Sims News

SimGuruHydra has posted the Q&A for The Sims 4 on the official forums:

Sul Sul! Maxis and Electronic Arts today announced that The Sims 4 is currently in development at The Sims Studio for release on PC and Mac in 2014. The Sims 4 celebrates the heart and soul of the Sims themselves, giving players a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever in this single-player offline experience. The Sims 4 encourages players to personalize their world with new and intuitive tools while offering them the ability to effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans.

We know you all have many questions and we’re listening. Send them through to this post and we’ll do our best to respond as often as we can. Just know that we’re not quite ready to spoil all surprises yet, so keep an eye out for more information to come.

For now, here’s a list of some commonly asked questions that we wanted to share with you today.

Q: What can you tell us about The Sims 4?
A: The Sims 4 celebrates the heart and soul of the Sims themselves, giving players a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever in this single-player offline experience. The Sims 4 encourages players to personalize their world with new and intuitive tools while offering them the ability to effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans.

Q: How do I stay up to date with the latest info on The Sims 4?
A: Head on over to www.TheSims.com/TheSims4 and sign up for our newsletter to learn more!

Q: When will The Sims 4 be available?
A: The Sims 4 will be available worldwide in 2014.

Q: What platforms will the game be available on?
A: The Sims 4 will be available for PC and Mac.

Q: What will The Sims 4 be rated?
A: The Sims 4 is not yet rated by the ESRB, PEGI or other rating systems. We will update the website once we’ve received our rating.

Q: Will there be an online component for The Sims 4?
A:There will be additional fun and social gameplay elements for players who choose to go online (more to come on that later on) but the core game is designed to be played offline. It’s up to the player to choose how they want to play.

Q: Will The Sims 4 require a persistent online connection?
A: You will not require a persistent online connection to play The Sims 4.

Q: We noticed that the fans were amongst the first to receive this announcement, why did you go that route?
A: The Sims has always been about the fans. There are millions of them across social networks and it’s passion that keeps The Sims alive. It’s their creativity and devotion to The Sims that fuels our creativity, so it’s natural that we’d come to them first with the big news.

This is just the beginning for our fans. We’re bringing a select few into our inner circle and they’ll get special access to the development team and will have visibility into key parts of the game as it develops.

Q: Who are some of the people that are making The Sims 4?
A: The Sims 4 is currently in development at The Sims Studio in Redwood City, and the team making the game is comprised by veterans whose experience dates back to the inception of the franchise. We have folks like Robi Kauker, Lyndsay Pearson and Kevin Gibson who have been with the series since the beginning. Others such as Ray Mazza and Samantha Miceli have been with the team since The Sims 2. We can’t wait to introduce you to more of the team.

Q: What do the eyes in the image mean?
A: They say that the eyes are the window into the soul. Let’s just say that these eyes are a window into the future of The Sims 4. Stay tuned for more!

Q: What are the minimum hardware requirements for The Sims 4?
A: We are working to make the game accessible to as many players as possible. We will let you know once we’ve locked in the specs.

Q: Are you still developing content for The Sims 3?
A: Yes. We have a brand new world, Dragon Valley, coming out at the end of May. We have The Sims 3 Island Paradise shipping on June 25 and we have a Future-themed expansion arriving in Fall 2013. Beyond that, we continue to create content for The Sims 3 Store. 

The Sim Supply has posted the audio of the VIP conference call they participated in announcing the Sims 4. A select group of fan sites got the first official word on the game, even before Maxis talked to the press. The full, official announcement will follow in about an hour. In the call Rachel of Maxis says the fansites are a big inspiration for The Sims 4. Fans will get early access - fan first - to the game until the release. The team working on the game - over 100 people - is largely familiar from the Sims 3 games, such as Lyndsay Pearson who's even worked on the original Sims game and Robi Kauker originally created Simlish and is still onboard. The call continues with a bit of history of the franchise, from the original new game, to the Sims 2 with generations, the Sims 3 with new traits and deeper personality and now The Sims 4. The way Sims behave, especially Sim-to-Sim interactions are a core aspect of the game, as well as new CAS, Build and Buy modes. By the sounds of it, the VIP group is also invited to visit the studios in August (third week, roughly simultaneously with GamesCom) to check out the game. More information will follow later tonight and in the near future.

Marii has written a review about The Sims 3: Aurora Skies for SimsNetwork. She wrote the Dutch review and Wouter translated it to English. Special thanks to both! <3 Click the image above to read the review.

Playfish recently announced that they are shutting down both The Sims Social and SimCity Social. You can read more details in the F.A.Q.

I'm not happy about this, and a lot of people I know who play the games are upset. Some people even spent real money on these games and they are frustrated to say the least about the closure. EA is now pushing players to go to PopCap and pick a free game from a small selection, one of which being Bejeweled.