Send and Receive Sims in The Sims 3 Showtime
A Guide to Using SimPort

SimPort is an all-new, connected feature in The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion pack. With SimPort, you now have the option to share experiences in-game by sending Sims to your friend's games and hosting their  Sims in your games, too.

To use SimPort, log into The Sims 3 game using your MyPage login information. By logging in, you will be able to view your player profile as well as access various other connected features such as real-time status updates, messages to friends and friend requests. Only players who are already friends will be able to send Sims to one another using SimPort.

To host or send a Sim on tour, access your SimPort book in the start-up menu, on your Sim's computer or through your Sim's cell phone. Tour requests will appear from your friends on the right hand side of the book. If your Sim qualifies for the request, you may accept it and send your Sim on tour to that friend's game. In addition, tour requests may come through on your player wall and through in-game notifications. You may also create and send out tour requests to your friends.

In order for Sims to be eligible to go on tour, they will need to have a household of at least two members and be a level two performer. Only one Sim can be on tour at a time. Once your Sim goes on tour, they could be away for up to 12 Sim hours, or less depending on how soon your friend is able to accept the tour request. After your Sim completes their performance, they will return back to your game with a full report of their performance and the rewards they’ve earned. Both you and your friend will receive a stamp in your SimPort books - making your way closer to unlocking exclusive content.

AND YET THERE'S STILL ANOTHER BENEFIT! Sending a Sim out on tour before quitting your game session is a great way for your Sims to continue to make money and gain experience while you’re not playing! If your friend accepts your tour request while you are offline, your Sim will come back to your game with stamps, simoleans and lifetime happiness.
The way you access Host a Sim is the same way you access Send a Sim. You can choose to accept a friend’s tour request or send out an invite to your friends to host their Sim in your game. If you chose to host a friend’s Sim, it allows you to see your friend’s Sim come into your town – a new way to share experiences with your friends. You’ll be notified prior to the start of your friend’s Sim’s show in the town and you will be able to customize their stage. You then can watch their show and have the crowd interact with their performer. After your friend’s Sim is finished performing, they will return back to their game, and both you and your friend will receive stamps in your SimPort books, which is another step forward towards unlocking exclusive content.

We hope you have a great time using SimPort to share your Sims with your friends. We look forward to hearing from you about your Sims' adventures as they hop into your friend's games around the world!

Hi Simmers! It’s Ryan Vaughan, Lead Producer on The Sims 3. I hope everyone’s excited for the upcoming release of The Sims 3 Showtime! The Sims Studio has been hard at work on it, and we think you’re going to love it.

As with any new release within The Sims 3 series, there will be a new The Sims 3 Game Update available to all players who have The Sims 3, regardless if you’ve installed The Sims 3 Showtime. This Game Update will be available the same day that The Sims 3 Showtime is available and it doesn’t cost anything. As soon as you install the update, you’ll be able to take advantage of the new Family Wardrobe, Bubble Columns in build mode, and earn badges for achievements!

Whenever we release a Game Update, we get a lot of questions about why they are released. I thought it would be a good idea to give you some background on why we release The Sims 3 Game Updates and all the benefits that come along with them!

Did you know that The Sims 3 is a living, breathing beast? One of my favorite stories from when The Sims 3 base game shipped was explaining to a friend that we weren’t really done with the game, we were just getting started! The fact of the matter is The Sims 3 is a massive game that’s constantly evolving, and the development team is always working to improve the core game. From providing you with the latest game version to fixing issues that you and our Quality Assurance teams have identified, Game Updates are designed to ensure that you have the best possible experience playing the game.

But that’s not all! The BEST part of keeping your game up to date is all the new content and features that are included within the updates that everyone has access to (regardless of whether you’ve purchased any new games). That’s right! If you bought The Sims 3 base game and then updated it to the latest version, you’d receive tons of new features including these (just to name a few!):

• Basements
• The ability to place new lots in your world
• Tattoos
• Body sliders in Create a Sim
• Dating
• Movie Maker Mode cheats
• Memories
• Body Hair!
• Buy Mode Collections

Because The Sims 3 is such a complex game, a lot of thought, time, and testing go into ensuring we’re able to release each Game Update to all of our players. One of the ways we strive for this is by having multiple dedicated Quality Assurance teams that never stop testing The Sims 3. They test the game while we’re developing new expansion packs, in between releases, and especially when we’re preparing a Game Update.

Testing the game is no small task! The Sims 3 is available on both Windows PC and MacOS platforms, so you can imagine how many different video cards, processors, amounts of RAM, and other component combinations that players mix and match to each create a different game environment. We also test all installable combinations of the game with expansion packs and stuff packs. For example, we need to make sure the Game Updates work for players who only own The Sims 3. We need to test it for players who own The Sims 3 and The Sims 3 Showtime. We need to test it for players who own The Sims 3 and all the expansions! The testing combinations get complex really quickly as I’m sure you can imagine.

Due to all of the different configurations of hardware, software, and game combinations, Game Update sizes vary. For instance, a game that is currently up to date when The Sims 3 Showtime is released won’t have to download as much data as a The Sims 3 base game that is fresh out of the box. The base game will need to install a combination of all the updates we’ve released over the last three years, whereas the updated game will only need to install the latest upgrades required for The Sims 3 Showtime. Keeping your game up to date will minimize the size of the update and the download time required to get you the latest software.  It also will help us diagnose any issues you might be experiencing.

All of us on the development team play a lot of games outside of work, so we understand any frustrations you may have when there’s an issue that affects your gameplay experience. We despise anything that keeps us from enjoying games just as much as you. From driver upgrades to bug fixes to all-new features, every Game Update we release is designed specifically to make your experience playing The Sims better!

We really appreciate your support and love hearing from you! Please continue to let us know about your gameplay experiences and feedback. We’re listening!

Thanks,

SimGuruRyan

Celebrate a month of romance with The Sims 3! We are taking photo submissions from our fans of your favorite The Sims 3 couples in your game! Post them on our Facebook Event wall and they could be added to the official album at the end of the month. Feel free to include a link with your photo so that other Simmers will know where to download your Sims from the Exchange!

Join the event now