The Sims 3 is coming to console in Spring of 2010!  Check out the new features coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS.

The Sims 3 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

Create Sims with unique personalities, fulfill their desires, and control their lives within a living neighbourhood. Unlock all-new Karma Powers and unleash them on your Sims: help your Sim "get lucky," bless them with "instant beauty" or curse them with an "epic fail." But use these powers wisely, because they may have unexpected results!  Design and build your Sims' dream home and share your creations with others. As you guide your Sims through life you can complete challenges to unlock additional items, town upgrades, and new buildings and landmarks. For the first time ever, upload and download content on XBLA and PSN, including furnishings, houses, player creations, and more!

 FEATURES

• Create any Sim you can imagine and give them unique personalities! Fine-tune your Sims' appearances and create millions of different personalities. Make them evil, romantic, paranoid, kleptomaniacs, or a mix of something completely different.
• Build and Customize! Build the ultimate home for your Sims, improve your town with building upgrades, and more.
• Unlock all-new Karma Powers. Wield the ultimate control over your Sims, giving them wealth, beauty, and love-or take it all away with the click of a button.
• Control your Sims' destinies. Choose whether or not to fulfill your Sims' destinies by making their wishes come true-or letting their dreams die. Will your Sims be rock stars, world leaders, or expert thieves? It's up to you.
• Build and share online! Connect through XBLA and PSN to share your creations and download content from other players around the world.
• Complete Challenges to earn rewards. Face short and long term challenges and reap rewards and trophies. Connect with Facebook and share your achievements with your friends.

The Sims 3 for Nintendo Wii

Create Sims with unique personalities, fulfill their desires, and control their lives within a living neighbourhood that you can customize, including designing the ultimate beach getaway. Unlock all-new Karma Powers and unleash them on your Sims: help your Sim get lucky with the power of "love connector", bless them with the power of "age defier" or curse them with an "alien abduction."  Use these powers wisely, because they may have unexpected results!  As you guide your Sims through life, you can complete challenges to unlock additional items, new buildings and landmarks. For the first time ever, share the fun with a friend in the co-op buddy mode or take on up to three friends in the Life Moments Game.

 FEATURES

• Create any Sim you can imagine and give them unique personalities! Fine-tune your Sims' appearances and personalities. Make them evil, romantic, paranoid, kleptomaniacs, or a mix of something completely different.
• Control your Sims' destinies. Choose whether or not to fulfill your Sims' destinies by making their wishes come true-or letting their dreams die. Will your Sims be rock stars, world leaders, or expert thieves? It's up to you.
• Unlock all-new Karma Powers. Wield the ultimate power over your Sims, controlling weather, the Grim Reaper and more!
• Play The Sims with friends! Get a friend in on the action in the all-new co-op mode. A second player can join the fun as a gnome who can help-or hinder-your Sims. You can also play the new Life Moments Game with up to four players. Bet on life's most important moments to earn points and garner rewards.
• New Content! Enjoy an all new beach town with new residents, traits, careers, weather, and lifetime wishes exclusive for the Wii.

The Sims 3 for Nintendo DS

For the first time ever, enjoy a complete life simulation experience on handheld! Create Sims with unique personalities, fulfill their desires, and control their lives within a living neighborhood. Unlock all-new Karma Powers and unleash them on your Sims: help your Sims get lucky with the power of "rapid romance", bless them with "instant beauty" or curse them with the "enemy inventor". Use these powers wisely, because they may have unexpected results! As you guide your Sims through life you can complete opportunities to unlock additional items and town upgrades. Experience the ultimate handheld life simulator! 

