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The Sims 4 Console: New Update + Patch Notes! (May 17th, 2018)

The Sims 4 Console: New Update + Patch Notes! (May 17th, 2018)

The Sims Team has released a brand new Update for The Sims 4 for Console devices – Xbox One and PS4!

Patch Notes

Sul Sul,

As we approach the half way point of 2018, we bring you an update which addresses some of the feedback and reports we have been getting. We didn’t stop there either, we spent some time Spring cleaning to help get things in order.

What’s New?

When you are picking where you want to travel to and live, navigating the neighborhood could be a little fiddly on the Manage World screen. We have added the ability to switch to the virtual cursor on the Manage World screen which means you can pick where you want to go or live with extra precision.

Since the last time we spoke, we also spent more time looking for those pesky invisible UI elements which you can find yourself in and have stopped them playing mind games with you. A usable UI should be a visible UI.

General Issues

  • Sims like to hoard things in their inventory, some might say that they have stacks of belongings. Those stacks could be better used by being sold off to earn some extra money. While you could do this one at a time, that meant it took longer to get paid. Now, stacks of items can be sold from the inventory just as easily as it’d be to sell a single item.
  • Sometimes the Main Menu would suggest you didn’t have Grim’s Ghoulish Guitar when you had linked your account. We told Grim he couldn’t have his guitar back and that it belonged to you now. The Main Menu should now correctly reflect whether you linked your accounts and whether you have the Grim’s Ghoulish Guitar.
  • While we are talking about it, the way you claim Grim’s Ghoulish Guitar no longer tells you to sign up for a newsletter, instead you simply link to your EA Account and the guitar will be all yours.
  • Parties are better when you have a group of friends. Now, when your friends come over, you can complete some group party objectives.
  • Opening the Options Menu while the Pie Menu is open won’t cause you to become stuck on the Pie Menu. Although there are worse things to be stuck with than pie. Mmmm… pie!
  • When your Sims age up, you’ll no longer get stuck in the Sims info panel if you happen to select traits in the Aged Up! panel.
  • How many beds does your Lot have? H! Doesn’t make sense, right? Now we only allow numbers to be entered when adding details to your lot info panel for number of beds and baths you have.
  • Changing the category of a styled outfit will no longer make your Sim wear the first outfit. Instead you can style them to whatever outfit looks the best.
  • Getting access to new packs is something to celebrate. That celebration should be brief and not something that continues into CAS. Celebrations are short and to the point to keep that hype buzz feeling going.
  • Using the eyedropper while building caused performance issues, this has been improved. So, go crazy copying those patterns and decorating all your rooms with the same wallpaper. Unless you have style then don’t decorate like that… Please!

Get to Work

  • Sometimes your Sim looks so good that they feel the urge to take a selfie. Now they can snap away without you needing to worry about temporarily losing control. Although if your Sim looks directly at the flash, we can’t guarantee they won’t see floating lights for a while.
  • Mirrors should be for checking out that your tie is straight or to find out why everyone keeps staring at you, what they shouldn’t do is flash blue. Now they won’t, leaving your Sims to admire themselves for as long as they like.
  • Making your employees look good needs them to have a professional looking uniform and that decision can be tough. What isn’t tough anymore is that the controls for the sort dropdown won’t go off screen now.
  • Aliens might have the technology to fly across the vastness of space but what they weren’t meant to have is the ability to prevent you changing their appearance, so we took that ability off them and now you control what your Alien Sims look like.

Vampires

  • Vampires appreciate being listened to, so we made sure you can now scroll through the full welcome text with Vampires.
  • When you have the Dark Form of a female Vampire in CAS, you probably don’t want to annoy her by selecting the personality panel and causing issues. We didn’t want to get on her dark side so now the personality panel will no longer cause problems.

Dine Out

  • When you take pictures of your delicious food, you intend everyone you show your picture to, to be amazed by the fact you took the time to take the picture of your food going cold. What you don’t expect is for people to mock and comment on the fact your picture is under exposed. Now, prints of Food Eaten will show in full color quality, nicely exposed and with a perfect composition.

