You've probably noticed it by now if you're a fan of the life sim genre, but The Sims 4 has been doing the rounds for a long time. The original The Sims stepped aside to make way for The Sims 2 after just four years; The Sims 2 yielded to The Sims 3 after five; and the gap between The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 was another five years.
]]>Like it or not, Barbie is one of those Hollywood success stories that have a years-long impact across the whole movie industry, and perhaps the most important person behind it was Margot Robbie, its star, who also produced the movie through her LuckyChap Entertainment company. Her next mission? Repeating the magic trick with EA Maxis' The Sims franchise.
]]>EA and Maxis have announced the newest Stuff Pack for The Sims 4, which will find you creating jewelry and charging crystals in the moonlight to add varied properties.
]]>The Sims franchise celebrates its 24th anniversary this weekend, which is a much-needed reminder for me that as your resident Sims fanatic, I've got exactly a year to plan some fun coverage for its 25th (and that I should probably use some of that time to come to terms with the formal departure of the last vestiges of my youth, as someone who's been playing since practically the very start).
]]>Electronic Arts has released some interesting figures about some of its games.
]]>The Horse Ranch Expansion Pack for The Sims 4 releases in a couple of weeks on July 20, and today, Maxis has released a trailer providing a look at the batch of paid DLC.
]]>Two new kits are coming to The Sims 4, and at least one of them will take Gen X'ers down memory lane to the good ole days of looking like you threw on something out of the hamper because that was the style.
]]>Want a say in the next Kit expansion for The Sims 4? Well, now you can have one.
]]>The next weekly freebie coming to Epic Games Store is a bundle for The Sims 4.
]]>The Urbz is a game that has escaped most of the people I've mentioned it to. A strange spin-off in The Sims series, the game made its way onto the GBA, GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and Nintendo DS in 2004. The simulation title turns 18 today, and I'm still baffled as to how more people haven't played it at some point or another.
]]>It’s been almost a decade of The Sims 4, and most fans are yet to tire of the simulation game. During the Behind the Sims Summit on October 18, the title went free to play across all platforms. Now, The Sims 4 has had its fair share of free weekends or ‘free on Origin’ offers, but this appears to be it for the game.
]]>It’s been eight years of The Sims 4, and it’s endless amount of packs and expansions. Given this amount of time, fans of the series were beginning to ask what was next for their favourite game.
]]>The Sims 4 will go free-to-play next month, EA and Maxis have announced.
]]>Maxis has anounced the next base game update to The Sims 4 will allow you to pick your sexual orientation.
]]>After plenty of teasing, Maxis has finally announced the Werewolves Game Pack for The Sims 4.
]]>New content is coming to The Sims 4, and the game's developer has been teasing players a bit regarding what's to come.
]]>The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories Game Pack will be made available in Russia after all despite the country's homophobic stance against the LGBT community.
]]>The Sims 4 players are getting a wedding-themed Game Pack, if a recent leak is any indication.
]]>A new expansion pack is coming to The Sims 4 and it's all about cottage living.
]]>The Sims 4 players can soon decorate the homes of other Sims with the Dream Home Decorator Game Pack.
]]>Maxis has updated The Sims 4 with plenty of new skin tones.
]]>This new video for The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu shows how you can create your very own Star Wars story.
]]>The Sims 4 is taking you to a galaxy far, far away.
]]>We sat down (virtually) with Dave Miotke, AKA Sim Guru Ninja to talk about the future of Spark'd, the new game pack leak, the Sims 5, and much much more in this Sims 4 interview.
]]>Electronic Arts has announced a reality competition series centered on The Sims.
]]>The Sims 4 is due for a big update ahead of the upcoming Eco Lifestyle expansion.
]]>A new overview trailer for The Sims 4 shows off features coming with the Eco Lifestyle expansion pack.
]]>Loads of top digital PC and Xbox One games from both EA and Ubisoft are currently on sale over at Amazon US, You’ll find the likes of The Sims 4, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Assassin’s Creed all up for grabs.
]]>Spring is almost here! The weather is warming up, the sun is shining, and we're all stuck indoors. Bummer. Well, at least we can pretend to have a normal life in The Sims 4, which is on sale for only $5!
