New World Notes

Try Out This Shortcut for Super Cute Sims in The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I'm going to share a clever trick for The Sims 4 that a friend pointed out to me this weekend, in case you're having any trouble creating the perfect sim. Although the game itself isn't out yet, last week the Create-a-Sim demo launched for everyone on Origin. It's the perfect opportunity to hone your character-customizing skills with the new tools and techniques the game will provide. They're fairly intuitive, but it's still pretty easy to find yourself in a position where you're not 100% satisfied with the sim in front of you. Something's just a little bit off, and you aren't quite sure how to fix it. That's where the trick comes in.

Here's how you can use The Sims 4's Genetics feature to fudge your way to a cuter sim face:

Finally, Anyone Can Access The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo, released one month ago to select accounts on EA's digital distribution plaform Origin, is now finally available to everyone. The demo offers players a peek at character creation and customization tools in The Sims 4, and allows them to share and browse created sims online. Currently players can only create young adult sims, and clothing options appear to be limited compared to the full version used in videos and press material. Even so, it's a useful way to get a feel for the new customization systems that will be offered when the game is released this September.

Here's how to pick up the demo for yourself:

Here's Why The Sims 4 May be Downright Unpalatable to Virtual Builders (and How EA Can Fix It)

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I have a lot of questions about The Sims 4. There are things I'm worried about, things I'm excited about, but above all a slew of things I still have no idea about at all. As time creeps slowly forward towards release, all I want to do is finally get my hands on it to satisfy all those needling little unknowns. 

One popular and outspoken Sims content creator had the opportunity to do just that at a recent Creator Camp, an official event designed to familiarize and promote the upcoming game to the franchise's most ardent (and productive) fans. She went in to Creator Camp with one question on her mind, and came out with some unpleasant answers...

A Month from Release, Modders Are Already Sinking Their Teeth Into The Sims 4

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

There's good news for Sims players who have been worried about the number and variety of mods that will be available for The Sims 4 come September. Fans have already started modding the Create-a-Sim Demo released earlier this month, and you can download and install a plethora of new and tweaked content. There are custom animations, new eye textures, skins, clothes, and my favorite of the lot: A lightweight program that will let you recolor just about any piece of content from the demo to your liking.

If you want a complete list what's available, fan site SimNation is regularly updating theirs to include the latest and greatest custom content. These mods are built for the demo and it's hard to say how things will change once the full game is releases a little over a month from now, but even so it's absolutely a good sign for anyone (including myself) who was worried about how long it would take modders to fill the gap left by The Sims 4's apparent limitations.

(Hat tip: Kat Nye)

The Best Things in Life Are Free, Including The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Just shy of ten years after its initial release, EA announced that they will no longer be offering support or patches for The Sims 2, the second installment in one of the most popular gaming franchises ever. In an interesting twist, they also announced that The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, which includes all of the games expansion packs, would be available for free to anyone with an Origin account. 

This is good news for a lot of players. For some who bought The Sims 2 on disc way back before digital distribution had gained the foothold it has today, it's a chance to revisit a game we remember fondly. For others who lack experience with the franchise, it's a cheap and easy way to see what all the fuss is about before The Sims 4 is released this September. 

No matter which camp you fall into, here's what you need to do:

In the Least Surprising News of the Day, The Sims 4 Will Have Premium Memberships

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Sims fans have caught sight of something alarming in a recent 20-minute Sims 4 gameplay demo posted to the series' official YouTube channel. A banner advertising "The Sims 4 Premium" popped on screen while the hosts were en-route to check out community content sharing features, promising discounts, early access, and exclusive items. The comparison is being made to the premium memberships offered for the Battlefield series, in essence a subscription fee that provides a good deal for players who plan to buy all or nearly all of the DLC content released -- and a good deal for EA if subscribers who planned to buy decide to abstain. 

But when it comes to this particular community and this particular franchise, I don't think the issue is quite that simple...

The SIM-ple Life: Here's Why I'm Looking Forward to Losing Everything in the Transition to The Sims 4

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Fans of any series are surely familiar with the excitement leading up to the release of a new installment, and likewise the concern that somehow, at some point, the developers will mess it up. Maybe it won't be as good as the previous games. Or maybe it will be a million times better. It's an emotional push-and-pull that many Sims fans are experiencing right now, but with an added layer almost unique to them.

Between the base game, the expansions, the stuff packs, the store content, the mods, and of course the sim lives created, every game in the series can be a tremendous investment of both time and money. And then the new game comes out, and you're back at square one. Even though it is a brand new game, even though the older game doesn't go anywhere, it still feels like (and is most often described as) a loss. It's a huge mental hurdle for many players to get over, and one that I personally struggled with when The Sims 3 came out back in 2009.

But this time around, I'm not. I'm actually, strangely enough, looking forward to losing it all. Here's why:

The Good, the Bad, and the Unclear: My First Impressions of The Sims 4 Create-a-Sim Demo

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

On Tuesday, many members of The Sims 3 community were invited to test out The Sims 4 Create-a-Sim Demo on EA's Origin distribution platform, ahead of the demo's public release later this summer. I was lucky enough to be among them, so I spent the better part of yesterday evening pushing, pulling, pinching and tweaking my way through the very familiar and simultaneously very alien systems. 

So how was it? There were lots of things I loved, a few things I hated, and a couple things I can't wait to learn more about as we approach The Sims 4's launch date. Until then, here are my thoughts on the Create-a-Sim demo:

Here's Why Simmers Feel Burned by the Lack of Toddlers and Swimming Pools in The Sims 4

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

It was recently announced that there would be two very notable features absent from The Sims 4 when it's released on September 2nd. Neither swimming pools nor the "toddler" life stage will be in the base game, and fans are incensed. 

But they're mad not just because of the omissions. What's really getting under players' skin is what those omissions imply. Here's what I mean:

Revenge of the Rabbit Hole: The Sims 4 May Be Killing One of the Series' Most Hated Features, but at What Cost?

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Considering that The Sims 4 is set for release this September, there's still a great deal that we don't know about it. The marketing focus has been placed mostly on the ways Sims interact with each other and the work that's been done to bring more subtlety and variety to those interactions, but big questions still linger. For me, the biggest question was about one of the most hated features of previous games in the franchise: The rabbit hole. Rabbit Holes are shells of buildings in The Sims, usually workplaces or stores, and when sims enter them they essentially vanish, leaving the player to wait out the clock until they pop back out. 

I'd been hoping the rabbit holes would be done away with for good in The Sims 4, but as videos came out they were never mentioned. Considering how strongly they pushed the openness of the neighbourhood when The Sims 3 debuted, if the death of the rabbit hole is indeed planned it seems like promotional gold. So why ignore it? 

With E3 wrapping up it's been revealed that rabbit holes are indeed on their way out, but not without a considerable cost...