Hello, Sims community! My name is Aaron Conners and I’m a senior designer on Showtime.

Our team has been working very hard on this new expansion pack and we’re really excited to get it out there for you to play. We’ve had lots of questions about Showtime’s new features, so we decided to post this Q&A to give you the lowdown on all the great things this expansion pack will offer.
 
 
1. Tell us a bit about The Sims 3 Showtime and what features you are most excited about.

We’re very excited about the big world of entertainment that The Sims 3 Showtime brings to The Sims 3. The new town of Starlight Shores is packed with a wide variety of venues where your Sims can see concerts, magic shows and other performances. Or they can just hang out with their friends, buy a round of beverages, play pool, sing karaoke, dance around the jukebox, play games, and even take a wild ride on a mechanical bull! There’s a ton of stuff to do, and that’s not even counting the new active performance careers—singer, magician and performer--or the chance to moonlight as a DJ, complete with your own DJ booth.

These new active careers tell the story of your Sims’ rise to fame, as you successfully navigate through levels in each career. We have to admit that some of the funniest moments happen as you try to progress, and sometimes fail at your acts and tricks. The audience will react to how well or poorly you perform, which is also another great achievement with this pack that fans have been asking for: crowds and audience participation.

You are also going to receive cool rewards and visual pay-offs for progressing and performing, from powerful post-show buffs that allow your Sim to increase their relationships after the show to unlocking incredible new costumes as your Sim climbs the ladder of success.

As you might have also heard, those who purchase The Sims 3 Showtime will have access to an exclusive connected feature called SimPort. If players choose to log-in, they will be able to send their singer, magician and acrobat Sims on tour to their friends’ worlds, and also host their friends’ Sims for performances in their own game.

2. How does this expansion pack differ from The Sims 3 Late Night?

While The Sims 3 Late Night created an exciting world of night-clubbing and celebrities, The Sims 3 Showtime is all about performance and entertainment: from street performing to playing live on club stages, to wowing sold-out crowds in huge arenas, Showtime catapults you and your Sims into a world of entertainment where dreams of superstardom can be realized. Whether your Sim is a singer, magician, acrobat or DJ, you – as the player – get to orchestrate the entire performance, from setting up the stage to choosing the outfits. Then while your Sim is on stage, you choose how the Sim interacts with the audience, from telling jokes to doing shout-outs or even insulting the crowd. Choose the song arrangements for your singer Sim and select any combination of tricks and stunts for your acrobat or magician Sims. You can even invite Sims from the audience to come on stage and assist with an illusion!
 
And the new active careers are just a part of the new content! There is plenty to enjoy in Starlight Shores even if you don’t pursue the performance careers. There are hundreds of new objects that you can use to customize your home or have fun playing with, including an electro-dance sphere, skeeball game, photo booth, golf driving range, jukebox, portable MP3 player, and more.

3. Can you tell us anything about returning items?

We love that so many fans have spotted the pool table already! You may also see some guest appearances by such fan favorites as the karaoke machine and mechanical bull.