The Sims is unlike any other game brand in existence. While most find success by focusing on delivering a fun, exciting experience, The Sims excels not by being fun — which it typically isn’t — but from its uncanny ability to be fascinating on a humanistic level.

Like most of Will Wright’s games (SimCity, Spore, etc.), The Sims eschews the traditional need for linear progression through a series of tasks in a static game world. Instead, players are given an impressive set of tools to create characters, objects and environments and watch as life unfolds. It’s a formula for resounding commercial and critical success, and it still works as well as it did twenty years ago. But almost all of Wright’s games were built for computers, which carry with them the expectation of a greater commitment of time and effort on the part of the player.

Adapting The Sims to the iPhone, then, was no easy feat from a technological or a design standpoint. On iPhone, The Sims 3 is an impressive example of shrinking a massive game down to phone-size proportions without losing most of the elements that gave the series its clout: the requisite customizable characters, charming set pieces and robust decision-making aspects are all retained from its flagship PC release. But it is the very fact that so much from the original release was crammed into such a minuscule and difficult interface that makes The Sims 3 almost impossible to recommend.

The game thrives on an abundance of opportunities to assert your Sim's personality.

Portable games are typically only successful if they are structured to accommodate short play sessions that can be interrupted by phone calls, texts, or a particularly aggressive bus driver. But ask anyone who’s sat down at a computer with a copy of The Sims, and — after some prodding — they’ll sheepishly recount that time they saw a half-hour play session turn into a six-hour marathon without even thinking to check the clock.

The payoff of watching your choices affect your Sims in both planned and unexpected ways fosters empathy and engagement, which is where the real enjoyment of The Sims has always come from. Recognizing such marathon sessions weren’t plausible for the average phone user, Electronic Arts instead streamlined Sim creation and implemented an overarching goals checklist, ranging from rudimentary (“befriend a Sim”) to lascivious (you can guess what “WooHoo eight times in one day” alludes to) and utterly bizarre (“Use everyone’s shower at least once”). These objectives allow for quick gratification and are well-tailored to the humor of the series.

Your Sim has his or her own cache of deep desires, largely dictated by the archetype you assigned to him/her.

These goals help guide players through an experience that’s digestible in small bursts on a mobile phone, but they also emphasize the lack of value for Sims fans hoping to take the more chaotic, open-town experience of The Sims 3 on the road with them. For better or worse, The Sims 3 is a much more rigid experience on iPhone.

Yet despite all that, The Sims 3 would have still been fairly easy to recommend if it weren’t utterly crippled by one of the most unfriendly camera control schemes in a major iPhone game. Attempting to pan, rotate and zoom the camera is stunningly counter-intuitive. When a game like The Sims relies so heavily on maintaining a good vantage point on the action, it quickly moves from being an annoyance to an absolute deal-breaker.

It’s a shame that such an impressively robust adaptation of a beloved PC game is hindered so thoroughly by a relatively minor grievance. With any luck EA will update the game with improved camera controls, but until then, everyone but the most dedicated of Sims fans should steer clear.

A copy of The Sims 3 was provided for review by Electronic Arts. As of publication, The Sims 3 is available for $6.99. (iTunes link)

Recommended for:

• Established Sims fans who can tolerate the frustrating controls and limited design

Not Recommended for:

• Newcomers to The Sims, who will be off-put by its limited scope and relatively unfulfilling goal-driven structure
• Its unacceptably haphazard and continually frustrating camera control scheme

Read our policy on reviews here.

Based purely on what’s been shown today, and assuming things go to plan:

The Sure-fire Big Winner: Xbox Live

Direct download capability for 1080p movies and Xbox 360 games; an expanded Netflix lineup; Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter tie-ins to come in the fall; and a whole host of exclusive downloads and DLC content for games coming this year. That $50 a year spent on an Xbox Live gold account keeps looking better and better, and regardless how the games turn out, what you’ll be able to do with the system grows and grows.

Most Important Announcement: Microsoft’s Project Natal

It's waggle, Jim, but not how we're used to: Microsoft's Project Natal could well be the biggest announcement at E3 2009.

