Update: SimGuruGraham confirmed that the concept arts below are from The Sims 4 – but not from the current version!

It’s ancient Sims 4 concept art (so *technically* not the game); it doesn’t 1:1 reflect the current game.

Origin Insider posted a very interesting photo on 13th of May, 2013 – 7 days after The Sims 4 was announced. These Sims may look like Sims from The Sims Freeplay, but if you take a closer look, there are a lot of things that remind of TS4.

First of all, let’s take a look at the emotions these Sims are showing. I’m pretty sure that they’re not that alive in The Sims Freeplay. One Sim even seems to jump exactly the same like Sims in TS4 when they’re extremely happy!

Second of all, two Sims seem to have same hairstyles like the ones we saw on The Sims 4 Concept Arts.

You can also notice some other similarities when looking at their facial expressions.

Origin Insider said ”This is not Sims 4, this is just a picture of some of our Sims”. They did not mention that these are sims from The Sims FreePlay, just ”this is a picture of some of our Sims”.

Are these Sims from The Sims 4 or not? You decide!

Origin Instagram Post

Gamer Headlines revealed that during the Game Developer Conference, we will get new information about The Sims 4! This will probably happen between 17th and 21st of March, 2014.

The Sims 4 will be available in Fall 2014. More information on the game will be released at the annual Game Developer’s Conference, scheduled from March 17 to 21.

At the GDC (Game Developer Conference), developers will learn more about Interactions, Multi-tasking, and new changes in The Sims 4.

SimCity (2013 Version) was also announced at GDC, so we can expect EA to announce new The Sims 4 informations as well.

Gamer Headlines Post

The Game Developers Conference starting on the 17th of March will feature talks about many highly anticipated projects. The Sims 4 will most likely steam the spotlight for awhile, with details about the game’s advanced AI at the event’s AI summit. At the event, many major developers will be present to highlight the astonishing achievements in developing artificial intelligence for video games. Expected at the summit are the guys at Irrational games (who will be talking about Elizabeth’s AI), the guys at at Blizzard (who will be detailing the AI behind Hearthstone), and of course, EA Maxis, showing off what improvements the AI of Sims 4 will feature.

The AI of Sims 4 seems to have come a long way since the previous installment, Sims 3. The Sims 4 will have a very complex AI that will enable Sims to multitask, and will generate more believable reactions and more realistic behavior. The behavior list has gotten a lot wider in the upcoming Sims game, and players anticipating EA’s game are expecting more depth from their virtual characters. A lot more detail will be shed upon the Sims 4 and what it will be capable of when the AI Summit begins on the 17th of March, Monday, and continues into Tuesday, the 18th.

As far as the release date for the Sims 4 is concerned, there’s no official announcement as of yet. A recent leak suggested that the game was aiming for a September 2014, but that leak had since been addressed by EA, who now claim to have the Sims 4 ready by “fall”. Fall is a relatively loose term, so don’t expect to play the Sims 4 before the end years end. The bars are set high with this one, and we’re hoping EA will be able to deliver in terms of quality and content. Unofficial sources would suggest that Sims 4 will be priced at around $40, and pre-orders will be made available officially soon enough, which is also the time we’ll be learning a lot more about the game.

GamerHeadlines Post

Amazon France and Amazon Canada both updated their The Sims 4 page with release dates. To make things confusing, these 2 release dates have 13 days of difference.

Amazon France says that The Sims 4 will be available on 15th of September, 2014.

Meanwhile, Amazon Canada‘s release date for The Sims 4 is 28th of September, 2014.

If we exclude the 13-day difference, there is a 99.99% chance that The Sims 4 will release some day in September.

See also The Sims 4 – Release Date Speculations for more info!

Thanks to SimCookie for the find!

According to Brazilian fansite SimsDomination, The Sims 4 will release around 18th of September.

@Sims_Soul@Sim_Cookie An employee of a brazilian store (@livcuritiba) told me that #TheSims4 will be released (Brazil) on 09/18.

