The Sims 4: What the $!%# Do You Mean There's No Toddlers??

I haven't talked about The Sims 4 for months because honestly, there hasn't been much to talk about. The Sims Team has been repeating the same "highlights" for months: intuitive facial molding, quick building, and...emotions! With the arrival of E3, fans were certain this meant new news and were full of excitement.

I for one have been playing the game since 2000, the year it first came out, when I was 9 years old. Since then, I've bought every base game, expansion pack, and stuff pack on the day of its release to complete my collection. With all of the latest Sims 4 news, you'd think I'd be jumping up and down ready for September. Instead, every piece of the latest news has been about constant disappointments of what's not in the game or has been removed.

It all started with the custom design color wheel and patterns. I loved this aspect in The Sims 3 but when it was announced that it wouldn't be in The Sims 4, I made my peace with it. It wasn't the *most* important thing to have in the game and in all honesty, it would probably make Create-a-Sim less glitchy.

Next, it was announced that the public spaces will not be able to be edited. This is disappointing as while you can still have community lots and venues, the public spaces are supposedly where all the action occurs. I can't say I was ecstatic when they announced the loading screens between locations either, but again, I decided to believe the game will work better and faster than The Sims 3 for this reason.

Last year, EB World sent subscribers and email referencing the ability to create apartments in The Sims 4. As of June 14th, it was confirmed that apartments will not be in the base game either. Honestly, as much as I'd like apartments, I didn't expect them to be in the base game.

Two of the next announcements made me mad. Last year, The Sims Official Magazine announced the ability for sims to finally buy their clothes. During the latest trend however of nixing ideas, that one got nixed as well. The Sims team also announced the Woohoo skill last year. It sounded hilarious and awesome but alas, has also been removed.

All of these things have added up and dwindled my excitement for the new game. However, none of them compare to yesterday's news. And I'm not talking about the "no pools, no swimwear", which does suck because that's been in the game since the original.

I'm talking about no toddlers. Okay, I get it. In the original sims, toddlers didn't exist either...but that's why The Sims 2 came out. The life stages. Families could finally grow. You could raise your sim from a baby to a toddler, to a child, to a teenager, to an adult. As the most popular reason behind the game, this was of course carried over into The Sims 3. If anything, fans were hoping for more life stages, not less. As a game that's focused on its life-like gameplay, removing a life stage is a huge step back. By the cryptic SimGuru twitter comments, we can only assume they plan to add toddlers in during a future expansion pack just to get more money out of the fans.

"@SimGuruGraham: There's nothing preventing adding additional ages as the game evolves. CASt is a good example of a feature that is not technically feasible to add post launch."

I'd buy the expansion pack for other reasons but I will not buy it for something that should've been in the base game.

The Sims 3: Toddler

Maybe some fans out there don't care. I don't know. But a lot of the community is in an uproar. Some of my favorite gaming moments of the Sims are raising the adorable toddlers. Teaching them to walk, talk, and the adorable father-daughter cuddle photos that cover my Sim's living room wall. I love putting my toddler on the playground ride and my toddler refusing to get off. I love my sim holding her toddler in the water at the beach, while splashing and playing. I love when my toddler's older sibling sits on the ground for a game of peek-a-boo or a hug. And I love when my sim reads to her little toddler on the floor. The amount of cuteness and joy the toddlers bring to the game has actually been incredible. To remove such an important life stage is baffling.

The Sims 3: Toddler and Parent

I would consider myself a long standing fan of the Sims series. However, with this latest toddler news, I'm incredibly angry. This will probably be the first time in my life that I don't get the new game. It feels weird. This game has been a part of my life for so long. Buying it on the day of release has even been a tradition. But that's it. They've announced far too many disappointing things for the game and no toddlers takes the cake.

A tip for EA: Try announcing some good news, instead of just the same news, bad news, or saying "we can't discuss that yet". It might save a few fans...if there are any left.

The Sims 4 Trailer & Gameplay!

The Sims 4 trailer has been released and I really want to share my excitement with someone. It's practically impossible because it seems like the majority of fans online are complaining about the graphics. I guess I'm not a true gamer as this just doesn't matter much to me. To me, these sims look like the sims from The Sims 2 trailer that we never actually saw in game. So, to finally have that is awesome! People think they look too cartoony. I'm curious as to what everyone expected animated people to look like in a computer game? I think they look like Sims still and I'm happy with that.

