Sim-Wolf

I have to say sorry again for yet another absence from my site over the last few days so soon after my last absence. Well as luck would have it my anti-virus protection ran out last week before I'd had the chance to buy a new one. Even now, I'm using a downloaded free version before buying one of PC Tools 2010 anti-virus products when it's released. Anyway, I've got even more news to catch up on, mostly regarding World Adventures...

First of all, the back cover for World Adventures has been found.

Secondly, the factsheet for the France location in World Adventures has shown up.

Champs Les Sims, France

Learn Nectar Making or Explore Photography in France

• The Good Life – Champs Les Sims, France offers the cultural elite some of the finer things in life. Sims can learn the fine culinary art of nectar making, or flash over with a camera to learn the Photography Skill. This beautiful country town is sure to please the senses and invigorate the soul.
• Civilized Folk – Settled towards the end of the Medieval Period, Champs Les Sims has a rich history and culture. From the arts to delicious culinary delights, this small French town has everything Sims need to live a comfortable life.
• Try Your Feet at Nectar Making! Sims fascinated by Gardening and the culinary arts can now refine their talents by learning the nectar making skill. Combine your own fruits with new types of grapes or other fruits to create unique Nectar combinations. After stomping the fruit, the nectar maker processes the juice into delicious nectar. Sell, trade or enjoy these new flavors! Sims can learn all about nectar making by using the nectar maker from the Nectary or by reading books bought in France. The Nectary in Champs Les Sims should be visited by any Sims interested in nectar making or for purchasing nectar making equipment!  But, Beware – The Nectary isn’t just a tourist location for those who enjoy the flavors of nectar, but the site of one of the deadliest and most expansive tombs in the world.
• Exploration – The Celtic Burial Mound is a relatively safe tomb for new travelers to explore. Look for it in the far corner of town – it’s the large mound covered with ancient, mystical looking stones. The Faerie Tomb has long been hidden, though it’s just waiting for a new explorer to discover its secrets. Complete the first section to gain access to the vast riches tucked away on the island.
• Café – The Champs Les Sims marketplace is a great place to purchase new French Recipes and Nectar Making equipment! It’s also a great place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or delicious local crepe.
• Solve the Case – Think you’re up to the task of solving the mystery of the wily Jean Necteaux? Take on an adventure in France and see where it leads!
• Tour Time – Take a tour of the local museum, which showcases relics and artifacts from all around the world. The Museum is a great place to look for treasures that inspire you to adventure and explore.
• Creatures! – Collect new local wildlife like Frogs and Snails and take them home as pets.
• Not by Foot – Zip around town on a cool new scooter and take in the sights and the fresh country air!

The factsheet for the China location in World Adventures has also been published.

• Home – A peaceful, isolated community in the mountainous region of China. Founded by a group of monks long ago, the locals take pride in their discipline and mental clarity. They enjoy visitors, but encourage tourists to spend their visit in a peaceful and respectful manner.
  
• People – Home to people that value discipline, peace and clarity of mind over all else. While there, adventurers are encouraged to visit the Academy to learn the Martial Arts skill, then head to the Scholar’s Garden for introspective meditation.
  
• The Mysterious Dragon Cave – High on the hill, overlooking Shang SimLa is a cave of cloudy origin. What happened there? What does it mean? Follow the smoke up the hill to find the mysterious Dragon Cave, which holds the key to the mystery of this forgotten valley.
  
• Local Color – Purchase fireworks from the local general merchant and travel to the tallest hill to put on a spectacle worth writing home about! Be careful though, beauty has its’ cost (not meant for indoor use).
  
• Awesome Army – The ancient and resolute Terracotta Soldiers of the long-dead First Emperor can be found deep within the hillsides of Shang Simla. Visit them and stand in awe of their majesty!
  
• Heavenly Vista – High above town, take in the breathtaking views and calm of this great site. Explore the ancient and mystical Temple of Heaven to uncover untold secrets left long ago.
  
• It said what?! – Purchase the Fortune Cookie Maker to enjoy the hilarious and foreboding fortunes for your Sims. Take one home yourself to give luck (or maybe not) to your neighbors.
  
• Untold Wonders – Discover a lifetime of riches in Dong Huo’s Treasure Trove. Uncover all the secrets and your Sims may never need to work again!

Quite a few new screenshots have shown up on various sites as well.

IGN also published an article about France and China in World Adventures with two gameplay videos on China quests.

