Owners of The Sims 3 base game + expansion packs unlock special goodies in The Sims 4

Electronic Arts is rewarding previous players of The Sims 3 with some unlockable goodies in the Sims 4. They consist of a set of special lamps that affect the mood of your sims in different ways. If you already own the base game and all expansion packs (stuff packs don't unlock rewards) then a special golden statue is unlocked (as pictured in the center of the image). Not that to unlock those goodies you need to register your games with your Origin account. Use this page to check your unlocked goodies.

Disney Magical World to hit European shores on October 24th

via NintendoLife

Disney Magical World, a life simulator aimed at a younger audience set in the world of Disney, will be released on the 24th of October in Europe. The game was initially set to be a Japan-only release, but US gamers got a chance to play it on the 11th of April of the present year. 

The gameplay borrows a bit from Animal Crossing/Magician's Quest style of play, but involves exploration of a few Disney worlds, somewhat like the Kingdom Hearts series.

More information on the game can be found here.

New trailer and new screen for The Sims 4

A new official screen for The Sims 4 has been shared on twitter. It depicts a bar with some high rise buildings in the background. They're most likely scenery, but it's nevertheless a nice touch.

What craziness will your Sim get up to in #TheSims4? pic.twitter.com/Iwch7EN1pf
— The Sims (@TheSims) July 29, 2014

 Also, Simsvip found a new russian gameplay trailer. Notice that the sims can now take selfies in the mirror.



The Sims 4 - Gameplay Trailer (Russia) from amaret keawrit on Vimeo.

The Sims 4 modding community is on fire!

It's still a whole month ahead before The Sims 4 release date, but some modders have already found a way to create custom content for the Create-a-Sim demo. According to the recent news at Simsvip, two major achievements have been accomplished:

First of all, a way of replacing default animations has been found, and two example mods have been released to the public. They can be seen at the following video by Simsvip:

Second: a recolouring tool is now available. It was created by the folks at Sims 4 Stuff n Things and is available here.

Some people have also been sharing their custom creations on twitter. Here are some examples:

Yakov Doyle in his new, CC everyday outfit - pic.twitter.com/QObCUEUPwc
— Zerbu (@ZerbuTabek) July 28, 2014

CC Upgrade! pic.twitter.com/vF3GEe5KIG
— Zerbu (@ZerbuTabek) July 27, 2014

Just testing things 😂 pic.twitter.com/Vd63c5qAQ6
— Nuukk (@Nuukk) July 27, 2014

Mi primer contenido personalizado gracias a CAS Recolor Tool http://t.co/8lg90JaLhv Mi Sim tiene más estilo que yo :P pic.twitter.com/u3pTjqHkmJ
— Rincón del Simmer (@RinconDelSimmer) July 27, 2014

Harvest moon: The Lost Valley gets 2 new screens

Two additional screenshots have been published on Natsume's official facebook page. One shows the recently announced character Sally and the other shows a winter scene.

New community blog for TS4, this time it focuses on characters

A new community blog has been published on www.thesims.com and this time it focuses on returning characters as well as some newcomers. Here it is:

The Landgraabs are back, still living it up as the richest family and staking their claim in Oasis Springs. We’ve brought Malcolm back during those awful awkward teen years, complete with a dastardly snobby attitude. Though Geoffrey is trying his best to be the good natured father Malcolm needs, will Nancy’s scheming ways lead Malcolm down a darker path? Either way we’re sure this historic family will provide lots of fun and mischief in The Sims 4.

Then we have the Caliente household with our two favorite sisters Dina, Nina, and their mother, who has been re-imagined as the attractive and vivacious Katrina. Katrina has ignored her better judgment and let the infamous womanizer Don Lothario mooch his way into her house and quite possibly her heart. Don’s eyes are on Katrina for now, but how long will it be before Nina and Dina are lured in by his charm? Will Nina decide to steal Don away from her mother? Will Dina finally earn enough money to get her own place and get away from all the craziness? All we know is that it won’t be long before sparks start flying!
Johnny Zest is an ambitious new character we like to introduce. Disowned from the Landgraab family when he dropped out of school, he now hopes to find his own fame and fortune as a standup comedian. He’s learned the hard lesson that when the Landgraabs cut you off, they cut you off all the way! Living in a trailer, blessed with the Landgraab looks but without the name or the money; will he make it to the top to show mom and pop he had what it takes all along? We’ll leave the fate of this black sheep in your capable hands.Finally we’ve got a new batch of youths known as the Roomies. Your typical sitcom setup with ‘J’ (Jameson) the body building hunk, Gavin the gentleman muser, Mitchell the couch potato bro, and Zoe, that girl next door who is actually right where she wants to be, having fun with the friend-zoned boys.
No matter which familiar face you play with, we are convinced this cast of characters will add a quirkiness to your game that only The Sims can bring!

