decreases according to what they do, see or eat, according to their preferences.
• We can choose how to walk.
• There are fears.
• The “visiting system” is like on The Sims 2 Apartment Life. You just need to knock on the door.
• Sims that work too much can get tired or stressed, but they get rewards from their bosses.
• There are specific abilities that are necessary to move forward on your career.
• When Sims meet for the first time you can see what they tought about the other one.
• Depending on the traits, there are new interections between Sims, on the category “special” in the interection menu. An evil Sim, for example, can fight with anyone.
• Moon and Sun are back!
• Sims can go to the place where they work just to talk to their friends.
• There are cars, but we can’t control them.
• There are no motorcycles.
• Sims can buy different ingredients for recipes.
• There are cheats to disable the prism upon Sims heads and the conversation and thinking balloons.
• The needs of Sims are: hungry, bathroom, energy, social, hygiene and fun.
• We can fish on the sea, there are lots of fishes, and we also have eels!
• When a Sim is wearing pajamas inside the house and go to a neighbor’s house, he change to casual clothe by their own.
• You can use inventary itens anywhere. You Sim can take the guitar and play it in the park for a while!
• We have sealing!
• There are no apartments.
• Pregnant Sims are like in The Sims 2, but the pregnancy lasts six days.
• We can change phrases on graves at the Cemetery!
• The Tragic Clown, from The Sims 1, is buried there!
• There are vampires!
• Dead Sims get into controllable ghosts!
• We can see smoke coming out of the chimney!
• Traits of baby Sims are determined by their mother humor during the pregnancy. While we played a baby had difficulties to sleep and other problems, because his mother hadn’t an easy pregnancy.
• Baby Sims can be born at home or at the Hospital!
• Thieves are back in The Sims 3.
• We didn’t find the memories of a Sim like in The Sims 2, but you can create a biography.

Pictures and Videos

• There are four angles for filming, not five.
• We can define the speed of one camera to another, going from slow speed to fast, for example.
• We can film in widescreen or not.
• New angles, like upside down!
• We still using Tab to make the camera free, but now we can make it upside down and have a much more exact zoom.

Curiosity

• The storie of The Sims 3 is before The Sims 1. Bella and Vladmir are childrens!
• MM recorded two songs in Simlish, Bugersnot and Jumble, that will be in the first expansion pack for The Sims 3.
• The Sims 3 tech online is supposed to be like Spore’s.
• We don’t know yet if we are going to have a Create a Sim’s version before the game’s release.
• Videos that our Sims watch on TV were made on The Sims 2.
• When a Sim was bathing his baby on the kitchen’s sink, the baby just disappeared!
• After a Sim’s death, he was transformed into a ghost and got imprisoned into a wall!

We also asked a few questions to Ian and Isabelle, check it out:

The new cover is (click here) definitive?
R: For now, that one is the official cover for The Sims 3.

Now that The Sims 3 was postponed, there is any chance for us to have any expansion pack or objects collection for The Sims 2?
R: No. We are working to make The Sims 3 even better.

There are any ideas for expansion packs for The Sims 3?
R: There are some ideas for expansion packs, but nothing concrete until now. We are really working in The Sims 3.

Photos