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Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Sims 3 Store Set Prices

Get ready to charge that credit card of yours (or, you can buy SimPoints in a major retailer near you!) as EA Unveils The Sims 3 Store Prices (well, we found them anyway). The Riverview town is free ofcourse, and will take up 98mbs of space to download. There are also a plethora of items to buy. There are 4 sets, each with discounts if you buy the entire set. Now keep in mind you get 1000 ($10) Simpoints when you pick up TS3 on launch Day.

Rounding out the low end of the chart at 575 Points ($5.75) is the Tiki Set. Thsi set includes a whopping 15 items. 5 Chairs, 4 Tables/counters, a Bar, and 5 Decorative items.


The Storybook Set will run you a whopping 1900 Points ($19). It includes 45 Items. Among those are 5 Chairs/Sofas, 1 Bed, 3 Plumbing Items (A Sink, Tub, and Toilet), 10 Tables/Counters, 6 Build Mode Items (Doors, Windows, and Pillars). And a whole lot of Decorative items and Lights.


The Hewnsman Set will run you 2000 Points ($20) and will include 47 new items. 2 New Beds, 5 Chairs, 5 Tables, 14 New Build Items, and a ton of Decorative Items and Lights.


The final set at launch will be the bayside set runs at 1450 Points ($14.50) and includes a fair 35 Items in it. 1 Chair, 6 Plum
bing Objects, 6 Appliances, 5 Tables, a TV, and a bunch of decorative objects and lights.



Personally i'll probably be a sucker and pick up either the Bayside or Hewnsman sets, both are very attractive. The Tiki and storybook do not interest me at all, as almost all of the objects i can just use in TS2 for free.

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81 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so not cool! How many money does EA think we can spend on their game? Please... It really makes me mad! I love the Sims and i pre order the Sims 3 but this is so typical EA. We are forced to hate the things they do! The kind of force people to buy from the store. If not you'll have very few items. I hope the demo the fans got to play didn't actually show the completed game and that EA didn't put a lot of objects on purpose so we can discover them for ourselves. Else ways I'll be furious with them. Not that they care..

Anonymous said...

This is really, really stupid. It just makes me actually not want to get the game. How much more money do they need? Not only are they doing this but I'm sure they'll come out with expansion packs. I'm not sure about everyone else but moves like this are turning me off. I was already sick of the expansion packs, this is only going to ruin it for me.

DethBuny said...

Five words: Pay Sites Must Be Destroyed!

Mike said...

I agree with sy-89, this really stinks. After they messed with all of us who paid up front for the games, they pull a stunt like this. Knowing how bad the economy is they have to be even more greedy.

All they are doing is causing everyone problems, because they will lose fans/customers, and they will get a lot of theft of credit cards. What happens when someone buys say $100 dollars worth of points, downloads the items, and then disputes the charges? I have seen it in other games, that use a cash shop approach, of late.

Whoever is making the decisions are just too greedy and too dumb to know what they are doing.

JP said...

Sod this, I was gonna get this game, but not now. Releasing stuff after the game is released on a online store is one thing, but to have actually cut things out of the game in order to sell separately is not on, especially when they still charge full price for the game (that now is missing parts and requires you to pay to download).

I thought EA was heading in the right direction when they announced the (lack of) DRM, but this is the same as when they charged for the tutorials for Madden. Enough, no more, I got all the expansion packs for the Sims 2 when they came out, despite them not bothering to fix the problems in the earlier ones, but they have overstepped the line. Fuck them.

Chag4 said...

WTF!?
Seriously, I was kinda mad when they got the Sims2 Store, because there were items I couldn't get even buying every expansion!
"So few items in the game"!!
If they had put enough to actually be cualified as a real sims game and then a few in the store, I'd be okay with it, but this!?
No, this ruins my joy. I actually thought EA could behave fair when it came to sims.
I mean, they are surely rich enough to actually put items in our games.
WE BUY THEM! And they want to charge us more for objects that we may need?
If. lets say, they put one of each item you need for a sim to live in the game, but no more, I'd NEVER buy it.
EA goes stupid, doing this. They really lose my respect.
They'll be seeing me downloading tons of free custom items made by all those wonderfull people out there who DON'T charge me for enjoying their work, and respecting them endlessly.
Sims 3 Store; Kiss my ass goodbye, 'cause you won't be seeing it. No wait, don't, I don't want your greedy lips on my butt thanks.