— SimsDomination (@SimsDomination) February 20, 2014

I can’t say that this is the final release date for The Sims 4, since various retail websites are telling different things. Spanish retail website listed The Sims 4 Collector’s Edition, with release date set to 26th of September.

Let’s not forget the fact that EA stated that The Sims 4 is coming in Autumn/Fall 2014, and Autumn starts on 23rd of September.

One thing is definitely sure: The Sims 4 will release this September! Brazilian version of TheSims.com accidentally mentioned that The Sims 4 is releasing in September 2014, instead of Fall 2014.

Krizia Bajos is a talented Voice Actor that worked on Video Games such as Grand Theft Auto V, Halo, EVA and now The Sims 4 games.

On her Twitter account, she claims that she speaks Simlish fluently, along with the Spanish language. She has a couple of old tweets about The Sims 4 and how she works on this great video game.

Right now, we know about 3 TS4 voice actors: Cia Court, Scott Whyte, and now Krizia Bajos. We can’t wait to see more of their great Voice Acting skills in the upcoming Sims 4 videos/news!

Source: Rincon del Simmer

Polish retail website Empik made The Sims 4 Collector’s Edition available for pre-order on their website. If you live in Poland and plan to purchase this limited edition of The Sims 4, now’s the chance!

Click on the picture below to Pre-Order The Sims 4 Collector’s Edition via Empik!

Source: Sims True Life

Brian Bell – Senior Software Engineer on The Sims 4, shared some info on Game Developers Conference website about how The Sims 4 runs better on low-end machines. A few months ago, during The Sims 4’s big reveal, SimGuruRyan made a statement about The Sims 4 running better on low-end machines than The Sims 3:

We know that our players have a wide range of different PC specs. We want to make sure that somebody playing on a lower end machine has just as great an experience as somebody on a higher end machine.

Right now we’re doing a lot of work to optimise the game’s performance, cut down on loading screens, and make sure everything still looks as beautiful, the Sims feel as vibrant, and that your gameplay is just as much fun regardless of what spec you’re playing on.

Today, Brian Bell shared some interesting news about his upcoming class on GDC on how The Sims 4 works. What’s really interesting about this text is that he often compares The Sims 4 to an online game.

As online gaming continues to surge in popularity, simulation complexity increases rapidly and aggressively multi-core platforms become the standard, decoupling game presentation from simulation becomes increasingly important. For The Sims 4, we’ve developed a novel model for rendering high-fidelity synchronized behaviors involving multiple actors, even when driven by a simulation that runs at highly variable and/or low-frame rates, and which potentially communicates with the renderer over a high/variable latency connection. Historically, such products have often made significant compromises, either by requiring their simulations to run at real-time rates, and forcing extremely rigid synchronization, or by limiting visual quality in critical areas like character animation. Our solution addresses all of these, and is capable of scaling across a variety of game types by offering a core framework for individual game teams to extend and customize.

Takeaway

Attendees will leave this presentation with a working general knowledge sufficient to recreate a basic version of our solution to the problem of high-fidelity, multi-actor behavior in a game with a decoupled simulation, as well as specific solutions to common problems related to character animation in such an environment.

Intended Audience

The primary audience for this presentation is software engineers who are interested in delivering high-quality, multi-actor character animation and other visual behaviors in an online or otherwise parallel game architecture. Prior experience with online (client and server) and simulation-style game development is helpful, but not required.

GDC Link

Thanks to Rincon Del Simmer for the find!

Honeywell’s Sims 4 Blog made a post about the old The Sims 4 Survey. That Survey was leaked on 11th of June, 2013 – several weeks after The Sims 4 was announced.

Let’s take a look at the features that are confirmed by EA:

Wardrobe Moodlets – Outfit your Sims with a diverse range of clothing and aspire to get your Sims’ selective fashion items that can directly affect their mood.

Aspirations – Assign your Sims a long-term goal called an Aspiration then achieve it by having your Sims compete relevant short-term goals throughout their life.