]]>If nothing else, The Sims 4 is a game about obsessing over tiny details as you build perfect homes or create a perfect family.
]]>From now until 6th February, a whole host of EA games on PC have been reduced by up to 75 per cent at many digital retailers.
]]>The next generation of The Sims games may incorporate online social features originally seen in EA's doomed MMO The Sims Online, according to EA head Andrew Wilson.
]]>Soon, you will be able to build your own Tiny House in The Sims 4.
]]>From The Mandalorian to The Sims.
]]>The next expansion for The Sims 4 has leaked on the Microsoft Store, and it looks like you'll be able to have your Sims experience the crushing lows and eventual highs of higher education.
]]>The Sims 4 players can now dabble in magic.
]]>Maxis is celebrating the fifth anniversary of The Sims 4 with a new update which introduces clothing and architecture inspired by Muslim culture.
]]>A Maxis listing has gone out for a new creative director as the studio looks to develop a game based on a "new IP".
]]>The Sims 4 players will be able to experience island living when the latest pack arrives later this month on PC.
]]>Anyone can now grab a free copy of the Sims 4 on Origin.
]]>Battlefield 1, Star Wars Battlefront Expansions, Titanfall 2 and more will be added to Origin Access and EA Access. Also, The Sims 4 Digital Deluxe Edition and more will be added to the Origin Access Vault this quarter.
]]>It's been a long time coming, but The Sims 4 players will soon have little ones stumbling all over the place.
]]>The Sims 4 is about to become even more supernatural. And no, we don't mean supernatural in the Sam and Dean sense.
]]>Take a look at the city of San Myushuno in the new City Living trailer.
]]>Have all the moustaches and flowing hairstyles your heart and shining personal style demand.
]]>Does The Sims make anyone else, like, deeply uncomfortable?
]]>EA has announced that The Sims 4 is getting a new expansion in November.
]]>The Sims 4 isn't big enough for the hopes and dreams of many of its players, but a free update will address that very issue.
]]>Say goodbye to The Sims 4 unique take on fatherhood, as The Sims Gurus confirm that male pregnancies are no more.
]]>EA has released an infographic for The Sims 4, which notes that since launch, 32 million Sims have been created in the title.
]]>The Sims 4 developer Maxis has been shuttered, EA has confirmed.
]]>The Sims 4's new DLC pack, Get to Work, will shows us what our sims actually do all day. Apparently this includes gumshoe-ing.
]]>The Sims 4 is finally coming to Mac, according to a tweet from the game's official Twitter account.
]]>I have no idea what I'm doing. Plus ça change.
]]>Players of The Sims 4 are reporting a bug that turns the entire screen into a mosaic blur.
]]>The Sims 4 puts you in charge of your virtual people's emotions for the first time. All the feelings!
]]>Minecraft, LittleBigPlanet and Disney Infinity are influencing the next game from The Sims creator Maxis.
]]>The Sims has been held up as a shining example of long-term support of equal representation of same-sex relationships, but according to one of the original programmers, the inclusion was something of an accident.
]]>Players will have sorts of character creation options when playing The Sims 4. With Create a Sim, you can customize just about every part of the body: want a booty like Kim Kardashian? You got it. Want your chest area to rival that of Chelsea Charms? You got... well, I doubt you will be able to make them so large they weigh 26 lbs each. Anyway, you get the idea. Let the game's producer Ryan Vaughan explain how it works in the video below. The Sims 4 will be shipping in autumn 2014 worldwide.
]]>Titanfall is expected to hit 2.4 million units shipped during EA's fiscal fourth quarter, according to estimates from Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian.
]]>This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
]]>A new video for Lets Fish! Hooked On has been released, showing some of the fishing game's Vita features. Hooked on is the first fishing game from SIMS featuring anime-style characters and the folks behind SEGA Bass Fishing have included four game modes as well as a story mode in the portable title. A release date and pricing will be announced by the game's publisher Wired Productions "shortly."
]]>The Sims 3 Seasons Expansion Pack is now available at retail and through Origin on PC and Mac, EA has announced.
]]>EA Maxis, the studio behind The Sims, Sim City and Spore, has opened a new office in Helsinki, Finland.