City Living

  • Everyone likes to Dream Big in the city. What they don’t necessarily like is having actions interrupted by those dreams, so we told the Sims to Dream Big on their own time or at least not let it interrupt what you want them to do.
  • While the San Myshuno’s “Stargazer” Lounge is very glitzy, it shouldn’t cause your Manage World view to flash so we asked Stargazer to tone back the pizazz.
  • Living in a city can feel crowded at times, which isn’t helped when the Lot highlight for 21 Chic Street Apartments and Culpepper Apartments adds to the confusion of where you live. The correct Lots are highlighted now making it easier to know where you are going.

Xbox One only

  • We continued to go through all the dig sites we could to find out where the Sims were hiding those hard-earned Achievements that didn’t unlock fully.
    • To complete the unlock process simply load the Save Game you earned your Achievement(s) in and everything you earned will unlock.
    • You may need to load multiple Save Games if you earned Achievements across different saves.

We continued to take updates from the PC and Mac version of The Sims 4, which may not be covered in these notes, and brought them across to console.

Now while we roll up our sleeves, use a large amount of elbow grease and continue with the spit and polish, you should go and enjoy yourselves.

-SimGuruLegacy

The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff “Sold Well” Despite Community Sentiment

SimGuruGrant, a producer on The Sims 4 has confirmed that The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff Pack “sold well” despite the community feedback about this controversial Stuff Pack.

Grant confirmed that The Sims Team wanted to experiment with the whole concept of “Stuff Pack for Expansion Pack” and that they stand behind the fact that The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Expansion Pack is fully done, despite the fact that some of the objects from My First Pet Stuff look similar to the style of objects in Cats & Dogs.

The Sims Mobile: Bubble Blower Event Preview

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The Sims Mobile Team has just announced that they’ll be releasing a brand new Bubble Blower Event tomorrow, May 17th at 10AM PST!

They’ve also released this screenshot showcasing some of the new items in this event:

The Sims Mobile: Bubble Blower Event Preview

SimGuruKate is the new Community Manager for The Sims

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SimGuruKate has just made an announcement that she’s the new Global Community Manager for The Sims! Check out her forum post below:

SimGuruKate is the new Community Manager for The Sims

Sul Sul!

My name is SimGuruKate and you may have seen me around the world of The Sims Mobile a bit over the last year. I know it’s been a bit quiet here since SimGuruDrake left. Well, today I am beyond thrilled to share that I have officially joined the team as the new Global Community Manager for The Sims 4. I have been an avid Simmer for the last 18 years, and have met some of my oldest friends through this incredible and passionate Community. I have also been working in the video game industry as a Community Manager for the last 12 years. That means that this job is an absolute dream come true for me as it combines two of my greatest passions.

I am so looking forward to working together with the Development Team to bring a deeper level of communication and excitement to The Sims 4. We have some amazing things coming this year and I cant wait for you to experience it all. The The Sims 4 is far from over, there are still so many more stories to tell.

You can still expect to see me around the world of The Sims Mobile though you may see a new face popup there in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out.

I am so excited for this next adventure and getting to know the community of The Sims 4 even better. It’s going to be a GREAT year!

-SimGuruKate

The Sims 4 Console: New Update Arriving Soon

SimGuruLegacy has just confirmed on Twitter that Sony and Microsoft have just approved a brand new update for The Sims 4 on PS4 and Xbox One.

Considering that there’s 4 Packs planned for release over the next few weeks, this update could extensively upgrade and prepare the game for a new wave of pack releases.

The Sims 4 Console: Upcoming 4 Packs and their Release Dates

Just a few days after reporting that 4 The Sims 4 Packs have been registered on ESRB for Xbox One and PS4 they have been removed from the ESRB list.

