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The Sims 3 An Introduction

While at Target yesterday, I couldn’t pass up The Sims 3: An Introduction. It’s videos and information about The Sims 3 - probably what you can find online but packaged in one CD for the PC. In my defense, it was only 99 cents and does contain a $5 off coupon for The Sims 3(if you buy it at Target - which is one of my favorite stores anyway).

The only downside to The Sims 3 is that we are back at the starting point. No cool expansions yet although they are touting that there will be plenty of free downloads and if I were a betting gal, I’d say some paid ones, too.

So for my 99 cents, I get to revel in The Sims 3 plus I get a free music download of the theme music, a $5 off coupon, and some The Sims 3 stickers. Not too bad.

The Sims 3 ships June 2, 2009 and it’s went gold - so it won’t be delayed.

The Sims 3 Update

It looks like I will have a few more weeks to save money for The Sims 3. The Sims 3 new release date is June 2, 2009 - just in time for my anniversary.

While I am most interested in playing The Sims 3 for the PC, it’s also being developed for mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now that would be fun to play The Sims on my iPod Touch.

I was all excited when I saw that The Sims might be released this month but thrilled to hear official word. I just reinstalled The Sims 2, so that - along with the two expansions I own - should keep me busy until then.

The Sims 3 Release Date

This is what happens when you stop paying attention. The Sims 3 is slated for release this month! Or at least it has a tentative release date of later this month. I remember the announcement about The Sims 3 but haven’t heard much more. But in all fairness, I really haven’t been reading or watching that much about PC games.

The Sims 2 was leaps and bounds better than The Sims, so it’s hard to imagine how things will improve with The Sims 3. I am excited to see the open neighborhood of The Sims 3. That’s one aspect of the game I never like was that you just couldn’t pop over to your neighbors as this would make it much more fun to make friends.

Another factor I must check into is if my computer meets the minimum standards. Here are the minimum standards for Windows XP -

* Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
* 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1 GB RAM
* At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
* 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

I think mine meets the minimum as I have a 128 MB video card and 1GB of RAM. I hate that I just come in at the minimum for those two crucial elements. It might be time for an upgrade.

Although the release date is listed on EBGames and isn’t official one from EA, I feel pretty confident that it will be available close to that date. EA is very reliable when it comes to games and tentative release dates. But once The Sims 3 goes gold, we can then expect it to be released shortly thereafter.

The Sims 2 Again

My favorite part of playing The Sims 2 has become building houses. I love picking out furniture. It really gets me excited about the day that we will own a home. From farmhouse sinks to love seats, it will be wonderful to shop for furniture.

I haven’t played The Sims 2 in months. It might even be a year since I’ve played. I really need to get back into playing and check out some of the expansions I have missed. With The Sims, I bought every expansion except House Party. Then once The Sims 2 was released, they came out with the The Sims version that included all of the expansions for less than $50. I’m almost tempted to wait it out until The Sims 3 is released to see if they do the same thing.

While The Sims 3 won’t be released until next year, given my past playing performance, I may only play a couple of times anyway until then. I might pick up one more expansion and then wait it out. If they don’t release them all under one package, I can always get them later.

Favorite The Sims Expansion

I do like to talk about The Sims, my favorite PC game of all time. I was so excited when The Sims 2 was released but it was just awkward timing. With a newborn in the house, it made it very difficult to play. Plus when I did play, I felt guilty for playing a family when instead I could be spending time with mine!

I did buy a few expansions like University and Open for Business. Sadly I haven’t played either that much although I do look forward to playing more in the near future. I have some great business ideas that I’m sure other Sims will be wanting a franchise opportunity to start their own!

My favorite Sims 2 expansion is University just because I have played it more. My favorite The Sims expansion is Pets. I had this dalmatian named Jubilee who would run and greet me after work in the game. What unconditional love I tell ya.

What’s your favorite from The Sims, The Sims 2 or both?

The Sims 3

The Sims 3 is due out next year and already I’m so excited about this game. I figure I will need a computer upgrade consisting of a faster CPU and more memory. But I am sure that this game will be worth it.

Won’t it be great to have our Sims freely explore a neighborhood? Sure you can travel somewhere by taxi but it will be so nice to walk to a neighbor’s house. Heck even just to be able to see it instead of a vast nothingness will be a welcomed change.

More customization options when designing your Sims home also sounds intriguing. It will be like giving the player the power to create their own personalized objects. No more trying to work Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to get what you want. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

I’m sure as the release date gets closer, there will be more news as well as screenshots. I’m pretty satisfied with The Sims 2 but the more I read about The Sims 3, the more I can’t wait to play.

The Sims Free Time

With the news of The Sims 3, it really has me wanting to play The Sims 2 more. One expansion that has caught my attention is The Sims 2 Free Time.

I have mentioned before how I love to decorate the homes probably more than actually playing the game. And with using the money cheat, you don’t have to rely on directbuy to find affordable furniture. The money cheat is great since even your Sims newlyweds will live in style. It does make the game a little boring since you don’t have to depend upon a job for money. But it has it’s advantages especially when all you really care about is home decorating.

This might be one I have to get at the end of the month with the next pay day. The little one is getting old enough to entertain herself so I’m actually recovering some of my free time.

The Sims 3

Guess The Sims 3.com says it all. Yes, there will be a Sims 3 and details are forthcoming, in fact, later this month.

1up.com and Games for Windows: The Official Magazine will have the exclusive scoop about The Sims 3 March 18th. Until then, it will be time to wonder just what does EA have up their sleeve to top The Sims 2?

The Sims 2 was a big improvement over The Sims in many aspects. Graphics were much better as well as the ability to play storylines. I also like seeing my Sims age and the Sims offspring taking on their physical and other characteristics. It’s hard to think just what they will do with Sims 3 to make it better.

What improvements do you think should be made in The Sims 3?

How to Make Custom Frames for your Sims

With The Sims 2 Body Shop, you can create all sorts of custom objects for your game including eye frames. Creating your own colored frames is very simple and can help add that personal touch to your Sims look.

First open up Sims 2 Body Shop, create parts, start new project, and create facial hair, makeup & glasses. Choose eyeglasses and export selected textures. Name your project and make not of where the saved project is located. Now you are ready to create your own custom frames.

With glasses, there is only one file that you will need to work with. There will be two files. Only worry about changing the color for the file named frame~stdMatBaseTextureName. Open your graphics program. I use Paint Shop Pro but any will do for this one since it’s an easy mod. To change the color of your frames, choose the bucket fill tool and fill in the background color of the file.

Then save and preview it in the body shop.

You can also add patterns to your image for even more funky looking frames.

Creating custom colored frames is very simple and can really help to capture the personality of your Sims.

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How to Make Blue Hair for your Sims

I’ve talked before about the fun you can have with the Sims 2 Body Shop. The Sims 2 Body Shop is a free program that lets you create custom objects that you can import into The Sims 2. This is a first in a series of articles about how to create custom objects. Today we tackle blue hair.

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