My First Impressions of Island Paradise

Today the countdown to The Sims 3 Island Paradise in Australia finally ended! Since picking up my pre-ordered game today, I've begun experimenting with different features of the game - but there is still so much I haven't tried. And I love that. There seems to be so much in this EP.

My game started off on a bit of a sour note as it froze just as I was about to finish creating my sims. However since reloading it hasn't happened again.

So far the different things I have experienced are building/living on a houseboat, snorkelling, windsurfing and purchasing a resort in foreclosure. I really love the houseboats and I had a lot of fun building one for my sims. I didn't have much trouble at all fitting everything in that I wanted to, however, if my sims have kids down the track they will need the bigger barge for sure. Snorkelling took a bit to get started with my sims not being able to do it at first, but once they did, they snorkelled for hours and each reached level 2. The windsurfing didn't last very long but it looked pretty cool!

I wasn't going to, but I ended up purchasing Hobart's Hideaway for my sims to rebuild. I demolished everything and started again from the ground up. One thing I learnt though is that deleting resort towers automatically closes your resort, and if you delete the front desk in buy mode, choosing to return to live mode will sell the resort back to the world. Interesting! I'm looking forward to finishing furnishing the resort so I can experience running it.

So far I am loving this EP. The world is beautiful. There's so much to do and I'm looking forward to experience it all (except the Mermaids really). This EP is definitely working its way up as my favourite.

Now I do plan to record some of Island Paradise too - but a little bit different to a Let's Play. In a weeks time I will start releasing videos. There will be a proper recorded review (as well as a written one), which will be based on my experience so far. I feel that for me, reviewing the game earlier than within a week would be unfair. In addition, there will be my Island Paradise series. They will be shortish videos (possibly around 10 minutes each), that will span across a few 'chapters'. It will be based in Isla Paradiso and will encompass some key aspects of this EP. Stay tuned for more info on these.

The Sims 3 Question Time!

So a lot of people are eagerly awaiting Island Paradise (as am I), so I thought I'd create a quick Sims related questionnaire to pass the time. You can join in by commenting below :)

Questions

What's your favourite expansion pack?:

What's your favourite stuff pack?:

What's your favourite world?:

Do you use a PC or Mac?:

What's your favourite in-game career?:

What traits do you most commonly use?:

Which Sims 3 games do you own?:

What are you most looking to in Island Paradise?:

Will you build/run a resort?:

Will you buy The Sims 4?:

Do you play SimCity?:

My Answers

What's your favourite expansion pack?: Pets or Seasons - but it might change to Island Paradise!

What's your favourite stuff pack?: Outdoor Living Stuff

What's your favourite world?: Appaloosa Plains

Do you use a PC or Mac?: Mac

What's your favourite in-game career?: Medical or Painter

What traits do you most commonly use?: Natural Cook, Athletic and Neat

Which Sims 3 games do you own?: Base game, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Seasons, University Life, Outdoor Living Stuff and Town Life Stuff.

What are you most looking to in Island Paradise?: House boats and resorts

Will you build/run a resort?: Yes - on an island.

Will you buy The Sims 4?: Possibly

Do you play SimCity?: When it comes out for Mac I will.

I look forward to reading your answers! Thanks for playing along :)

Photo House Tour - Video Commentary

Today I published my first ever YouTube video, which was a photo house tour of the first house I built on stilted foundations from the Island Paradise game update. Unfortunately the voiceover wasn't very good quality (I hope to fix this for future videos), so I'm using this post to provide more information about the house itself.

The house is located in Sunset Valley and has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It wasn't created for any particular household. Please ignore the front of the lot - I felt a bit weird building a garden on sand so I just left it blank.

This house is 100% mod and custom content free. I have none in my game at all. In addition to The Sims 3 base game, the expansion packs, stuff packs and store content used were:

• World Adventures
• Ambitions
• Late Night
• Generations
• Pets
• Seasons
• University Life
• Outdoor Living Stuff
• Town Life Stuff
• The Toyota Prius Family Pack (Store)

I'm not really happy with the exterior of the house and I tried so many different designs for it, but I just couldn't get it right. So I left it and focused on the interior. 

My favourite room(s) in the house is definitely the kitchen, dining and family room. I put a lot of time into this area of the house. 

My favourite features of the house overall are:

• The mirrored walls in the kitchen. You will need to use the moveObjects on cheat to place these.
• The mirrored wall in the WIR. I thought this was a cool way to incorporate a mirror.
• The fishing deck - I like that sims can now fish without having to leave the house.
• The overall design of the kitchen, dining and family room. I've used a lot of the same colours and metals for different items in this area, which I think brings it all together.
• The study walls and bookshelf. I played around with these in Create a Style and I'm really happy with the results.

I hate the spare bedrooms. I really didn't spend much time at all designing them, because these are rooms that'll vary in design based on who is living in the house. I just quickly threw together some really simple bedrooms to signify what they are.

I'm also not very good at bathrooms, so I'm not really happy with them either.

