The Sims 3 Comming Soon

The best-selling PC game franchise of all time just got a bit more best-selling. EA announced today that The Sims series has now sold 100 million copies worldwide since it launched in 2000. Since the first game, the series has been translated into 22 different languages and sold in 60 countries around the world. According to the New York Times, the franchise has generated over $4 billion for its publisher, Electronic Arts--or around $500 million per year.

The third stand-alone game in the Sims series will feature a new engine, which EA has been slaving away at for three years, and the biggest new feature will be the ability to seamlessly move around an open neighbourhood. Previous games in the Sims series were expanded by packs such as The Sims: Hot Date, and The Sims: Vacation, which let gamers take their sims on holiday or into town with a beau, for example, but these communal zones were always separate from sims' abodes.

In the next game, the sims will be able to walk freely around their neighbourhoods, visit their pals, and venture to new locations such as City Hall and the local park. There will also be a "deeper" system for governing how sims behave, called the Realistic Personality System, which will let gamers manipulate five character traits when creating their sims. This opens up a number of possibilities, or as EA puts it: "Will you create the nosy, inappropriate, kleptomaniac grandmother who loves to meddle in other people's business? Or the commitment-phobic, hot-headed punk rocker whose rude nature and childish disposition keeps him from scoring a date?" Apparently, 700 million different combinations await.

EA promises "No more Crappy Games"

Silver-haired fox John Riccitiello believes EA has "the best title plan of any company in the industry". This, he feels, happened as a result of letting the core creative teams run free and dream up new IP, rather than churn out licensed sequels.
"Frankly I think that a lot of the intellectual property we create are better than the licenses. That doesn't mean there isn't room for great licenses. There's room for both," Riccitiello told MTV Multiplayer.

"I think what you're noticing is that in years gone by we haven't had as many great, original intellectual properties. There's a lot more of that this year from EA and I think from here forward.

"I think what redeems our industry is quality, and I think we take a step back every time we take a license and exploit it with a crappy game. That's not what we're about," he said.
Riccitiello recently said EA quality has been rising "sharply" since developer administrative burdens were shifted so they can focus on creating games. He also said EA was wrong to assume Xbox 360 and PS3 will lead the current generation, and promised as many as 40 games are in development for Wii and DS.