We knew it was coming. It may even have been shown a year ago, before Microsoft acquired the company responsible for the technology. But actually seeing Project Natal — Microsoft’s code name for its controller-less motion control device — was very stunning. Sure, some of the tech demos displayed (a ball kicking/punching/heading game, motion to control the Xbox dashboard) were a bit hokey…but they showed a level of motion-recognition that was very tight and reactive. The big deal was Lionhead Studios (publishers of Fable 2, Black and White and many other games) and the tech demo they created where players could interact with a schoolboy named Milo. To say it encroached on the uncanny valley is an understatement; if it’s what the video demonstration billed it to be, it’s less a game and more interacting with a legitimate AI character. Absolutely stunning.

To say that Microsoft could capitalize on the market the Nintendo Wii has pioneered while also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as an interactive activity with Project Natal is an understatement. The potential is there; whether it comes to fruition in the final form will be interesting to see.

Nothing’s Shocking: The surprises that…well…didn’t.

• Hideo Kojima taking the stage during the Microsoft press conference (accompanied by a “!”) to announce Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which will feature Raiden.
• Bungie is working on something other than Halo 3: ODST in the Halo universe — Halo: Reach.
• EA Sports is adding a mixed martial-arts game, EA Sports MMA, to its roster.
• Brütal Legend is going to kick everybody’s ass. Hard.
• Sequel-tastic: Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, Metal Gear Solid…and plenty more from EA and Ubi.

The Day and Date Club: Games that made a great first impression.

Here comes the sun: The Beatles: Rock Band broke cover brilliantly today at E3.

• The Beatles: Rock Band. After months of speculation, teases and being under wraps, the game was finally revealed today. It was a hell of a start to Microsoft’s press conference.
• Forza Motorsport 3. Another game that had lived under cover until now showing its head, and it is looking good as well. Especially innovative could be the game’s replay editor – if the Turn 10 spokesman was being truthful during the demonstration today, it could yield spectacular results.
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. Site editor Aaron Thayer was particularly enamored with this game’s combination of stealth and action. The lighting system and revamped hide-in-the-shadows gameplay along with the extremely visceral action is a tantalizing prospect for this fall.
• Brütal Legend. The metal Zelda. Tim Schafer’s (well deserved) golden ticket-in-waiting.
• Honorable mentions: Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Alan Wake.

We’ll be sure to have more for you tomorrow after Nintendo, Sony and a host of others make their presentations and the show floor opens.

This was me, 24 hours ago. Please excuse the tardiness with the update.

Hoo boy. Medicine sure is a fun thing, isn’t it? After recovering from liberal applications of medication and sleep to combat a particularly nasty sinus infection, things have returned to normal – including posting the news. And news there is to be posted!

Xbox Live membership has risen to more than 20 million users as the Xbox 360 has moved past 30 million consoles sold worldwide.

Microsoft announced today that it has hit a pair of milestones with the Xbox 360 console: 30 million systems sold worldwide, and 20 million individual users on its Xbox Live service. In the release, Microsoft attributed some of the growth to the New Xbox Experience dashboard overhaul that was launched last fall, saying that new membership numbers have gone up 136 percent since its debut in November. That led Microsoft to earn more than $14 billion on console sales, in addition to almost a billion pieces of content (both paid and free) downloaded via Xbox Live.

A pair of pieces from Electronic Arts ahead of E3. First, the company’s lineup of games for E3 2009 was announced yesterday. Lots of expected titles are on the list — including Mass Effect 2, Brütal Legend, a pair of Need for Speed titles and the full host of EA Sports products. Of course, the list doesn’t include any surprises or E3-specific announcements, but does show that, yes, EA is still gigantic.

Secondly, one of the games that’s going to be on the E3 show floor for Electronic Arts is The Sims 3 – and it’s actually going to be released during the week of E3, too. That hasn’t stopped the Internet from doing what it does best, though – downloading a leaked pirate copy of the game more than 180,000 times already. However, apparently EA got the last laugh with the pirates: “It’s not the full game. Half the world — an entire city — is missing from the pirated copy,” EA spokesman Holly Rockwood told Bloomberg.

On June 9, you too can rock out like Iron Maiden in Rock Band.