New CAS System – Just like modeling clay, Create a Sim is a powerful, easy-to-use tool that lets you directly sculpt face or body features by clicking and dragging to perfection.

Events – Easily host or attend events with your Sims to earn rewards, complete goals, enhance skills or jobs and discover new storytelling and relationship possibilities with neighbors!

Featured Looks – With Featured Looks you choose from a catalog of curated styles and outfit your Sims in designer looks with just one click.

Magazine View – Flip through Magazine View to choose from pre-configured, fully furnished room layouts, then drop the entire room into your home with just one click.

Group Socializing – Your Sims social interactions are more realistic and lifelike in social groupings.

Multitasking – For the first time in The Sims, your Sims can now multitask by doing many actions at once, such as enjoy a drink while talking to friends and watching TV, giving them more realistic living and social behaviors.

Levels of Emotions – Your Sims’ emotions have varying levels of advancement, giving you the power and control to push their emotions to the extremes creating new and interesting gameplay opportunities to explore.

Account Achievements – Unlock Account Achievements for completing in-game tasks and earning accomplishments, then share or compare your progress with your friends. Note: Account achievements are confirmed, the share & compare w/ friends isn’t as of yet.

Reward System – Earn new objects, outfits and Sim Traits for completing in-game tasks like completing Events, finding Collectibles, being featured in Sims Share, and unlocking Account Achievements.

Environment Impact – Objects and decorative items in your home impacts your Sims’ emotions and mood, giving you the power to create a room that’s inspiring, romantic, depressing, or anywhere in between.

New Build System – Build the home of your dreams with a powerful new range of tools that allow such great control as moving an entire room with ease, placing new walls with prevision and adding detailed finishing touches.

Expressiveness – Quickly see how your different Sims may be feeling by watching their facial expressions, vocal tone, and body movements, not just a bar or icon in the UI.

Memory Moodlets – Create memories through captured screenshots and assign emotions to them – when your Sims reminisce about the memory, they’ll get that emotional buff.

Possible features from the Survey that are not confirmed:

World Creation Tool – With the world creation tool you can change the terrain, place environmental objects, and create a custom backdrop for your Sims’ neighborhood.

Personalized Neighborhoods – Each section of a neighborhood is yours to personalize through shared content or Maxis creations that you place yourself.

Cradle to Grave – Sims can experience age-specific gameplay and a true life cycle with big life moments such as birth, marriage, and death.

Traits – Create unique Sims with traits that change the way they can interact with the world around them. Watch as your decisions cause Sims’ traits to evolve and lead to surprising moments.

Possible Online features from the Survey that are not confirmed:

Real-Time Co-Op Gameplay – Invite a friend into your game to play cooperatively, share a home and manage your Sims together all in one online world that continually evolves even when you’re away.

Remote Sim Share – Use Remote Sim Share on the web, your mobile device or tablet to browse The Sims community’s creations then queue them up for download to your PC.

Create a Sim Mobile – Harness the powerful new Create a Sim tool on your mobile device to create Sims on the go, then upload to your The Sims 4 game on your PC.

Live Stream – Use this built-in tool your game to an online streaming provider and give The Sims community the opportunity to watch you play.

Account Achievements – Unlock Account Achievements for completing in-game tasks and earning accomplishments, then share or compare your progress with your friends.

Player-Run Events – Invite your friends to your own special Event like weddings and birthday parties to unlock new skills, level up your Sims and make progress together in a social environment.

Mobile Stats App – Get a robust breakdown of your game stats and your Sims’ activities by using this Mobile Stats App.

Mobile Mini-Games – Take control of your Sims’ dreams while on the go by playing mini games that will effect your Sims’ emotion and advance their careers, then check their progress in game when you return to your PC.

Integrated Sim Share – Participate in Sim Share to instantly share and track your Sim or home creations with the world. Seamlessly browse creations made by The Sims community within the game.

More than 50% of the features from the Survey are confirmed. Time will only tell will the unconfirmed/unmentioned features be in The Sims 4 or not.

Source: Honeywell’s Sims 4 Blog, Lace’s Blog