Unknown said...

I'm probably unusual in that... I don't mind this, actually.

Extra objects, hairstyles, clothing, etc for sale via electronic micropayments in a style similar to Wii Points, etc, to me, as a consumer, is the preferable way of doing it than the Stuff [as opposed to expansion] Packs of the Sims and the Sims 2 - Buy what you want, ignore what you don't. If the expansion packs come with free points for the store (which, if EA are intelligent as far as customer satisfaction is concerned they will, though, cynicism on this front is understandable) all the better.

I'm also pretty sure there will be enough for people like me to not need to spend anything other than the 1k free points that come with the game.

Now, if there are content packs as well as the micropayment system, yeah, then I'll be annoyed, but as far as I can tell, the micropayment system is a better way of distributing non-free, non-expansion content than content packs.

(Now, if you can show evidence that items have been cut from the main game to pad out the store, yeah, then being peeved is a fair reaction)

JP said...

How about the fact that they have items in the store before the game is even released?

At best now I will be waiting till after release to see what is in the game before contemplating buying it, along with the state the game itself is in (I have had enough after essentially beta-testing the Sims 2 after its release and then every expansion pack after that, they should not release things with the repeatable bugs that should only show up in a beta version of the game), unfortunately the more things I hear the more I despair. That's all I have to say really, preorder is off and looking out for other games now. Well done EA, well done...

Unknown said...

According to people who have the game already there's practically no furniture in buy mode. Now we know why. Jesus, how much can one company take the p*ss? That's like Behtesda releasing Fallout and then selling you the main quest piece by piece. I was going to buy this game, not now. I'll stick to the far superior (according to those who have Sims 3 already) Sims 2.

Unknown said...

Oh come on!!! I'm paying for the Collector's edition and they want me to spend more??? And I bet it's again only for US/Canada, so I'm in Europe! Does it make me worse than other people? Seriously, if these are available anywhere for free - I'm downloading! Without the slightest sense of shame.

Anonymous said...

This Sucks! I love this game but I am not made of money.. I would LOVE to have all of these items but unfortuanly I'm not a little rich spoiled brat, so once again typical EA give the rich everything while those of us not well money stocked loose out.

Anonymous said...

I am thoroughly underwhelmed. I already knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wouldn't be getting The Sims 3, but this? This just cements it. Congrats on alienating your fan base, EA. :D

Dr Robert Willis, Phd said...

I'm not spending one red cent in that store. My Sims will all be good communists who shun these decadent capitalist luxuries from EA's black market.

Joking aside, this kind of naked profiteering is beyond irritating. Hopefully there will be ways of getting these points apart from just spending money -- maybe as a reward for generating content using the in-game tools.

Unknown said...

Yeah, not going to be buying any points to spend in there most likely either.

(Using the free 1k, though, and hoping they give free points in any of the inevitable expansion packs I happen to get [...Considering I got a single expansion to Sims and Sims 2 between them, that doesn't seem too likely actually])

It just seems preferably, as a consumer, that this content is delivered in this way than the £10 'content packs' or 'stuff packs' or whatever they were called like it was in The Sims and The Sims 2 (and I didn't buy them neither)

Skyline said...

Wow, thank's for all the wonderful (if negative) comments! I appreciate you all stopping bye, and hope to see you back in the future!

Unknown said...

currently downloading the sims 3..yes downloading it, if the game dont suck ass i will prolly buy it, this could be retty cool if they are just going to release downloads instead of expansions...having 60 cd's for the same game sucks...

might also keep people from downloading the entire game collection for free also. wich i think is another good thing even being i always download first then buy later..a person who is doing it with the idea of smart shopping in mind should not need any more than the base game to tell weather or not its worth the $$

Miss Ogyny said...

I think it's important to remember that The Sims 2 shipped with few objects as well. It took many EPs and SPs to get to the level of items we would want. As someone who has seen the game in action, I don't feel the lack of items detract from the game at all. Just trying to figure out how to work around no thinking cap or energizing machine was new to me. These packs are optional, if you don't want to buy them you don't have to. I wont be.

Unknown said...

While I'm not motivated to buy any of this stuff, EA and Maxis have a right--perhaps a duty--to make as much money as they can. I don't begrudge them for it and I think it's really awful that so many people think they are "owed" something by these companies. As others have said, if you don't want to pay for it, don't bother.