Lastly, some quick pieces of news to wrap things up:

• YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Iron Maiden is finally getting more songs in Rock Band. A dozen classic tracks from the heavyweights of English metal including “Number of the Beast,” “Aces High,” and “Run to the Hills” will be available on June 9.
• The world apparently needs more kart racers, and Sega is going to satisfy that need: Sonic and Sega All-Stars has been announced, and it will feature racing action starring characters Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Dr. Robotnik, Samba (of Samba de Amigo fame) and more. The game will come to the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS in 2010.
• A new Microsoft Zune has been announced — featuring a built-in HD radio, wifi access, a full-screen Internet browser, and syncing with Xbox Live. More details are sure to surface next week at E3.

And finally, because we love you:

Also, the two-hour season finale of Lost didn’t help much.

Hurley certainly isn't happy with the lateness of this post

Thankfully, it seems, Wednesday was relatively calm as far as news goes: DICE learned from its console prejudices, Blizzard reaffirmed its next MMO is not World of Warcraft: Part Deux and Microsoft bolstered its Platinum Hits collection.

Expect these explosions to somehow be more "hardcore" in the next console Battlefield title

Veteran Battlefield franchise creative director Lars Gustavsson admits that with Battlefield: Bad Company the team treated console gamers “a bit more gently” in crafting content due to DICE‘s PC background. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Gustavsson talks about the company’s natural progression with its Battlefield games, moving from basic multiplayer functions in Battlefield 1942 to more advanced matchmaking in Bad Company. Still, Gustavsson emphasizes that although the team created a strong console Battlefield game in Bad Company, they now understand future console versions have to be as complex and tailored to hardcore online players as the PC versions have always been.

It’s certainly an appropriate admission for the studio, as Bad Company–though a superb single-player experience that foreshadowed the quality and attention DICE would put into Mirror’s Edge–just didn’t feel like Battlefield. The online portion was very similar in spirit to Battlefield 2 with class load-outs and various vehicles to utilize, but it was more of the same, albeit less grandiose than the PC games. Admittedly, it’s not that easy to shove 64 players into an Xbox Live multiplayer match.

The question now is if DICE will extend these retrospective revelations to their upcoming sequel to Bad Company–otherwise, it’s all talk.  Furthermore, what do Gustavsson’s comments mean for the anticipated (though only rumored) Battlefield 3? Would a hypothetical BF3 become a multi-platform release, a series first for a direct sequel, or will the next core title follow the past trend of PC release first and a stripped-down console counterpart later?

Sorry classic Blizzard franchises–no MMO for you. Besides, Warcraft, you already had your turn.

Though rumored in the past and even partially confirmed by the company itself, Blizzard Entertainment has officially expressed that their next massively multiplayer online title currently in-development will not be based on any of their established StarCraft, Diablo or Warcraft franchises.

World of Warcraft is popular. We all know that. And despite the wide variance in personal feelings about the game, it would be wise to give the Blizzard crew credit where credit’s due–they honed their franchises to be the blockbusters they are today through their own capability and craftsmanship. The company completely deserves its praise and sales.

Still, it’s not always a guaranteed good move to release a brand new MMO under a fresh intellectual property, even if you’re Blizzard. If this next game won’t be based on neither their space, mythical nor fantasy efforts, then what could it possibly be about? Maybe a modern-day MMO where players level up through working menial labor tasks at minimum wage.

We’ll call it: World of Wagecraft.

Army of Two: This much battle-buddy man-love can now be had for less!

Here’s quite the PSA for budget-conscious gamers: Microsoft has added eight new titles to their Platinum Hits line, including popular titles like Gears of War and Mass Effect. It’s good to see Microsoft is bolstering its $20 to $30 hits line (which, admittedly, is an extremely baffling price difference), but let’s be honest here: Gears of War is a nearly three-year-old title and Mass Effect has been selling at the $20 range for awhile now at Best Buy and other retailers.

However, the Mass Effect repackaging does come with the $5 Bring Down the Sky DLC as a bonus–quite the addition for gamers who’ve yet to add BioWare’s fantastic RPG to their collections.

The full list of the new Platinum Hits games, complete with Metacritic links for the curious,  are as follows:

• Gears of War
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Mass Effect
• Viva Piñata
• Army of Two
• Battlefield: Bad Company
• Burnout Paradise
• Fight Night Round 3

Note: Nick pointed out that GameStop stores are offering used copies of Forza Motorsport 2 in a bundle with Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for under $20. That offer is a bit more cost-effective if you don’t mind pre-played games.

Goodnight, sweet prince? Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms is going bust, and the company just might take Duke Nukem Forever with it.

