A Quick Note

As we speak i am uploading all of the TS3 trailers and video reviews i can find to my youtube channel. I'll be posting the video reviews on the main site over the next few hours starting with IGN.

Check out the channel here

Quick Site Update

I've been loaded with Finals over the past week, but i have managed to play a lot of Sims 3. So far i really like most parts of it. The Traits are really neat, and i really enjoy them. Same can be said for the open world. The only main issue i have with the game is that... Well it's going to take a really long time to go anywhere, as the jobs pay next to nothing so far (i've reached level 5).

I will be posting a lot of news tomorrow and Friday hopefully! Oh and if you visit The Simmers Club, you might just be able to nab some free Simpoints ;)

Simmers News Upgrades to 1.4

You may have noticed that i am gearing up the site for TS3. I have added several counters to the site (2 in the side Nav, 1 on top). I have also pinned the TS3 Intro to the top of the page so you can always watch it's awesomeness (i reccomend HQ and full-screen if you aren't reading our awesome posts). We are also going to be changing the look a bit over the next week or so. Just keeping everyone informed as to what's up!

Random: Cornify Us!

I felt like adding a little button under the Simmers News Network that i encourage everyone to check out, the more time you click, the more awesome the blog looks. So why not try it out and get funky?

Site Changes

So, i have made a few changes to the site today. All of these you can find int he release notes, but i find it important to announce these changes for this time. As you may notice i am switching over to a new signature image at the end of each post, most will have a the speech bubble with "Simmers News" on it, but on occasion i might use another, such as the "Feature" bubble under the poll results. Another thing i have done, is i cleaned up the footer to the site, moving the statcounter button onto the side, as it required a block to itself to function correctly, thus i made the footer much smaller, and compact! Finally, i have added a new way to follow Simmers News, and that is via my Twitter. You can click the little button which is now next to the RSS Feed button on the side Nav bar, and bottom Nav Bar. It keeps the same speech bubble theme, and the same background is used so you don't get to confused. I follow many different game journalists, aswell as Sims fansites, and the like, so you can find them, and follow them too! I know the signitures underneath are ugly, but they will go away as new posts show up, so eventually you won't have to look at them!

New Feed Options

We are now introducing a whole new way to get updates from Simmers News, any way you want it. We are now offering 5 News feeds, one for All of our Content, one for just Sims 3 News, one just for Sims 2 News, one which is only for MySims News, and the final feed is for only EA Corporate News. We hope that you can use these on any website you may have running, and we hope you can count on us for up to date info on all your Sims games!

Reminders

Just a reminder to vote in the poll before it closes on friday, so far we have more votes then average, so make sure to vote, and also we hope to see you on the forums, which you can reach by hitting the "Forums" link to the right of this post, and also at the very bottom of the page.

Keep on the lookout for new features on both here, and maybe you will be seeing us on other sites soon, so stay tuned ;)

Will Wright Leaves Maxis

In a rather perplexing piece of news EA today announced that Will Wright has left the studio he founded with Jeff Braun back in 1989. Will Wright has had an internal group in Maxis known as the Stupid Fun Club, which will now become a studio for creating games, movies, TV Shows, and Toys according to the press release. Maxis will continue on the Spore franchise along with any new IPs, while the Sims Division will continue the Sims Franchise. EA will publish all of The Stupid Fun Club's games, just as if he still was at maxis. You can check out the official site here

There are a few articles which i will point you to, first is just an article from kotaku, the 2nd is an interview with IGN's Steve Butts.

Kotaku - Will Wright Leaves EA, Does Something Stupid [Kotaku]
IGN: Will Wright Leaving Maxis [IGN.com]

Forums are Open!

The forums have launched, and you can now access them via "The Simmers News Network" are of the blog on the right Navigation bar, or at the bottom!

The Simmers News Community Forums Launching Soon

I know, i know, i probably shouldn't be launching another section of this site if i can't keep this site up to date, but i promise that over the coming weeks you will see a bunch of new features integrated into Simmers News!

Sorry for the Slow-ness

I would like to appoligze for the lack of updates lately, i've had a lot of school work to do, and when i'm not doing that i'm normally talking with friends or playing on my 360. The Sims has lessened in importance to me as of late, but hopefully i will regain my willingness to play around Sims 3 Launch time which is currently June 2nd. So with that, stay tuned as we catch up with all the news we've missed. For those of you that have left, we hope you come back and enjoy the ride!

Thanks
~Skyline

Simmers News Welcomes 2 New Partners!

We are proud to announce 2 new site Partners in iSims3 and SimsMad.

We hope to bringing in more partners as Simmers News grows larger!

1000 Unique Visitors! Thank You!

I would like to thank everyone who has helped us reach 1000 Unique Visitors! Its a really great feeling to get 1000 views in about 3 months. Hopefully were well on our way to thousands more!

Thanks!
~Skyline, Editor and Chief,
Simmers News

Updates

I'm sorry for the complete lack of updates lately, and i will get caught up starting tomorrow. Ive been in the middle of my exams, so thats why i'm having no time to update the site.

On a side note i just installed Windows 7 on my machine, which so far i dig.

MySims Racing Announced!

Well you can officially race MySims around circuits this summer with MySims Racing!







