User blog:LostInRiverview/The Sims 4? I thought we just started on The Sims 3!?

I think it's a little outrageous that, after only 2 expansion packs, there is already talk on The Sims 4 about a brand-new game. I want to take a few moments to explain why I'm a little peeved by this.

The Sims was released in 2000, The Sims 2 in 2004, and The Sims 3 in 2009. By that pace, we will not see The Sims 4 until at least 2013 or 2014. It's 2010, and we have just had the second TS3 expansion and are awaiting the 2nd stuff pack. Remember that TS had seven expansions, and TS2 had eight, as well as a handful (I don't know how many, I think nine) of stuff packs. By this pace, expect at least eight expansions and a similar number of stuff packs. My point - The Sims 4 is a long long long way off! So far in the future, in fact, that we have absolutely no information on what this game will be like, what will be in it, or anything! We have absolutely no clue, because the project, if it has started (which I believe it has) is so young, there simply are no answers yet to these questions.

Besides this discussion occurring about two years too soon, it occurs when the life of TS3 is still beginning, so to speak. If you venture to The Sims 4/predictions, you'll see a whole bunch of thinly-veiled hopes and suppositions; little more than a list of things they hope are in a new game, or else things they think will be in the game (which, again, we will not know for some time). The reason this bugs me a little bit is because, simultaneously, we have people throwing around suggestions or hopes for new TS3 expansions here, at the TS3 website, and on other fansites. Some of these ideas being proposed for TS4 - can't they be used as a suggestion for TS3? Are there still not (probably) six expansion packs left for TS3? Can't we channel some good and unique ideas into this game while we still have it? Do we really need to ditch TS3 so soon?

A little off-topic here, I have to rant a bit about pets. I hate pets, and I've never liked pets. To some people, they want their families to have cats or dogs, but I really couldn't care less - it's too much of a hassle for me. So it's frankly very disappointing when EA produces pet-centric expansion packs - I don't want to get a carbon-copy of The Sims: Unleashed or The Sims 2: Pets! If you're going to produce a Pets-themed expansion, at least include some other material. Maybe allow families to own livestock? Maybe Sims can own chickens and harvest their eggs (for food or for sale)? But let's be a bit creative and hope for something more than just a new Pets.

I say that this community, and the game developers at EA are more than creative and capable enough to produce good-quality games without having to repeat the past. I don't like magic, I don't like vacations, and I don't like dating; I really don't want to continue to receive expansions focused just on these things. I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but I really wish people would stop getting hung up on the same things - ask for a little variety, please!

My feeling is that if there were expansions for it previously, it should have been brought into the main game. In some cases here they succeeded; Cars exist in the TS3 base game, for example. Perhaps if TS4 really is coming as soon as some people hope, it will automatically include community favorites (pets, weather, vacations, dating, and magic to name a few).

So, to wrap this up; The Sims 4 is still years away! Instead of looking blindly toward a future game, let's please try to come up with some good ideas and content for the game we have now (and the forthcoming expansions).

Leave a comment below and I promise I won't chew your head off! What do you think of the discussion regarding TS4? What do you want to see in TS3 expansions - what don't you want to see?

Thanks for reading!