Sims Store Sneak Peak!

Quoted from SimGuruTaterTot!

 bet you guys were waiting for this, right? 
You can handle any heatwave with the new set coming out this Thursday, August 2nd! Can I just say I’m obsessed with the swimwear too? Can’t wait to try them all on! 
Here’s a little peek  
1) Isn't this so adorable?  
More is coming your way!

Giveaway News!

Hey Guys! So as you may know, on Twitter, I've been hinting at a giveaway. Well I have a few copies of Barnacle Bay to give away!

More Details Soon....

New Sims 4 Logo : Thoughts

So guys the Sims Studio released the new Sims 4 logo out to the world and I love the simplistic vision they've used. No more chunky borders and sharpened edges which marks a new era for the series. Instead we've got a slick more contemporary design which updates the old-fashioned Sims 3 logo but keeps some of the basic roots. The smoothed out font an the block colour also looks better than the white text we have now too and is much more appealing and easy in the eye.

They've embraced more blue which could be a hint to the future too... the only thin I would fault is how dark and unsaturated the logo is, but until we see more marketing and artwork from the Sims 4 the colour saturation may just be okay.

Like always they've retained a plumbob and have placed it in a new area for any sims logo; it's new, modern and a change, hopefully they will be the words to sum up the next base game in the future.

Rest In Your Paradise Quxxn

Okay so now I'm going to talk to you personally, no third person, no exclusive pro-nouns...and no past tense when referring to Quxxn's actions because she hasn't gone.

Back in 2009 when The Sims 3 came out, I was hooked, I couldn't get enough of it - I had an addiction. But eventually the series started to bore me (I didn't buy the first two expansions when they came out) and I stopped playing. This year, while scrolling through YouTube I saw Quxxn do a Let's Play (her first University Life) and she re-sparked my love for The Sims 3. She entertains and makes us laugh, she inspires us all and she shows the world that its not all about looks all at the same time.

She opened me to the Let's Playing world, without her there I doubt this site would be here, that goes for many other youtuber's too. She inspires us all and will continue to inspire us for years to come. She makes us happy on days we we're down, even greater on days we we're up and makes us smile during each video. She keeps us giggling during them no-plan afternoons.

Now she's living her own Island Paradise, she's checked into Sparkling Sands, drinking a fresh and fruity at the pool-bar...who knows she might even have a mermaid tail!

Rest In Peace Quxxn.
You'll always be with us.

Interview with Arabella!

Before we begin can I just say, thank you to everyone who have made this site what it is, after one month we've hit nearly one thousand views! And to celebrate one month of SimsTabloid we've upgraded our site house style and logo plus we have a give-away coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

So today I nicely had the chance to interview the newest rising Let's Player - Arabella.

1. How have you reacted to the success you've had on YouTube so far?

Honestly my mind is blown!  I feel so lucky to have had this success. I wonder, why me? Sometimes I feel guilty honestly, sometimes I feel like others deserve it more. All I know is I love my subscribers and the nice comments so much. The bad thing about getting success fast, is that there is a lot of hate coming my way.  I can’t let that stop me though! Youtube has changed my life completely and in the greatest way!

2. Did you ever think you would get where you are so quickly?

Never! Not in a million years! I honestly started Youtube just for fun. I didn't go into it with a mindset that I was going to become popular. I just did my thing and got my name out there and then *boom*. I thought that I would only have 80 or so subscribers by now, I just feel so lucky and so blessed. I have a long way to go though.

3. What did you do when you found out you reached 1000 subscribers?!

I felt shocked. I felt like I was officially an LPer, not just a girl making LP’s. I felt proud and very surprised that people actually like me! I mean I’m a weirdo. I felt the same way when I hit 100 subscribers though, to me that is just so many people!

4. Who has been your favourite character from any of your Let's Plays?

Oooh definitely Meredith Finnigan from my Dragon Valley LP. That was my first Let’s Play and I will always remember her. She is a beautiful fairy that pops out a child every day, and she is super hilarious to make fun of. What’s not to love?

Arabella's favourite Let's Play character - Meredith Finnigan of Dragon Valley

5. Do you have a lets play in mind for after Island Paradise?

Yeah! I was debating over three different ideas. But, I have decided to do a Sims 2 let’s play! I think that that would be very fun. After that I’m doing the time travel EP of course.

