Sevens a magic number.

But they should pack as much in to the base game as possible; seasons features, nightlife features, pets features, and of course original features. The EP's could then be completely original ideas - and maybe some remakes of EPs like Superstar and Makin' Magic.

My point exactly... I was actually about to reply to him until yours came up. Thank you for that!

People, again and again, please, Nightlife and Seasons are NOT going to be remakes! Just about all of the elements of each are already in the base game: gardening, fishing, dating, attraction, weather, downtown, etc. Therefore it would be completely nonsensical to remake them. This is great because there can now be room left for newer ideas. And I really hope basic pets will be in the base game to avoid another remake but I have afeeling that because TS3 is so different and we are to focus on the new gameplay and style, pets would just be way too much. OFB and BV are definitely possible remakes, as well as SS and MM. With Pets, that would be 5 possible EP's for TS3. If there were to be 7, that would only mean that 2 of them would be new ideas and that is not happening. So, I am thinking that some of these remakes will have to be parts of new ideal EPs, such as Pets being part of a Zoo EP. University needs not be remade, as it is something that can easily be in the base game. It's not successful enough to be remade anyway.

As Sally said above, that ain't gonna happen. I'm not even going to try to fathom your assumption that people of different ethnicities have genetically-determined personalities because of their race, but you have to think like EA here. Imagine the outrage, even lawsuits, when, say, Chinese people are included but not Japanese. No, what's more likely is that CAS will be more conducive to making unique sims, a function that lends itself to usermade races.

Yes, like the so-called Asian-ness slider that is going to be in the game. That's an example. Besides, let's face it, aside from the fact that this game was indeed invented in the U.S., it kind of has to have a main focus on the modern lifestyle. At least in TS2 we have had plenty of cultural outfits and even some cultural music. So I am sure that it will continue.

I agree that it would be cool if we could make generic ethnicity groups of Sims and not specific nationalities as it would be way too many to have to include. It could work like this: Sub-Saharan African (the black descendants); North African (the non-black descendants like Egypt and Morocco, etc.); Latino (Mexico and Central/South America); Middle Eastern (Arabs and others); European (Slavic, Scandinavian, Celtic, Roman, etc.), Southeast/Pacific Asian; The orients of Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.); Native American; Indians of India; Interracial; and whatever else I forgot. But that would be the fairest way to have ethnicities because these are just the generic groups and not specific nationalities. Nationalities are just way too detailed and there are so many that it would be easy to leave one out and have people complaining about it. But you also can't just say "white" because white is basically any European descendant, including Spain and Portugal. I can tell that Maxis did try to do this in TS2 by the face templates but it was never specified in the game what they were. So I think they should be specified in TS3 to make it easier for us who don't know all the group types.

But NOT have each ethnicity group have special skills and personality, Black Barook. That is just not necessary for a game like this and it is way too risky for EA to even think about doing that. It can indeed be looked at as discrimination. Just like EA will never ever have where Sims can dislike/like other Sims for being of this or that ethnicity. That would basically be promoting racism. The game is T-rated and must not be controversial in any way. Do you understand now?

I think some of the stuff we got from EPs in Sims 2 should be included in the base game of Sims 3. Mainly seasons and a downtown area with resataurants, shops etc.

err... niceness is a personality stats
charisma is a skill(at least this applies to sims 2)

still, dosen't sound as a very cool ep...
maybe if it would be a TS3 vacantion EP pack where you could go to an asian village(takemizu?) and there would be asian sims, or a desertic place w/ arabian sims would be a lot cooler... would be even cooler if that sims could have some special bonuses if you marry/move in them(like an asian sim knows to make sushi and bowl of rice, and can learn others...)

Black Barook, No race should have a plus or minus to stuff. That's racist in a way, just like saying all the african-american sims and hispanic sims will have lazy as a trait, and all the white sims will be hard-working athletic. But I do agree that it should be culturally diverse in the game, just as sims 2 was, perhaps even more.

The thing about a Culture EP is that "culture" is such a broad term - who to include, who not to include? As frankie said, people would be bound to be upset about having theirs left out, and there's also a risk that people whose cultures were included would be offended at being looked at as an "exotic other." It's just not a feasible idea.

And anyway, if you want to use country- or culture-specific items, there are plenty available in custom content.

Maybe EAxis could include little cultural updates in every EP, like they did so far. Like add asian elements once, next time add arabic/middle-eastern elements, another time add african, or even eskimo stuff. This time maybe they could expand the theme a little, and add more than just clothing and some arhitectural elements, maybe specific foods, furniture, plants, means of transportation, pets, greetings. Just an idea. I'd like myself to have some more elements in game, sometimes it does get boring to have everyone living the same type of life.

Well, I guess I could see recoloring something as to make it seem more of something, but I don't think the sims 3 will have hardcore modding tools that will allow complete item creation. Another problem with custom content is that it typically deters some people from downloading lots if made for upload. Also, some of us don't like CC in general. It isn't the item you download that says how good of an interior decorater you are, it's how you use the items your given. That's why I don't like to enter house challenges here.

