After technical issues prevented them from showing footage from Sims 3 University Life during the live broadcast on Valentine's Day, the team behind the game has released a producer walkthrough for the expansion. It's a nice little video, a six-minute demonstration of some of the new features in the expansion wrapped up as a story about three different Sims, as long as you ignore the advert for another expansion (look what your University town will look like if you buy Sims 3 Seasons!) and imperative to pre-order (look at this cool item! Only available if you pre-order). Here's some of what we get to see:
Sims working on their laptops while sat on the grass. Will this be a feature for all Sims, or only available in the University town?
Sims taking selfies with their cellphones.
Dumpster diving. I have no idea why any Sim would want to do that, but it's not entirely new; Investigator Sims can already rifle through trash in the search for evidence.
A new trait – “irresistible” – which sounds a lot like a souped-up version of the already existent “lucky” trait.
Graffiti! And it looks like you can be arrested for it.
Energy drinks, for the late-night gamer.
An aptitude test that can net your Sim a scholarship for university.
A moving van to take them to university. Presumably their parents don't drive them in and leave tearfully.
A variety of places to live while at university: co-ed dorms, sorority and fraternity houses, off-campus apartments and houses.
Roommates! Lots of opportunity for clashing personalities to cause difficult relationships.
An old “creeper” who is “taking his time through college”. Nice and judgmental.
A “campus-wide meet & greet”, which apparently takes place at the beginning of a new term and will allow students to get prepared and meet their professors.
Social networking as a whole new skill. This involves building up cred with the different social groups – jocks, rebels, and nerds – and can be tracked on your Sim's cellphone.
Candy machines, which can apparently crush a Sim who tries a little too hard to get them to give up their bounty.
Those beds that unfold from the wall, which can also apparently crush your Sim.
Various academic objects: some kind of electrical zapper, a skeleton, a microphone (presumably for Communications students to record a radio show), and a sketchpad (which can be used for sketching nudes).
Protests, which already exist in normal Sims towns but will presumably be more frequent among students (as seems to be the case in real life!).
A comic shop that also has rows of computers for gaming (though sadly probably not LAN parties).
A report card, which may or may not actually feature in the game since it just pops up on screen briefly during the video.
Blogging! My Sim-me gets more and more realistic by the day.
Art appraiser as a new career.
Plant Sims! We haven't had much info on these besides this one brief glimpse, but just the knowledge they're in the game will be enough to draw in many Sims 2 fans. Clever, EA. Very clever.