 FEATURES

• First Complete Life Sim on the NDS! Create any Sim you can imagine and control their lives. Control multiple Sims within your family and enjoy life's special moments as you interact with their world.
• Create Sims and give them unique personalities! Use your stylus to sculpt your Sims' facial features. Choose their hair styles and clothing and dictate their personalities. Make them evil, romantic, paranoid, neurotic, or a mix of something completely different.
• Control your Sims' destinies. Choose whether or not to fulfill your Sims' destinies by making their wishes come true-or letting their dreams die. Will your Sims be emperors of evil, world leaders, or expert thieves? It's up to you.
• Customize your Sims world! For the first time ever on DS, build your Sims home with tools to draw walls and floors, and customize with décor objects, textures, and more.
• Unlock all-new Karma Powers. Wield the ultimate control over your Sims giving them wealth, beauty, and love-or take it all away with the click of a button.

Anybody Can Be a Hero … or Something Along Those Lines

Perhaps I’m speaking for myself only, but I cannot imagine a child who doesn’t want to be a hero when they grow up. We often start at the comic level of capes and super powers, but it isn’t long before we see the common everyday heroes around us – firefighters, emergency doctors, or detectives.

When brainstorming for The Sims 3 Ambitions we had plenty of ideas, but our hearts and minds kept coming back to that fantasy of heroism

No Blaze Too Big

Firefighting was the first career we settled on for The Sims 3 Ambitions. It was such a huge challenge and natural fit for our neighborhoods that there was little discussion on the “why,” though this didn’t solve the issues of the “how.” Fires have always been more of a nuisance in our games, so it was clear from the start that we wanted them to be big, dangerous, frantic—and fun!

Firefighting is a profession of careful preparation, leading to smart, tactical snap decisions at the scene of the emergency. Firefighters can prepare at the fire station by maintaining their equipment, like the new fire engine vehicle. Athleticism will also greatly aid your firefightersa fit firefighter can do some damage when fighting a blaze! Finally, handiness goes a long way towards gaining the upper hand in a fire. Handy Sims can upgrade the fire engine, fire alarms at the station, and even their personal fire extinguisher.

However, the time for patience and tinkering is gone the second the alarm rings. Conversations end, forks are put down, and it’s on! As your Sim races to the scene of the emergency, it’s important to think about the type of emergency—it can be a small fire, gnome invasion, massive inferno, earthquake, or an experiment gone catastrophically wrong at the science lab. To leave a few surprises, but explain the first step, we’ll start with a small fire.

Small fires are often anything but. In fact, the name small is really only useful when used in relation to the huge fires your Sim will encounter later. When my Sim arrives at the scene I like to pause and take in the surroundings. Where are the fires in the victim’s home and where are the most home furnishings in danger? I like to play as a noble, heroic firefighter so I always try to preserve as many personal belongings as possible. If need be I can smash and destroy my way to cut off a fire’s fuel, but I prefer to think of how the victims will feel the morning after.

Once I have an idea of the situation, I queue up the fires in the order I want them extinguished. While the victims are screaming and panicking outside, my firefighting professional goes from flame to flame to alleviate the situation. Phew, that was easy!

A massive inferno may require my Sim to save trapped Sims, break down doors, put out fires from the outside before I can continue, and continue to fight fires once I DO get inside. It can get a little hairy, but honestly, that’s just a part of my firefighter’s job.

The Sketchy Investigator

Grant McSolver is a private investigator that has been hired by countless Sims around town. He knows his way around a case and knows how to get the answers he needs. Unfortunately for the town, there are few things beneath McSolver.
There was the time McSolver was hired to dig up some information so the client could blackmail a rival. While doing the digging (literally, in a trash can), McSolver decided to collect early and do a little blackmail of his own.

On another case, McSolver needed to gain permission from a suspect to dust around the house and snoop for clues. This could have been handled in a civil manner, but McSolver isn’t patient or civil. Instead, he busted out his trusty lock pick kit, broke into the home, obtained the prints, and “borrowed” a television. For evidence, of course.

Stolen cars, missing art, heists conducted by mad scientists, endless stakeouts—all in a day’s work for a private investigator. With a rumpled trench coat and slick hat, your Sims can look the part and be as skeevy, or noble, as you see fit. Few careers have as much unexpected moments or open-ended gameplay as the investigator.

