The Sims 3

While I did enjoy playing around with my little sims in both previous games, I have never been an avid Sims player. I did not buy any of the 15+ expansions that were released for the previous games, and I doubt I will be buy any for this third installment. But that is not going to stop me from ranting a bit about what I see as complete price gouging on the sims3 store.

I might be wrong but I always believed that the sims expansions sold for between 20$ and 30$, and included a lot more than simply a set of furniture or clothes.  So when I go to the Sim3 store before the game is launched and see a 45 piece set of furiture on sale for just under 20$ I am boggled.

If they are already completed why are these simply not included in the base game? Or if you already have enough stuff in the base game, why are these sets not boxed up, priced like previous packs, and sold as a day 1 expansion?

I know the answer. The answer is EA must think buyers are fools and will see a nice dining room set for five dollars and just have to get it. Alas, I think EA is probably right, and many Sims3 players will spend one dollar here and 5 dollars there, simply encouraging EA to continue to charge a lot more for content than they used to.

The free market advocate in me cheers EA, while the gamer on a budget is Screaming as loud as I can at people to Stop being suckered in by “micro” transactions. You were much better off when you bought the content in 25$ lump packs and you are encouraging studios/publishers to extend this micro-transaction / DLC extortion.