Say it ain’t so! In development years, 13 must be an unlucky number for the long-stagnant Duke Nukem Forever (DNF), as Shacknews reports today that developer 3D Realms is closing shop. It seems as if the company has finally run out of money, with the news coming ironically close to the supposed summer release of DNF–which is more than a decade after the title was first announced.

Of course, taking into consideration that DNF is a game that just won’t die, another developer might buy the development rights (as Take Two Interactive confirmed they hold the publishing rights) and finish the title. Regardless of what happens with DNF, the Duke Nukem Trilogy handheld games in development for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP are still on, unaffected by 3D Realms’ closure.

With the announcement of beta opt-in sign-ups for Starcraft II today, productivity dropped in South Korea by 23%. True story.

Shifting gears from a long-awaited game that might never come out to one that is now closer than ever, Blizzard has opened up beta sign-ups for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Anyone with a Battle.net account can jump through a few hoops (i.e., providing system specifications for their PC or Mac via a simple Blizzard application) to then wait and hope for an entry key. The good news here is if Blizzard is already revving up for the beta, gamers could see the first of three StarCraft II titles in stores sooner rather than later. Maybe.

The way EA Sports handles college students' likenesses in video games has been brought to court by former Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller.

Former Arizona State University and University of Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller filed a complaint against the NCAA and Electronic Arts saying that EA Sports‘ NCAA Football video games circumvented NCAA rules. Under the organization’s rules, active student-athletes are not allowed to use their image rights in commercial products–that includes video games.

Unlike most professional sports games which license the likeness rights from players’ associations (such as EA Sports’ Madden NFL series), the NCAA Football and basketball games do not use accurate names or faces for players; they even use players out of college for their box art.

Keller, who finished his college career for Nebraska, appeared in the games as QB #9, referring to his playing number. Keller and his lawyers contend in the suit that even unnamed, the players’ images are still intact and used to help sell the title. If the lawsuit progresses, it could mean biting into a chunk of profits from one of EA Sports’ best-selling franchises.

In further legal news, Richard Garriott–creator of the Ultima Online series and the now-defunct Tabula Rasa–has filed suit against former employer NCSoft, claiming the South Korean-based company dubiously fibbed about his parting from the company in November 2008.

The lawsuit centers on the true terms of Garriott’s dismissal: the man also known as Lord British claims he was fired by the company, and shortly thereafter NCSoft staged a farewell letter to the community implying he left voluntarily. Once classified as a “voluntary” departure, Garriott’s stock options, otherwise good until 2011, would become void under his contract terms and he’d then have to liquidate his stock within 90 days of his departure.

It seems NCSoft is trying to save a few dollars in this poor economy, no?

The millions of Rock Band fans worldwide helped make Harmonix's game the top money earner for Electronic Arts last year, the publishing giant announced today in its financial earnings statement.

We here at the Sasquatch (well, specifically myself and Nick) are very big fans of Harmonix’s Rock Band series. There are a myriad of reasons why, but it boils down to being quite a bit of fun, especially when like-minded individuals coalesce into a full band to rock out.

Well, it turns out we’re not alone in our affections–far from it. Electronic Arts announced its 4th quarter and fiscal year 2009 financial results, and included in the information-rich release is how Rock Band 2 was Electronic Arts’ biggest money-maker for the fiscal year. In fact, Rock Band 1 and 2 were two of 31 properties to sell over a million units last year; FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09, and Need for Speed Underground each sold more than 5 million units worldwide. Even Spore sold 2 million and saw more than 100 million creatures created.

But despite 2008′s successes, the company’s financial statement shows that EA overall lost money last year. Net loss for this last quarter was only around half of what it was last year–$42 million now compared to $94 million previously–but that wasn’t enough to stave off a full-year net loss of $1.088 billion. Interestingly, part of that loss is cited as “significant legal, banking and other consulting fees related to the Company’s proposed acquisition and related cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.”

Analyzing what this means for gamers could be a bit disheartening considering EA’s past as quite the acquisitive business. Once, not so long ago, EA was a publisher weighed down with the albatrosses of shovelware and yearly sequels for the sake of moving a squillion units and making massive profits (a charge that now resides at Activision HQ).

