So, I got it. World Adventures. Despite not being in the mood for Sims yesterday, I decided to pick up World Adventures today since I was 5 minutes from the shops as it was. And ironically, tonight, I'm in the mood to play. I think it's the "new shiny toy" factor to be honest.

I'm installing it on my PC as my PC will handle it better and has a bigger monitor. Which means, I will be starting over from scratch, with a new family. I could have just copied my files over from my laptop and continued with The Waters, The Banks and poor Max with his 6 babies. But at the moment I just don't have enough time to take care of 3 families.

Instead, I'm going to create a SINGLE family and play them through. So far I've not gotten to see any of my second generation from any of my families grow up, and I'd like to experience that. So, for now, I will create a new little sim to guide me along their journey.

I'm sure I'll still pop on later to see how the other families are doing, but for the time being, I need nice... easy... mindless... drama free! lol.

I've just finished installing both The Sims and World Adventures on the PC and am currently wrestling the with the torture that is the EA websites to redeem my simpoints, special items etc. IF I can get all that done, I might actually get to play tonight!

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.

Quote courtesy of Sims 3 World Adventures: Chopsticks, Mummies & the French – Oh My!

BricaSims found the first picture of Paris in The Sims 3! You can see the Eiffle Tower in the background. I can’t wait to see what it looks like up close – hope it doesn’t disappoint!

Written by: Mike Fahey

The Sims 3 expansion pack World Adventures brings with it a basement tool, which everyone will use to build tombs, and not underground Sim torture chambers.

The new basement tool allows The Sims 3 players to create underground structures up to four levels deep, and EA has plenty of new tomb objects in store in order to help facilitate the joy of exploration. Objects like the Fogger, which hides unexplored areas from the player's view, or hidden stairways, which help facilitate secret passages. Other important objects include that old staple the floor switch, and traps that shoot fire, steam, electricity, or darts. This is going to be so much fun. Toss in a couple Saw-inspired face bear traps and I'll be in heaven.

Check out the rather large list of tomb objects EA released today below, and start planning out your tomb so you can get building when the expansion arrives on November 17th.

And yes, I am already planning my underground Sim torture chamber, but don't you dare judge me, or you'll be right there with them.

Here is some of the dozens of Tomb Objects and Object Updates:

Tomb Object (Fogger): The tomb object is the cornerstone of tomb building and will often be placed in every room of the tomb. The Tomb Object is what creates the "fog" that hides non-explored rooms from the player. This lets you create a sense of discovery and suspense as your Sims explore new tombs. The "fog" will recede from a room when a player enters the room through a door, descends stairs into the room, enters a room that is connected to a fogged room with an arch, or if a Sim "Looks Through" a window that looks into a fogged room. Adding or Removing fog is also a potential Activated Behavior.

Floor Switch: The floor switch is a classic adventure game object. It is a small, 1 tile floor object on which Sims can stand or push statues. Stepping On and Off the switch are both Triggers that can connect to Activated behaviors. Floor Switches can also be set to Appear or Disappear.

Wall and Floor Trap: The traps are two different objects that can be placed on the wall or floor. These can be set to shoot fire, darts, steam, or electricity on unsuspecting Sims. They can have a variety of states, including hidden and dormant, armed and visible, hidden and armed, or hidden and firing. Each of these states can be activated by Sims walking over them or as an Activated Behavior. Traps can light Sims on fire or knock them out. However, there are multiple ways to handle traps. Sims can disarm them by tinkering with them, or push statues upon them to disarm. Water will disarm a fire trap, which makes a great puzzle element when paired with the steam trap…which creates water! Sims can walk with immunity through a fire trap when soaked. Experiment and come up with your own puzzles!

Dive Well: Dive Wells are one of the most exciting Tomb Objects. Sims can use them to become Soaked, which makes them immune to fire, or to put themselves out when already on fire. A Hidden Switch can be set at the bottom of dive wells as a Trigger. You can always place treasures at the bottom. Another fun element is that you can set the color of the water in the dive well, so fire tombs can have blood red water, whereas a tomb with a poison theme can have murky green water.

