KNOWN INFORMATION:
Platforms: Windows, Mac
ESRB Rating: RP (Targeting a T+ Rating)
Players: 1
Release Date: Spring 2014
Online Features: Yes
Activation: Yes (1 time origin activation required)
Developer: Maxis
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Console Release: Unknown, most likely if it happens, it will be PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One/WiiU

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7 or later
Processor:: Intel Pentium 4 or later
Ram: 1.5GB Ram or better
Disc Drive: DVD Required for disc copies
Hard Drive Space: At least 7.1GB free space with at least 1GB extra for CC and Saves
Video Card: 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 or better

Supported Video Cards: Nvidia GeForce 6 series or better, and all NVidia G, GT, GTS, and GTX video cards. ATI Radeon™ series card 9500 series or better, and all ATI X, X1, and HD video cards; Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA): GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series
Please note that the GeForce 6100 and 7100 cards are not supported.

- These can be found here on the leaked Sims 4 dev portal: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://prod.thesims.com

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:
The Sims 4 is the highly anticipated life simulation game that lets you play with life like never before. Create and control new Sims with mind, body, and heart. Build their unique worlds. Direct and explore the stories of your Sims and experience delightful and exciting results.

Create and control the most intelligent and relatable Sims ever with new, intuitive design tools. Customize your Sims’ appearances, personalities, aspirations, walk styles, and even their relationship to others.

Select from diverse environments for your Sims to live in and build their home with fun, intuitive design tools that allow you to effortlessly create the homes of your dreams.

Play with life like never before in The Sims 4. The choices you make influence your Sims and everyone and everything around them. These moments create delightful and exciting results throughout gameplay.

How you play The Sims 4 is up to you. Help your Sims start a new career, find love, and start their family. Construct and design the homes of your dreams. Fulfill your Sims’ needs, explore their aspirations, and experience how they respond to life’s moments

The Sims 4 allows you to play with life like never before. The Sims live with rich physical and emotional characteristics and their worlds and stories are influenced by your choices and creativity. Welcome to The Sims 4!

FEATURES:
• New Sims – Create and control more intelligent, more relatable, and emotionally rich Sims.

• Intelligence – Your Sims move and act more naturally than ever before, from multitasking to expressing their emotions by the way they walk. Choose the personalities of your Sims, select their aspirations, and explore the depth of their lifelong goals through your Sims’ thoughts, social skills, careers, and memories.

• Emotional Depth – For the first time, Sims feel and express emotions. Your Sims can experience a diverse range and depth of emotional states and are influenced through other Sims, actions, events, memories, or even by the clothing and objects you choose. Emotions offer you more choice by giving you the opportunity to create richer stories with even more possibilities.

• New Creative Tools – Create A Sim and Build are more powerful, intuitive, and fun than ever before. You have the freedom to sculpt Sims with tactile precision. Effortlessly construct the home of your dreams with the all new room-based Build Mode.

• Vibrant Neighborhoods – Chose among brilliant and diverse lots for your Sims to live in. Vivid visuals bring your Sim’s home to life.

• Rich Rewards – Earn new objects, outfits, and traits by completing events, discovering collectables, and unlocking achievements.

• Share Your Creations – Share your Sims’ households with your friends and the community. Download community creations for an all-new look.

• Much more emotional based gameplay.

• Push and Pull build tools.

• Set the sims walking style and height.

• VooDoo Dolls!

• New social options everytime you talk.

• The style of your house, can affect your sims moods and what social options are available. (Example: More pink and flirty objects make sims aroused)

OTHER STUFF: (Thanks to twitter updates)

- The Sims 4 does not have CAST, yet.

- Kids, Elders confirmed.

- Sliders are obsolete. You must use the new sculpting tool.

- 4 Unique walking styles.

- Traits will be returning, along with aspirations.

- 5 Different Ages. Were not shown, but most likely Toddler, Child, Teen, Adult, Elder.

- Adjustable voices will return.