EA have announced that they will be releasing a Create-A-World Tool which they used to create Riverview. With the tool, you will be able to create your own neighbourhood by editing the landscape (valleys, hills, etc.), and I'm guessing you'll be able to add roads as well. Gamespot have published an article about the new tool which will be released as beta at The Sims 3 Store this December (for free).

The Sims 3 was released earlier this year to much fanfare and acclaim. The third game continued the tradition of letting players create little computer people who led little computer lives as they love, laugh, work, and buy property in the virtual suburbs just outside of SimCity. All versions of The Sims have had a "build mode" editing tool that lets players construct housing and alter terrain. The upcoming World Adventures expansion pack for The Sims 3 will also let players create "adventure" zones with switches and buttons that trigger different events, such as revealing secret passages and treasures. But later this year, the publisher will release a separate new editing tool called "Create-a-World," which will essentially let players build out not only a house, but also an entire neighborhood from scratch.

Create-a-World is intended for serious Sims enthusiasts willing to devote enough time to build entire neighborhoods from scratch. The tool is actually the same one that the development team uses to create the playfields for The Sims 3 and its expansions. Because it's the same tool that the developers use, it can create areas similar to those that appear in the base game and expansions, in four different size levels. (The Sims 3's default neighborhood of Sunset Valley is the largest of the four world sizes.)

Like with the build mode of The Sims 3, you can manipulate terrain by raising it to create mountains or lowering it to create valleys and then "paint" the terrain using either the textures or terrain types available in the editing tools. Or, if you're ambitious enough, you can use image-editing tools, such as Photoshop to create your own JPEG and PNG textures to map onto your custom neighborhoods. Once built, these areas can be exported from the tool and then either imported into your own game install (you can have as many custom neighborhoods in your game as your computer's hard drive space allows) or uploaded to the Exchange community site to share with other users. It's not yet clear what the average file size of a custom neighborhood will be, but EA community representatives assured GameSpot regardless of how big they are, custom neighborhoods will be subject to the same sort of community-plus-EA-oversight content moderation process used for other custom content.

While giving users the ability to create entire lots from scratch will give hardcore fans the ability to create huge new areas to explore, the EA team clarified that the tool will work off of each user's installed games. That is, if you wish to create a community lot using the adventure-based gameplay of The Sims 3 World Adventures, you must own World Adventures and have it installed; the created lot can be used only by players who also own that expansion. In any case, EA states that Create-a-World is not intended to replace the new gameplay features that traditional Sims 3 expansion packs typically introduce, such as the new careers and adventure gameplay in World Adventures. EA plans to continue to work on full expansion packs that not only add new terrain and areas to explore, but will also introduce new gameplay concepts that will be unique to the expansions themselves.

Create-a-World will be a separate utility that will weigh in at about 130MB and be free to download from the official Sims 3 Web site. The tool is planned for release in a beta state this December in all languages--EA plans to support and improve the utility over time as it receives feedback from the fan community.

Murano at TheSimsResource was able to somehow preview the tool and create a blog post detailing the new Create-A-World Tool feature with screenshots.

The Sims 3 Team also released a couple of Halloween-themed screenshots.

Phew, that's about all of it. Again sorry for my absence. On a positive note, as my Norton 360 antivirus expired, I can somewhat play The Sims 3 again now (for up to 2 hours before it crashes), but it's still pretty slow and still crashes eventually. However, I am becoming more interested in the game now seen as I can play it, and once I get more RAM, I'll become even more interested, so updates should become a bit more regular. Unfortunately I also have my school prelims (like exams, but not as important), coming up in two weeks which will last till the start of December, so for the first time ever, I'm actually going to have to revise A LOT, so will most likely not have enough free time to do many updates to my site. Once they're all over though, except a lot more updates. =]

I forgot to mention this earlier. There is a new bookcase object to go with the Storybook Set in The Sims 3 Store.

Pallas Bookshelf

At last, a bookshelf truly fit for ancient masters. Or at least a classicist specializing in the ancient masters.

Attributes:

   Environment: 5

   Fun: 5

   + Logic

   + Cooking

   + Handiness

The Pallas Bookshelf is available at The Sims 3 Store for 75 SimPoints.

I've been away for a week, so I've got quite a bit of news to catch up on.

First of all, The Sims 3 Store has been holding a sale which will last until 29th October (this Thursday). The sale contains two of the original sets from The Sims 3 Store (Storybook and Hewnsman) which are divided into seperate sets for each room or the full sets with discount on each one. For the full sets you get 30% off. For the seperate room sets, it's about 15% off for each one.