Grant McSolver may be a no-good scumbag who tends to be on the side of the law, but that doesn’t mean that needs to be true for your investigator.

The Doctor … is out?

As with every profession in The Sims 3 Ambitions, we wanted the jobs, experiences, and gameplay moments to be in the neighborhood and outside of the buildings. We really liked the medical career from The Sims 3 but wanted to enhance what was already a solid foundation.

Doctors may now encounter medical emergencies, both common and otherwise, while out and about. Finally, the story that begins with “is there a doctor in the house?” can be told. For example, you might be at the bistro having a romantic meal with a love interest. Suddenly, there’s a commotion and panic – another patron is choking! Your Sim rushes over, runs the diagnosis, and hopefully makes the right call. Not bad for a first date!

Doctors aren’t just about emergencies. Preventative medicine is just as important, which means free health clinics must be set up and inoculations provided. The community’s well-being may very well hinge on your Sim’s performance as a top tier medical professional.

As with the other careers, doctors don’t always need to adhere so strictly to the “right” way of doing things. Companies may provide your Sim with experimental medicines, which can then be sampled by patients. Nothing too bad should happen, plus your Sim will receive a small kick back from the company. Everybody wins, right?

Whether you decide to tell the story of a local hero or manipulative quack is entirely in your hands. The game itself provides some deep, emergent experiences that require you to think quickly and give your Sims the right direction before the worst occurs. Do you think you’re up to the task? More importantly, are your Sims?

Happy Simming!

Grant Rodiek
AKA SimGuruWalrus

Some Sims players never leave the deep architectural shopping catalog that is Buy Mode or the Sim character creation machine of the aptly named Create-A-Sim. We’re completely fine with this, but we couldn’t overlook the opportunity to bring these wildly creative players into Live Mode for The Sims 3 Ambitions.

The Architectural Design and Stylist Careers, as well as Tattoos and the Tattoo Chair will do exactly this. Get ready for a “day in the life” as a Sim in each of these professions!

Architectural Designer Day 10: The Entertainment Room, aka “the Man Cave”
My Sim, Grant Duders, has made a name for himself in the community as an up and coming Architectural Designer. However, he doesn’t have enough clout to land high paying jobs like Home Re-Modeling or Kitchen Re-Designs.  Thankfully, a local sports enthusiast is keen to have THE room for watching athletic events with friends. As a male, Grant Duders understands the macho psyche and feels up to the task.

Before I begin remodeling I have Grant chat with the owner of the home to learn more about his tastes. It turns out my client Loves the Outdoors and is a Snob. This is good information as I can incorporate these traits into my Sim’s design.

With my client’s traits in mind I begin the renovation. This puts me in a variation of Build and Buy Modes called Renovation Mode. In the top left corner of the screen there is a list of requirements set forth by the client. These will always vary so that each job is unique, which makes sense because every client is unique! For this entertainment room my client has requested a new big screen TV, a bar, a comfortable sofa, and a foosball table for entertainment. That sounds easy, but I’m working on a limited budget and there is only so much room in which to fit a foosball table, bar, and big screen TV!

Because my client is a Snob, I know he wants me to spare no expense. I use only the highest quality items, which means I have less money to spend on new flooring and additional decorations. The wall-mounted big screen saves space on the floor, so that actually works in my favor.

Now, a good way to cater to his Loves the Outdoors trait is to buy windows – lots of them. My budget is tight at this point, but I find a few that really open up the space and still maintain a more rugged, manly aesthetic.

Before I exit Renovation Mode I double check to ensure I didn’t clutter the room or place objects in a way that Grant Duders’ client cannot use them. You can always go back and forth between Renovation Mode and Live Mode in case you want to conduct further research on the client or even paint a portrait of them for that special touch.