]]>Let’s Fish! Hooked On, the first "full-scale fishing game" for Vita, has been announced for the west by Wired Productions. Originally released in Japan only, the game was developed by SEGA Bass Fishing developer, SIMS, and features anime style artwork combined with "realistic fishing action, " and arcade-style gameplay. It includes a story mode with four characters, each with their own story line and unique skills, all striving to become World Champion and be tops on the World Tour tournament. You can find out more on the game via the PS Blog. Let’s Fish! Hooked On will release in the fall.
]]>EA are partnering up with Microsoft to bring a host of games to the Windows Phone.
]]>EA Maxis has announced the Supernatural Expansion Pack for The Sims 3. The expansion allows players to live as a witch, werewolf, vampire or fairy. Players will have new traits as well as new gameplay aspects for each character such as spell casting, "volatile elixirs and magical abilities in a world of strange happenings, spooky surprises and even the occasional zombie attack." The expansion will release on Mac and PC worldwide in September. Those who pre-order will receive an upgrade to a Special Limited Edition with an exclusive Plants vs. Zombies content pack. Screens and an announcement trailer are below.
]]>EA has released a new batch of holiday-themed screenshots for The Sims 3 Pets, which released in October as a stand-alone game for 3DS, PS3, Xbox 360, and as an expansion pack on PC and Mac. Pets allows Sims 3 players to use the Create a Pet tool and provide their furry kids with Karma Powers.
]]>A link to a massive batch of screenshots, Garriott tooting his own horn, information on a new mobile/social games developer, and more is below the break.
]]>If you've ever played any Sims game, you'd know that - honestly - creating your little computer person is just about as much fun as controlling their little lives. Fortunately, EA know that too, which is why, in the lead-up to the new expansion pack, the company has released a demo for The Sims 3: Pets - and it's all about Create-A-Pet.
]]>EA's The Sims Social has more daily active users than Zynga's FarmVille, according to current information from AppData. It now has 9.3 million DAUs, moving Zynga's FarmVille into second place. The later's CityVille, is still the most popular game on Facebook though, with around 14 million DAUs. EA CFO Eric Brown told Gamasutra that Sims Social players log an average 15 to 20 minutes in the game three times a day. Currently, the game has over 34 million monthly active users, which is up considerably over September 7, when it was nearing the 30 million MAU mark.
]]>EA has announced The Sim Medieval: Pirates and Nobles adventure pack is now available across Europe. The adventure pack includes a new storyline, additional quests and one new Kingdom Ambition.
]]>EA Sports boss Peter Moore stepped on stage at the Microsoft E3 press event to announced that four titles from the firm will utilize Kinect.
]]>Some things in life are hard to explain. This post isn't one of them. It's just more shorts. .
]]>Playing with little virtual people has never been as fun as it should be, but now you can make them chop each other's heads off with swords, and fall into pits filled with monsters. This new trailer for The Sims Medieval shows there's life in the old dolly game yet.
]]>"I am not interested in playing virtual soap opera dollies," you tell yourself. "And anyway, I only buy games through digital distribution on account of living in the future."
But EA know the deep secrets of your Sim-torturing heart. The Sims 3 is now available on Steam.
]]>Because nothing says "easy" like dancing on a bar in your skivvies.
]]>Microsoft's announced it will launch Windows Phone 7 on October 21 in Europe and on November 8 in the US.
]]>EA has announced The Sims Medieval is currently in development and set for release in spring 2011 for PC and Mac.
]]>EA used its Summer Showcase to debut the next Alice title from American McGee, a first trailer for 38 Studios' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and more this evening, but fell short of a proper megaton.
Get all the news, press releases and media after the break.
]]>Dung festering in the streets. Lack of proper plumbing. Plague. Nearly non-existent life-expectancy. Unending torrents of played-out Monty Python and The Holy Grail jokes.
Those are the medieval times for you. Sounds like a pretty great place for a Sims game, huh?
]]>EA has announced that The Sims 3 will land on consoles and DS this fall.
]]>Will Wright knows casual gaming. After all, we're talking about the brain behind The Sims here. He was - in a sense - casual before casual was cool.
So when Nintendo cast its net wide and started reeling in mothers, grandparents, and the occasional fitness buff, you can bet that Wright took notice. But even after selling millions upon millions, Wright's still not sold on Nintendo's little white videogame console. At least, insofar as the "videogame console" part goes.