Dive Wells are most fun when they are set up as portals. Dive Wells set as Portals will connect to each other. Sims will go to the bottom, and then emerge from the closest dive well on the same floor. It's also possible to designate a Dive Well as an Uber Dive Well. Here, you designate a name so that you can define the precise point of origin and exit – even across multiple lots in the world. This lets you create one-of-a-kind entrances to island tombs and other inaccessible areas.

Treasure Chest: The biggest reason to explore anything is to find treasure at the end. Treasure Chests let you fill your tomb creations with various treasures, keys, garbage, or whatever you can imagine. Opening and Inserting a Keystone a treasure chest are also Triggers that can set Activated Behaviors.

Sarcophagus: The Sarcophagus can act as a large, ornate treasure chest, a place to hide, a place to sleep, and even a place to WooHoo. Most exciting, however, is its ability to spawn mummies. Mummies will patrol tombs in search of unsuspecting Sims to pummel and *gasp* curse! Mummies provide an element of danger and the unexpected to any tomb.

Torch Lever: The torch lever, like the Floor Switch, is an object for Sims to pull on to trigger Activated Behaviors. Some can be set to active, whereas others can be dummies, forcing players to carefully examine their surroundings. It's possible to define the colors of the torch light, which allows Tomb Designers to provide hints and clues on how to complete puzzles. Or, to simply set the ambience of a tomb!

Pushable Statues: Pushable Statues are another classic adventure game element. They can be pushed on top of traps to disarm them, or cleverly pushed through a maze to unveil a formerly blocked path. Their most common use is to be paired with a floor switch. Floor Switch triggers can be set so that they activate something when a Sim is on them, but deactivate as soon as a Sim steps off of them. This means a Sim must push a statue on top of them in order to keep the floor switch depressed. Pushable Statues can be set to be secretly pushable (they require inspection), visibly pushable (no inspection needed), or not pushable at all.

Hidden Stairways: Stairways from The Sims 3 can be set to Hidden now. This is an Activated Behavior, so that a Trigger can now Hide or Unhide the stairs. Hidden Stairways are a great way to surprise players. Just when it seems there's no way out, pulling a switch reveals a stairway!

Source: Kotaku.com

Released today...

Beware of Mummies in The Sims 3 World Adventures!

In The Sims 3 World Adventures, you can accept challenges, find treasures, discover what’s lurking in hidden caves, tombs and more with the first ever adventure gameplay. While venturing to Egypt, one of three real-world inspired locations you can journey to, watch out for any sarcophagus in the tombs that may have an angry mummy just waiting to put a curse on you. Unless you are a master of the martial arts skill, the mummy will win in a fight and you’ll either be knocked out or cursed. When cursed, you can go to the Sphinx and plead before it in an attempt to find the soul peace statue, which removes the curse. If not, so long Sim!

What’s better than being chased by a mummy? Spend the night in a cursed sarcophagus and find out what it’s like to be a mummy! You will live longer, your energy and bladder motives won’t decay which means no bathroom breaks or sleeping. You’ll be strong, have unique mummy socials, have a longer lifespan, and more. But note, you’ll move more slowly and be prone to catching on fire more easily. But that’s ok, because you’d then be able to come back as a ghost mummy. Cool.

The Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack will ship on November 17, 2009 for the PC and MAC.

Next week we’ll give you a lesson in building your own Tombs from simple to complex then we’re off to China.

Most of you have probably already seen this by now, but for those (like me) who enjoy their existence under a rock, EA have released the cover art for the first Sims 3 expansion - World Adventures.

Are you ready for it? Taa daa....

Courtesy of simoperations.com:

EAUK's Community Representative Adroit, has published details on why pricing for the first The Sims 3 expansion pack is higher than those of its predecessor. It shows that, like the base game, exclusive content will be available to download free online.

Hi, the pricing is a little higher than The Sims 2 expansions for some of the following reasons:

• World Adventures provides lots of additional gameplay and items, plus adds storyline elements by building on goal oriented gameplay from base game
• It offers $10 (£6) value of SimPoints to be spent on TS3 Store
• It offers access to an Explorer’s kit - 15 exclusive valuable items to be downloaded upon product registration

Apparently the expansion is listed as £29.99 some places (around $46 US), and is currently listed as £24.99 on amazon and play.com. Obviously we're still enough distance away from the expansion for ANY price to be officially released, so I wouldn't take sites like amazon as Gospel. But, given the statement provided by Adroit, I would expect the expansions to at least be $10 or more above Sims 2 expansions.

