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The Urbz: Sims in the City, an EP for Sims 3 (UPDATE: Welcome Late Night! EA you listened!!!)
Simmerd80
Posts: 2,316 Member
Hello Simmers!
Well the title says it all really. If anyone remembers the console game "The Urbz: Sims in the City," then you probably know what my thread is all about, or where I am heading.
Personally I been wanting an urban city expansion pack for our Sims to live in for a while, dating back since Sims 2. I am hoping this thread will catch the eye of the Sims Team and transmit a lightbulb to go off in their heads
.
For those of you who are not familar with "The Urbz: Sims in the City," it was a console game that Maxis (EA) made back in 2004. It wasn't an add on for any of the Sims 2 games but a separate entity all on its own. You created an Urb (a sim), and then picked one of the 9 districts of a large city to live and work in. This game was stragety based, naturally, so your goal was to socialize with other urbz and increase your reputation around the city and its districts to basically become the top dog. All the elements of Sims were still implemented, such as, taking care of your sims/urbz needs, while also trying to complete tasks and help them move up in their lives in the city.
The really awesome aspect of this game was how EA implemented many aspects of a city into it. You had the VIP spots in each district guarded by big bouncer who would not let you in if your reputation or your dresscode did not fit that district. There are all kinds of different socials you can learn according to each district to help you socialize with the sims/urbz from that area. Not to mention, the dresscode! The background decorations were very well done to resemble a busy metropolitian city.
I recently have been reaquainted with the game and I been playing it for several days now and I can't help thinking that if the Sims Team could take some of the concept of "The Urbz: Sims in the City," and turn it into some kind of city pack for Sims 3, it would add countless hours on top of hours of fun ( I just played The Urbz until 6am in the morning yesterday :shock:).
I can only imagine if there was a similar expansion pack for Sims 3, how long of a time I would play. Past 8 hours? 12?
I really want a city expansion pack that would/could incorporate or base a foundation off the concept of "The Urbz: Sims in the City." Maybe instead of 9 districts, it could be 5. Your Sims could start out in the big city or if you have a previous saved family you could transfer (move) them to the city. I would love to see traffic, highways aka spaghetti junctions (crossover highways), and tons of skyscrapers and tall buildings. Of course, I think much of this could be decorative (don't want system overload) minus a road here and a few buildings for apartment living, jobs, VIP Lounge spots, restuarants, rooftop clubs, and all the other major scenery and destinations of a city.
I really trust that the Sims Team could make this a very fun pack, after all some of the members of the Sims Team today had to have worked on "The Urbz."
For those of you who are not familiar with The Urbz, I will post a link to game website where you can read about it. If many of you have an xbox, xbox360, playstation 2, then you can buy this game used from EB Games for under $10 dollars. My husband just got it for me several days ago for only $4.76. We have an Xbox 360 but the Xbox game is compatible. Trust me if you have not played this game before, it is very fun. It takes some getting use to but its very cool!
I just can't get over thinking that something like that for Sims 3 pc would be even better!
Here are the links to learn about the Urbz to get an idea of what I want for Sims 3.
This link tells what the Urbz are: http://urbzsims.ea.com/index_flash.php?intro=skip§ion=Bout
This link is to catch some of the videos of the game: http://urbzsims.ea.com/index_flash.php?intro=skip§ion=Bout#outro
By the way, the clothing and hair styles for the sims in The Urbz game is much better then I have ever ever seen for any of the Sims game and this was made back in 2004!!!!
Sims Team, please take a hint!!!!!
Update: With the annoucement of Late Night, I feel that I had to refer back to this thread I created a long time ago and feel very pleased that either EA listened or that I got my wish!!! I am soooooooo excited!
Well the title says it all really. If anyone remembers the console game "The Urbz: Sims in the City," then you probably know what my thread is all about, or where I am heading.
Personally I been wanting an urban city expansion pack for our Sims to live in for a while, dating back since Sims 2. I am hoping this thread will catch the eye of the Sims Team and transmit a lightbulb to go off in their heads
.For those of you who are not familar with "The Urbz: Sims in the City," it was a console game that Maxis (EA) made back in 2004. It wasn't an add on for any of the Sims 2 games but a separate entity all on its own. You created an Urb (a sim), and then picked one of the 9 districts of a large city to live and work in. This game was stragety based, naturally, so your goal was to socialize with other urbz and increase your reputation around the city and its districts to basically become the top dog. All the elements of Sims were still implemented, such as, taking care of your sims/urbz needs, while also trying to complete tasks and help them move up in their lives in the city.