The great thing about the Sims 3 is that the pattern coloring will allow all sorts of great color combos to be made. While I like different shapes too, I'm more concerned about having rooms that match. In my TS2 games, I rarely used a lot of EP objects anyway, but that's just me.

Besides, while Maxis is no help when it comes to letting the fan community crack the game open (likely for legal reasons) you KNOW that others are going to figure out how to add meshes to the game on their own. And I won't begrudge any of those people if they sell their wares or ask for donations either. It's called capitalism. Deal.

Anonymous said...

I do not like to be nickel and dimed to death, as most reasonable consumers can relate. I've been playing The Sims since the first game was released, and was initially nonplussed by the stream of expansions that followed. However, I chalked that up to game improvements. After the 2nd EP for TS1, I liked them, because they kept the game fresh.

Again, when they started selling stuff packs for TS2, I was annoyed at first. However, furniture and clothes are fairly redundant and don't typically have unique functionality you get with game-altering mechanics in expansions. It also allowed them to pimp out other franchises (Ikea, H&M) for extra profit. It's a sound business decision, as long as they don't over charge.

On the flip side, I've always been against the methods used for downloadable content. Not just for the EA store, but Xbox Live as well. When you have to buy points to make purchases, it creates a psychological disconnect from the real cost. In the end, they can charge more per item, and people who don't do the math get the shaft. It's despicable.

If they charged fair prices for this DLC, I would actually find it a preferred method of purchase over stuff packs. There were a lot of items in EPs or SPs that I never wanted or used. If you gave me the option to not download them, I'd be happier. What they should be doing is finding an average cost per item based on what they sold the stuff packs for. If you wanted to buy everything, you should not be spending 5 times as much! That's highway robbery!

Clyde said...

Well, who didn't see this coming? I've been preaching about this since doing the math on The Sims 2 store and finding out one set such as Asian Fusion would run you $92.

But this is bad form. First they want you to buy the base game, and now you get the joy of paying to put stuff in it right from the start. Granted, Sims 2 base game didn't have a lot but from what I'm hearing Sims 3 is almost devoid of extra content.

It also appears that to force you to buy in the store that Maxis is trying to shut out the custom content community. Well, my Sims days may have just ended.

Anonymous said...

I am not worried about it now because I know that after a few months the modders will have much better quality items for less. I don't mind paying if the items are Sa-weet!

Maxis items compared to player created content are like Disney World Pleasure Island compared to Universal Studios Citywalk!

The first is so P.C. and vanilla that there is very little you can enjoy. (I say this knowing vanilla is my favorite ice cream)

Anonymous said...

OMFG so they are virtually charging PER ITEM for furniture etc.. these guys have no shame whatsoever. If this doesn't convince people that EA are out to rip them off of every last dime they have, nothing will. If people are stupid enough to buy into this EA con, then they deserve to be ripped off.

Greedy mofos. If you happen across one of these sub-human EA scum, give them an extremely hard kick in the balls from me.

Anonymous said...

..and I can't believe some of the MORONS who commented here actually making excuses for EA ripping them off blind!! WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU???

oh, you're being paid minimum wage by EA to write that crap.. I see.

Rebekah said...

I sure hope this game tanks because this is just the beginning. I'm boycotting the game (I have been for a while).

Anonymous said...

i'm just going to download these furniture packs when they're leaked too, even though i will be purchasing the game. technically i'm just getting what i paid for.

Anonymous said...

I'm only excusing EA in that they have every right to provide additional content for an additional price. However, I do not feel they are doing so at a fair price. I haven't played the TS3 base game to make a good judgment on that, but if it's as stripped down as we're getting reports of, the MSRP of the base game should be at a reduced amount to reflect that. I do agree it's insulting to be buying the base game the same day additional content is made available download. But if all prices were fair, I wouldn't mind as much, because I wouldn't mind picking and choosing what furniture I have in my game and paying less for it.

Chrissy said...

Damn you EA!

This is completely stupid, i hate The Sims 2 Store and i absolutely despise this!
Have they forgotten the younger people who play the game or people in other countries?!
I don't have a credit card and i refuse to sign up to one of those other whacked up sites that you pay online stuff through. I also live in another country so what is $10 American is sometimes up to $20 of my countries money. Not cool.
I put up with expansion packs and stuff packs but i will not tolerate stupid pay site rubbish.
So like many others i'll wait till it's leaked for free thank-you-very-much.