After watching the walk through, I'm so excited for Sims to finally have emotions! My sims can finally react to the world around them and actually be affected. Yes, we had moodlets before, but all that really affected was whether or not they were unwilling to do things or not. Now they can feel confident or angry or sad or flirty, etc. Judging by the quick mentions in Create a Sim, it sounds like they'll still have customizable personalities too. I didn't see height adjustments which is slightly annoying but there's a lot of other incredible customization available. I'll hold out hope for the height customization until they give us a definite no.

I don't want to get too excited about all of the things I want in the game. To be honest, having started with the original Sims, and then continued to The Sims 2 and 3, I've done the whole: "What?! This is not what I was expecting. Sniffle," game. When the Sims 2 was announced, I was 12 and super excited. When it actually came out, looked nothing like that "New Generation" trailer, I tried it, I was 13 and like "What the heck? I can't do X, Y, and Z." Of course, as I adjusted to the game, I one day decided to pop back in the original Sims disc and realized how much cooler The Sims 2 was. Then in 2009, The Sims 3 came out. I couldn't actually get the game to look good or play properly on my computer so it actually took me about a year to be able to play, thanks to the NRASS No disc mod. By then, I was so excited that it was actually working, that I could care less that it didn't have many of the awesome features of The Sims 2.

Now, it's time for The Sims 4. The only thing I've decided I'll be disappointed about is if I can't get it to work on my computer. NRASS isn't going to be making mods for this one... I think that's actually my biggest disappointment. No certainty that I'll be able to play. But, fingers crossed! Besides that, I'm just excited about what they've decided to do with this version.

The Sims are evolving - whether you choose to enjoy their evolution is up to you.

The Sims, CAS (Create-a-Sim)

The Sims 2, CAS

The Sims 3, CAS

The Sims 4, CAS

The Sims 4 is now available for pre order and releases in 2014.

My CD, The Sims 3, and Tons of TV Talk!

I am super excited to announce that my five song CD "Stepping Stone" will be released on iTunes July 15th! Currently, you can listen to the songs on Soundcloud.com.

My single, which shares the same name as the full CD, "Stepping Stone" is already on iTunes for purchase as the full version and in a ringtone version. A ringtone for "What Went Wrong" will also be available on July 15th!

In anticipation of the release, I will be blogging every Monday between now and the 15th about a different song on the CD. I am very excited and I hope for the day when I hear one of my songs blasting on someone's car radio! Please help support my dream and play my music for your friends!

Now, onto the usual.

I caught up on Mad Men last night and oh boy does it look like we're in for an interesting finale. I have never seen Don Draper looked so unprepared! Every time he's had an affair in the past, he walks around like it doesn't mean anything. He transitions into each role he has during the day, flawlessly. Until now. Sally catching him has really turned the tables and I hope to see this all come out and his world fall apart in tomorrow's finale! Is that mean? By the way, did anyone else love when Pete said to Ken, "any of us would gladly trade places with you." Yeah, right. I'm sure even Pete wouldn't be singing that same song and dance if he was shot in the face. It's crazy how self righteous these characters are. I feel bad for Ken. I'd want out too! I tell you though, Sally has become my favorite character on the show. I've always enjoyed watching her character grow up and develop on the show and I'm wondering if next season is going to have an even stronger focus on her? She's an interesting character, after all, she is the product of a very screwed up father and a very evil mother. I liked how she turned down that guy. Although, I think it was mostly because she wanted to see Glenn and him fight over her. She did seem pretty happy about it! It's weird though. Why did Glenn say she was like a sister to him? They had their first date recently and kissed! It's creepy how these Brandon Walsh type statements just pop up in other shows sometimes.

Hmm, what else? I watched The Bachelorette and thought that talent show was pretty funny. I could have done without the whole Hurricane Sandy date though. That was absolutely depressing and I don't understand why anyone would bring a date on something like that! It sucks that Bryden isn't really feeling it with Des. It sucks even more though that she didn't call him last and that he didn't reject the rose. Can you imagine if he did? That would have been, in ABC preview fashion, "The biggest twist ever!" on "The most exciting season yet!". Especially since then, Zac K would've stayed and then been all sad thinking he was supposed to go home!

For my gaming portion of this blog, I played The Sims 3 some more today and my sims bought a second home. Note to fellow simmers: When you build a home on the water, it will let you place the lot wherever, so be careful that you do actually have it on a nice portion of the sand...otherwise apparently your sims will not be able to get on the lot! I had to learn the hard way and move my sims new beach house to a different lot. Although, it worked out nicely. When I did that, it automatically sold the house, gave my sims back the $69,000, and then a weird glitch caused the new lot with the house to only cost $1,900. So actually simmers, don't take my advice. Learn the hard way like me! It may benefit your sims bank account! I think this new feature however is still not working exactly right because after I bought the house, my game gave me the usual "Error Code 12". I wish I could figure out a way to stop this error from happening! I've tried everything but nothing seems to work. If only EA was designing their games better for us Mac users. Grr.