The really awesome aspect of this game was how EA implemented many aspects of a city into it. You had the VIP spots in each district guarded by big bouncer who would not let you in if your reputation or your dresscode did not fit that district. There are all kinds of different socials you can learn according to each district to help you socialize with the sims/urbz from that area. Not to mention, the dresscode! The background decorations were very well done to resemble a busy metropolitian city.
I recently have been reaquainted with the game and I been playing it for several days now and I can't help thinking that if the Sims Team could take some of the concept of "The Urbz: Sims in the City," and turn it into some kind of city pack for Sims 3, it would add countless hours on top of hours of fun ( I just played The Urbz until 6am in the morning yesterday :shock:).
I can only imagine if there was a similar expansion pack for Sims 3, how long of a time I would play. Past 8 hours? 12?
I really want a city expansion pack that would/could incorporate or base a foundation off the concept of "The Urbz: Sims in the City." Maybe instead of 9 districts, it could be 5. Your Sims could start out in the big city or if you have a previous saved family you could transfer (move) them to the city. I would love to see traffic, highways aka spaghetti junctions (crossover highways), and tons of skyscrapers and tall buildings. Of course, I think much of this could be decorative (don't want system overload) minus a road here and a few buildings for apartment living, jobs, VIP Lounge spots, restuarants, rooftop clubs, and all the other major scenery and destinations of a city.
I really trust that the Sims Team could make this a very fun pack, after all some of the members of the Sims Team today had to have worked on "The Urbz."
For those of you who are not familiar with The Urbz, I will post a link to game website where you can read about it. If many of you have an xbox, xbox360, playstation 2, then you can buy this game used from EB Games for under $10 dollars. My husband just got it for me several days ago for only $4.76. We have an Xbox 360 but the Xbox game is compatible. Trust me if you have not played this game before, it is very fun. It takes some getting use to but its very cool!
I just can't get over thinking that something like that for Sims 3 pc would be even better!
Here are the links to learn about the Urbz to get an idea of what I want for Sims 3.
This link tells what the Urbz are: http://urbzsims.ea.com/index_flash.php?intro=skip§ion=Bout
This link is to catch some of the videos of the game: http://urbzsims.ea.com/index_flash.php?intro=skip§ion=Bout#outro
By the way, the clothing and hair styles for the sims in The Urbz game is much better then I have ever ever seen for any of the Sims game and this was made back in 2004!!!!
Sims Team, please take a hint!!!!!
Update: With the annoucement of Late Night, I feel that I had to refer back to this thread I created a long time ago and feel very pleased that either EA listened or that I got my wish!!! I am soooooooo excited!
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Comments
I am really sorry to bump this but I don't get to be on the forums much and this is the one idea I really want to share with The Sims Team.
I would also love serious feedback from all simmers on what they think of an expansion pack that had city living or city life for our Sims. Especially one that could incorporate the idea of The Urbz, or other similar games.
I would love them to come out with an urban expansion pack as well. I can't comment too much or Urbz through since I've never played it. However I would love my sims to be able to live in apartments with multiple families in the same building. I'm assuming in Urbz you could do that, no? Even if you could not, it still looks cool.
Any way, I also came up with my own idea for a Sims 3 urban expansion pack, if you are interested.
The Sims 3: Simcity Life! My idea for a Sims 3 expansion pack.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/161387.page
Although I doubt it would play too much like Urbz, on the off chance they decided to use it.
Some of your ideas I could work with but I have to be honest that your idea of Sims finding giant humanoid cockroaches from underground sounds a little to sci-fi channel to me. But many of your other ideas about certain career paths could certainly be a part of my vision for a city EP.
I am just looking for a busy metropolitian city with urban to upscale communities typically found in a city. I want to see Skyscrapers and tall buildings. This City pack would pretty much include features like Nightlife, Hotdate, and Apartment Life, since I obviously want an active social life to bring to our sims.
I basically want to take our Sims out of the small towns of Sunset Valley and Riverview and bring them to a realistic metropolitan city for them to live in as an open world.