Beryl Kruger said...

It all sounds a bit too expensive. I am South African, and currently our exchange rate to the dollar is about R 8.50 - R 10.00. I am barely going to have enough money to buy the game as it is. Lets hope that the amount of content is not too little.

Patricia said...

Sigh. So predictable. When EA opened the store for the sims 2 and news leaked the new sims 3 base game didn't allow modded content (true modded content, that is), I knew this was going to happen.

It's understandable EA wants to make money. They're a company after all. Bills to pay, employees to keep happy, etc, etc. But what is honestly up with this? Lets do some math, shall we?

The Sims 3 base game will sell for 50 dollars. In the US anyway, but lets use that for an average. Estimations by EA and others say that it's likely to sell 30 million copies in the first few months. 30.000.000 * 50 = 1.500.000.000 . A whopping 1.5 billion dollars, just from the base game. Now, lets assume the sims development team has gaps in their hands and sprinkle money around like crazy, even developing a game like the sims 3 shouldn't cost more 200 mil. And that's already WAY above what it probably costed, looking at the development costs for other games. Add another 300 mil just for the sake of being sure I'm not underestimating and including advertisements, making the actual dvd's and whatsnot... that's still 1 billion profit - in the first few months alone, the base game alone! And yes, you should keep in mind, sims 2 sold 100 million copies of the base game since it was released. Add all the profit from the expansion packs which are bound to be made, and EA should be one very happy camper club.

But clearly, they prefer being greedy over being happy with already frickin awesome pure profits. So, they decreased the number of items shipping with the base game, blocked out the modding community, and are now selling the cut-out items, pricing them - on average - even higher than even the stuff packs they put up for sale previously.

People don't mind spending money on stuff they like. But when companies earn billions and they still make every effort to find and implement bastardly ways of making more, you know something is seriously wrong. EA's too greedy. It's a fact.

When I heard the sims 3 would ship without DRM, I did a backflip, unboycotted the game and got all happy and excited, determined to buy on release.
*middlefinger up*
No way buddy. You've just been boycotted again. Hello piratebay, here I come!

don said...

this is so unfair! First of all, they would sell the game expensive then we don't even get it full. They shouldn't add this bullsh*t feature. Boo!

Unknown said...

More 'actually understanding the legally defined purpose of shareholder owned corporations according to US law' than 'being on EA's payroll' (Understanding is not, incidentally, agreeing with, but the relevent ruling as far as US law is concerned is still, as far as I'm aware, the 1920s Ford ruling). Well, combined with prefering this concept to the stuff pack concept of Sims 2. Plus not seeing any evidence that this content would have been in the game if they weren't selling it seperately.

Why do I prefer this method of distribution of this sort of content to stuff packs? Well, aside from the 'I can pick which items I want and don't want' (or would be able to if I had any intention of actually purchasing), it means that physical retailers aren't going to be using up space for a type of disk I have no intention of buying, which means that there will be more shelf space for games I might want.

don said...

oh yeah, I'm sure that a person or two who own/s the game will somehow duplicate it and upload it into their website/s for free. :D

Miss Sim said...

Ripoff. Already covered the Sims 2 store vs stuff pack prices here:
http://sims3standard.blogspot.com/2009/03/sims-3-prices.html

gethane said...

I think we should all realize who we have to blame for this: Sim 2 paysite owners and the sheeple who paid for the content from them. If you are a TSR subscriber, you helped make this happen. I'm not trying to be a total b*tch but EA is trying this because they've already seen that sims players WILL stand for being nickel and dimed to death. They saw other people making money on their game and decided to try it for themselves.

Anonymous said...

wow. Thats all i can say. What makes me even more angry is that there will be tons of people who go on the site and buy everything. Then EA is going to think they're awesome.

Ana said...

Not that I'll be getting anything from the store, but... I wonder if EA, being a for-profit business, has to do things like this in order to make up for potential income that was lost due to pirates illegally downloading and sharing the game in torrents... And some people still have the nerve to say they downloaded or will download the game for free and blame EA for being a Capitalist business.

Unknown said...

They are not losing anything due to piracy. They just don't earn some additional cash, but they don't lose. And I will never believe that the best selling game is not bringing enough profit.

