4. How do you live the rags to riches story and can you elaborate more about performing as singers, acrobats, magicians and DJs?
 
The Sims 3 Showtime\u2019s new world, Starlight Shores, has a look and vibe that was inspired by Southern California locations such as Venice Beach and Hollywood Boulevard. People visit these locations from all over the world to pursue their dreams of making it big in show business, so it\u2019s a great setting to be an aspiring entertainer, as well as being just a cool place to live and have fun. When Sims start out, they have to find odd jobs to support themselves and are only able to perform on the streets, in local talent shows and in competitions. As they get better and more experienced, new opportunities arise along with it and they\u2019ll be able to access new outfits, additional songs and tricks and everything they need to create a spectacular stage show. By the time your Sims reach the highest levels of their careers and get to perform in front of sold-out crowds, it\u2019s a thrilling and satisfying payoff for you and your Sims.

 
With each career come unique props, costumes and tricks and skills. Magicians will work their way up from simple illusions like making a coin appear to conjuring fireballs and, eventually, being able to levitate themselves or other Sims. Call up audience members to step into the \"Box of Mystery\" or perform death-defying feats in the \"Box of Danger\".
 
Singers progress from delivering singing telegrams to selling out arenas by mastering a range of 10 genres and song styles. Your Sim could be a celebrity of epic proportions, mashing together any combination of country, hip hop, rock, power ballads and lounge music\u2026the possibilities are endless! You can even take your guitar on stage with some songs and add the sounds of a \u201Csix string\u201D into them.
 
Acrobats start as mimes, performing classic tricks such as the invisible box, invisible rope pull and running against the wind, and then go on to risky physical feats like juggling knives and torches, until they finally rise to ultimate stardom by mastering skills on the balance ball and with the ring of fire.

5. What can you tell us about crowds in The Sims 3 Showtime?

For the first time in The Sims 3, you control your Sim\'s performance on customized stages in front of crowds. When your Sims reach superstar status, you\'ll see them perform in front of the largest audiences ever seen in the The Sims 3! We worked really hard to be able to populate venues with other Sims and to give you a true sold-out feel for your performances as you become a superstar.
 
Audience members are also much more interactive than ever before. They can be called up to participate with a magic illusion. They can make requests and they\'ll be thrilled if the performer does the requests. They may react to a bad performance by throwing things at the stage. So get to practicing!

6. Can you tell us what the new creature will be?

As much as we\u2019d like to, we\u2019re going to keep it a secret\u2026for now.

7. We\u2019ve heard that there are other online features coming, can you give an overview on how the online aspects work including the new achievements, the in-game player wall and player updates? 
 
The goal of our new online features, which will be available for all The Sims 3 players when The Sims 3 Showtime launches in March, is to allow you to connect with your The Sims 3 friends -and us - in fun and rewarding ways.
 
This is entirely optional and is only available should you decide to log-in.

 
On a regular basis, we\u2019ll be rolling out new achievements and news that you\u2019ll be notified of immediately through these updates. The purpose of the new achievement system is to provide and recognize special achievements that the player accomplishes within The Sims 3 PC Base Game and Expansion Packs. Players who complete challenges will be awarded new badges for their My Pages.

There will be several types of challenges:
\u2022  Sim Challenges, which must be completed by a single Sim
\u2022  Household Challenges, which must be completed by anyone in a household
\u2022  Player Challenges, where players complete an even many times over the course of the long-term game cycle
\u2022  Real-time Challenges, where players complete one event, or a series of events, between a real-world start date and end date.

Also for the first time, you can post messages to your friends while in-game, get player updates from The Sims 3 community. You will also be able to make friends with other The Sims 3 Showtime players and see their achievements in-game. The great thing about the new connected features is that they will be familiar to anyone who has created an account on the existing www.TheSims3.com web site.