Give it is adding more to the game play in the form of quests and other mini games within the main game, I can see a difference in price. Although it's still "The Sims", number 3 is varying greatly in some areas from it's predecessors. But, if the price jack is based on the 'included' bonus of SimPoints to spent at the TS3 Store, then I can't agree with it. Personally I don't use the store, so they are no real use to me.

I like a lot of the items there, but I can't justify spending more real life money on each piece of furniture I need. For one, there will always be free items out there, we just have to give the designers some time to work out how to create them, and secondly, it's WAY too easy to spend $20, $50 or even more in the store when you buy bits and pieces here and there. For a franchise that will set you back $500* or more by the time you buy all the expansions along the way, do you really want to double that by buying constantly from the store?

* based very loosely on the price of TS2 + expacs...

News is coming out all over the place with regards to the first expansion World Adventures. IGN got a first look at the newly-revealed The Sims 3: World Adventures to see the expansion pack strategy.

At the base camp is a job board that has adventures, which are beefed up versions of the opportunity missions you found in The Sims 3; the more complex adventures might consist of a dozen or more tasks chained together. Completion of these adventures unlocks more challenging adventures, raises your visa level, and so on. An example of these adventures might be exploring tombs, of which there are many in Egypt. These tombs might have diabolical traps that must be circumnavigated or be dealt with. For example, fire traps can be tackled by dousing your sim in water (say by jumping into a small pool) before entering them; the soaked nature of your clothes will protect you. Or you might need to move objects around to activate pressure plates in order to open a secret door. Your sims might dig in rubble for artifacts that can help unlock other doors. Or, you might find all the parts to a rare item and reassemble it, thus giving you a nice trophy for that shelf back home.

Check out their full write up here.

Official Trailer for The Sims 3's first expansion World Adventures.

The Sims are off on an adventure to famous destinations around the world! The EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that The Sims 3 World Adventures, the first expansion pack* to the #1 best-selling PC and MAC game in June 2009**, The Sims 3, is in development and will ship to retailers worldwide the week of November 16, 2009.

It's good to know I'm not the only one who lives under a Rock - ToriiLee_sXe answered my tweet saying they too knew nothing of the Sims 3 first expansion. Of course, I forgot to ask if they even played the Sims, which would kinda be a big reason to not know about the expansion, but I'll assume they are if they are following a twitter account aptly titled "Sims_Fan"... I will also blame my 3 weeks of the flu as part of my lack of knowledge since I wasn't even really around the PC during that time. But, for those, like me, who haven't heard - EA have announced that the first expansion pack for The Sims 3 will be World Adventures!

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 of France. Adventure is on the horizon — what will your Sims discover?

From mastering martial arts in Shang Simla, China, discovering rich culture and famous landmarks on a romantic getaway to Champs Les Sims, France or exploring the depths of ancient tombs in Al Simhara, Egypt, players can take their Sims on a journey that will change their Sims' lives.

Players can accept challenges to search for secret treasures, learn new skills and chase down new personal opportunities, meet new Sims with unique personalities, share their culture and bring them home, discover new styles on their travels, and share everything they encounter on their adventures with the world through personal photographs, movies, and stories.

FEATURES

• Accept challenges, find treasures, discover what’s lurking in hidden caves and more.
• Explore famous landmarks in China, Egypt, and France.
• Learn new skills like photography and pursue new opportunities.
• Meet new Sims from exotic locations and share their cultures.
• Customize your Sims homes with new styles & artifacts from their adventures.
• Get $10 worth of free SimPoints for The Sims 3 Store, and additional online features to be announced.

"We're thrilled with the global success of The Sims 3 over these last few months and are looking forward to expanding on the gameplay experience with one of the most robust expansion packs to The Sims yet," said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims at EA. "Players will be able to take their Sims on the adventure of a lifetime and explore lands outside of Sunset Valley and Riverview, pursue thrilling new life destinies in locations around the world inspired by famous destinations, and immerse themselves in the open-ended gameplay where they'll discover new cities in China, France and Egypt and share new stories."