Press Release:

EA Announces Upcoming Titles From the MySims Franchise
Wednesday January 7, 9:00 am ET

MySims Party and MySims Racing for the Wii and Nintendo DS Set to Release in 2009

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS - News), today announced the next two titles to be released within the MySims™ Franchise. MySims™ Party and MySims™ Racing, available for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, will release in 2009.

“When we created the MySims world, we believed that the MySims characters could be part of a variety of different gaming experiences. We are thrilled to bring MySims Party and MySims Racing to fans and new players alike,” said Tim LeTourneau, Executive in Charge of Production for MySims. “We’ve had great success with MySims, with both the original game and this fall’s MySims Kingdom. Players have really connected with the characters and now we are giving them two completely new and exciting experiences. We believe that MySims Party and MySims Racing, are great ways to couple the creativity and humor players love about the franchise with great multi-player arcade gameplay.”

MySims Party for the Wii

MySims Party turns any gathering into an instant party with 50 mini games to choose from, each hosted by a different MySim. You and your friends have the chance to Stick the Trick in the extreme snowboarding mini game, outrun a robot in Robo Assault or shake your groove thing with DJ Candy during the Go Go Dancing challenge. Each MySim character brings a unique combination of skill to the mission, with differing levels of endurance, speed and luck giving you the option to choose the best MySim for the task. You can play mini games one right after the other, or you and your friends can compete in a themed festival such as food, music or sports that offers multiple mini games.

MySims Party for the Nintendo DS

Take the mini games with you! MySims Party for the Nintendo DS offers 40 mini games to choose from. These games, specific for the DS, offer hours of entertainment. You can dig up dinosaur fossils during Excavate-a-Saurus, join Goth Boy on a first person shooter mission during Haunted Hunted or rock out with Air-Guitar-Star!

MySims Racing for the Wii

Race to the finish line in MySims Racing! Face a variety of tricky MySim opponents on a huge variety of exotic tracks! Take on up to three friends in intense multiplayer racing. During your race, find awesome power-ups such as the heat-seeking jack-o-lantern pumpkin or a bubble dropper that can help you wreck the competition. There are nearly endless customization options so that your car reflects your high-gear personality. You can swap bodies, change paint jobs and add tons of accessories. Not only can you change the look of your car, you can also improve power, acceleration and handling by mixing and matching engines, suspension and tires.

MySims Racing for the Nintendo DS

Take the race with you! MySims Racing for the Nintendo DS allows you and up to three of your friends to race each other using local wireless or Nintendo Wi-Fi.

MySims Party and MySims Racing were developed at The Sims Studio. MySims Party is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, 3+ by PEGI, and has an MSRP of $39.99 for the Wii version and $29.99 for the Nintendo DS. MySims Racing has not yet been rated. For more information please visit www.mysims.com. For assets, please visit www.info.ea.com.

About The Sims Franchise

The Sims franchise celebrates an impressive over 100 million units sold since its launch in February 2000. Now translated into 22 different languages in 60 different countries, The Sims has quickly become a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. For the latest information about The Sims and to check out the hottest creations for The Sims 2 made by our community members, please visit www.thesims2.com. To stay up-to-date on The Sims 3 news and information, check out www.thesims3.com. For information about the MySims franchise, visit www.mysims.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA SPORTS Freestyle^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO, The Sims and MySims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Happy Holidays!

On behalf of everyone here at Simmers News we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! We wish the very best as we move into the New Year, and hope to see you back Soon!

Happy Holidays!
~Skyline, Editor in Chief, Simmers News

P.S. -You can track Santa Here

New Features!

I know, its not often i post about improvements to the site, but today i have added 2 big ones!

First off is the new Shoutbox! yes i have finally added a ways of communication between simmers! Hopefully this will be a feature that stays as long as it is not abused or spammed.

Second is the new scrolling TS3 Screenshots! I will update it every time there is a new screenshot released, obviously we have to do a little promotion so every 4 shots that go by you will see an SN logo.

Normally i would post these in the release notes section at the very bottom of the side-nav bar, but i felt these were cool new features!

500 Unique Visitors!

I want to thank all the people who have visited Simmers News in the past month! All 500 of you! I know this is a very small achievement, compared to other Sims News Sites, but we are well on the way there. Thank you once again, and thanks should go out to the other staff members, Jaws and Bologna who have been doing a fantastic job thus far!

Sponsor Ads!

Want to see your Site featured on Simmers News? Well now you can! Simply send an image or two you would like us to put up (See below for sizes) along with a link to your site, and we'll link back to you! Ads will hopefully change once a month, but depending on how many requests we get, that could change. Simmers News Community Ad-space will ALWAYS be free!

Requirements:
Must be a Simmers News Sponsor (Submit an 88x31) banner and link to your site to simmersnews@gmail.com

Sizes: Send us any of the following size banners:
160x600, 180x600, 600x80, 180x180, or 160x160

A Link to your site is required, along with a reason why we should give you the community ad-space

Happy Thanksgiving!

The staff at Simmers News would like to wish all its viewers a very Happy Thanksgiving! at the same time we would also like to announce a new staff member! Bologna has joined the Simmers News Team to become our new Graphics personnel! Welcome Bologna! You may also occasionally see a post from her to boot! Once again we wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and hope to see you back soon!