Overall I do love a lot of the interior of the house and I'm pretty proud of it. It was a good way to get back into the game a bit to overcome my PEPS.

The Sims June 18 Live Broadcast Recap

So the highly anticipated June 18 (PDT) live broadcast has now happened. It brought us some Island Paradise gameplay, a Q&A session, the community challenge announcement, game update news, Sims 4 information and a big announcement! So here's a recap of how went down for you all!

Ryan Vaughan (@SimGuruRyan), Producer of the Sims 3 kicked off the broadcast by reminding us that Island Paradise launches NEXT WEEK! Ryan also stated that the complete combination of The Sims' Facebook page for all The Sims games is now complete. 

Next up was some live gameplay led by Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham), another Producer of the Sims 3. We also got to see the launch trailer for Island Paradise, if you missed it, you can find it here. 

A few key points from this were:

• The water surrounding the underwater level of a houseboat will change colour based on the sun.
• If you use a mirror, you have the option to customise your mermaid's scale and top colour. Remember though, you can't create a mermaid in CAS unlike other occults, you can only customise them once you have acquired one.
• You can stay in resorts and use their features. 
• You can also upgrade your houseboats to have a foghorn.

*Edit: They have now fixed the live broadcast replay, so notes have now been added for the missing section*

Key points from the resort and scuba diving demonstrations included:

• Handy sims can upgrade their houseboats navigation computers for autopilot. You can then select a route for your houseboat which it will follow, even if you leave the boat.
• There is a resort in foreclosure that you will be giving the opportunity to manage when you first enter Isla Paradiso.
• You have to check in at a resort via the front desk to take advantage of the resort's amenities.
• A VIP room enables you to control your sims at all times. The resort towers are rabbit holes.
• Buffet tables will work like they do in real life. This means that your sims will go back for multiple plates of food. If a family is using the buffet table, then they will grab their plates and eat together.
• There are pool blueprints and pool fountains.
• There is no loading screen for scuba diving.
• Evil mermaids can summon sharks.
• Sims can explore underwater caves. Sometimes tentacles will come out of the caves, but this is not the Kraken, it's the cave monster. Your sim can fight the cave monster.
• When underwater, fish can be collected and added to your sim's inventory.
• Sea shells and messages in a bottle are new collectables. Each message in a bottle is unique and can sometimes be map pieces. Sea shells can be displayed in the home.

Graham's sim discovered an unchartered island through a dive cave while scuba diving. Graham demonstrated some of the limited edition content to create a castaway island. We also saw the use of the swan paddle boat, which reminded us of the dangers of being in such a small boat deep out of sea - yep, that's right. We saw the Kraken! The Kraken will steal your sims' boat and leave them stranded at sea, with driftwood from the remains of their boat floating around them. 

Then we hit a Q&A session. 

1. Pets & houseboats - you can have your pets on the houseboats, but having a horse isn't really recommended due to space issues - you can still do it if you wish.
2. Kids & water - kids can do things like play in the ocean, build sandcastles (just like the adults), drive some boats, i.e. the Aquasled and speedboats etc.
3. Seasons - seasons will work as normal. Graham made a suggestion of only having Spring & Summer, so you can have a rainy season and hot season for Isla Paradiso.
4. Mermen - yes, they do exist! And you can have mermaids & mermen woohoo to create mermaid babies. Here Graham pointed out that the best way to get a mermaid is to make a regular sim in CAS and then purchase the kelp lifetime reward for 25,000 points.
5. Unchartered islands & resorts - you can build resorts on islands that you find. Each island has a unique way of being discovered, such as through dive caves, and can be used as a second home or a resort. It's up to you! You don't have to run the resorts already on the main island. Note: Graham said that there will be a new cheat to acquire all of the islands.
6. Services & houseboats - if your houseboat is docked on a port, it will be just like a normal lot. Sims can drive/walk up to it and interact as normal. If you're out at sea then anyone can access you, they'll just use their own boat. So if you want a pizza, call for services.

The Community Challenge (which does not apply to Australia) has been successful with 4000 people pre-ordering on Origin. This means North American simmers who pre-ordered will get a free copy of Barnacle Bay, a world said to be great for using the features of Island Paradise. If you're in Europe and you pre-order, you can get a free stuff pack.

Then there was news on the Game Update. The highly anticipated patch is NOW AVAILABLE. It includes features that come with Island Paradise, such as building lots partially on the water, stilted foundations and using the private lots function. There's more too! Check your game launchers.

We were then introduced to Albert Truong, Lead Concept Artist for The Sims 4. He showed a sketch which was an addition to the eye snippet that was shown when the game was announced. He mentioned that they were trying for sexier and cooler designs for the sims, that would be a little more appealing. They took inspiration from animated films and American illustrators.

Then came the big announcement! The Sims 4 team will be taking main stage at the EA press conference at Gamescom on August 20, to show off features like what the sims look like, how they interact and more. Some of the Sim Gurus will be at Gamescom, and there will be live blogging and broadcasts, so stay tuned to The Sims social media pages.

