Sims4News
Month
Update: 11/25/2014 – Version 1.2.24.20
Hey Simmers,
Just a small update for the end of November! Hopefully you have kept healthy this past month. It feels as though a minor plague has swept through the Studio, knocking folks down one after another. But that aside, we have fixed some crashes, addressed some community concerns, and sorted out a few other fixes that just happened to sneak their way into this release.
As always, the community has been doing an excellent job of keeping us on our toes. A new batch of fixes is on its way out with this release, including the un-breaking of the Add to Family cheat, a Sim pruning issue, and some water opacity issues. Thank you for your feedback, keep it up!
Crashes / Performance
Community Feedback
Tuning / Graphics
Thank you,
-SimGuruGnome
In response to a thread on the official forums about EA’s apparent lack of interest in improving family gameplay in The Sims 4, SimGuruBChicknoted that, while “we are watching this thread and taking your comments and feedback very seriously … you can’t make everything for everyone.” Doesn’t sound too promising.
Here are some other highlights:
"The reason behind not commenting is that we have nothing to say yet. We are working on the game constantly. We are improving and enhancing content every day."
"The vision for The Sims 4 was to refocus attention on the Sims. … How to make them feel more alive? Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. That’s a universal truth."
"This is just the beginning. A Sims game is a massive undertaking. … The game will continue to evolve over time."
SimGuruBChick’s response suggests that, while EA understands that some players want toddlers and improved generational gameplay in TS4, it does not align with their vision of the game, and is therefore not a priority. The fact that they “have nothing to say yet” all but confirms that they haven’t even begun to think about implementing such content.
This is quite disappointing to hear. I’m sure family gameplay will be much improved in four to five years, but it is a shame that we have to wait that long for the fourth generation of The Sims to be a competent life simulation game.
What do you guys think? Do you have hope that TS4 will be improved, or are you already tired of waiting?
Maxis is looking for a Technical Designer for a “brand new Sims title.”
Here is the description in full:
As a Technical Designer, you’ll be working with a large (but tight-knit) team of enthusiastic industry professionals from all walks of life. Your job will be to design and create user-facing content in a brand new Sims title using our internal scripting tools.
Hopefully we’re getting something good!
As always, we’ll keep you posted if any news appears. It’s been a slow month!
I wouldn’t say that I’m thrilled about how the game turned out. Honestly, I haven’t launched the game since the week after it was released.
The Sims 4 surprised me in a lot of ways; I find the graphics, animations, and many small features to be quite impressive. Still, I feel that the game is lacking content-wise. I completely lost interest in my family because the aging system is so disappointing (no toddlers, teenagers look like adults…etc.). My favorite part of the game was watching my Sims age up, so until they flesh out that area of the game, I probably won’t be playing it very often.
In general, there really isn’t much to do in terms of activities, hobbies, and community lots. I don’t find the aspirations or career goals very rewarding or interesting, and I think the whole emotion system is pretty weak overall. I’m impressed that EA is releasing content like ghosts, careers, and pools for free (and quickly). I think that the game has a lot of potential, but it is definitely lacking in content in a pretty significant way.
Though the game will probably never have Create a Style or an open world, I think it will be fun after a few expansions have been released.
Check out these handy game guides published by Graham Nardone!
World Customization and Lot Editing
I hope you find these guides helpful!
How have you guys been liking the game so far?
Live RIGHT NOW is the first of three major game updates coming to The Sims 4 over the next three months, each with new features, new content and more. The updates will be free for everyone playing The Sims 4 who downloads the latest patch.
October brings the spoooooky addition of Ghosts to The Sims 4. Your dead Sims can now rejoin the world of the living, where they maintain all the attributes they had a as a Sim, but with special new behaviors based on how they died. Invite them to join your Sims’ household and they can be playable characters; if you dare, you might even find a way to bring your ghosts back to life.
Did you feel that disturbance in The Force? It was probably our new Star Wars Costume Set. Outfit your Sims in Luke Skywalker’s X-wing pilot suit, Leia’s white robes and awesome cinnamon buns, Darth Vader’s suit and, yes, even Yoda. I mean, who out there hasn’t dressed as Yoda for Halloween, right? Now you can in The Sims 4, too!
Community requests like new eye colors are in there, too. I have personally just given all my Sims purple eyes. Because I can. We’ve also fixed a few minor bugs as well.
Next come two more major updates:
• In November, get your Sim-suits ready (too much pun? Sorry!) because pools will make their triumphant debut in The Sims 4.
• December is Put-Your-Sims-To-Work Month, as we introduce new Career paths and rewards.
