EA Provides Details, Trailer for Sims 3

By Nick Mokey July 15, 2008

EA Provides Details, Trailer for Sims 3

If EA’s placeholder site weren’t a big enough clue for Sims fans what was around the corner, the publisher made it perfectly clear at its E3 press conference this year: The Sims 3 is coming.

Rod Humble, head of EA’s Sims division, took the stage Monday night to explain more about the hotly anticipated update to the franchise. The biggest change will be the scale of the world a Sim is able to interact in. While previous games featured Sims simply going about their own household activities, The Sims 3 will allow players to go out into the town, opening up a new realm of possibilities.

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A new trailer posted on the game’s sparse official page depicts, in black and white, the boring “home” activities Sims were formerly confined to, then bursts into color as characters enter the great outdoors to run, play, picnic, fish, and do other activities. The page has also been updated with a number of screenshots.

While EA still hasn’t stamped a firm release date on the title, Humble said on stage that it was slated for release next year.

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Gaming

The next Sims game is officially in development and fans will help shape it

A crowd of Sims attends an in-game musical festival.

More than 8 years after the initial launch of The Sims 4, EA and Maxis revealed what's next for the popular life simulation series. Code-named Project Rene, this game is in early development, and EA plans on looping players in on the state of the game throughout development as they have with skate. (as it styles itself) and Dead Space.
EA teased the new game during the Behind The Sims Summit livestream, which reflected on the series' history, and also teased upcoming DLC content for The Sims 4, The Sims FreePlay, and The Sims Mobile. Still, the final announcement of Project Rene was the highlight of the show, and we even got an early look at gameplay. Not only is there a clear visual improvement over The Sims 4, but Project Rene also includes new features like being able to change the shape of objects you are placing in the game and create with friends in the same space no matter what platform you are both playing on.

We didn't actually see any Sims in this footage, but those who enjoy the interior designing that the game enables will appreciate the early look. Still, VP of Franchise Creative for The Sims Lyndsay Pearson hinted at the overall vision of Project Rene when introducing the game.
"This is the future of The Sims, built on a foundation of charming Sims, powerful tools, and meaningful stories," Pearson teased. "This future requires us to stay true to what The Sims has always been while pushing to evolve how those Sims think and behave, to push tools even further when creating and customizing, and to explore innovative ways to not only tell stories but to collaborate on those stories or creations with your closest friends across your favorite devices."
EA did not detail all of the specific platforms Project Rene will come to, but we did see the game running on PC and mobile during the showcase. The game is "years away," so a specific release date or window was not shared, but we'll learn it in due course as EA continues the open development process with this game.

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Bayonetta 3 release date, trailers, platforms, gameplay, and more

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One of the most illustrious and anticipated upcoming Switch games is Bayonetta 3 -- a title that has been cooking for quite some time now. As its name suggests, it's the follow-up to Bayonetta 2 and will send players on another action-packed journey as the sassy Umbra Witch known as Bayonetta. It's in development by renowned studio PlatinumGames, best known for fast-paced action games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Astral Chain, The Wonderful 101, and Nier: Automata, to name a few.

Since its announcement, Nintendo and PlatinumGames were slow to reveal details about Bayonetta 3. However, the September 2021 Nintendo Direct finally gave us a first look at the forthcoming action game, with a release window and even gameplay footage.

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The Sims 4 is going free-to-play and you can get extras if you bought it already

The Sims 4 Sims standing around, laughing.

The base version of The Sims 4 will go free-to-play starting October 18, publisher Electronic Arts announced. This free-to-play version will come to all platforms, including PC (via the EA app, Origin, and Steam), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

In addition, the publisher will host a livestream on October 18 called Behind The Sims Summit, which will feature more details about its future plans for The Sims.