]]>The Sims celebrates is tenth birthday today, having sold more then 125 million games.
]]>EA has confirmed that it has laid-off staff members at Sims and Spore developer EA Maxis.
"Often in the video game industry, the size of a studio fluctuates in response to business conditions," read an official statement. "In this case, EA has taken action to reduce the workforce at Maxis as we focus the business and focus Maxis."
]]>EA's confirmed that it's sold over 100 million Sims games worldwide.
This is coming from their GamesCom press conference, which is ongoing right now.
]]>A Sims 3 video called Living the Life is posted for you after the break.
Shows families, picnics, videogames, butterflies, kissing, dancing, fishing, happy people - the usual stuff you'd see in a Norman Rockwell painting, along with exercise and walking around in your underwear.
Play UK has the game listed for a June 5 release in Europe, while the US gets it on June 2.
]]>EA has announced MySims Agents, a mystery-solving adventure game for the Wii and DS where players are agents who must stop a plot that threatens the fate of an entire city.
Players take on the role of a special agent hired to foil the sinister plans of the lord of the criminal underworld. By recruiting different MySims, each with their own special characteristics, players can build up their very own crime-busting dream team.
Using using forensics, picking locks, hacking into computers, following leads and collecting clues, players will use puzzles to put gadgets together to help solve the mystery.
Sounds interesting.
Game's out June 16.
Read on for the press release.
]]>Rod Humble's been promoted. The Sims boss now really is the Sims boss, sporting a new job title of "Executive Vice President and Head of The Sims Label of EA". Try saying that after a sherry.
The exec's role means he's "responsible for The Sims Label, which develops and markets life-simulation games and online communities with an emphasis on creativity, community and humor."
He's pleased, obviously.
“The Sims Label creates original entertainment experiences which are unique in the way they bring culture, interactivity and creativity together,” said Rod.
“It is a privilege to lead The Sims Label team as we look forward to new ways of surprising and delighting customers in this rapid growth time for interactive entertainment of all kinds.”
Press release after the break.
]]>Talking to GameInformer, Will Wright said that Spore won't expand in the same way the Sims did, with endless content packs. It's all about going sideways with the soon-to-be-released alien sim.
]]>EA has announced its Games Convention line-up revealing that Harmonix's Rock Band 2 will be shown for the first time.
EA reckons it's "best ever product line up for European consumers this holiday and in 2009" and as we'll be able to confirm that for you when our full coverage gets under way tomorrow.
From the release:
On show in Leipzig are Europe’s best selling franchises and consumer favorites like FIFA, Need For Speed, The Sims and Harry Potter, a wide range of casual and family titles for Nintendo platforms including LITTLEST PET SHOP, Boogie SuperStar, Zubo and MONOPOLY, brand new IP like SimAnimals, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, Dragon Age: Origins, Battleforge, Spore, the new MMORPG Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning, and EA partner titles Left 4 Dead from Valve, Rock Band and Rock Band 2 from MTV Games/Harmonix and Crysis Warhead® from Crytek.
Never before has EA had such a diverse and powerful slate of offerings, and it’s been great to see consumer and critical response to our games,” said Jens Uwe Intat, senior EA VP.
“As more and more people come into interactive entertainment, we are ready with the best games in sports, action, casual, horror, simulation, and online. We’ll be bringing more new games to market this year than in our history, and Leipzig is a great European window to showcase those offerings for the broad range of people that love to play them.”
Full thing after the jump.
By Mike Bowden
]]>In an interview Reuters in Singapore today, Spore creator Will Wright said that EA is looking at taking the title "outside the game space," and that TV shows and movies are being considered.
]]>The only real surprise this week is that Her Intactive's super female sleuth, Nancy Drew retains top spot in the US PC sales charts for the second week running with the latest game in the series, The Phantom of Venice. Other than that it's pretty much business as usual with most of the top ten being taken up by Blizzard and Sims titles. Full thing below:
]]>This is well worth a look. It's a write-up of a session by EA's Rod Humble at GDC on The Sims Carnival, the user-game-creation tool announced just before the show. It's all about one-click game development, apparently. Sounds good to us.
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