Sim Guru Zephyr 

The Sims 3 Store: last set to be released in August

The last The Sims 3 Store set, named "Last Venue of Amore" will be released in August, after which no more new sets will be published. The store will remain open with all the previously published content up for sale.
The set theme will be based on Venice and will feature a Gondola ride as premium content.
SimGuruTaterTot has been teasing the set and so far a concept art picture (previous image) and a screenshot of a window have been shown:

Here are the links to the original information:

Community blog with announcement

Window picture on the official forum

New villager revealed for Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley

Sally is the newest (and youngest) villager that has been recently revealed. Here's her info, as published on Natsume's official facebook page:

Sally is a youthful villager from Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley! One of the youngest residents in the Lost Valley, Sally always tries to be strong and reliable, though sometimes she can't resist acting her age.
"Don't patronize me just because I'm a kid!"

A mix of self-sufficient and precocious, Sally always tries to be strong, and thinks she can take care of herself without anybody's help. However, still being a young girl, she sometimes gets frustrated when she can't do something on her own. Raised by her grandmother, Sally was orphaned as an infant, and yearns to know more about where she truly comes from. However, she hides these yearnings deep inside her heart.

"I don't need any help! I can do it myself!"

You'll need to earn Sally’s trust and friendship before she’ll open up to you, but when she does, you'll discover a whole new side of her! Sally also has a 'rivalry' with a boy around her age named Jimmy – watch for his story coming in August!

The Sims 4 Minimum System Requirements revealed (and they're pretty low-end!)

The FAQ on www.thesims.com has been updated with the minimum system requirements. Fortunately, most of us own a machine more than capable of running the game. Here are the specs:

REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation. 

OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 

PROCESSOR: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent (For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent) 

MEMORY: At least 2 GB RAM 

HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games 

DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only  

VIDEO CARD: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better   

SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible 

DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible  

INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse

Fantasy Life gets a release date for Europe

Fantasy Life, an RPG with elements of life simulation developed by LEVEL-5, is going to be released in Europe on the 26th of September. With a previously announced release date of the 24th of October for North America, the game will arrive a whole month earlier in the old continent. It has been available in Japanese territories since December 2012.
According to the information on Nintendo's official website, the game focuses on world exploration and taking on roles, or life classes (professions). There will be 12 available life classes which are shown in the opening video:

We at Life Simulator Gamer will be following this game and are eager to play it.

New free set at The Sims 3 Store

via Simified

The Fashionable Fitness Set is available for free at The Sims 3 Store. It includes several fitness clothes and two new female hairstyles. 

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection completely free until July 31st!!

"The sims 2". Via Wikipedia.

Electronic arts is releasing The Sims 2 Ultimate collection for free for a limited period of time. It consists of the base game plus all expansion and stuff packs. 

Here's the text of the original post:

Because you’re a passionate The Sims 2 player, we’re making The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection available free of charge to download to your Origin library. To add the game, just follow these steps:

1. Start by downloading and installing Origin. If you already have Origin you can skip to step 3.

1. Not an Origin member? Create a free Origin Account to get in the game.

1. Launch Origin and log into your Origin Account.

1. From the ‘Games’ tab in the Origin menu, select ‘Redeem Product Code’ and enter the code

1. I-LOVE-THE-SIMS 

If you’re already an Origin member, you can also redeem your code online. Just visit the Origin code redemption page and log in to your Origin Account. Then enter I-LOVE-THE-SIMS in the ‘Product Code’ field. 
Log into Origin and download and play the game any time you want .
Thanks for being a passionate The Sims fan, and enjoy your copy of The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection.
This code will available for redemption until July 31st, 2014 at 10AM PDT.

Be quick to grab it and happy simming!

The Sims 4: new info about the new neighbourhood Oasis Springs

New info has been published on the official website! According to the post, different harvestables will be found in different worlds, so your sims will have to travel between them to find them all.

Check it out here.

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, latest news recap

Since we haven't published any news regarding the game, here's the the summary of the latest July news:

Natsume has started releasing a monthly developer diary on the official Facebook page. Here's the info for July:

Our monthly developer diary series will give you a little bit of insight into the development behind Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. Fans have regularly asked us to “peel back the mysterious curtain” on game development, and we’re happy to share some of what goes into a game.

