The Sims 3 is the third major title in the life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to The Sims 2. It was announced that it was in development for PlayStation 3 and Wii in November 2006, and later announced for OS X and Microsoft Windows. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for OS X and Microsoft Windows – both versions on the same disc. Smartphone versions were also released on June 2, 2009. Console versions were released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS in October 2010 and a month later for the Wii. The Windows Phone version was made available on the Windows Phone Store on October 15, 2010. A Nintendo 3DS version, released on March 27, 2011, was one of its launch titles. The Sims 3 was a commercial success, selling 1.4 million copies in its first week.Critics issued mostly positive reviews, with an 86/100 score from aggregator Metacritic. The game has sold over ten million copies worldwide since its 2009 release, making it one of the best-selling PC games of all time. The last of eleven expansion packs, Into the Future, was released in October 2013. A sequel, The Sims 4, was released in September 2014 for PC and in November 2017 for consoles.   The Sims 3 is built upon the same concept as its predecessors. Players control their own Sims' activities and relationships in a manner similar to real life. The game play is open-ended and does not have a defined goal. Challenges occur randomly based on aspects of each Sim's lifestyle, such as relationships, skills and job. Career opportunities such as working overtime or completing special tasks can yield a pay raise, cash bonus, or relationship boost. Skill opportunities are requests by neighbors or community members for Sims to solve problems using their acquired skills for cash or relationship rewards. If the opportunity is connected to a Sim's school, the reward may be increased school performance. The new reward system Wishes replaces the Wants And Fears system in its predecessor The Sims 2. Fulfilling a Sim's wish contributes to the Sim's Lifetime Happiness score, allowing players to purchase lifetime rewards for the cost of those Lifetime Happiness points. The game includes an optional feature called "Story Progression" which allows all Sims in the neighborhood to autonomously continue free will without the player ever controlling those Sims. Sims live for a set duration of time that is adjustable by the player and advance through several life stages (baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, and elder). Sims can die of old age or they can die prematurely from causes such as fire, starvation, drowning, electrocution. Further causes of death were added in the game's expansion packs. Create a Sim[ The Sims 3 introduces many more character customization options than its predecessor The Sims 2. The player has a larger selection of body types for Sims as muscle and body weight sliders have been introduced. However, toddlers do not have the option to have their weight customized. Additional options were added over time in free updates, for example sliders for breast size and muscle definition to coincide with the release of the Late Nightbexpansion pack. The Sims 3 offers a wider range of skin tones than its predecessors, ranging from realistic Caucasian and black skins to fantasy green and purple colors, each skin tone can be further customized with a light to dark slider. The player is able to pick their Sim's shoes, a feature previously limited to console versions of The Sims and The Sims 2. The base game includes 22 female hairstyles and 17 male hairstyles although many more were made available in later expansion packs, stuff packs and content packs from The Sims 3 Store. Hats and accessories may be applied and may also have their colors and textures altered. Each Sim's hair color can be chosen from one of eight basic colors, or the hair color can be customized using a color wheel to choose the base hair color, roots, highlights or tips. The Sims 3 offers many more character customization options than its predecessors. With the addition of "Advanced Mode", players can focus on single features on a characters body to modify, allowing for detailed customization. Players also have the option of giving freckles, beauty marks, and tattoos to their Sims.  The Sims 3 also puts a greater emphasis on custom content and mods with a variety of tools available both in and out of the game to aid mod makers. With the addition of third party mods it is possible to add many more hairstyles and clothing options. Skills There are several skill-dependent abilities, such as more social interactions available from high charisma, special songs for guitar players, and appliance upgrades (self-cleaning, more TV channels, etc.) for high handiness. Sims can begin building skills as early as their toddler days. While skills do not show up in the meter right away, using skill building objects is rewarded once the toddler grows into a child. The basic skills include Logic, Cooking, Painting, Gardening, Writing, Guitar, Athletic, Handiness, Charisma and Fishing. New skills were later added in expansion packs. When Sims reach level 10 of a skill, they will get a certificate in the mail. Each skill has a tab in the skill journal detailing the level of the skill, statistics, what the challenges are, and sometimes other special