Happy Simming!!!
Yeah some of the elements of The Urbz I can see being difficult for the PC, but I have great confidence in the Sims Team to create a City dwelling for our Sims that would work for the PC.
After all, they created a whole living world for us to play in, making tall buildings and an active day and night life to go with a city shouldn't be too difficult.
Well, I'm interested in your idea for a Sims 3 "Urbz" expansion pack. But it is kind of vague since I don't know that much about Urbz. I skipped the Sims 2, because I found the first sims game to be too frustrating, so as you can imagine when Urbz first came out, I was not very interested. I only came back to the Sims franchise because I kept hearing that the Sims 3 was supposed to be easier and it looked really impressive. Maybe you should tell us a little bit more about the game Urbz in your own words and why you think it, or something like it would make a good addition to the sims 3. What was it that was so different, than other sims titles? I know for a fact that apartment life let players have sims living in cities. Also although I never played it, from what I hear about Apartment Life, Bella Dona Cove was supposedly a pretty upscale neighborhood. Now I can't say that Urbz is a bad game, since I have not played it, although it looks like it might be fun. Still from what I saw of it, much of the city in that game looked like a slum to me. It didn't look that upscale. Also it looked kind of dark to me as well. I don't remember any day time scenes from the entire trailer.
Anyway, I'm glad that you liked some of my ideas. Even in the incredibly unlike chance that EA, made my "Simcity" into an actually Sims 3 expansion pack, that mutant I came up with wouldn't play that big of a role in it. They have to have some make believe creature in there and that's what I came up with. A lot of people didn't like the idea by the way. so you are not alone.
I've never played URBZ (it seems like it's really promoting the wrong attitudes about city life)... but you've made me curious. I just ordered a game. Thanks for the tip!
Yes, it goes on and on, my friends
Some people started playing it not knowing what it was
And they′ll continue playing it forever just because ...
I played Sims: Castaway on DS. I agree it would have been fun on PC, especially if it was more involved.
The Urbz pretty much stereotypes the different subcultures in our society that you can most often find in a city. Urban living often finds many different types of people of the same culture but with different interests. The Urbz captures that basic essence.
There are 9 districts in the game each representing a particular subculture, like socialites, rockers, bikers, hiphop, skaters, and ect.
The stragety of the game is to fit in with each group and build your reputation in the city to become the top dog. Its very fun and entertaining. My husband and I are both addicted.
The difference with my idea for a city expansion is that I wouldn't mind seeing some of the concept and design that came from the Urbz.
I like the idea of social skills building your reputation among Sims in the city. Your Sim could become well known by other Sims without technically being famous.
I like the idea of the different subcultures. To be honest, these subcultures are already represented in the Sims 3, especially if you look at the hairstyles and clothing offered. Mohawk, bald, hat with bandana and ect.
Another thing I like about the Urbz that I would not mind seeing in a city expansion is the VIP clubs. Each district has a VIP section with a big bouncer guarding the door. Your rep has to be high enough to be allowed in as well as your style of clothes.
The style of clothes could be optional but I like the VIP and rep idea for Sims 3.
As for design and layout of the city. I mostly just want to see a bustling active city that is open 24/7.
Much of the design could be rabbitholes as long as they allow for a few substantial areas that our sims can visit and interact with like:
Rooftop pools, jacuzzis, night clubs ( all on the roof)
Apartments, condos, and penthouses with views of the skyline and buildings (background noise of traffic and people)
Restuarants, shopping centers (I would love a mall that could be half rabbithole and half accessible)
More public transits. Buses and trains.
Private schools for the kids
Butlers
trailer parks, poor areas
Much of my idea would actually incorporate some aspects of Apartment Life, Night Life, Hotdate, and The Urbz. Only it could be much more improved by providing a more city feel. To me this would be fun in an Open world such as the Sims 3.
Imagine having your Sims roam around a bustling city meeting all kinds of different sims and being able to build their rep while working, living and playing in the city.
If the city life is too much, your sims could always chose to live in the few small residential areas outside the city.
Damienf519,
Apartment Life really wasn't a city. More like a little town with a few tall buildings set as props in the background. Keep in mind that with Sims 2, there was no open world to play in, just your home lot and a load screen to visit any community or subcommunity lots from expansion packs.