Today Wog has listed some of these packs excluding the Cats & Dogs Expansion Pack which was featured in the ESRB list. The release dates mentioned also check out considering that they’re not just generic dates aiming at the 15th of every which were leaked previously. This Wog listing mentions release dates that all aim on Tuesday which is when The Sims Team has always released Packs for The Sims 4 Console.

What’s interesting is the fact that we’re going to get 2 Pack releases for May and 2 Pack releases for June. Check out the dates below:

  • The Sims 4 Backyard Stuff – May 22nd
  • The Sims 4 Toddler Stuff – May 22nd
  • The Sims 4 Parenthood Game Pack – June 19th
  • The Sims 4 Kids Room Stuff – June 19th

The Sims 4 Console: Upcoming 4 Packs and their Release Dates

This leak is also confirmed by Amazon.de, which shows Toddler Stuff and Backyard Stuff as the next packs for The Sims 4 Console with the correct release date.

The Sims 4 Console: Upcoming 4 Packs and their Release Dates

The Sims 4: New Olympus Concept

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The Sims Team’s latest collaboration with Google Expedition allows you to explore The Sims Studio and see behind-the-scenes of what it takes to create a Sims game.

In the “Designing for The Sims” category of Google Expedition there’s a small segment about prototyping The Sims 4:

Turning ideas into a playable game is a big leap, and a stepping stone in the middle – a prototype – can prove invaluable. This early prototype allowed for the evaluation of a social system under consideration without requiring other game systems to be functional.

 

In case you don’t know, “Olympus” was a code name for a Sims 4 prototype built around 2010. The main features for Olympus revolved around a social, multiplayer experience with other players and their Sims.

There’s also a photo of The Sims 4 Olympus provided in Google Expedition in a somewhat low quality:

The Sims 4: New Olympus Concept

Win an Ultimate Copy of The Sims 4! (Anniversary Giveaway)

We’re having a HUGE giveaway on Sims Community Social to celebrate our 5th anniversary. The first thing that we’re giving away is a code for The Sims 4 Ultimate which contains The Sims 4 Base Game + ALL Expansion Packs, Game Packs and Stuff Packs.

This code is specially crafted by Electronic Arts for our anniversary giveaway and cannot be found or purchased anywhere else. It contains all the packs released to this date, including My First Pet Stuff Pack which is the last pack released for The Sims 4.

This giveaway ends on May 27th at 8PM CET / 12 PT! There are going to be plenty of more anniversary giveaways so stick around!

Click below to enter the giveaway on Sims Community Social!

Win an Ultimate Copy of The Sims 4! (Anniversary Giveaway)

The Sims Blog: Take A VR Tour of The Sims Studio with Google Expedition

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Via TheSims.com!

Hey, Simmers!

We’re excited to announce that The Sims™ 4 is teaming up with Google Expeditions! In Explore the Maxis Studio: How The Sims Are Made, you’ll uncover the ingredients that make up the secret sauce behind The Sims.

Google Expeditions is a virtual reality teaching tool that lets educators, students, and adventurers lead or join immersive virtual trips all over the world. In this journey through Maxis Studio, you’ll see and understand how the Maxis team brings The Sims 4 to life, from inception to launch, and beyond!

To give you a sneak peek at this exciting VR experience, we asked Stephanie Callegari, a producer at Maxis, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how Google captured life with The Sims.

Hi, Stephanie! Tell us a little about what you do for The Sims.
I am the lead producer for The Sims 4 Expansion Pack team. I love games and really enjoy creating a game that is so versatile for storytellers, builders, and character creators. At The Sims, I work with designers to kick off our overall vision for the next project. Once we have designs, we collaborate with artists, engineers, and all disciplines to bring the design vision to life. During execution, producers on The Sims make sure the game is fun, and maintains the gameplay and features our players desire.