Players can take their Sims on new journeys to famous real-world inspired destinations around the globe for the first time ever and seek out new adventures. While exploring the landmarks of an exotic city, there is no telling what the Sims will find. From mastering martial arts in Shang Simla, China, discovering rich culture and famous landmarks on a romantic getaway to Champs Les Sims, France or exploring the depths of ancient tombs in Al Simhara, Egypt, players can take their Sims on a journey that will change their Sims' lives.

Players can accept challenges to search for secret treasures, learn new skills and chase down new personal opportunities, meet new Sims with unique personalities, share their culture and bring them home, discover new styles on their travels, and share everything they encounter on their adventures with the world through personal photographs, movies, and stories.

Additionally, players will receive 1,000 SimPoints to be used online in The Sims 3 Store*** for the PC/MAC versions of the game. Exclusive online content, available only for the expansion pack at launch, will be revealed soon.

The Sims 3 World Adventures will also be available for mobile phones, the iPhone™ and iPod touch® in early 2010 from EA Mobile™. These versions will have customised mobile gameplay features which will be revealed in the coming months. For information on carrier availability and pricing for all EA Mobile games, please visit www.eamobile.com.

For more information about The Sims 3 World Adventures or The Sims 3, please visit www.TheSims3.com. Developed by The Sims Studio, The Sims 3 World Adventures has not yet been rated by the OFLC. To download artwork, please visit www.info.ea.com.

IGN Q&A with Lyndsay Pearson (Source)

IGN: Is there a different philosophy to the expansions for The Sims 3 now that EA can distribute a lot of new content via The Sims 3 Store? It used to be you needed to buy an expansion or a content pack at retail to get new items. Does that mean that you need to focus on different areas for the expansion?

Lyndsay Pearson: We're putting so much clothing and content up on the Store each month that it's a great way to let players pick and choose the elements they would like to use in their game. The Sims 3 World Adventures will offer an entire, whole new experience, something we couldn't deliver through the Store. Our challenge really becomes--with multiple avenues to get items or content to customers--how do we make sure we don't start overlapping too much? The Store also has the flexibility to do bite sized chunks of crazy content if we want to. We would probably never offer a set of moon-base themed furniture in an expansion pack, but we could put it on the Store if it's something people would really enjoy. The Store offers an excellent complement and enhancement resource, but we still plan to have major innovations and systems delivered by the expansion pack. The Sims 3: World Adventures focuses on delivering those along with actual, real-world inspired locations--something we couldn't give players through any other means.

IGN: The press release mentions that exclusive online content will be available for the expansion at launch. Are these exclusive items eventually going to be offered to those who don't buy the expansion?

Lyndsay Pearson: Additional content and SimPoints to be used at the Store are great ways for us to give extra incentives to the players that are out in the forefront and buying the game. That said, we realize there is a lot of value to the things we can offer and we are evaluating how we ultimately make sure it gets out there for everyone to enjoy. Stay tuned for further information on online content.

IGN: The release also mentions that you'll be able to meet new characters in these new places. Will you be able to bring these characters back with you, or transfer them somehow?

Lyndsay Pearson: While visiting any of our new locations your Sims will be able to meet locals and explorers. Just like any Sim in their home town, they can make friends, fall in love or make enemies! After returning home Sims will be able to call these new, foreign friends and invite them to visit or chat to keep up relationships. You can even invite them over, get married, or move in. Maybe your culinary Sim has always longed to learn new French recipes and fall in love with a renowned French chef--that's a story you can tell now.

IGN: Last question. Each expansion for The Sims 2 introduced a new gameplay mechanic. Will there be a new gameplay mechanic in World Adventures? If so, what is it?

Lyndsay Pearson: The Sims 3: World Adventures offers a whole new way to play that we've never done in a Sims game before. We're utilizing the opportunity system introduced in The Sims 3 to take your sims through a whole variety of different adventures. You can start by talking to a local merchant who will send you off to find a keystone that unlocks the treasure chest to get into the secret chamber and so on. You aren't just picking up random tasks--you can follow and participate in a story. Each location offers different back stories and secrets to uncover. We're also working on a much more interactive exploration system in our tombs and catacombs. The player will need to solve puzzles to get from room to room--you can't just click in the treasure room and say "Go Here" anymore. Using your sims' skills, special items and figuring out a puzzle will be how to get through the multitude of areas we've set up for you to explore. The whole team is really excited about these new possibilities and what we can build with them. We look forward to sharing more information as we go along!