A tweet sent out yesterday reveals that The Sims 4 is going to be shown at Gamescon this year. Gamescon is an annual game conference that is being held in Cologne, Germany from August 21st through the 25th.
Big Announcement! #TheSims4 will be revealed in Gamescom in Germany! The game will take the @EA stage to show off the game. #TheSimsLB
— The Sims 3 (@TheSims3) June 18, 2013
This Is Exciting
The Sims games have been some of my favorite games since the first game came out in 2000. Since then I have owned every expansion for all three generations of games. I never bought the stuff packs but that’s beside the point. The point is that the next generation of Sims is always exciting for me. With all of the stuff they’ve released throughout the expansion packs it makes me want to see what they have in store for the base game in The Sims 4.
The base games in each of the series are always reduced to the same thing, with some updated features and graphics, but they don’t keep much from the expansions of the previous generation. My hopes for the Sims 4 is that they keep more than they take away. Below are the things that I want them to keep.
Seasons
While they don’t necessarily need to keep everything from the seasons expansion they should keep some things. It keeps the game from staying in a constant state of weather and makes it more graphically appealing. It wouldn’t be that difficult to ship with weather effects already built in and a few things to help protect you from it.
University
Instead of making the university the last full expansion, they should keep it in the game. Maybe at least have some sort of community college added in. The addition of gaining skills to gain knowledge to get better raises and start off higher is one of my favorite things in the Sims games. They’ve had one in each expansion, though under different names and improved in each iteration. One improvement unique to University Life are the smart phones which are most likely going to be kept in the future which leads me to the next point.
Social Networking
With the addition of University, they gave users access to three social groups, texting, and blogs. These things should stay. While they probably won’t keep the social groups if they don’t start off with a university in their world, which is most likely, they should at least keep texting and blogs. Texting is something that had been ingrained into society nowadays and it would be dumb of them to get rid of smartphones and their subsequent features in the base Sims 4.
Self-Employment/Careers
While some of the careers are really tough to do well in, in my opinion, they’re a fun distraction from the monotony that can set in when your sim is away in a rabbit hole for 8 game hours a day. By keeping self-employment as a painter, writer etc. and keeping careers like architectural designer, firefighter, stylist, etc. It will keep things more exciting right off the back and keep them from having just rabbit holes for jobs. Some of the careers need some more refinement to make it more understandable what the sims are asking for and how to get a good score, but it should be looked at to stay in the base game.
Those are the features that I most want them to keep in the base Sims 4. While they most likely won’t keep any but the smart phone, I’m still excited for the game. With Maxis joining the fray once more it should make for a great generation of Sims games. The next four to five years are going to be exciting for Sims fans everywhere. I cannot wait to see the footage they show at Gamescon in august and hope that we learn some great info on what’s to come.