The Sims Blog: Take A VR Tour of The Sims Studio with Google Expedition

How did you start your career in video games? What advice would you give someone trying to break into the industry?
I realized in college that what I thought I wanted to do was boring. So every summer, I took an internship to try to figure out what I liked. It was the best advice my big sister gave me! I interned at Sony Pictures Entertainment in creative marketing. I enjoyed it, but really loved the post-production side. Following, I interned at DreamWorks as a production intern and just fell in love with production. Once I finished school and worked a bit, I took a risk and went for an Assistant Producer position here at EA, and I’ve been producing ever since. My advice is if you are a student, get an internship and get some hands-on experience. If you are fresh out of college, work hard, apply, and take a risk if it’s something you think you’ll love.

What is Google Expeditions, and how does it work for The Sims?
Google Expeditions is a virtual app to help teachers bring lessons to life. The Sims 4 expedition will be a series of panorama images and lessons we’ve created for students and viewers. Using Google Cardboard, viewers will walk through different facets of what game development is like on The Sims 4. I love this project because we get the chance to reach a different audience. I think there can be misconceptions of what making a game really is like, and instead of just explaining to students and viewers “how to make a game,” we get to show them.

The Sims Blog: Take A VR Tour of The Sims Studio with Google Expedition

Who will I meet on my Expedition?
In The Sims 4 Expedition, the tour will kick off with Laura Miele, our Chief Studio Officer, and Lyndsay Pearson, The Sims 4 Executive Producer, to briefly introduce Electronic Arts and The Sims. The tour will also introduce you to our designers, artists, animators, audio engineers, gameplay engineers, marketers, and our entire team.

How can I try Google Expeditions through my school, or how can I experience The Sims on Google Expeditions?
Google Expeditions is available to anyone to download and install. Expeditions can be group experiences with a guide leading and explorers following along, which are especially useful to educators for taking students on virtual educational journeys. However, you can also go on an expedition by yourself.

Getting started is simple! To use Google Expeditions, educators or individuals need to buy an Expeditions kit or build their own. Having a tablet for the group is recommended, and each participant needs a mobile device. For more information, visit https://edu.google.com/expeditions.

The Sims Blog: Take A VR Tour of The Sims Studio with Google Expedition

We hope this Expedition helps you explore and learn about career opportunities in the games industry. Visit Google Expeditions to get started, and we’ll see you soon, Simmers!

Requirements and benefits of becoming a Game Changer for The Sims

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A few days ago EA released online applications for their Game Changers Program to the public. However, many Simmers were left wondering what does this mean for The Sims Community and which type of Sims Creators can apply to the program.

SimGuruKate explained all of this in a series of tweets that we’ve combined into a text below. Find out who’s eligible to apply to the program, how they can do it and what are the benefits from it!

Now that we have an official website about the EA Game Changers program I want to talk a little about what we specifically look for when selecting Game Changers for The Sims and The Sims Mobile.

A lot of people have asked if we only look for creators on YouTube and Twitch. The answer is absolutely not. Do you create Custom Content and have a website? Apply! Do you have an active Tumblr where you share your original content? Apply! Do you have a blog you regularly update? Apply! Or maybe you are a fan site sharing all the latest news for The Sims? Apply! Or maybe you are a primarily a builder who shares your creations on the gallery? Apply!

I also see a lot of people ask if there is a minimum number of Followers/Subscribers you must have to be eligible to apply or selected. We consider channels of all sizes but we do look for individuals who create and share content regularly. We want to see that you are dedicated to regularly creating quality ORIGINAL content. We absolutely know that you have other responsibilities (jobs, school, families, etc.) and that this can sometimes lead to busy moments where you may not be able to create and share as much.

I know some folks are hesitant to apply because they worry that they will be told what content they have to make or they won’t be able to share critical or constructive thoughts or feedback about the game(s). This is absolutely not the case. We want our Game Changers to always be honest with us and their own communities about what they love, like, and the things that they feel can be improved. We so strongly value your integrity and honesty, and greatly consider this when we are selecting individuals to add. How you interact with us (the SimGurus) historically and currently is important, but what is even more important is how you interact with your own community and followers. We want to see you engaging with them in thoughtful and constructive ways.

