Next Sims 3 Expansion: Seasons
With the new Supernatural expansion pack's release practically around the corner (it is scheduled to be released on September 4 in North America) it looks like we have already gotten a tip about the next one. Online computer retailer Newegg.com published a pre-release page for a Sims 3 expansion pack called Seasons, with a release date of November 13.
I'm pretty confident that Seasons will indeed be the next expansion pack. I don't think we have yet seen a scenario where a retailer published an order page too early, where it turned out not to be real. (If I were EA I would be pretty mad about all of these leaks… I think every expansion pack so far has been leaked when some retailer, often a non-US Amazon site, published their order page too early.)
However, I am a little bit surprised at the release date. If true, it will mean only two months will pass between two new expansion packs. Surely this is a little more hasty than the situation warrants? Typically we get an expansion pack about every six months, more or less. Six months feels about right to me - you get plenty of time to settle in, play through all the details, and start to get bored with it by the time the next one rolls around.
And time to save up your money, too! If, like me, you shell out for every expansion pack that comes down the road, it gets to be a pretty pricey hobby. The November date is no doubt designed to hit for players' Christmas lists, but it is also going to put a crimp in players' budgets.
Ultimately I think EA may be shooting itself in the foot with this pair of too-close releases. I suspect it will force a lot of players to choose between Supernatural or Seasons, rather than buying both (as they would have if they were spaced out more).
It also makes me wonder about the scheduling for the next release after. Does this mean that it will be ten months between Seasons and the next expansion? Or are they planning another one six months later, in which case players may become saturated with expansion packs from having too many too quickly. Expansion pack fatigue!
On another tangent, although I am really excited for the prospect of weather in my towns, I am also concerned about the processing overhead that will be required to drive the weather engines. My computer already groans and creaks whenever the town tries to spawn a new dog or cat - what about when it has to render snow falling across the entire town? Yikes.