JULY'S DEVELOPER DIARY: THE NEW TOOL SYSTEM

When we sat down to design Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, we wanted to really study what made the game fun. We wanted to maintain the core value of hard work leading to great rewards while minimizing what may detract from a fun game. So we took a long, hard look at the tool system and decided to go back to the drawing board.
We came to the conclusion that gameplay should flow. So we decided to make the following changes to the tool system:

1. Make tools context-sensitive. When you are standing in front of a tree, for example, there are only certain actions you are logically able to do to the tree. You can't shear or milk the tree, so, if you have an axe in your bag, the game will automatically know that you want to chop the tree down. All you have to do is walk up to the tree, push the A Button, and you will chop the tree down! Now you don't need to open the menu to select and equip a tool, slowing down the flow of gameplay.

2. Instead of upgrading your tools, the Harvest Sprites now act as your tool upgrades. It can be frustrating hunting down the exact type of ore you need to upgrade your tools, as well as time consuming. Therefore, in this game, all you have to do is ask the Harvest Sprites for their help, and they'll be able to water your crops, mine material stone, collect lumber, and more. You won't ever have to worry about taking your tools to get upgraded, which will let you save time and explore the land!

3. Everything in your bag is at your disposal! Since you can stack up to 255 of each item, storage won't be a problem! You won't have to run back to your house, get items from your tool box or refrigerator, and so on, because you can keep everything in your bag. Therefore, when villagers need an item, you won't have to worry about not having it! Your trusty bag will help you save tons of time.

Everything in Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley has been reinvented, renewed, and reinvigorated!

In the end, it is our goal to make our hardcore Harvest Moon fans happy, bring back players of the series that haven’t played in a while, and introduce new gamers to the loveable, non-violent world of Harvest Moon! We want these and the other features to feel like a very small, smooth change that will have a huge impact on how players spend their time in-game.

 They also revealed 3 new neighbours and a bachelor:

Naomi is the first villager we’re introducing in the new Meet the Residents of Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley Series!
"I've been all over the world, and seen so many things..."
As a journalist, Naomi has traveled all around the world. She’s been to many wonderful places, as well as some not so wonderful ones. She’s helped many people she’s met in dealing with their pain and suffering. She came to the Lost Valley for some down time, and to recover.

"I used to have a daughter, you know..."

Many years ago, Naomi was separated from her two-year old daughter in a tragic accident, an incident she’s been trying to put out of her mind ever since. Will Naomi be able to find the peace she’s been searching for in the Lost Valley?

Iris is the next character we’re introducing in the new Meet the residents of Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley series! We’re revealing two neighbors this week to kick things off; we’ll also start talking about bachelors and bachelorettes soon!

“Do you have any flowers for me today?”

Iris is a calm, unflappable mother figure within The Lost Valley. She’s lived a peaceful, rural life since she was born and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Together with her husband, she runs a floral shop outside The Lost Valley; she visits the valley in order to find rare and beautiful blooms while he tends the shop.

“That daughter of mine is a shy one…"

Iris is the mother of April; the two share the same soft blonde hair as well as their calm, quiet natures. Keep watching for more about April in a future post!

Brutus is the next villager we're introducing from Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley!
"Nice day. Work hard!"
An immigrant to the Lost Valley, Brutus is the local blacksmith who came to live here with his two sons. He's searching for a rare ore that can only be found in the Lost Valley. As a quiet and solidary man, he struggles to reach out to his children emotionally, and gets in arguments with them from time to time. His work is flawless, however Brutus is always striving to become a master blacksmith, a wish he also shares for his eldest son.

"Brutus not have time for nonsense!"

A man of few words, Brutus habitually gets angry when his sons don't understand what he is trying to convey to them, which leads him to become stubborn, and his stubbornness only makes the situation worse! Brutus needs the help of a kind, patient friend who will help him connect to his two sons.

Tony is the first BACHELOR we’re revealing from #HarvestMoon: The Lost Valley!
"My father doesn't like me... He thinks I'm a weakling..."
The eldest son of Brutus the Blacksmith, Tony is a talented young man who loves his dad, but struggles with his expectations. Sensitive, serious, yet gentle, he rebels against his father's strictness. He is training to follow in his father's footsteps, but there is just one problem:

"I don't want to become a blacksmith..."

Tony may seem distant at times, but once he gains some inner confidence, he's sure to bloom. You'll need to woo Tony sweetly to discover what his secret ambition is, and to encourage him to reach out and grasp it! Tony is a marriage candidate.

Finally, four new screens were also unleashed:

The Sims 4 Gameplay video analysis

The folks at SimFans.de just made a very detailed analysis of the recently published gameplay video of The Sims 4. It's in german, but it draws attention to some gameplay details that may have been missed. A must watch!

New gameplay video of The Sims 4

The  video of The Sims 4 gameplay demo that has been shown to journalists at E3 has finally been released! Here's 20 minutes of pure gameplay.