Also, four new screenshots of World Adventures have been released by EA recently. One from Egpyt, one from China as well as two comical blooper screenshots featuring the Grim Reaper.

PrimaGames.com have published the details for the upcoming Prima Guide for World Adventures.

Highlights

 

* Travel: Sims finally see the world in adventure-cations to Egypt, France, and China. Be their travel agent!

* Danger and Adventure!: Sims dive into tombs on their adventures. Our maps show you where to find treasures and how to avoid tricky traps.

* Skills: All-new skills like nectar-making and martial arts let you customize your Sims even more.

* New Relics: Sims can bring home exciting treasure from their travels. Complete relic collections boost your Sims’ moods!

* Sims 3 Basics: This section will teach you the Sims 3 basics you need to know to start your first world adventure.

 

 

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Details

The Sims 3: World Adventures is the very first expansion pack for the blockbusters Sims 3 – and the very first time Sims has ever left their towns to travel the world. See the pyramids of Egypt! The mystical temples of China! The grand chateaus of France! Our guide helps you get the most out of travels by showing you all the sights, how to master the new skills, and full-color maps of dangerous underground tombs.

 

We include a Sims 3 Primer right off the bat to catch new players up with not just the basics of the game, but also expert tips and tricks for maximizing skills and earning great career promotions. The World Travel and New Simology chapters detail what’s new in World Adventures, from the new quest-like adventures you take while traveling to the brand-new skills learned while visiting foreign lands. Before going into each destination, Tombs 101 teaches players the essentials of surviving the underworld mazes they must explore on their adventures if they want to collect cool relics.

 

Tour guides for Egypt, France, and China detail everything you need to know for getting around at that destination, such as shop inventories and the location of important sites. Each tour also offers maps of every tomb and a full list of all adventures so you know what’s in store for your Sims.

 

Sims love to collect stuff, and so our new Object List shows off all of the new decorations, furniture, and appliances you can place in your Sims’ houses – including their vacation houses they can buy in Egypt, France, and China!

Game Overview

The Adventure is Near… Take your Sims on the adventure of their lives with The Sims 3 World Adventures. Guide your Sims to acclaimed fortune—or potential doom. Take your Sims to exotic destinations to hunt for hidden treasures. Uncover new skills, experience new personality traits and garner rewards, if your Sims succeed. Explore ancient tombs in the pyramids of Egypt, master martial arts in the Far East, and discover rich culture and famous landmarks in France. Adventure is on the horizon — what will your Sims discover?

 

SimOperations got the chance to interview Lyndsay Pearson, Producer of The Sims 3 World Adventures. They asked her a number of questions about the new expansion pack, and she answered them with some interesting new info on the game.

1) What, if any, new social interactions are added with the three new traits?

To recap the three new traits:

Adventurous: Adventurers love to go on adventures and receive a Moodlet when visiting new destinations and exploring tombs. They are able to improve their Visa level more quickly and are not as tired when returning home from a trip.

Disciplined: Disciplined Sims are fantastic martial artists. They learn martial arts more quickly, fail less often, and are better at sparring and breaking boards.

Photographer’s Eye: Sims with this trait excel at the photography skill. They learn the photography skill faster, take photos worth more Simoleons, and have unique photography-related social interactions.

We added a few new socials for photographer’s to talk about cameras, film, dark rooms – all the things a photographer cares about.  A Disciplined Sim that focuses on the Martial Arts has the chance to Spar with somebody.  Adventuring Sims can tell stories about their adventures and talk about adventures with their friends, family or locals they have met!

2) Are any new lifetime wishes introduced?

I can reveal a few of the new lifetime wishes you’ll find in The Sims 3 World Adventures. The new gameplay offers many opportunities for new wishes and a few of my favorites include:

Great Explorer: Fully explore 6 tombs in each location

Bottomless Nectar Cellar: Have Nectar bottles worth a high amount

Master of Movement: Achieve Level 10 Martial arts and Athletics skills

Martial Arts Grand Master: Level 10 Martial Arts skill and Grand Master Rank

3) What careers link to destinations and at what level?

Each Career available in your home town offers possible opportunities to travel to and visit these new locations.  In your career you may get a phone call asking to help with a business deal in Al Simhara or to deliver a special item from Champs Les Sims.

4) We've heard tourists visit the base neighborhoods. How can we interact with them?

A tourist visiting your home town is just like a neighbor almost. You can befriend them, invite them over, and fall in love.  They will ultimately have to head home, but you can invite them back again anytime you’d like. You’ll spot them around town snapping photos and chatting with your neighbors.

