I\'ve had a break from playing my Sims. I can\'t remember when I have had such a long break from not playing the Sims 1/2 or 3. I just can\'t get into the Sims 3 as I could with it\'s predecessors. I like the Sims 3 but just not as much. I guess much of this has to do with player control. I do like to have control over my own neighbourhood, I feel this is the biggest let down in the Sims 3. I have found the best way for me to play is to turn off all the aging, but I like how Sims can progress in their jobs and life in the game, so I get mixed feelings about how I want to play my game. When I play with all the aging and story progression on I constantly find new families popping up and old one have gone. I feel this is a bit too realistic for me. Quite often opportunities are lost because the family are no longer in the game. The constancy of having the same families around in the neighbour is reassuring and for me fun as it was in the Sims 2.

I expect I will get the new Stuff Pack due out next month. I will continue buy EP\'s and SP\'s for the Sims 3 while my interest in the game continues. There are lots of things I like in the Sim Store but the one thing I won\'t be doing is buying points to get them. This makes me feel sad really as I like having extra things in the game. I feel that the Store stuff is overpriced. I know there is the argument that you can buy just what you want instead of getting lots of stuff in an SP that you don\'t want but for me the downloading and re-installing downloads when starting a completely new game is time consuming and frustrating. This was never a problem in the Sims 2. It was easy put CC into the game or take it out.

Where I used to have so much fun playing the Sims 2 and going on the BBS to chat about my finds and share stuff I feel that I just don\'t want to do this with the Sims 3. After my foray into making a story it just took so much effort that it has put me off of doing it again. I may take up where I left off with the story if I feel like continuing with it. I feel so much \"fun\" has gone from the Sims 3. I wish I could put my finger on why this has happened, as the game is not bad, it\'s just not like it\'s predecessors.  

In my previous blog I had posted a slideshow of things I had found in my game. When I was told by a dear friend that one of the images did not show up I went over to Photobucket to see why. The image had been deleted because it had violated their terms and conditions. I was dumbfounded as I would never post anything I thought would violate their terms and conditions. So what was this Sims 3 snapshot I had posted in Photobucket to cause them to delete it. It was of a Sim taking a Sponge Bath in the sink. There wasn\'t anything to see because the censor blur in the Sims 3 masked it all!

I was thinking are the Sims 3 so lifelike that they thought it was of a real person? lol! I don\'t know. Maybe there were other reasons for them removing the image. It would have been nice to know why though.

I was looking through my picture library of the Sims 3 and some of the funnier moments and glitches that had occurred in my game.

Before the first patch you would often see toddlers out on their own. I captured this sequence of events as I saw this toddler making her way back home to her single parent father in Riverview. Of course before the first patch all the families in the town were spawning babies to single parents all over the neighbourhood, lol!

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x160/RozeeS_photos/Babies%20Night%20Out/?action=view&current=744da42a.pbw

Here also is a short slideshow of some of the things I found amusing or that happened in my game without any direction from me. They certainly brought a smile to my face.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x160/RozeeS_photos/Fun%20Finds%20in%20the%20Sims%203/?action=view&current=fd04cfbe.pbw

I\'m still exploring all the tombs in the Sims 3 WA. My husband bought me the Prima WA guide for Christmas. I didn\'t realise that there was a small guide to some of the tombs in it, but I will continue to make my story of tomb raiding.

It\'s at this time of the year that I miss weather in my Sims 3. It was nice to play the Sims 2 and have it snowing outside and receive a visit from Santa or Father Time when playing the game at this time of the year. Our Sims could warm up with a hot chocolate, tomato juice or by a cosy fire after making a snowman or having a snowball fight.  They could also go for a dip in the Hot Tub! That is one item I really miss in the Sims 3.

I\'m predicting that the next EP for the Sims 3 will be Pet themed. I have thought it would be that for sometime as all the clues appear to be there. I\'m wondering if we shall see some other kind of animals too after noticing what appeared to be rats swimming around in the ponds in WA! lol!

I\'m hoping for a Superstar EP for the Sims 3. A Tinsel Town to visit in the same way our Sims go on vacation in WA. With all the updated graphics I would think that themes such as recording a song, making a video or film, as they had in the Sims 1, would be fantastic in the Sims 3. I love the music in the game.

I\'m off to have a practice on my new band pack for Guitar Hero. I\'m not any good but it\'s real fun, so my Sims will have to take a back seat for a day or two!

A happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 to you all. Rozee