6. Are you excited for The Sims 4?

YES YES YES!  I’m so excited I can’t even explain! I am honestly started to get a bit tired of The Sims 3, I am ready for something new and fresh. The most exciting part for me, is finding out what everything will look like! I love change, change is something I embrace. I am so excited, I love surprises and this is going to be an amazing surprise!

7. How hyped are you for the next expansion?

I think it sounds really fun! A lot of people don’t like unrealistic things in the game, but I love it! For me, The Sims is about doing things you could never do in real life; being who you’ve always wanted to be. I think that Time Traveling sounds fun. It sounds a lot more enjoyable than University Life or Open for Business. Just a personal opinion. I’m much more excited for The Sims 4 though.

8. What type of simmer are you?

I think I would describe myself as an “achiever” type. I like to play the game to complete all of the Lifetime Wishes and goals. I am definitely not a builder!

9. Do you prefer to kill or create Sims?

Haha, definitely creating Sims! I love playing with the facial features and the outfits, I love the customization that the game gives you. I definitely don’t mind killing them though...

10. Which expansion pack has been your favourite from The Sims 3?

You are going to think I’m very strange, but my favourite is Pets! I am a complete animal lover and I could never play a family if they didn't have a furry friend. I think that it is essential to the game.

11. What new feature do you want to see in The Sims 4?

That’s a hard one! I want to see three preset heights; tall, average, and short. I would also like to see babies with legs and gameplay similar to The Sims 2.  I want funny animations and Sims you can really get attached to, for me the Sims in The Sims 3 are just so bland! I want to see Sims with more personality, more lovable, and I think  that is what we are going to get!

12. Finally give us something quirky we don't know about you already?

Hmm, I don’t know! I’m just quirky all over, I’m a quirky open book. 😜

Sims 3 Business As Usual Bistro Overviews

Hey Guys! So since I don't have the new venue, I thought it would be handy to have all the Sims 3 Store reviews for the Business As Usual Bistro all in one place for you all.

IpodZeke's Overview

Weealbets's Overview

LifeSimmer's Overview

New Restaurant Screens from The Sims 3 Store

SimGuruAldente (from Sims DE) revealed some new screens and gave some new information on the new store venue which is a run-able bistro. You can hire chefs, set chef job rankings, set food quality and restaurant prices. AAAHH! Sims 3 OFB features are creeping in slowly!

My Opinion : Open For Business for The Sims 3

It's something everyone has requested, an Open For Business type expansion for The Sims 3; while resort management in the latest expansion (Island Paradise) was a close to the style of gameplay we had seen in the Sims 2 business themed expansion, it just wasn't 100%.

I personally have been so angry that we haven't seen business gameplay until now, just because it is such a realistic element that all the producers could really stretch and have fun with. However while I am dying for open for business to come back, I want a good model. I don't want something rushed just to keep the Sims 3 franchise operating until the next base game comes out; and as it is on the store who knows what limitations it could hold. 

Remember that store producers are very limited in what they can do inside of worlds compared to actual expansions that can offer a more diverse range. What I think we will get is a new world that will include premium content that will give us the ability to operate a store, maybe a till and open/close sign. I don't mind just having this, as long as we can open specialist toy shops and bakeries like the original expansion instead of just selling buy mode items.

Whilst I'm pleased for this to happen, I am also very conserved as to whether it will be rushed or limited and by result harming the whole business theme for the Sims 4.

Open For Business?

Hmmm.. there's been a lot of speculation for Open For Business and SimGuruSmitty has just increassed the hype in a new snap of twitter.

What are you doing?? I sure hope you paid for that! #justsomethinimworkingon @SimGuruTatertot pic.twitter.com/gKsx51iKtm

— Lisa Smith (@SimGuruSmitty) July 10, 2013

Interesting it is, it seems that the store team are going to bring us Open For Business...
Developing...

Sims 4 Easter Egg That Was Never Found?

Note : I'm not sure if anyone has discovered this before...but if they have I'm sorry! and if they haven't do you think it was more than just a coincidence? 

Yesterday while watching the University Life let's play by XUrbanSimsX, I noticed a sneaky easter egg that I haven't seen blogged about before! Most know about the blue plumbob figurine that came with The Sims 3: University Life but have they discovered this easter egg?

