14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts is saying that the online component of The Sims 3, which is set to be released in early June, is set to change the way people play the series, which has until now seen sales of more than 100 million units.
The biggest new feature of Sims 3, when it comes to its online presence, is the Game Launcher, which is a page that appears when you start the game that aims to offer all the information related to the game upfront. It will tell players whether there are new updates up or whether there are new items available via the Store. Apart from this, the Launcher can be used by players to share content, see which of the community made stuff has been rated highest and to keep a close eye on the downloads, the uploads, the photos and videos that the player has put up.
The Sims 3 official page is also very important to the experience of the game. It is set to go live on the day of the release and will offer fresh content, including a new town, called Riverview, but will also allow people to design profiles, create and share video with a tool named Create a Movie, while also communicating with friends about the game.
Electronic Arts is really making an effort to spice up the community options of its new title. The trend started with Spore, which had the option to populate their world with creatures put together by other players. Now, it seems that with The Sims 3, the range of content that can be shared by players with each other is even bigger, which could lead to a longer shelf life for the game.
The Sims 3 should be released for the PC, the Mac, the iPod touch and mobile platforms in the first days of June. It was initially set to come around in March, but Electronic Arts delayed it in order to get an extra coat of polish on the game and to ship it at a moment when gamers have little other videogames coming their way.