But in 2008 EA showed a new side, and the company made intellectual property experimentation their core strategy. The EA of old would never have published a risk like Dead Space, it would not have been so hands-off with the EA Partners program (which has seen games such as Rock Band, The Orange Box, Left 4 Dead and so on developed by other studios to be released through EA’s publishing clout) and the company would never have invested in revamping much of the EA Sports line. Still,  EA’s turned a new leaf with each of their efforts and it hasn’t financially paid off. That’s the disheartening part.

Some of that may come down to the slow economy–despite which, EA CEO John Riccitello is still optimistic video game sales will pick up–and the bad financial atmosphere is a named factor in the earnings release.

What I hope, as a gamer, is that EA won’t sacrifice its vision in order to meet the bottom line like they used to.

A picture of the The Beatles: Rock Band Rickenbacker (á la John Lennon) that gamers will be able to buy this fall.

A possible tonic to cure what ails EA just might be the September 9 double dose of  The Beatles: Rock Band and the sale of even more authentic Beatles plastic instruments. This hotly anticipated spin-off of the main series will feature not only the legendary band’s sights and sounds, but a host of new instruments patterned after those made famous by the Fab Four. Previously unveiled was Paul McCartney’s Höffner bass, and today gamers got their first look at John Lennon’s Rickenbacker and George Harrison’s Gretsch. The two guitars unveiled today will be available for $99 each, and are separate from the $250 special edition bundle which includes the Höffner, a microphone with stand and drums inspired by Ringo Starr’s pearlescent Ludwig kit. This could get expensive.

The Beatles: Rock Band adds four new instruments to the plastic pile, including this Gretsch guitar, as made famous by George Harrison.

Finally, a quick news piece to finish today’s recap.

As E3 approaches, the once low and distant rumor rumble becomes a roar of possible announcements for the Los Angeles-based gaming expo. 1up.com thinks it may have found something juicy that Microsoft will be unveiling this year: Motion-detection technology originally shown off at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. During last year’s event a company called 3DV showcased its motion technology, and in the following months rumors (according to Ars Technica) arose that Microsoft was in the works to buy out 3DV. Obviously, Microsoft wants to use 3DV’s technology for something game-related. Keep your eyes peeled for that.

But hey — that’s gaming weather, and it’s time to dish the news for another week. So, without further ado…

Time to fire up Fallout 3 again for the most anticipated DLC for the game yet, Broken Steel, which drops tomorrow.

The third piece of downloadable content for Fallout 3, Broken Steel, is dropping by the time you read this. However, what we have right now is a teaser trailer, which is super spoiler-heavy. You can find it right here on Bethesda’s official site, but again, it’s not suggested for those (like your humble news writer) who haven’t finished the game.

While it is the third chunk of DLC produced for the game, it’s also easily the most anticipated because it opens back up the end of Fallout 3 while adding in new story pieces and locations to explore. Will it be worth it? Look for some Fallout 3 DLC coverage soon.

Rockstar’s Sam and Dan Houser, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series (including GTA IV), have been recognized on TIME Magazine’s 2009 “TIME 100″ list. They’re part of the “Artists and Entertainers” group along with Tina Fey, M.I.A., opera performers, artists, and more. And that’s just the artists – world leaders, scientists, and more are on the list, too.

While the rumors and first images of a remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time dropped late last week, we now have some footage to really substantiate things. Gamervision scored the video, and here it is, to boot:

Not much there from a gameplay standpoint, honestly, but wow — that art style is perfect. It’s the Saturday morning cartoon come to life in 3D. We can’t wait to see the rest of the details and demo eventually.

Quick hit of something that might be nothing, or might be something: TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer dropped a juicy tidbit into a blog post – Apple (yes, THAT Apple) may be considering buying Electronic Arts (yes, THAT EA). No other details other than that, sadly, but man…what an entertainment juggernaut that would be.

It's just a school project, but Theyab's work brings up profound questioning of what exactly is going on in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Lastly, a little fun here as Kotaku reader Theyab – a student at Carnegie-Mellon – has taken a touchstone of gaming, the flora and fauna from the Mushroom Kingdom, and made a textbook describing some of the more famous examples. Super Mario series power-ups like the Star, Leaf, Fire Flower and – pictured above – Mushroom all receive a breakdown that the Kotaku post says was for a project in a communication class. Certainly worth a quick look for any Nintendo fans in the audience.