information. Various challenges are also available in the skill journal. When a challenge is completed, Sims can earn rewards. All of these rewards earn some kind of benefit, such as quicker completion, better results, etc. With the Ambitions expansion pack, the skill journal also shows hidden skills that a Sim has learned. Careers Many of the careers from The Sims 2, and The Sims, such as the Law Enforcement and Athletic tracks, are in The Sims 3. The careers in the core game are Business, Culinary, Criminal, Journalism, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Music, Political, Science, and Professional Sports. Professions in the Ambitions expansion pack include Firefighter, Ghost Hunter, Investigator, Architectural Designer, and Stylist. The part-time jobs available include such positions as a Bookstore Clerk, Grocery Store Clerk, Spa Receptionist, Spa Specialist and a Mausoleum Gravedigger. Part-time jobs have a lower pay than full-time jobs and do not give career opportunities. Part-time jobs are also available for teen Sims after they attend school. The Ambitions expansion pack also introduced professions, careers that allow the player direct control over their Sims' work and how they spend their days, and the ability for Sims to register at City Hall as self-employed in a skill career. Sims can look for these jobs in the newspaper, the computer, or apply at the "rabbit hole" building where they would like to work. Sims are also able to make a living at home through their skills such as selling their own paintings, writing novels, playing guitar for tips, or growing fruit and vegetables. Jobs such as nectar making is also a profession with the Sims 3 World Adventures. Sims can also buy out businesses and receive a percentage of the profits they earn. Advancing in a career still depends on mood and skills, but with the addition that relationships with colleagues/boss and even certain goals that have to be fulfilled. Players now have more control as to their Sims work, with the option to "Work Hard", "Take It Easy", "Suck Up To Boss", etc. Depending upon which of these the Sim is directed affects the performance bar. If the performance bar is maxed out, this will help to increase a Sims chances of being promoted. A new feature The Sims 3 offers is branching careers, which allows Sims to choose a certain path in their career (such as a Sim in the Music career can eventually choose to specialize in Symphonic music or Rock). These branches are generally offered around level 6 of a career, depending on which career the Sim is working. Worlds Neighborhoods are now being officially referred to as 'worlds', or, when moving, towns, possibly due to Electronic Arts' use of the Create a World tool and the neighborhoods scale. Worlds are now 'seamless', open to exploration between lots and are affected by a new game mechanic called story progression. The primary world in the game is Sunset Valley, while an additional world called Riverview can be obtained for free. All expansion packs to date (except Generations and Seasons) have included a world, and additional worlds can be bought at The Sims 3 Store for sim points. The Create a World tool allows players to make their own neighborhoods with custom terrains similar to Sim City 4. A game patch, released in conjunction with the release of Ambitions, also allows players to manipulate pre-made neighborhoods to a limited degree, such as adding or removing lots and scenery. As of Late Night, worlds are divided into "Sims 3 Towns and "Late Night Towns". There seem to be important differences between the two, like the Sims they can spawn, etc. Up to now, Bridgeport is the only pre-made world to be cataloged as a city. The rest, including the exotic destinations from World Adventures, are considered suburbs. On March 19, 2008, EA revealed open world, a new feature, for The Sims 3. Players can explore the world outside their Sims' homes without having to face strenuous loading times. Every house lot is now synchronized with the main neighborhood time. In previous Sims games, the time of day was separate and different for each house lot. Players can interact with every building and amenity in a city. Although players are unable to see inside of certain commercial buildings often called rabbitholes (grocery, bookstore, theater, police station, school, etc.), they are able to enter and retain limited control over their Sims' actions while in these locations. The player has complete control in some other commercial buildings – such as the gym, library and the beach house. All occupied residential buildings can be entered in the same manner as a Sims' home, provided that the buildings are not empty or it is not too late at night. Build/Buy mode The build and buy modes have received their own makeover. The square tile outlines that appeared on the ground in previous Sims games' build and buy modes are now a quarter of their original size to give the player more liberty to place objects where they want. Alternatively, it is possible to place objects freely without square tiles, an option that was missing in previous Sims games. Players can re-color and re-pattern the furniture and other items to specific shades and patterns with the new Create-a-Style and make houses with five levels (basements of up to four floors deep). Build mode is one of three modes in The Sims 3. It is used