I also want you to know that your channel (whatever platform it may be on) doesn’t have to be all Sims all the time. Many of our Game Changers, especially those on Twitch, Play and create content for a variety of games. But it is absolutely important that Sims is one of your main titles, and that you intend to continue to create content for the title(s).

Being a Game Changer is definitely a neat opportunity with some cool benefits including early access to upcoming content and even the opportunity to be invited to events like SimsCamp and EA Play. In regards to the events it is important to be transparent. Invites aren’t a guarantee for all Game Changers as spots are often EXTREMELY LIMITED. I absolutely wish everyone could join (oh what a hangout that would be), but alas it’s not yet possible.

So, if you’re interested in applying to be a Game Changer please apply through our new website! Please do this even if you have previously sent us an email. We are definitely planning to expand and add new people throughout the year for both The Sims Mobile and The Sims. The website, once again, is https://www.ea.com/game-changers . Get your application in today!

As for when you will receive a reply if you apply…we add new people on a rolling basis. If we feel you would be a good fit for the program we will send you an invite when a spot opens. If you don’t hear back from us we continue to keep your application on record. Also, if you are already a Game Changer for another EA title and are interested in becoming one for The Sims Mobile or The Sims reach out directly to the Community Manager for the title(s) you currently are part of the program for.

Requirements and benefits of becoming a Game Changer for The Sims

The Sims Mobile: May 9th, 2018 Update Video Overview

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We take a look at all the new Build & CAS Items that have been added in The Sims Mobile’s latest update in the video above. Check it out!

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

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The Sims Mobile Team has just released a brand new update for the game. Unlike previous updates which require you to update the game entirely via Google Play / App Store, this update will apply to your game automatically after opening it. It’s around 100MB and will give you the new items and features after re-opening it.

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

Here’s what’s new in the latest update:

  • The High-End Digital Camera Heirloom offer is now available.

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

  • Two new Build-Buy Collections have been added, the Basic Babble set and Green Gardens set!

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

  • Izzy Fabulous has new designs and effects in stock!

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

  • The Glam Pack offer is now available for a limited time, as well as additional FREE makeup and face options for ALL Simmers!

The Sims Mobile: New Update! (May 9th, 2018)

EA has found its Community Manager for The Sims

A few months ago SimGuruDrake left her role as a Community Manager for The Sims to pursue a new opportunity as a CM for another game. Since then EA has put up a job application form, allowing people to apply for the Community Manager rule.

After 3 months, Electronic Arts has finally found its Community Manager for The Sims. EA’s career page for the Global Community Manager for The Sims now tells that the position to apply is no longer open.

EA has found its Community Manager for The Sims

We’ve done a double check with our source at EA and we can confirm that the search for a new CM has truly ended. Currently we have no information on who it is or when will the new CM for The Sims be announced, but we’re definitely glad that The Sims for PC is finally going to have its public voice once again.

EA Opens Public Applications for the Game Changers Program

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Electronic Arts has just launched a dedicated informations page for their EA Game Changers Program. The Game Changers Program website, which allows creators to participate in all sorts of exclusive events and opportunities was locked for only selected creators chosen by their assigned community managers. Today, anyone with an online presence on social network such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch and more can apply to join the program, giving them access to exclusive assets, early access content and more!

The ability to join the EA Game Changers program is still in Alpha, meaning that it’s still in development and could take a few months to be completely finished and fully expanded.

If you feel like applying for the EA Game Changers Program, check out their applications page. Wonder what the Game Changers Program is all about? The F.A.Q. section of the site will give you all the needed information!

EA Opens Public Applications for the Game Changers Program

Up to 50% off on certain The Sims 4 Packs for Xbox One

Amazon.com is currently offering a few packs for The Sims 4 on Xbox One for a lower price – up to 50% off!

Down below you can find the list of all the games that are currently on sale. It’s unknown for how long will they be on sale so better act quick!

Up to 50% off on certain The Sims 4 Packs for Xbox One