Sims 3 Delay Official… new date June 2

I have to admit to feeling a certain amount of glee over EA’s new press release… since many avid sims fans on various boards kept saying “if EA says it’s Feb 20, it’s Feb 20″. What if at one time EA says it’s Feb 20, and then at another time says it’s June 2? These kids need a basic course in temporal logic :)

Update: The page I linked above has been taken down, at least for now. Here is the full text of the statement that was posted. (Some fans are arguing that this is not genuine,  but I see no reason not to believe that it’s the final statement, inadvertently posted a bit early — note the time — and taken down a couple of minutes later.)

EA announces New SHIP date for the Sims 3

February 03, 2009 21:20 PM

Highly-Anticipated PC Game from Best-selling PC Franchise Slated to Ship June 2, 2009

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., February 3, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that The Sims™ 3, the highly-anticipated flagship game from the best-selling PC franchise, The Sims will launch across the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch and mobile devices summer 2009. The Sims 3 PC will ship to store shelves worldwide starting June 2, 2009.

“The Sims 3 is an incredible game that lets you play with life, create art and show off your creations,” said Ben Bell, Executive Producer, The Sims 3. “In the game, players are inspired by endless creative possibilities like the new Traits and Lifetime Wish features which allow players to create Sims with real personalities and destinies. Players can then take their Sim into town to interact with other Sims in the game and capture the action on video to show off online.”

“The June launch combined with the break-through game the team is building gives us the perfect runway to create awareness for The Sims 3,” said Russell Arons, Vice President of Marketing for EA. “The Sims 3 will be the original IP summer blockbuster of 2009 as we build off the success of the best-selling PC franchise of all time to create awareness with both loyal Sims fans and new players.”

EA evaluating Sims 3 launch window… wait, is that news?

NOOOOO!

Yes, I’ve been closely following the discussion of whether the Sims 3 is delayed, on various forums and websites. And yes, this is not entirely a wholesome activity ;) One of my friends is about to stage an intervention >< Mostly I’ve refrained from posting about it here, but now we have something that looks a little more like concrete news, in the form of an article on Eurogamer, which says in part

EA issued the following statement:

“We are evaluating the launch window. The game looks great and in the near future we’ll have more information.”

Up to now, what we’ve mostly had is lots of reports of suppliers telling their customers the game is delayed, countered by lots of reports of other suppliers sticking with the original Feb. 20 release date. So it seemed that EA was putting out mixed messages. On the face of it, this latest quote just confirms EA’s ambivalence. However, personally I find it unlikely that a company like EA… famous for sticking to its release schedule regardless of bugs… would confess to ambivalence; seems more likely that it’s just “softening up” the public for a delay.

Sims 3 delayed?

Maybe I should just give up the pretense and make this a Sims blog. I’m afraid it’s my current obsession gameswise. Again ;) That has a lot to do with Sims 3′s imminent release.

Or is it imminent? dum duh duh dummmmmm…

There have been rumors on the EA forums about a delay off and on for months now… generally based on some vendor in some country giving out a ship date later than Feb 20. Vendors very frequently get dates wrong, though, in my looooong experience of eagerly awaiting the release of one game or another ;)

The latest version of the rumor seems more serious though. This remark from ParsimoniousKate (one of the Creator’s Camp participants) on the SimPE forum has given rise to a rash of panicky delay threads on the EA forum:

“Incidentally, the game release date is now unknown, they’re delaying it so it will not be out on Feb 20th as previously expected.”

and:

“the game is pretty borked and there’s a lot of tuning issues which are going to take in the order of months to sort out properly.”

I have faulted EA plenty of times for releasing Sims 2 expacks on schedule and loaded with bugs rather than taking the time to test and repair pre-release, so it would be hypocritical of me to complain if they delay this one ;) I will be sad, but I have to say I’m still having fun with Sims 2.

There’s more interesting info from Kate about Sims 3 modding potential in the above thread, btw :)

Risky Business: The Sims 2 Store

Shop till you drop... some cash

Microtransactions are very hip these days among game publishers. The most popular version of this trend is to give a game away and finance development solely by selling in-game items to players for a buck or two (as with many recent MMOs such as Runes of Magic). However, games you already bought and paid for are in the act now too. A few well-known cases: in 2006 Bethsoft was widely criticized for charging $1.99 for horse armor for Oblivion; they lowered the price and increased the content and wound up with a modest success on subsequent offers. In WoW you have a chance at random in-game vanity items by buying playing cards. And in July of last year, EA opened the beta of the Sims Store (a distinct entity from the EA Store, where EA sells full games online).

Is this economic model bad for games or gamers? A lot of gamers find the whole thing distasteful, but these are usually folks who would rather get the stuff for free (or included in the game at no extra charge). We all like free stuff, but game developers don’t owe it to us. Unfortunately, in the case of the Sims 2 Store, it’s the way microtransactions are implemented that’s the problem.

EA and Me: the case for couples therapy

A troubled relationship

I have admitted, I think, to liking the Sims 2. OK… perhaps “liking” isn’t the right word. It’s the game I play obsessively when life is getting me down, because I find that playing it causes a total brain-wipe, inducing a state akin to nirvana. And it’s much cheaper and less damaging to the body than the legal and illegal pharmacological substances that might produce the same effect.

My relationship with the franchise is ambivalent, though.