All of these updates will be free for our players in The Sims 4. Just log in to Origin and download the patches as we release them. Each update will be full of great content and some surprises. Think that gnomes only live in gardens? Clearly, you’re not playing enough of The Sims 4.
-Rachel FranklinDespite the lukewarm reviews, The Sims 4 has debuted at the top of the UK all-format chart, from physical sales alone.
The Sims 4 has been out for less than a week and Maxis has made it clear they’re entirely focused on the success of The Sims 4, before even thinking about the next game. On The Sims official forums, producer Grant Rodiek quelled suggestions for the next Sims game from fans with some definitive statements.
“We’re not working on Sims 5. We’re not thinking about Sims 5. If Sims 4 isn’t successful, there won’t be a Sims 5.”
The Sims 4 released only a few days ago; our Steve is going to play it until his “eyes fall out”. While some passionate fans were giving suggestions to what could be added or changed in the next game, producer Grant Rodiek stepped in to remind them not to get ahead of themselves. “We’re not working on Sims 5. We’re not thinking about Sims 5. If Sims 4 isn’t successful, there won’t be a Sims 5.” said Rodiek.
When later challenged by fans, Rodiek clarified that it’s “not all or nothing”, but that “something has to pay for 5”. Seems like how game development usually works to me, but it’s strange to think of a world without The Sims.
Is The Sims safe for now, or could this be the end of the iconic life simulator as we know it?
Shoutout to my lovers at ONTD for posting this article! (Original Source)
I’m really enjoying it so far! I absolutely love the graphics…they may seem simplistic in screenshots, but the game (in my opinion, at least) is very, very detailed and beautiful.
The emotions system is nice but it definitely seems like a gimmick. It doesn’t add much to the game, and I’ve found that my Sims are constantly experiencing the same few emotions over and over (my Sims have been Energized and Focused hundreds of times, but have never been Depressed or Angry).
My biggest gripe is the lack of content. The babies are extremely simplistic objects, there are no toddlers, and the teenagers look exactly like young adults. I personally love generational gameplay, so this is especially disappointing for me.
The world is also extremely small, even with both towns, and there’s really nowhere to go and nothing to do. As much as I disliked TS3, I really miss having a town. Even just a fake town-view (like in TS1 and TS2) would be better than the static map. It doesn’t feel like anything is connected, and all of the interesting areas are just decorative.
Like the SimGurus have been saying, TS4 is a really great foundation in terms of technology and design. I’m excited to see how they add content to the game…I just hope it comes quickly (and cheaply), because the game really needs it.
I generally try to stay away from BuzzFeed, but this article does a good job at showcasing seven interesting, genuine, and diverse opinions about the game.
What do you think about The Sims 4 so far? What would you rate the game on a scale from 1-10?
I’m not going to gloss over the extremely significant amount of negative press that The Sims 4 is getting just because you don’t want anyone to “hate” on it. I’m glad that fans are enjoying the game, but the fact is, reporting reality is the most essential component of the news.
Telling me to ignore the bad press and negative opinions about the game is like trying to tell CNN to stop reporting “bad things” because it’s “hate”.
We post news about The Sims 4. Considering that the game is currently facing international backlash, it would be quite irresponsible for us to not mention it in the name of staying positive. That isn’t news, it’s denial.
The day I start filtering the news to appease readers is the day I delete this blog.
Prior to the release of The Sims 4 there was a lot of talk about the plethora of features EA and developer Maxis had cut from the game. Ranging from pools to toddlers, the more cynical Sims fan suggested that EA was planning to save this content for a later expansion pack, but whatever the reasoning behind it, a lot of people weren’t happy.
The Sims 4 has now released in the US, and while advance copies were not sent out to reviewers therefore meaning that critiques from publications are few and far between, users have been taking to the likes of Amazon and Metacritic to offer their opinions. Unfortunately for EA and Maxis, those opinions are mostly negative.
The Sims 4 currently has a rating of just two-and-a-half stars on Amazon, with the top-rated review from Angela Streiff reading: “For what it is right now, I’d rate this game somewhere around 3 stars. The high price for minimal starting content is where I was a little disappointed and it loses a star. I’m hoping once expansion packs start coming out, it will be a better game and rated more between 4 and 5 stars. The price for what you get right now is steep.”