The broadcast was concluded with the announcement that the next live broadcast will be at 10AM (PDT) on July 9. 

You can watch the live broadcast replay here:

Video Link

The Sims Live Broadcast: Australian Time

You may have recently seen the next live broadcast for The Sims 3 being advertised as Tuesday June 18th 2013 at 10AM (PDT Time). For those of us in Australia, this will be occurring at a totally different time. To assist you, I've converted this time slot to the local time for Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Brisbane.

Unfortunately for all of us, this broadcast will occur in the middle of the night. Thankfully they post up replay links. But in case you are wanting to stay up, here are the times you need:

SYDNEY - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 3AM (AEST).

CANBERRA - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 3AM (AEST).

MELBOURNE - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 3AM (AEST).

HOBART - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 3AM (AEST).

ADELAIDE - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 2:30AM (ACST).

PERTH - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 1AM (AWST).

DARWIN - Wednesday,19 June 2013 at 2:30AM (ACST).

BRISBANE - Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 3AM (AEST).

Hope this assists you!

By the way, as at 5:30PM (AEST) on Friday, 14 June 2013 in Sydney, there's 12 days and 6 hours until the June 27th, the release day of Island Paradise!

Your Sites, Blogs & YouTube Channels

Hey Simmers!

Do you run your own Sims related site, blog or YouTube channel? I'd love to be able to check it out. I've been reading some sites and have subscribed to some channels over the years, but I'm hoping to expand on that.

If you have a site, blog or YouTube channel you'd like me to check out - either send me the link in the comments, tweet me to @SimmingAway or send me an email. I'm also open to taking suggestions about the sites, blogs or YouTube channels that you love. I'd love to support the hard work of other Simmers out there by watching/reading their content.

There's no catch to this and I am not expecting anything in return. With Island Paradise so close, I'd love to be able to discover more, especially to find out what others think of the EP. I'm also just a few days away from my winter uni break, so I will have some more spare time.

Australia & New Zealand Island Paradise Release Info

From my personal experience, I have sometimes found it quite confusing to keep up with the release date of The Sims games in Australia, because all of the advertised dates are generally only for the US. I'm sure I'm not alone with this, so I thought I would do some research and fill in fellow Australian citizens, as well as those in New Zealand with the following info; when it will be available, how to get it, and where to find the Limited Edition.

When It Will Be Available

Australia: June 27th 2013

New Zealand: June 28th 2013

How To Get It

Australia

In Store:

Various stores have Island Paradise advertised at the moment, including EB Games, JB Hi Fi and Target. Prices tend to vary a bit as well as the deals that run with each retailer, so it's best to shop around and find what best suits you. Personally I have purchased from each of the above retailers and have had a positive experience with each - it's really up to you which retailer you choose. If you are after the Limited Edition though, keep reading - further down in this post I reveal where you can purchase this!

Digital Download:
You can download Island Paradise through the Origin store for Australia. Similarly to some of the stores mentioned above, there are deals for downloading too. If you are wishing to download, these deals will be worth checking out for you. I've only ever purchased my games in store, so I am unable to comment from personal experience on the download experience. I have heard positive things from others though.

New Zealand

In Store:
Similarly to Australia, you can also purchase Island Paradise in store, at places such as EB Games or JB Hi Fi. I'm unaware of other retailers in NZ, so I can't suggest anymore, however I'm sure the game won't be too hard to find - unless it is sold out of course!

Digital Download:
You can also download Island Paradise through the Origin store for New Zealand. Deals are available on here too.

Where To Find The Limited Edition

It appears that for both Australia and New Zealand that the Limited Edition of Island Paradise is available through EB Games. It can also be downloaded through Origin as well.

For anyone who is new to The Sims, remember that Island Paradise requires the base game to play.

I hope that you have found the above information helpful! If you know of any information that you think should be added to this post, then please comment it below and I will add it in (and I will make sure you are named as the source if you wish).

Not long til Island Paradise now, Simmers!! 

Note: I have no connection to any stores mentioned in this post. 

The Simming Away Journey Begins

About The Admin/Creator
I'm EmJay and I've been a simmer now since the The Sims, before moving up to The Sims 2, followed by The Sims 3 which I now currently play. I started Simming Away for a university project, but also because of my love of the game. I'm also keen to connect with other Simmers, especially those in Aus!

About This Blog
I'm going to use this blog to share my simming experience, generate discussion with other simmers and bring news where I can! All in the lead up to The Sims 4. Are you excited? I'm excited!

Just a few fun facts:

Favourite Sims 3 Game: Pets and Seasons

Least Favourite: World Adventures

Sims 3 Games I own: World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Seasons, University Life,  Town Life Stuff and Outdoor Living Stuff. I've also ordered Island Paradise

Favourite World: Appaloosa Plains

PC/Mac: Mac

Your Say
If you're a Simmer, feel free to fill in the above fun facts about yourself and pop it in the comments!