BTW... I don't think Asians got mad from asian stuff being in the sims 2. Nor did hawaii natives did over the tiki stuff. No one got mad when christmas and jewish stuff was available for download in the sims 2 exchange. So you're "people would get offended from getting left out or being seen as exotic" is a BS excuse to leave out foreign cultures from a general culture EP or from cultures being included into other EPs, as said above

The only problems that could occur from including foreign cultures into a EP or several EPs is if you include racial bias (including more asian stuff then persian stuff, for example), show political bias (have pictures of political figures, for example), or show religious stuff in general (I.E.... don't have bibles and holy symbols of any religon directly.)

Edit: Good idea, guy above me!

Eh. Just my opinion.

I know, and I respect it. Sorry if I seem like a douche BTW ^~^; Im arguementative today

Oh no, it's okay. I get what you're saying, and I definitely agree about the religion thing.

And notice how long my list of ideas were as far as race and what not goes? And I tried my hardest to generalize as much as possible, so imagine if it got down to the specifics. It would be endless! In just one continent alone would exist too many nationalities. I actually would like to see more cultural clothing however like hijabs (?). I have been wanting to make Middle Eastern Sims for the longest but have some of the females wear hijabs to pretend they are Muslim just for the look because it's something different. But the ones that are known at MTS2 are only for adults/elders and I want them to be updated for children and teen. So it would be nice to add these to TS3 at some point because I am sure they will be useful to plenty of cultural-friendly players like myself. Actually, EA made their first and only Sims from India in the Seasons EP. The one in the family bin where it is a male Sim and his wife. The names seem Indian. So it is nice that they do try to mix some culture in the game. They just have to do it carefully. Making them to be exotic could be offensive to some because it would be saying that the "main" people are Americans. It just takes careful planning.

Black Barook, maybe there won't be a cultural EP but there could easily be a cultural Stuff Pack. That would still be better than nothing, wouldn't it?

I'm sure it's a difficult challenge for them to make the game and not make it appeal to only Americans as I'm sure most of the people working on the game (AFAIK) are American. The game though is played and loved by people all of the world and they have to appeal to a very large audience. I love having the variety of cultures in the game. It's one of the reasons I like the Bon Voyage expansion. It gave us 3 unique cultures to experience with our sims that's different from the Suburban American lifestyle.

I agree! Now my question is... say, we have a BV remake... what with TS3 now being a game with contiguous lots, how would vacation destinations come to play? Since everyone is aging with you and doing things on their own without your control, how would this be possible with destinations that are supposed to be a flight away? I am confused.

A BV remake is almost definite, in my opinion. They could not possibly put in BV features in the base game, could they? Unless they put an airport in that small town.

Anyways, I want Free Time stuff in the base game. More instuments, electronics (a DJ booth in base game please), and of course--the hobbies! If they do...I'm buying TS3.

Yes, rather than having to make another Hobbies EP for TS3, most of it should be in the base game. Just like Pets. I hope Maxoids are reading this so that they can take notes. I would much rather have as much as they can crammed into the base game to leave room for new ideas. I'm getting a bit tired of remakes.

So we basically want everything in this base game except for Pets and BV, 1306?

Neema - Oops, I missed Pets. Yeah, I might like Pets in the base game. But I said it's kinda unlikely how BV can be in the base game. That'll add a gigabyte or more for the minimum requirements for the game (and just a wild guess, the requirements are massive). Add a town that might take you a week (or less than that if you're a hardcore gamer ) to explore.

I could see a rabbit whole airport to whisk you off to your destination. I don't know about aging though. Maybe aging would jut stop for everyone while on vacation. I could also see a loading screen or movie (while loading) to watch while your being whisked off to the new destination. The only thing though, if the kids go back when they're adults, you'd have the issue where the island hasn't aged, but the kids have. There would have to be some kind of aging.

Yes, it's a very complex thing to have BV because of the destinations having to be "far away" from the main 'hood. Therefore, a loading screen may have to be necessary just for this case and still continue with the contiguous lots in the vacation neighborhood. And so if this is so, aging will have to be turned off to avoid any complex issues.

They need EPs to make so players don't get bored. Think about it... it's always so exciting when you get a new EP...less it turns out to be a bad EP... *shakes fist as Pets EP* Bad EP! *hit it with a rolled up newspaper*

To be honest, I'd rather have less expansion packs, and more in the base game. The basics of Seasons and Nightlife should most deffinitely be in the original base game. Same could be said for pets, but I for one wouldn't be too fussed unless they made them much more interesting. I wouldn't mind skipping out on pets this time round. I don't see how many new, exciting ideas for EP's they can come up with, but I would personally prefer only having a few expansion packs, that are really high quality, released less often than every 6 months. Maybe one new EP a year, no remakes (since the major remakable stuff should be in the basegame). But, this is EA, and they're bound to milk TS3 just as much as they have with TS2.