As is typically the case with user reviews, the ratings veer wildly from five stars to one star, though its current middling rating will likely have EA sweating buckets given that this is one of the publisher’s biggest releases of the year. The previous backlash they received following the release of SimCity severely harmed the company’s image, and if The Sims 4 also fails to resonate with its target audience then it can be assumed that EA will be looking to make some drastic changes. Similar to the negative Amazon reviews, The Sims 4 currently has a Metacritic user rating of just 4.5 out of 10. While user Metascores are notoriously redundant, they too indicate that many are lashing out at EA and Maxis due to the various features that are missing from it that were featured in previous games in the series.
Its easy to dismiss user scores as being a poor indication of the quality of the product, but Sims fans who haven’t paid much attention to the ongoing controversy surrounding the game may look at those Amazon review scores and, without knowing that many are immediately dismissing the game due to its cut content, decide that they won’t purchase it. As The Sims 4 reviews start to go online we’ll have a clearer indication of just how good/bad the game is. EA will certainly be hoping that the critics opinions will be in their favor.
We can’t bring you a review of The Sims 4 yet, but there have been some interesting comments from players who picked it up at the US launch.
The Sims 4 launched last night in the US and eager Sims fans fired it up overnight. Critics have yet to get their hands on the game here in Europe and US critics will have just started playing like everyone else, so for the moment, these initial impressions are about the best we can go by.
We usually don’t check gamer scores on Metacritic because they tend to be all over the place, but as EA has refused to comment on when exactly press in Europe can start reviewing the game, we had to take a peek to see what initial impressions are like. Remember: these “reviews” will only be based on a few hours playing so you shouldn’t take them as full-fledged “final scores”, but we can at least get an idea of what people like and don’t like as far as features are concerned. Right now, it’s sitting on a 6.0 in Metacritic with reviews pretty split between 10/10 and 0/10, so…
I’ve played it a couple of hours yesterday. My first impressions are actually really good. - The_X_Filess [10/10]
What the hell? I bought this being really excited about getting the next generation of Sims games, but it really just seems like a fancied up version of the Sims 2 with LESS features – Doctective. [0/10]
Sims 4 is not a really bad game, but not a good one either – Adrian Chan [5/10]
I played with the Create A Sim demo and felt I had a good understanding of it, but once I started in the actual game the create a sim setup has no natural path. – JarrahG [1/10]
I can not believe how did they possibly manage to destroy an amazing franchise with this God awful game. Nothing, absolute NOTHING is good about this game. – BloodChronism [o/10]
I was exciting about this game. I like the way the Sims look and I love the multitasking, but the game itself is very lacking and boring. trixiebayn [0/10]
Played for 5 hours so far and to be honest, I don’t see much improvement over Sims 3. Yes loading times are shorter, yes there are moods now, and sim creation is slider-less, graphics little bit better, but overall it is the same game. It should be called Sims 3.5. – Hedon [3/10]
Been playing for the better half of the night and this game is alright. Not many improvements to be honest, and the sliders are cool though. The left out plenty of stuff from previous entries which i’m sure will be paid dlc down the road. Do not buy this game now, wait for a flash sale in the coming weeks. [2] – corey3612
This is just a sample of what’s popped up so far, but – again – do remember that these impressions will be after only a few hours play, so it’s a bit risky to take them as final opinions based on extensive play. It’s interesting to see a bit of conflict in there, too; ignoring the 10/10 review for a moment, there are those claiming it’s a lot like The Sims 3 and those claiming it’s The Sims 2 with less features.
Meanwhile, over in the official forums, the community appears to be split on the game’s quality. This thread is probably the most constructive and sensible one to read.
With press not being able to play the game prior to launch we do have our suspicions that the game could be lacking but we’ll reserve judgment for now.
Maybe one day, but TS5 wouldn’t be announced for several years. They do generally begin development of the next generation pretty quickly, but there wouldn’t be any significant progress or public news about it for a very long time.
Not yet, unfortunately.
If you want to play TS4 as soon as it’s released, you can now pre-load the game on your PC.
The option to download the game and have it ready to launch as soon as it’s released is currently rolling out to everyone who pre-ordered a copy through Origin. When it’s available in your area, simply launch Origin and hover your cursor over the game tile in your Game Library to check if it’s available.
Once The Sims 4 is pre-loaded, your game will unlock when it launches in your region. If you live in the United Stated, that means 12 AM EDT on September 2, or 9 PM PDT on September 1.
Fans in other regions can find their local release schedule below:
I’m excited to hear your thoughts about the game! While there has been an incredible amount of disappointing news in the past year, I’m still excited to give TS4 a spin!
What are your thoughts? Are you excited to try out the game? Did you even bother with a pre-order?
Catch yesterday’s live broadcast of the Sims 4 by the Sims team themselves! And watch out for the next live broadcast being released in the next half hour on the SimsVIP site.