The first Stuff pack is called Design and Hi-Tech Stuff and according to Snooty Sims, the pack is a 10th Anniversary pack that’s going to included the vibrating heart-shaped bed, the electric guitar and the aquarium from past games.

This is what the UK website description says [I'm including it here since it's hard to read on the screengrab and I know how you guys hate clicking links]:

Transform your Sims’ homes into sleek, edgy apartments with The Sims 3 Design & High-Tech Stuff.There’s a host of new items for your most lived-in rooms, including slick gadgets for your high-tech study, a next-gen gaming system for the killer game room and modern furniture for the most contemporary living room. Now your Sims can give their homes an ultra-modern makeover!

The Sims 3 Design & Hi-Tech Stuff requires The Sims 3 or The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition to play.

Keep in mind that Feb.5th is the announced release date for the UK and I can’t find any US info at the moment. When I find US info, you’ll be the first to know.

Image|Screengrab

Post from: Sims Gamer

Now that I’m actually reading the screenshot, I’m noticing the “coupon code”: 6zzoqed9g and I don’t know if that’s a unique code for each email or if that’s just the $10 off code. If it’s a unique code then I guess whoever uses it first will be happy. Like I said, I won’t be using it.

The “sale” ends on the 19th – next Saturday – and if you’re buying The Sims 3 for a Christmas gift then you better get cracking.

And on a related subject, if you were planning on using the $10 off code to buy The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition from the EA Store, you’re out of luck since they’re sold out – Amazon.com is still selling it.

Image|Screengrab from email

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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!

ComputerOS (C:)

Click Program Files

Find the Electronic Arts File

Right click on the Sims 3 file folder.

COPY the file to your Desktop

Things to remember:

• Check to make sure that you have enough space on your computer to make a copy of your game BEFORE you try to backup the game.
• If you compress the file to a zip, choose “Best” under Compression Method.
• If you compress the file to a RAR, choose “Best” under Compression Method and click “Create solid archive”.
• You can also choose the “Sent To” option and send the backup to a USB flash drive.
• These screens were taken on a Vista system. If you use XP, what you see might be different.
• If you screw everything up, it’s not my fault and you’re doing this at your own risk. Don’t send me nasty emails.

Images|Mine. All mine…except for the Sims 3 logo which belongs to EA

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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 3 be better than Sims 2 – a game you’ve known and loved since 2004?

Well, now EA is giving you an online taste of Sims 3 in the form of SimSocial.

This web based game will give you an idea of what it’s like to create a very basic Sim in Sims 3 and assign character traits and a lifetime wish/goal.

There’s even a Facebook app of SimSocial if you can’t get enough of that kind of thing.

While I don’t know if SimSocial will tip the proverbial scale for someone who is sitting on the Sim 3 fence, the game is definitely a nice way to kill some time while you’re waiting for your popcorn to get done popping.

Image|screen grab

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Maybe it’s because we’re not “real” gamers or because we spend our time micromanaging computer generated people, but I for one know that I get my fair share of flack from people when they hear that I write for a Sims blog. My favorite is, “Oh. So you don’t write for a real gaming site?”

Nice.

My husband has this habit of surfing College Humor while he drinks his coffee in the morning. He’s supposed to be working but I won’t tell if you won’t.

Anyway, he sent me a link to a Sims related comic strip of sorts on College Humor and I had to share it with y’all.

I read through it and laughed my butt off. Sometimes it’s good to laugh at yourself – especially when it’s true.

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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, the Sims 3 Store has served me well.

I’ve picked up a couple of cute hairstyles and a few shirts and dresses that I thought would look fetching on whatever Sim I was working with at that time.

But one thing really bugs me about the way the store is set up – the search functionality.

While there is a “Sale” tab where you can find items that have been discounted, there is no way to search for exclusively free items. And you know, when I’m short on Sims Points, I don’t want to have to go through each and every category in the hopes of finding a free item; there are a lot of categories!

Would it really be such a pain to add a “Free” tab under the “Sale” tab?

Image|EA

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They don’t cause too much trouble…well…just don’t count levitating the fridge…and they come in all of these pretty colors. I didn’t think much of it until I saw this video that shows how the ghosts got their colors.

• Starvation: purple
• Drowning: blue with water dripping
• Fire: Orange with flames
• Electrocution: yellow with lightning bolts
• Old Age: Grey

Now, instead of looking at my ghost Sims like [sometimes] bothersome trumped up lawn ornaments, I actually feel a little bit bad for the transparent ghosties.

And then, because it came up as a related video, I watched this one entitled “Sims 3: New Ways to Kill Off your Sim Once You Get Bored”. Before you get too upset with the video, IT’S A JOKE. If I see one “that’s not how it really is in the game”, I just might burst into flames and become an orange ghost.

Watch the video and laugh at it because it IS funny if you’re not taking yourself too seriously.

Image|EA

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If you read the description of these patternable and recolourable Sims 3 plates, you’ll see what I mean.

There are 46 different patterns for these plates [that I counted] and you can recolor the plates themselves until you’re blue in the face. You can download the plate patterns separately and/or in any combination that you want or you can opt to download everything at once. Don’t make the mistake that I made and download everything individually, only to get to the bottom of the list of zip files and realize that there is an ALL zip file.

I just tested these in-game and they look absolutely great. When it comes to the plate specific patterns, there is a small plate icon on the plate patterns so that you don’t end up trying to use one of the patterns for a bedspread or something like that.

Images|BabaYaga

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I really didn’t see much of a point since I still thought that the intro movie was novel and what’s wrong with just hitting the spacebar?

And then I started creating custom content and having to reload my game time after time and you know what? Those intros get down right annoying. REALLY annoying.

The No Intro hack won’t get rid of the load screens. But, it will take you right to the load screen and believe it or not, that really does shave off a good deal of time.

So, if you get as frustrated at the intros as I do then I highly suggest that you download the No Intro Hack.

Image|Son of Groucho

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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 didn’t think to fix or maybe just didn’t want to fix. It’s a like a whole bunch of mods all wrapped into one.

You can turn off the nudity censor, you have a slider hack that you can enable that allows you to under and over slide sliders for the face and body. You can make your Sims 3 Sims age like they are in Sims 2. There are a bunch of goodies – trust me.

To download Awesomemod, CLICK HERE and you’ll be taken to where you download the mod. Read the instructions and you should be good to go. The install is pretty straight forward.

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