Grant Duders tells the client the job is done. I’m a little nervous as I watch the client pace around the room to examine my work. Did I pick the right colors? Will he like the couch? Thankfully, the client loves it and Grant Duders receives a great review. He was pleased to see I purchased everything he asked for and also took note of the fact that I put in some windows so he could see the outdoors. Although the client offered my Sim a drink from his new bar, my Sim declined – his mind is focused on work today. Speaking of work, Grant Duders just earned a promotion which means new clients and dozens of potential jobs!

Stylist Day 2: Introducing the Bowl Cut
Stylists wield a pair of scissors that can make someone’s day, or absolutely ruin their week. It’s a lot of responsibility, which is why Katy McMenace was drawn to the career. The local Salon had open Styling Stations and Kay appeared to be a fashionable shoe-in for the position.   But looks can be deceiving.

Poor town!

It’s true that Kay is a bit malicious in her fashion vision, but it doesn’t help at all that this intent is paired with an utter lack of skill. After all, most Sims aren’t born as brilliant stylists. It’s something they must learn and improve with time.

Katy’s first client (or victim?) came in requesting a new hair style as she had lofty dinner plans for the evening. I had Katy briefly converse with the client, after which Katy set to work. Now the game switches to a new, fashion-themed Create-A-Sim. I browsed the options and settled on a short hair that I deemed fetching and playful for a dinner date. Sadly, Katy’s possessed hands ended up creating a horrid perm that was not meant for this world. Perhaps an evil dimension?

Needless to say, that job did not end well and the client left a tinge angry. I say tinge because her hair was literally pulsing with over-perm.

The second day brought a new client. She wanted a complete makeover – hair, outfit, everything. The client recently had a mid-life crisis and desired a new direction.

Enter Katy.

The client seemed a bit stuffy and reserved, as if she didn’t go outside enough to enjoy the fresh air. I selected an exciting and slightly revealing skirt as well as a shirt with a really cool print. Instead of a tight ponytail I selected a new hairstyle with the hair down – no reservations I thought!

But then, I had a realization – Katy isn’t meant to be a Stylist. At least, not a good one. Though she may be fired soon there are plenty of ways to have fun while still employed.

I immediately took a complete design U-Turn and decided the theme of this tragic makeover would be flannel. Flannel skirt, flannel shirt, flannel heels – the works. I also had Katy buzz the poor client’s head.
So what if there won’t be a Day 3? Katy McMenace is going out in style. That doesn’t mean this has to be every Sim’s story. In the same way that Stylists can destroy, they can also create. Clients can enter the salon miserable and exit with an entirely new outlook on their life, a boost to their self-esteem, and a fantastic new style that will really turn heads.

Tattoos as a Work of Art
It wasn’t enough for us to simply allow tattoos in The Sims. Applying a tattoo is a life altering decision as tattoos are more or less permanent. We wanted tattoos to be a work of art.

My Sim, Buzz (just Buzz), has a tattoo chair in the basement of the local Salon. Sims come to him for a tattoo because they know he will create a unique masterpiece every time.

Once Buzz’s client is in the chair I am taken to the Tattoo editor in Create-A-Sim. Within this powerful tool I can select where I want to place the tattoo: Upper, lower, or full back, neck, ankle, chest, stomach, wrist, shoulder, bicep, or forearm.

I can then pick the tattoo I want for Buzz’s client. There are dozens to choose from and I’m able to mix and match any of them on any part of the body with up to five layers. Every layer can have its colors modified in multiple ways, so I can have blue and gold flames or hot pink skulls if that’s what Buzz chooses to use. Sometimes he does!

 I can change the size of individual layers to better mix and match. For example, a gnome should be large, whereas I want the barbwire layer to be a small accent. Finally, I can modify the opacity on the entire set so that it gently blends with the client’s skin, or is a dark, bold statement for all to see.

That’s a lot of choice and power! Thankfully, Buzz is a patient artist and is up to the task. He is able to mix and match with almost no reservations, with the exception of Llama tattoos. Buzz refuses to work with Llamas as inspiration.

Buzz is pretty tough, so I’ll let him have that one. 

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