The Sims 4 new world: Oasis Spring

According to The Sims VIP more information about the new world has been unleashed. We already knew the name of the first world to be shipped within the game: Willow Creek, which is inspired in New Orleans. The new world, Oasis Springs, will fit the desert theme which we had already seen in worlds such as Strangetown (The Sims 2) and Lucky Palms (The Sims 3 Store). The source quotes the original text as follows:

Your Sims can build their home in the middle of a desert 

The Sims 4 will have another environment to compliment the lush Willow Creek neighborhood, and this one’s more on the parched side. The recently unveiled Oasis Springs district is set in the middle of an arid desert, and has the look of suburban Las Vegas.

This locale is filled with desert-themed charm, complete with set-pieces like cactuses and shed-sized air conditioners (and is that a Western-motif diner I see in the background?). You can still build lovely homesteads with plenty of modern comforts. You’ll likely have tons of fun in this…wellspring? Fountain? Watering hole? It’s right on the tip of my tongue…

The Sims 4 Create-a-Sim Demo video compilation

It's been a few days since EA has been distributing free demos of The Sims 4 Create-a-Sim to some lucky users. Here's a compilation of posts containing videos of the demo for those of us who still haven't got our hands on the software.

The Sims VIP

The Sim Supply 1

The Sim Supply 2

Rincón del Simmer compilation

The Sims Resource 1

The Sims Resource 2

Andrew Arcade

Rewind: Jones in the Fast Lane

Challenging Jones added an extra layer of depth to the game.

Back in the golden age of Sierra On-Line, many were the games the company published, most of them fitting the graphic adventure genre. Names such as King’s Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry still echo fondly in our memories. Sierra, however, published some notable exceptions to the genre, one of them being the life simulation Jones in the Fast Lane. The game was published in 1991, at a time when VGA graphics were the state of the art and few of the PC owners were lucky enough to have a sound card.

Jones is a red-haired bloke with a questionable taste in clothing. Not much else is known about this character, except that, according to the game manual, he has a wife and two kids who “have gone without Nintendos”. The family has sacrificed itself (Jones coded the game by candlelight, apparently) so that you could have a game to play. That story was made up to sensitise the audience against piracy. Since there was barely any copy protection at the time, those sensibilisation campaigns were fairly common.

You had better get a job early in the game, otherwise the whole point is missed.

The main purpose of the game is to succeed in life, and by that we mean $ucceed. You’ll have to reach certain goals to win the game. Goal points are set by the player at the start of the game in four areas: money, happiness, education and career. Complete all the goals and the game is won. There’s no romance, kids or any kind of social interaction involved, making the game purely based on grinding your way to the top. Money means earning money: the more you have, the more points you’ll get. Happiness points are obtained by buying stuff for your character such as appliances, books, etc. Graduate at the local university to gain education points (there are tons of degrees available) and get the best job to ace career points.

There's a choice of four different avatars.

You can play with up to 4 players turn-based and/or against the main character Jones. Each turn takes an in-game week to complete an you get to choose how to best spend your time. Spend too much time working and you may end up with extreme fatigue, forget to feed your character and next turn you are fined with less time to play. Should you spend the week studying to get a better job or working to increase your assets? Choices like these introduce a strategy element to the gameplay and are made so that it plays differently every time. There are also chance occurrences to spice things up a bit. These include getting robbed by Wild Willy at the bank or the supermarket, winning the lottery, and sudden changes in inflation/deflation. There are some minor customisation aspects to the game, some appliances when bought appear at your home, and your character changes clothes when you get them new ones. Some jobs even prevent you from working if you look too casual, so you’d better have an extra buck for that fancy new dress or outfit.

Weekends mark the transition between player turns.

The graphics were awesome for the time, because it featured real digitised images for the characters, a thing rarely seen in other games. Although by today’s standards the game is very short-spanned, it was very compelling and offered hours of entertainment. There was a second, improved version of the game released in 1992 in CD-ROM format. It added (cough!…*terrible*… cough!) voice acting and some minor graphical enhancements. By enhancements we mean there were different pictures for the business employees, some of them looked way more artificial than the ones in the original game. Overall it was a very innovative and entertaining piece of software, and certainly had its role in helping life simulation evolve.

The game can be found for free in some abandonware pages. There are also unofficial versions that some users created. A flash version can be found here, and there’s this free app at the Google Play store for Android users.

Brunch at the Old Mill released at The Sims 3 Store

A new set was released at the sims 3 store, entitled "Brunch at the Old Mill". The set focuses on the rural theme and includes 3 premium items: a tea set, a canning station and a water wheel. It costs 1450 Simpoints until 07/08/14, after which the price raises to 1700 simpoints. It can be purchased here.
The lot seen in the picture isn't included in the set. However, SimGuruKitty has published it to the Exchange. The lot is available for download here. Bear in mind that you need to purchase the set for the lot to look correctly in the game.