5) Any new changes unrelated to the new destinations?

A number of new features we offer in The Sims 3 World Adventures have a purpose beyond the destinations.  The new basement tool offers all sorts of new building possibilities – we used it primarily to create tombs and adventures, but you can now build a basement hang out for any of your Sims’ homes. We’ve also added a number of new socials for children and toddlers - children can steal candy from their little brothers or sisters, or play a nice game of peek-a-boo.  We also worked on adding a great new feature that allows you to customize the colors and patterns on stairs and fences!

6) Can you tell us a little more about China and/or France?

You’ve heard a lot about Egypt and we’re excited to tell you more about the two additional locations to explore in The Sims 3 World Adventures. In Shang SimLa, China, your Sims can master Kung-Fu or just enjoy the scenery and fireworks. Shang Simla is a peaceful, isolated community in the mountainous region of China. Founded by a group of monks long ago, the locals take pride in their discipline and mental clarity. They enjoy visitors, but encourage tourists to spend their visit in a peaceful and respectful manner. Shang SimLa, China is home to people that value discipline, peace and clarity of mind over all else. While there, adventurers are encouraged to visit the Academy to learn the Martial Arts skill, then head to the Scholar’s Garden for introspective meditation. While there, purchase some fireworks to fill the Shang Simla night sky with colorful explosions!

In Champs Les Sims, France, your Sims can learn photography or nectar making and much more! Stay tuned for more news on Champs Les Sims over the next few weeks plus new screenshots!

7) Can nectar, once made, be sold or given as a gift?

Nectar can be sold or simply collected. Your Sims can also serve it at parties or just for a nice dinner.

A new set was added to The Sims 3 Store today. The Animals Abound set has an animal theme and includes cribs, bookcases, dressers, etc. for children's rooms. The set contains a total of 25 items and would normally cost 990 SimPoints, but is currently on a sale for 850 SimPoints until October 16th. The Sims 3 Store also has another offer for repeat buyers of SimPoints Bundles. If you buy a 500 point bundle you get a Paris Wall Clock, for 1000 points you get a Little Sailor Outfit and for 2000 points you get a Tulip Jacket. Check it out here.

Unleash the whimsy of the wild with this complete set of bedroom furniture where animals and imaginations run amok.

Also, two new martial arts screenshots from China in World Adventures have been released today.

IGN was able to preview the China and Egypt locations in World Adventures recently and have written about some of the new features in gameplay. Included in the preview is a video detailing some of the new gameplay including tomb creation. You can find the preview here.

Kotaku.com was also able to preview Egypt and China. They have written an easy-to-read report on their findings. Interestingly, they say we will be able to go inside stores and even create our own stores to sell whatever junk we may have. Whether this means our Sims can sell their own objects in their own store like Open for Business, I'm unsure, but it sure seems interesting none-the-less.

Now You Can Go Inside Stores: Finally! I hated sending my Sims off to shop and having to stare at the outsides of buildings for forever like I was playing a real-time strategy game and waiting for the battle to end. Naturally, the game also lets you build your own stores and fill it with whatever kind of junk you want to sell.

Now You Can Be a Real Hobo! The game introduces tents that you can pitch in tombs – or in public parks – and actually gain Energy from sleeping in. Oh, the possibilities. Your Own Private IslandDungeon: Via a code entered in buy mode, World Adventures opens up the editing tools to include pretty much everything the developer can build in a tomb or a ruin site. You can build an entire deathtrap from the ground up just the same as you would a house (only, you know, filled with mummies and fire traps and stuff) and then upload it to the Sims 3 community site to inflict on others.

Yay, Karate! The game adds several new skills and traits to mix up your sims' personality. My favorite is probably the Discipline skill which helps with karate (called Martial Arts). The higher you level this skill, the more badass your sparring animation looks – at the highest level, you even get little speed lines along your arms and legs while punching and kicking. There's also the Adventurous trait which helps with tomb exploration, and the Photographer's Eye which builds out the new picture-taking activity. Oh, and if you do marry a foreigner and bring him or her home to have kids with, your children will have cultural traits from their foreign parent's country (like eating with chopsticks).

Tons Of New Things: World Adventures adds a ton of new furniture, ingredients, collectables, recipes and other things to the usual inventory of stuff you can get in buy mode or find in the world. It gives the diehard Sims fans something more to do now that they've discovered the Ambrosia recipe. In particular, photography will eat up the collection freaks because the game can recognize what you're taking pictures of and classify the photos in sets. For example, there's a nature set that gives you a special bonus for taking a picture of a Death Fish and a Life Fish in the same tank.