Unknown said...

There's no actual evidence to suggest that piracy reduces profit margins, for the most part, as far as I'm aware. (Though as far as I'm aware there is evidence that suggests that draconic anti-piracy measures drive people to piracy)

Jadzi said...

Ridiculous. First the DRM/securom scare (and the verdict is /still/ out on that, despite the recent EA announcements), and now this? They will not be getting my extra money

desires said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
desires said...

Fuc* that EA. First it was last minute decison that the game would not be release, but people were waiting hummm how inconsiderate. FIRST STRIKE. Then you make us wait FOUR F%@#!$* MONTHS to trying to build up HOTTNESS for us to buy the damn game. STRIKE TWO. Now you got the nerve to say pull out a CREDIT CARD to put items in the game. B!#@* the items should be there. MotherF%@*%! give me your GOLDEN CREDIT CARD or maybe if I sit on one of you old a$$ b@st@rds laps you will just give it to me for good and I will think about buying the game! B!#@* do you not realize we in a damn recession. STRIKE THREE. What goes around comes around you GREEDY A$$ B@$T@RDS.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely ridiculous pricing. I don't mind the store idea too much (although if they strip enough from the game and add more priced content right off the bat of the release, it's irritating), but the prices are insane. $20 for a furniture set? The game is $50 and they want a fraction of that for furniture. And the stuff packs were cheaper than this. All I can say is I'm only gonna save the $10 worth of free points for something really good, but just download free custom content from others. BOYCOTT THE ONLINE STORE!

Anonymous said...

i have played the game and it does lack "styles" of furniture...there are about 4-6 diff styles of couches beds tables etc...nothing amazing. the only amazing part is getting to customize them..in the game play i used alot of overlapping to make somewhat custom objects.

Admin said...

omg i learnt my lesson with Spore, how shit was that.
i have not pre ordered for Sims because of how crap Spore was... and boy am I grateful.
EA always ALWAYS shafts its customers.
well EA I am not going to buy your game ,you just lost a customer!

Admin said...

I hope to see a competitor for the sims 3. that would be great. i am sure someone else could make a nicer cheaper more ethical game.

Unknown said...

@Clawsy, well I think there's a FreeCiv/FreeCol style FreeSim in extreem pre-release somewhere...

Unknown said...

They didn't even make new meshes... They reused meshes from TS2. Greedy a**holes!

Unknown said...

This is so messed up, really make me not want to buy it now. And I thought that they finally cared about the sims users for once.. guess I was wrong. This is a total turn off. Really considering dropping my pre-order. :(

Sucks!

Anonymous said...

Patricia;

You sound exactly like the person who did the math when they increased the monthly fee for UO from 10 dollars to 12 dollars.

And exactly like that person, you will be utterly ignored and 10 years from now EA will still be doing crap like this until people learn not to buy from them anymore.

I mean, it seems like people might stop after all this, but ...

Anonymous said...

im already spending $2000 dollars on a new computer so i can play TS3 do they really think i'm going to start buying this stuff?!??!!?

Anonymous said...

I thought EA was only screwing over NFL Football Video Game fans (with their exclusive licenses that basically eliminated other development companies that made football video games) and their half-ass upgrades every year. The Madden series is basically the same game every year, but boy do they poor a lot of money into advertising, as Madden commercials come on non stop during the early part of the new NFL Football season.

EA is a parasite to gamers. They're in it for cut throat immediate profits and their suites would sell their mothers for profit.

CSL said...

The popularity of the Sims games would have waned and Sims2 and 3 would never have existed had it not been for custom content. Maxis made items were too kitschy, boring and over-themed to hold the gamers attention for long. They've missed that point entirely.
Sims 1 is still alive and kicking because CC is still being created for it, not because EA generated expansion packs,stuff packs or sets are available...they're not. And those of us who still play and create for it don't care.

Unknown said...

i hate these pay sites. when the first one came up for ts2 i thought it was stupid that people would pay money for that crap! the only time i paid for the sims items was when i bought the ep or sp but even then i didnt buy some of them (H&M,Ikea,kitchen&bathroom to name a few) i just downloaded mine from free websites which were a lot more interesting than EA made ones And looking at the game i saw a movie of gameplay on IGN.com (I think) and it looked a lot like ts2 just that theres no loading time not to forget that you cant go into community lots (shops and probibaly the cinima 2) which i hate i am deffenetly not gona buy it. If i want something to be "Realistic" then ill just go outside (Y) saves me a good £30 ¬¬

Luk3 said...

