The Sims franchise is breaking out a new expansion pack and a new game this fall which should make some new experiences, one taking The Sims in a new direction altogether.

The Sims 2 Seasons is an expansion pack with a simple concept that could potentially go a long way in terms of new gameplay options. By adding in the change of seasons in The Sims 2 neighborhoods, a host of new activities become available for a players Sims. Sims now can go ice skating or build snowmen in the winter, harvest fruits and vegetables in the fall after year-long gardening, and have summer swim parties.

The changes aren’t just a light addition of new options that hold no weight, however. The changes in the weather that accompany the changes in season affect Sims in many ways. Underdressing a Sim in the winter or overdressing in the summer can have very bad consequences on a Sim. The seasonal changes will also affect a Sims desires and even fears. For instance, a player’s Sim may prove fearful of thunderstorms and others may become prone to sneezing fits in certain weather.

On top of the seasonal clothing, objects, and activities that become available in Seasons, there are also six new career paths. Sims can now go down the paths of Adventure, Gaming, Law, Music, Journalism and Education. And if a player is a cake-o-holic and are addicted to getting money, gardening and fishing can be developed into profitable hobbies for a Sim.

The Sims Life Stories kicks off a new line of standalone story-based Sims projects called The Sims Stories. In Story mode players take on the roles of either Riley or Vincent and lead them through their own unique life stories. Riley’s story centers around her return home and her attempt to settle in and make a new life for herself with all of the experiences and hardship that come along with that process. Vincent’s story has players sorting out the high-tech wiz’s love life, which hasn’t gone quite the successful route of his career.

Yet for this new twist on the franchise, there’s still Classic-mode that allows the traditional Sims gameplay. Gamers can still create their own Sim and play a traditional-style Sims game in the Life Stories world.

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EA has emphasized their attempt to make Life Stories a laptop friendly experience. One effort to do that was to institute an autosave feature to allows players to start and stop whenever they please. Though we have no specifics at the moment, there’s also the addition of shortcuts to save time to take to perform actions according to EA.

The Sims Life Stories will ship Feb. 6 while The Sims 2 Seasons will ship Feb 27.

The Sims 2 Seasons Trailer

The Sims Life Stories Trailer

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