My idea for a city expansion would incorporate much of the idea of Apartment Life, Night Life, Hot Date, and Urbz.
I am not looking for Urbz to literally become an expansion but to assist the Sims Team for an idea of an expansion of some kind that allowed for urban living.
Please see my response to Anshin. I go into a little more detail of what I am looking for in that response.
I use the Urbz as a semi foundation for the City life because I love the look, style and activities available to the Sims in that game but because it is more of a stragety game and Sims 3 is a free mode game, the two cannot be exactly alike. I am just looking for similar themes which I mention in the other response.
I hope this helps you in seeing my vision. If not let me know and I will go more into detail.
As for the trailers of the Urbz, the game emphasizes a 24/7 social life so its probably just advertising the night scenes the most.
That makes sense, maybe that would explain why it was so dark.
I have to agree with you. The lack of community lot types means that there are few things for your sims to do when they are not working or at home. Its also very difficult to come up with functional Miscellaneous community lots. I am able to compensate for lack of fun community lot diversity somewhat by creating multiple versions of one type of community lot. For example, in Kellog Island, there will be three libraries, three gyms, four fishing hole, in addition to the ponds on some other lots, multiple parks, and multiple beaches. It is even going to have two cemeteries. The town will have a couple of my own unofficial community lot types through, but I won't tell you what they are here. For awhile I thought about using the new community lot types from World Adventures in Kellog Island, but I decided not to, for several reasons.
-still I would like to see an more urban environment in the game as I don't care about the whole suburban thing about the sims.
I always thought it would be cool to have a game map that feature a large city with different districts and a few neighboring cities at the center of the map then have smaller suburban/rural communities/neighborhoods on the outskirt of town.
your sims could choose to live in the city (as a Urb) or the suburbs or a rural town (as a Sim). The city would feature crowded streets, skyscrapers and tall buildings also apartments for rent, high crime, pollution and mass transit.
Renyc7,
I would not want an expansion pack to be exactly like the Urbz but to have some of its best concepts of the game to be reintroduced.
We seem to have the same vision for a city expansion pack. I want the same things. I want apartments, condos, and penthouses that you can rent or buy. Then if you choose to move your sim back to the suburbs they can have an option to sell their condo or rent it out and make some money. This would introduce our Sims to being landlords.
I also like your idea about high crimes but I have modifications to it as I wasn't sure how realistic you were going. To me, the high crimes meant you might get a popup to warn your sim that moving to the city meant a higher rate of burgler theft. Your sim would have the choice to buy the old security alarm or the new more sophisticated and expensive security alarm. I would not want any real life elements of crime to be in the game that is more than burgerly.
I am not sure about pollution but as for mass transit, I would like the use of public buses and trains. If trains or subways are to hard then, they could make it as a background decoration, aslong as they introduce buses.
The tall buildings and skyscrapers are a must must must. I want my Sims apartment view to show nothing but buildings and skylines. I liked that aspect of the Urbz apartments in the game.
And of course have alot of different social activities for our sims to do that are representative of a city and also have some businesses open 24/7.
Right??? I've been waiting 6 years for it to happen. Night Life only touched on urban life...I am really hoping TS3 will get deeper into it. I'm glad people still remember it, it seemed for a while I felt I was maybe one in only 100 that actually knew the Urbz existed...it was barely talked about when TS2 was out.
Yeah, I liked Nightlife for what it added but when I heard of Sims 3 and its new open world, the possibilities of what I imagined became more doable.
I had heard of Urbs but did not have the console to actually play. I recently rediscovered it a little while ago and was actually able to play. I loved it so much and couldn't drop the feeling it would make a great expansion pack for the Sims 3, as it fit into my imaginations.
I too thought that maybe WE citylovers were just a few and that nobody seemed to be wanting what I wanted. I mean I created this thread a long time ago and it only hit two pages. I was like gee, I thought my idea if implemented would be so much fun yet no one seemed to agree. Well I am glad EA agreed and regardless if they ever saw this thread or not, they made my dream come true!
I am so excited. I love the teaser trailer. It really looks like everything I had wanted got implemented somehow. The city looks great! Traffic lights and walking signs and all the buildings, city sounds, nightclubs, VIP access, bouncers, papparazzie...sighs.. I am too happy right now haha.