TheSims3.com has been updated with four new screenshots from the China location in World Adventures as well as a second feature also featuring the China location. You can find the screenshots here. And you can watch the trailer here, or on YouTube.

Many of us believed The Sims 3 Store would cause an end to the idea of Stuff Packs for The Sims 3. Well it turns out that there will be Stuff Packs for The Sims 3. Play.com has listed the first Stuff Pack to be called "The Sims 3: High End Stuff" and is set to be released on 12th February 2010. Unsuprisingly, it appears EA have also upped the RRP for the game to £14.99, 50% more expensive than The Sims 2 Stuff Packs. Fortunately, it seems as though many game stores and websites will be offering price cuts as Play.com already have their price at £11.99, knocking £3 off the price. There are currently no further details about the game.

Also, some subscribers of The Sims 3 newsletter received information in the latest email that they would be able to download a free floor lamp object for their game, although it wasn't there to download. The Sims 3 Store now has the object available for download for free. Check it out.

Fansite, Sim3Nieuws received an email from EA about the 2nd part of Tomb Creation in The Sims 3 World Adventures. With the email came two new screenshots. Another screenshot, for the first time showing the Paris location, was found a couple of days ago too.

Lesson in Cause and Effect—What You Can Build for Your Sims to Explore in The Sims 3 World Adventures

In The Sims 3 World Adventures, you can build like never before and share simple or complex tombs, hidden caves, and catacombs you’ve created with other Sims players. Building tombs is an entirely new way to enjoy Build and Buy Modes in the game and adds a new element to the adventure gameplay as a first for The Sims. To continue the lesson in adventure building, we’ve outlined additional objects that you can use and triggers that will activate behaviors—cause and effect style. Plus, we have more tips. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create!

 

Additional New Objects + Tweaks to Existing Objects

Note: Triggers and Activated Behaviors are set up using the Ctrl + Shift + Left Click Buy Mode interaction described above.

• Hole in the Wall and Floor: The Hole in the Wall and Floor objects are small, rune inscribed holes in which Sims can seek treasure or hidden switches. Beware, as bugs may come flowing out! The Hidden Switch Trigger can be used to set off Activated Behaviors. Holes in the Wall and Floor can be set to Appear or Disappear. Furthermore, treasure can be hidden inside them for Sims who take the time to look!
  
  
• Keystone Panel and Keystones: Every tomb should have keys! Keystone Panels have the Insert Keystone Trigger, which can be used to set off Activated Behaviors. Most commonly are opening of locked doors or treasure chests. Keystone Panels can be set to accept generic Heart, Star, and Crescent keystones. Keystones can be found in tombs, inside chests, underneath rubble piles, or anywhere in which a treasure can be hidden.
  
  
• Ancient Coin Pile: Ancient Coin piles are a great reward for Sims. They can be used to buy Adventure Rewards from the special merchant. Ancient Coin piles can be set to be Very Small, Small, Large, or Very Large.
  
  
• Rubble Pile: Caves and ancient structures need cave-ins. You can block door ways, hallways, and rewards like Ancient Coins and Treasure Chests by placing a rubble pile on top of it. There are corner and flat wall rubble piles, as well as dark and light stone variants. Over time, Sims will hack away at them and clear them eventually to reveal switches or treasures. Tomb Designers are able to set the length of time it takes to clear the tomb.
  
  
• Hidden Doors: Hidden Doors are great for hiding secret areas and surprising the players. These can be set to Locked, Unlocked, Visible, or Invisible, or even “Non-Discoverable.” Visible ones must be opened by patient and strong Sims, whereas Hidden ones must first be inspected. If Locked, the doors can only be opened by a Trigger, as Locking, Unlocking, Hide, and Unhide are Activated Behaviors. Non-Discoverable doors cannot be inspected. In fact, they can only be found when the correct Trigger makes them appear!
  
  
• Locking and Unlocking Doors: Doors can be set to Locked or Unlocked in tombs. This is a very straightforward way to gate Sims until they complete a puzzle. A simple example is to set the Unlock Activated Behavior on a Locked Door, that is Triggered when the Sim Steps On a Floor Switch.
  
  
• Gigantic Boulder: These can be placed to block entrance to special areas, or an entire tomb. These huge boulders can only be destroyed with the mystical Pangu’s Axe, which can be found via an Adventure in China. The Gigantic Boulder is a great way to give players a reason to return to your tomb once they have Pangu’s Axe.