For those saying this is "okay" what EA is doing: You're wrong.

I agree EA and Maxis are a business and the primary goal of any business is to turn a profit. Greed and selfishness truly does make the world go round. Why doesn't Communism work? Why isn't Obama's Socialist America going to work? People need a reason. If they can sit at home and receive a welfare check why bother going to school to become a doctor to save someone's life some day? Why bother developing a game if you aren't going to see a nice monetary return?

With the freedom and right to greed also comes the free market and consumers. It is unacceptable for a company to abuse their consumer base and drain them of all they have. Personally, I feel $50 for a video game, or $60 for a CE, is fair. But more than that, no. Truth be told, these items are being withheld from the game to simply drain us.

The Sims 3 feels so, so incomplete to the Sims 2. True we have EPs and a wealth of content from the user community but the Sims 2, or the Sims, didn't launch with an immediate Add-On. Those add-ons came over time after the initial success of the game and consumer demand. This is not only a bad business move as it will farther isolate their consumer base (Not the best move considering EA's opinion among gamers) but for consumers it's unfair and should be unacceptable.

As someone else mentioned, the EA items are crap anyway in comparison to CC. In The Sims 3, for instance, guess where the fire alarm goes... On the middle of the wall. It looks stupid. Has anyone EVER seen a fire alarm on the middle of a wall in someone's house? I never had. The alarm is either on the ceiling or the top of the wall. Custom Content will have to fix this.

Nonetheless, I feel EA is the greatest threat to the video game industry and I do not like these "pay as you go" models. I like the base game and I like EPs that enhance the base game. I've never bought Stuff packs as I feel it's a waste of money and the Maxis items do look very sterile.

Also, for those who weren't aware, weather changing effects was in the Sims 2 at launch but disabled so they could cash in on an artificial EP. Weather changing should be ingame from launch in both S2 and 3 but isn't so EA can farther line their pockets. Withholding content from a game without any price break is absolutely unacceptable.

Anyone who accepts these unfair business practices as normal needs to reevaluate their personal worth as I can't imagine anyone of such having much confidence in themselves or their life. Very, very sad.

Anonymous said...

If they stamped the boxes honestly with a phrase like, "furniture sold separately" like toy companies do when you buy an item that sells parts individually it would be different.

Yes, EA needs to make money, but they also need to honestly package the game. How many times have we been upset the cover of a game turned out to be an artist rendition (Nightlife cover hair) and not actual game items? This is deceptive.

I'm not buying the Sims 3, and this is just another reason. What happens when the game hits the proverbial fan and needs to be reloaded? What happens when my I get a new PC, and I have to rebuy all that content? No way.

If I could pick what items I wanted and have EA put it to disk like a custom SP that would be better, but this again would hinge on their honestly telling me my base game would have next to no stuff.

Unknown said...

In the case of upgrade/crash, seeing as the purchases are via an account, I presume the purchases from the online store. Like XBLA and e23 do. (At least, if EA are competent which on the 'selling stuff' front they tend to be)

As for needing a 'furniture sold seperately' disclaimer, seeing as leaked information indicates about the same amount of items in game as in Sims 2, I don't see why. (although the lack of hot tubs is somewhat surprising, but who actually used hot tubs in Sims and Sims 2 anyway?)

Adipose Regina said...

So, will the base game be cheaper because of this? I mean, if it's shipping with minimal content because they are hoping to make their fortune through these "micropayments," it stands to reason that the base game price would reflect this.

Or, not. EA has never been big on the fairness thing. "Less product, same price" almost appears to be a motto. I don't think I can cancel my pre-order, so I'll get the base game. But I won't be buying any of the online items and I doubt that I will bother with expansions. I'm tired of being treated like a cash cow. It really does kill my enthusiasm for the game.

Unknown said...

As far as anyone can tell, some people just wound up with a duff copy with only slight furnishings - There seem to be about as many items in the base game as there were in Sims 2. (So, there seems to be 15 coaches in the base game, not the 4 reported in some places, for example)

Unknown said...

My attitude is, who cares about the store. Eaxis content is often tasteless anyway. Lets just wait for the independent creators out there to do their thing. Hopefully that will still be unregulated.