mainly for construction and architectural work. Some items that would be considered to be in build mode, such as counters and lights, are actually in the buy mode section. Build mode can be used to do many things including adding walls, paint/cover walls, add doors and windows, lay down flooring, create foundations and raised decks, create basements by using either foundations or the Basement tool, add columns and supports, create pools, raise and lower land, create ponds, build gardens and landscape a lot, add fireplaces, add additional floors/stories to a building, add stairs, and add a roof.Some expansion packs released after The Sims 3 add extra build mode features such as ceiling construction and designing the terrain, Players cannot build or place objects outside the limits of the lot. Walls and foundations cannot be placed within one tile of the outer limit of the lot. Fences can be placed all the way up to the edge of the lot and all structures built by the players are limited to five above-ground stories as well as four basement levels. Buildings can be modified to appear to be taller than five stories, either using shells (introduced in Late Night) or by use of the constrainfloorelevation false cheat, which disables the requirement for above-ground floors to be uniform in height and level. There will, however, still be only a maximum of five usable above-ground floors. The height of a section of wall is equal to the length of 3-floor squares. This is most noticeable while placing a 45° roof. It is possible that the length of a game tile is 1 meter, and that the height of a section of wall would then be 3 meters. In some situations, Build mode, as well as Buy mode, may become disabled, such as during a fire, burglary, or other major event. This is done to prevent modifications to the lot that may impact or prevent a game event from occurring. After the event has ended, Build and Buy modes will be re-activated. This feature has been an annoyance to many players and is disabled in many mods. Depreciation of objects is visible in The Sims 3. All objects depreciate 10% as soon as the player exits build mode. This adds realism to the game and gives the player limited tries at building before the costs of building use up too much of the funds intended for furnishing and living expenses. When in build mode, players can return items for full value by using the undo tool. In Buy mode, the player may purchase items from the catalog, sell objects that are on the current lot, and arrange objects on the current lot. Construction-related elements such as doors, windows, fences, and stairs are not associated with buy mode, but are in build mode. Buy mode largely focuses on furniture and appliances. The descriptions of many of the objects available for purchase in the game (namely the least expensive ones) involve humor, sarcasm, insults towards the player, and wit, and serves as comic relief in the game. For example, one of the cheapest cars available in The Sims 3, the "Big Lemon", notes that although the car's doors are jammed and its ignition is faulty, it is still worth buying. Another example is the outdoor entertainment item "Foot-and-Hand Ball" used to train the athletic skill, which references and pokes fun at American football, which, despite its name, rarely involves contact with the ball via the feet. A feature that was introduced in The Sims 2 and stays present currently is the eyedropper tool. When the eyedropper tool is pointed at a wall covering, floor covering, or most objects, will show the name of what it's pointed at. Clicking on a wall or floor covering will switch to the appropriate area of build mode and select that covering so it can be applied. Clicking on an object will make an exact duplicate of it, and will focus the catalog on that object. The family inventory is a space where objects that are too large to be held in a Sim's personal inventory are kept. Certain opportunities may make an object available in the Family Inventory. When a Sim family moves, if "pack furniture" is selected, all objects in the household will be placed in the Family inventory, to be moved and rearranged in the new house. Introduced in patch 42, blueprint mode (a subset of the build mode), allows players to choose from pre-made rooms. A player can place down blueprints anywhere furniture can go, and after "realizing" them, have the blueprints automatically laid out. Create a World On October 29, 2009, Electronic Arts announced "Create a World" (CAW), which is a game world editor that allows players to create their own custom cities from scratch for use within the game. Players can customize lots, choose terrain patterns and add roads, vegetation and neighborhood accents (such as water towers and lighthouses). CAW also allows players to import designs from PNG files for use in their worlds. Users can upload their worlds to The Sims 3 Exchange for download by other players. The editor tool is offered to players as a separate download (156MB), and was released on December 16, 2009 as a beta version. EA will offer technical support and updates. Players are able to share their neighborhoods as with other content. The Create A World tool is currently only available for Windows-based PCs.

The Sims 3

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origin

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Worldwide