You know that you should back your game up before you install any updates or new expansions.
You know it but that doesn’t mean that you always do it and I’m just as guilty as you are.
But, if you have a really great game going and you lose those hours of gameplay, you’ll quickly [and painfully] learn your lesson.
So. How do you go about backing up a Sims 3 game anyway?
This is what you do and it’s pretty painless. MUCH less painful than losing all of your game data.
And, to make it even easier, you get pictures!

Things to remember:

Check to make …read more

It’s Sunday and on Sundays, I like to basically chill out and catch up on TV episodes that I’ve missed from the past week and watch YouTube videos. As you can tell, I live a very exciting life.
When I’m on YouTube, I always search “Sims” or “Sims 3″ to see what new and exciting stuff has popped up. Sometimes it’s good stuff and sometimes it’s utter crap. But, it is YouTube so that’s really the nature of the beast, isn’t it?
Anyway, with World Adventures hitting next week, I’ve been kind of surprised at the lack of World Adventures trailers. But, …read more

I know that a lot of you haven’t purchased Sims 3 yet and with The Sims 3 Holiday Collector’s Edition out and ready for download from the EA Store, now is definitely the time to think about finally biting the bullet and buying the game. Not to mention, World Adventures is hitting store shelves on the 17th.
With the limited edition Holiday Collector’s Edition of Sims 3, you’ll get:

a Sims 2 GB plumbob
a European-styled sports car download
theme music from Sims 3
exclusive Prima Tips and Hints Guide
holiday themed items download

But, I know some of you are still on the fence.
How can Sims …read more

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will be buying World Adventures and I’ll probably be pre-ordering it. Especially since you get free shipping if you order through the EA store. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think.
Then again, I don’t remember the last Sims game I actually bought in a disc version – I generally just download it via EA’s Digital Downloader.
Anyway, the big news [for me] is the release of a couple of Paris screens. China and Egypt are cool, but I was really looking forward to seeing what the creative team was going to do with Paris. …read more

One of the benchmarks of the Sims franchise has always been custom content.
While Maxis has been good about putting out Stuff Packs full of Maxis created goodies, the fan created custom content has tended to exceed what Maxis delivers both in terms of the amount of content and the subject matter – user created content is usually created to fulfill a direct need/request.
Looks like that’s about to change with the announcement of Maxis’s Create-a-World Tool.

With the Create-a-World Tool, Maxis is putting the creation of towns in your hands and will allow you to make anything that your brain can come …read more

When I first started playing Sims 3, I was a bit dismayed by the sparse content with regards to Buy Mode. However, since you can customize just about anything to your heart’s content, I didn’t complain too much.
I saw the Sims 3 Store as a way to pick and choose what extra stuff you wanted in your game without having to go all out and buy a Stuff pack. Let’s all admit it, Stuff packs got a bit out of hand with Sims 2 – it seemed like every other month a Stuff pack was being released.
For the most part, …read more

If you’ve spent any amount of time on a Sims 3 message board the you’ve probably heard of the Awesomemod. The problem with most of these message boards is that they rarely give you link to said Awesomemod and there’s usually lots of talk about how amazing…err…awesome the Awesomemod is but no details are given.
Think of it as a secret club that you’re not invited to but people will discuss around you.
Well, you’re about to be in that secret club. You’re welcome.
First off, what is Awesomemod?
Think of Awesomemod as a huge ass cheat console…sort of.
It fixes annoying crap that EA …read more

What really grinds my gears is when I spend all freakin’ day working on  Eric Northman from True Blood and I can’t  get it right.
The thing is that the “sliders” that come with the default Sims 3 game just aren’t up to par when you’re trying to create a “real” person.
With Alex Skarsgård, he has an odd [though beautiful] face that’s hard as hell the re-create in game and I have been fighting with him for weeks.
Weeks!
I’ll start the game, start on Eric and then get pissed off and stop. I really, really wish that there was a save function …read more

I’ve said before that I’m not overjoyed by the first expansion for Sims 3 – World Adventures – though I am a bit stoked about the France destination. The way I see it is that there is a lot to explore in Sims 3 and adding more content [on the existing maps] would serve me better than adding whole new maps.
I gripe but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I’ll end up getting World Adventures.
The premise of it is interesting and I can already picture Paris in my head with its bistros and China with …read more

BioShock has earned a bit of a cult following amongst even some of the most cynical game fans. Maybe it’s the great story? Maybe it’s the amazing graphics? Maybe, it’s the scary little girls walking around in the dark with butcher knifes?
Whatever the case, BioShock seems to be the game by which other games are compared these days.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before a BioShock fan would create some sort of goody for the Sims 3 and I was right.
These BioShock t-shirts are perfect. They’re crisp, clean and look like you should be able to pluck them out of …read more