Unknown said...

Remember people, there's just one EASY way to avoid these kinda things :

DO NOT BUY ANY OF THIS AT ALL !

Nancy said...

Those saying that the custom content people will just make better stuff that EAxis, you better get a reality check! Certain people have had a looksee at the coding of the Sims 3 and apparently it's encrypted so that making CC is near impossible. Sad state of affairs is that EA don't *want* us to make our own custom content, because that means we're not paying them for their substandard crap!

Kyari said...

Pretty smart, really. No more expensive than the furniture packs. No one's forcing you to buy them, but the casual Sims players will eat it up.

elphill said...

I have actually been looking at various site on the Sims3. Seeing the videos, seeing the commercials. This is the way I have always wanted to play the Sims. I got real excited. Now I am not so excited after reading the comments here.

The one thing I liked about Sims was the custom content created by the community. If there will be no way to have CC. I don't believe this game will be for me.

After being excited the past few days about the game I have decided against buying the game unless something changes.

Custom content made the game cool. There are very few items that came with the game in Sims 2 that I use. I don't care how many color options EA gives us the stuff they give us is crap compared to what a lot of the talented people in the Sims community can make.

Amber said...

ok this is bullcrap!!!! maybe if the objects were .25 cents or something per object would be reasonable.. but 20 dollars?!?!?! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is the most screwed up thing ive ever heard in the world of games. Ive been waiting on this release for the longest time, which im sure a lot of people have. And I might download TS3 and if I like it I MIGHT buy it. screw u EA. think of the consumer and not yourself. oh, and your welcome buying all the games and expansion packs. jerks..

Unknown said...

...According to the IGN preview of the store, some objects will be $0.25. (The $20 purchase is a set)

Shaitan said...

Are there going to be individual items or just sets?
Isn't EA's "official" reason for the store that you can pick and choose instead of buying entire expansion/stuff packs?

Meh, either way EA is a horrible money grubbing corporate monster.

Unknown said...

Apparently there'll be sets as well as individual items, it's the sets that are costing the "...You know, once you get to this sort of amount it's not really a micropayment anymore..." based on this blog and the IGN store preview. (though I think the items in the set are purchasable outside of it and you save by buying the set compared to individual prices)

And, yeah, EA is a moneygrubbing corporate monster but it's not as if US law leaves them much choice on that.

Shadesiren said...

The sims has had a "store" for ages. People are getting all bent out of shape about it, but it's not like it's NEW. And they don't even know how many items they're going to get with the game (until you get it, don't bitch about how "few" items you're getting cuz until you get it, you DO NOT know). And I love how they are COMPELTELY ignoring all the free content we'll be getting from each other, as it's been VERY clear that they are encouraging us to make our own stuff and give it to each other. The Sims 3 is made by a BUSINESS, and you're surprised they're charging for they're own content? Grow up. I may not want to part with my hard earned cash for more junk, and guess what, I won't be - I'll be getting tons of free stuff from my fellow players.

Unknown said...

the only "free content" is the things in the game just with a different colour on it and people already have the game...and people are surprised because theyer charging to much for it and that most of the things are from the sims 2. Dont ya just love thoes people who are so confident about the game (Y)

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable.

So they give us a plethora of furniture from the sims 2 with the game and then charge for extras as if it were a Stuff Pack!? This is low, really, really low.

I have the game on preorder. I'm second-guessing that decision now. Is what is included with the game even worth 50 bucks? I just... words cannot explain my loathing for whatever corporate bigwigs decided to do this one.

Anonymous said...

I was actually going to preorder the game, but when i found this out, i just downloaded a leaked final version. I wont be getting gypt by them, but they will by me!

Bishop Black said...

I fail to understand why so many people think they're owed something.

Don't like the prices? Don't buy game or the items.

Nobody is obligated to play this bloody thing, are they?

Sheesh.

T.J. Streak said...

Whine! Whine! Whine!

It seems like there are a lot of people who want a lot of something for a lot of nothing.

Folks, this is a business for EA. They are doing it to make money.

Quite frankly, the people creating this content have a right to make a living, too. If they produce a game and content which is fun to play, they are entitled to be paid well for it.

If you look at the time one actually spends with the game, it is a bargain. Think how much it costs to go to a movie, an amusement park, spend a day skiing, a day on the golf course -- and this is pretty damn inexpensive entertainment.