So that's it for today. I have to go feed Willow dinner and watch more episodes of Party of Five with her. I grew up on the show and now that the seasons are finally being released on DVD quickly, I'm re-watching it! I don't remember much but I do know that Bailey should be getting into a bad drunk driving accident soon with Sarah in the car and that even though Julia currently doesn't want to go to Stamford, I'm pretty sure I remember her going and having a very abusive boyfriend, Ned, who threw a TV at her! Of course, what I'm most excited about is the fact that Tim DeKay, Christopher Gorham, and Maggie Lawson all appear in the upcoming seasons! Yay USA actors! Did anyone else find it weird by the way that Claudia dated a character played by Ryder Strong and then the next season, Ben Savage came on the show as a guy with a crush on her? It was like the invasion of Boy Meets World! Shawn and Cory must've had quite a fight over her. Poor Topanga!

What did you think of Mad Men? Is Don going to finally get what's coming to him? Was that Hurricane Sandy date the most depressing date you've ever seen? Should Bryden have called it a day and took off? What is the worst Sims 3 glitch or error you've ever had? And did you watch Party of Five?

Keep your eyes (and ears) opened for my CD release on July 15th!! Thanks everyone!

Willow cleaning her ears!

My Bunny is a TV Addict!

So I've been trying to be really good about making this a daily thing. Of course, yesterday, it was my hubby's day off from work and my dad's birthday so I had to prioritize!

I don't know if you guys noticed on my last post or not, but the new TV meter I created has a little bunny on the rating system. Of course, if I was truly rating shows by Willow's preference, things would get crazy! Two days ago, Gwith and I sat down to watch our nightly episode of Castle, and I kid you not, the moment we hit play and the TV made a sound, Willow came running into the room and flopped onto the rug all eager to watch. She didn't get up and hop around until the episode was over...and she came back in for the second one.

I think Castle is right up there with Dawson's Creek now. Have I mentioned that her favorite show is Dawson's Creek? She loves James van der Beek. She also loves Dawson & Joey (what can I say, she's not perfect). When Joey got together with Pacey (and I was filled with my usual happiness), she started boycotting the show. She'd only hop in for James van der Beek scenes. Yes, my rabbit is fickle. She also watches Beverly Hills 90210 with us - but she's skipped all of the really terrible episodes. I have no idea how she senses which episodes are good or bad but somehow she does.

Switching topics.

I was playing The Sims 3 today and downloaded the new ballet set from the store! I am super excited that my sims finally can have a dance skill. I've been waiting for this for so long! Of course, if my game would stop crashing and freezing on me, it would probably all be a lot more enjoyable. My sim (and her husband) did however get to visit her elderly parents that I built a retirement home for. I've never been very good at playing with my sims once their elderly, or having my sims see them once they move out, but this actually works well! My sims go over every weekend and play dominos/pool/ping-pong with her parents and watch a movie!

I wish Tuesday was here already!!! I am so excited for Island Paradise! I've been building beach houses for my sims with docks all ready for their new boats. Maybe I should put the 90210 beach house I built a while back in Island Paradiso?

Ooo! Even better thought! I can now create Dawson and Joey's homes and have Joey row across the water to Dawson's! That would be incredibly fun.

In other news, I'm improving on my guitar skills! I thought I'd learn to play so I could actually play along with my own songs. After teaching myself the basic chords and strings and practicing rotating between them, I have finally started to learn strumming. Yay! Now, if I could just stretch my fingers out so I could play that G chord without cheating, that'd be great. Oh well. It will all come in time. I'm looking forward to getting a teacher at some point. Although, I have to admit, it's nice to just teach myself. There isn't really any stress and it makes it even more exciting when I learn something new!

Finally, before I wrap this up to go and watch The Bachelorette, I must post my usual about Veronica Mars! Max Greenfield has finally be announced for the movie. I am very excited to have Deputy Leo back! I am curious how they're going to use all of these different characters, but I have faith in Rob Thomas.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to LA and we tried to sneak a peek at the movie being filmed. Unfortunately, it was all being filmed in the sound stages, so all we caught a glimpse of was the building.

Do you have any pets that are addicted to TV? And if so, what's their favorite show? Have you built any fun places for your sims to go or new homes? And finally, are you excited about the return of Deputy Leo?