EA delivers all the details on the online and community features coming your way when The Sims 3 weasels its way onto your computers this June, with a whole new town available at launch.
That's right, in addition to the city your sim resides in, the town of Riverview will be available for download on launch day, adding a nice chunk of real estate to EA's latest fake people game. The Sims 3 Store will also be open for business, allowing players to purchase SimPoints to download fake things for their fake peoples, with $10 worth of points bundled with every copy of the game. First one's free.
The Sim Exchange returns for The Sims 3, allowing players to share their own creations, just like they did with the previous game. Both the store and the exchange will be accessible from the game's new launcher, which acts as a hub and provides news and updates about store promotions and new community content.
Community is a big focus with The Sims 3. EA heard you liked social networking, so upon the game's launch TheSims3.com will be replaced with a full community site for the game, allowing players to maintain their own page, sharing created stories and movies, make friends, and publish information across a variety of social networking sites.
One thing that's always impressed me about EA's handling of the Sims franchise is the fact that they know their customers so very well. I'm sure the new social features will be immensely popular among the game's fan base.
Check out the full list below, or visit TheSims3.com for more information.
Key Online Elements Include:
The Sims 3 Store: Included with purchase of the game is $10 worth of SimPoints, which players receive when they first register their game online at TheSims3.com. They can use their SimPoints towards downloading exclusive in-game items from The Sims 3 Store to customize their game. For additional items, players can purchase bundles of 500, 1000 and 2000 SimPoints in $USD, EUR, GBP and other major international currencies using a variety of payment methods including international and national credit cards, PayPal, and EA cash cards (in North America only). Whether it's the must-have new outfit or the latest style of plaid furniture, players have the opportunity to further customize and populate their Sims world with additional items.
Game Launcher: The Game Launcher is the key entry point for players into TheSims3.com community. This hub page connects players to both the Store and the Exchange, and provides them with news and information about game updates. Players can keep track of their downloads, uploads, installs, game updates and their media portfolio that includes the videos and photos they can capture while playing the game. The Game Launcher also alerts players to new content in the store, localized game and store promotions along with relevant updates to the Store and cool new content from the community.
TheSims3.com Site: With the launch of the game on June 2, the marketing website at TheSims3.com will be replaced with the full community and product site for the game. The site will not only connect players, encourage new ways to be creative in the game, and offer personally relevant information for each user, it also will serve as the hub site where players can share their content with other members, and embed them on social networking sites and blogs.
Key Site Features:
The Exchange: Building off of The Sims 2 Exchange's success of more than 100M downloads, The Sims 3 Exchange highlights featured items, most popular downloads, powerful search and browse capabilities, along with giving players the ability to see what other players are recommending.
Create a Movie and Create a Story: New easily accessible tools inspire creativity and allow players to create movies and stories and then show them off or share them with friends. Players can show off their Movies with the Create a Movie Tool by embedding them on external sites or with an email link back to their Movie on TheSims3.com.
My Page and My Studio: The Sims 3 product site will allow players to maintain their profile pages on their My Page section as well as offering them the new My Studio section to manage all their creations – Movies, Stories, Exchange objects. My Page is also a blog space where players can post news, customize it with a personal avatar, track favorites and more. Users can make friends with other The Sims 3 players and share their content across a number of social network sites.