Now, there are those who will produce pretty good content for free, because it is a hobby for them, and they are not trying to make a living off of it. All power to them.

But I do not begrudge someone who produces something (unlike many in our economy) wanting to be paid for their time and trouble. I mean, how many here are volunteering to go to work everyday -- without being paid.

Grow up!

Unknown said...

I wouldn't mind if they let you just buy everything in a stuff pack for like $2o but it seems sort of ridiculous to expect us to pay the $60 necessary for the 3 setts when they have just released the game. Plus, if you look at their store there are a lot of different hairstyles and outfits that won't be in the game either. Even if it was less expensive I wouldn't be allowed to get it since my mom doesn't like to use credit cards on the computer.

Unknown said...

Eh, this is pretty lame..but FEAR NOT PEOPLE! There is still the wonderful thing of free downloads!

Not everyone in the world is heartless, and there are a number of sim designers out there willing to share their work for free. I know I have had so much fun downloading wonderful things like that.

Sari said...

The only thing that really annoys me is the fact that the store is only for US residents. So what about all the European and Asian simmers? Are we not as valuable customers to EA as the Americans? I would imagine that quite a lot of the games are purchased outside the US. So it's not a very good business that EA is running when their only interested in one country. They should be ripping off the entire world!

Also the prices are ridiculous. If it was about the same as it is for a whole stuff pack then it would be ok. But don't get me wrong: if someone wants to buy the items with these prices then that's fine by me. I prefer to spend my hard-earned salary for something better.

I will not buy stuff from the store anyway, I'm not even sure if I'll buy TS3 so I'm not that bothered with this.

Tian-san said...

Geez EA, do you really HAVE to charge that high for something like THAT? What a waste of money.
It's another campaign to make money, but I'm not buying it.

Unknown said...

looks like EA has sat and watched TSR make mucho money off their game and have decided hey this is something we can do. Frankly I think it sucks that they will be charging their Loyal always there fan base for a few extra goodies especially since you KNOW they actually left these out of the game which is sorry a bit lacking in furniture because of it. i am all for businesses making money i am Not for them making it while they constantly give their customer base who has proven to be a loyal one shoddy games and poor service and restrict their fans from making posts that are in fact honest and address real issues. For instance How can I support and buy these game card when this company supports a site like TSR who is known for violating their Paying customers privacy? Since EA will not address or even allow it to be addressed i can only guess that they support this blatant lack of respect for their customers privacy. Frankly as a parent if i had a child playing this game i would be VERY worried that their info was being handed out to other site owners i do NOT wish my childs name and address etc to be passed around. Since EA is so supportive of TSR on the TS2 forum what can we expect from them now they already have TSR at every game preview and they already cut short and delete and BAN any member discussing this issue So they are obviously supporting the actions of TSR. Can I really TRUST EA with my or my child's info? Will they start sharing too? As they say birds of a feather and all that.

Xover88 said...

Their marketing strategy only works in games like in MMORPG games but not in single player games! xD
So dumb...
But, it doesn't matter, someday somebody is going to make a package of entire store contents anyways lol
For EA, this is epic FAIL.

Candy E said...

This is what you get when you tell the company (by buying their games) that you are fine bending over for them. When Sims3 was announced a lot of people were saying that they would never buy another Sims game from them, because of all the underhanded actions from Sims2. Some of these same people of course DID buy Sims3. Evidently it doesn't bother them as much as they whined about. So it basically comes down to this... Don't want to be constantly screwed? Stand up to them and don't encourage them by buying the games....or bend over, smile, and enjoy the ride.

Unknown said...

Ok first off i NEVER and i mean NEVER coment on blogs but ill make an exception for this.

I LOVE the games EA comes out with but when i had to REBUY my game cause i wanted to download it again after 6 months that fliped the switch...

now JUST BECAUSE OF THAT and the cheap ass F&&KS they are im torrenting EVERY game i have of theres and i seed it untill my hard drive blows up

yes i know its iligal but F**K that i am doing everything in my power to castrate EA and deep fry there B*LLS in hot cooking oil

i used to love EA and praise them but because of this i am doing everything in my power to screw them over BIG TIME

if anyone else likes that idea first get an IP scrambler then use uTorrent cause i just cant wait untill they go bankrupt XD