As The Sims 4 was announced, Yib-Sims got exclusive pictures which then became officially released by EA. One of which being a picture of three sims with three different facial expressions involving the eyes.

As you can see the leftmost sim seems angry/focused, the middle seems shocked/nervous and the rightmost sim looks confused. Notice the two last sims and their facial expressions.

Hmmm..Interesting?

Now look inside the magnifying glass in this picture from University Life, the middle character in the official screens carry the same nervous look as the male character in the magnifying glass. The right most character has the exact same eyebrow expression on her face as the female in the magnifying glass.

Was this a sneaky little trick by EA/Maxis? Or is this a coincidence?

Sims 4 Screenshots / Gameplay

http://thesims4.webege.com/4-07-2013/01.swf is just one of many gameplay animations that have leaked out which may not be live for a while. When playing this supposed intereaction feature of the game, you'll find its quite interesting and unique to any other base games.

Building a relationship using different interactions seems to work on how the sim feels: Sadness, Empathy, Confidence, Anger, Focus, Inspiration and Passion.


To build up one of these feelings inside a sim to unlock different interactions depends on "base" interactions. As in the link above you have to flirt/brag to build up Passion and Confidence for romantic interactions. It's defintely an interesting system.

As you can see, flirting raises the levels of passion in your sim which leads to more success in passionate interactions.

Also in the screen below you can see that above the sim's name that you are interacting with (with a blue plumbob) - there is an "origin lastname" title above the sim name. Could this be a hint to new online features?

Will having Origin become a new requirement?

Finally, in another screenshot, there seems to be a new social chat feature where you can talk to multiple players.

Sims 4 Social Features?

Sims 3 Tutorial - Building Diving Lots In Other Worlds

Our Twitter friend @Weealbert has recently put up a diving lot tutorial on how to build a dive lot in different worlds. He uses Aurora Skies as an example but also states that Sunlit Tides will also work too.

Island Paradise Giveaway!

Weealbet is going an Island Paradise giveaway! Make sure to enter before the time runs out (14th July at 5PM GMT)!

Either comment on the video or tweet him with the hashtag stated in the video to enter!  Make sure to follow him and subscribe for his latest tutorials and lets plays also.

QZJ Round-Up

QZJ was exciting and interesting (as always yesterday). It started off with a celebration as iPodZeke returned and TheSimSupply unveiled his welcome back track to Zeke (you must hear it!). Alexis from SimsVIP also joined as they talked about their opinions on the latest expansion Island Paradise.

All three hosts gave the pack a four and a half rating out of five, Zeke and Alexis missed out half a star due to the bigger focus on building than previous expansions; James missed out half a star due to the bugs and glitches the game still retains (especially in the new Sims world Isla Paradiso).

Quxxn (one of the regular hosts) who couldn't make it, called in and asked a few questions to the guys and in one of her questions, Alexis revealed her hotly anticipated game guide will be released on Tuesday at the latest.

Listen to internet radio with QZJ Talk on BlogTalkRadio

 SimGuruGraham! also phoned in and had a little chat with the group about the latest expansion and he even told James that TheSimSupply Lets Play was his favourite out of the Quxxn's, Zeke's and James'. There was more trivia too, made especially hard by Alexis who admitted that making a game guide and writing trivia questions would never had been a good idea!

Finally some Twitter questions were answered! Even one by ourselves - SimsTabloid. We asked the team if they preferred Island Paradise or Open For Business...you'll have to listen to the pod-cast to hear the answer!

Oh and get well soon Quxxn!

SimGuruGraham Hints to New Sims 4 Features!

If you were to give a Late Night celebrity rating to Graham Nardone (SimGuruGraham) - in the simming community, he'd get a five star rating. He's a likeable guy that's easy to access and approach! On Twitter he was talking to someone about blueprints. The person had asked whether or not there will be a tool where players can create their own blueprints, he replied saying

"It's certainly something we're keeping in mind for the future"

Now he has confirmed he isn't working on the final expansion for The Sims 3 (which is titled Into The Future) - however he has confirmed he is a producer on The Sims 4. Could this be a hint to a new Sims 4 feature?

Question: What new feature do you want to see most in the Sims 4?