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. =]