-
OFFICIAL FAQ:
- Some of this will be reworded to make more sense.

Q: Does The Sims 4 require the Origin™ client to play?
A: You will need an EA/Origin account in install and activate the game. Once installed you will need to activate. After activation, you don't need to connect to the internet again if you don't want to.

Q: Will I be able to bring any of my Sims or content from The Sims 3 into The Sims 4?
A: The Sims 4 is built upon an entirely new foundation and engine. As with The Sims 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, the Sims 4 will not be backwards compatible with Sims/Towns/Cities/Mods/Saves from The Sims 3 line of products.

Q: How do I stay up to date with the latest info on The Sims 4?
A: To stay up to date on all the latest The Sims 4 news, keep visiting our official website at www.TheSims.com, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSims, and sign up for our VIP Newsletter at www.TheSims.com.

Q: Will The Sims 4 require a persistent online connection?
A: You will not require a persistent online connection to play The Sims 4. You will however, be required to activate the game before use, but after doing so, you will never need to be connected to the internet again.

Q: What are the minimum hardware requirements for The Sims 4?
A: We are working to make the game accessible to as many players as possible. We will let you know once we’ve locked in the final specs.

Q: Who are some of the people that are making The Sims 4?
A: The Sims 4 is currently in development at The Sims Studio in Redwood City, and the team making the game is comprised by veterans whose experience dates back to the inception of the franchise. We have folks like Robi Kauker, Lyndsay Pearson and Kevin Gibson who have been with the series since the beginning. We will continue to introduce you to more of the team throughout the development process.


OFFICIAL SCREENSHOTS AND RENDERS (Click the full image to enlarge):



OFFICIAL TRAILER:



CAS:









Head up:

If you have a FB account, EA has created a "Sims 4 At Gamescom" group. Go there, join, post your idea as a poll and let people vote.

EA and Maxis are watching, and will take all of them into consideration: https://www.facebook.com/events/395616190549336/



Hint: There is a even a "Do you want memories in the sims 4" question, and the highest voted answer for it is "Sims 2 Style"

And here's the cached web page where you can find some vague descriptions of game features and where I'm assuming all of these pictures originated from:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...rod.thesims.com

ETA:
The site is live now and you can see all of the information and pictures that were leaked on their site.

The specs on the bottom of the site is for Sims 3 right?! Otherwise they're the same!

It seems so. If you read a little further in the FAQ they said they haven't been set yet:

What are the minimum hardware requirements for The Sims 4?
We are working to make the game accessible to as many players as possible. We will let you know once we’ve locked in the specs.

Oh ok, good, I'd be extremely worried if it had the exact same specs

I really hope we'll able to create Asian Sims without eyelids without having to resort to CC. My one TS3 family has a son who marries an Asian woman, and I'd like to recreate that family in TS4. I do love the new CAS, though! I'm in awe of that molding tool!

Its got a true Sims 2 look to it.

Im hoping it will come to consoles too. :D

I love the cute sweet cartoony aspect of The Sims, but this trailer for Grand Theft Auto kinda makes me wish TS4 would dip into the uncanny valley hahah

It makes me wonder how Rockstar Games would handle The Sims.

If EA crafted Rockstar for "The Sims 5" and used rockstars Rage Engine, i would poop my pants.

I hope someone comes up with a CC-fied version of Photoshop'd screenshots of some of these leaks as an idea of what the Sims could look like with CC. I remember someone had done that with early CAS screenshots of TS3 back in 2008, and they were very nice.

In the description it says you can configure "walk styles".. say waaaaat?.. i really think they tried to add a lot of details in detriment to other crucial things.. like the hair!..

I see a rocket in one of the screenshots... and then a producer said during one of the live broadcasts: "Where would you like to go with the Sims?" "To the moon, we've never been to the moon."
Will they go to the moon!!??

I'm not really expecting them to do that, but, ya know... why a rocket in one of the early promo pics?

I wonder how CC would look.

This is so weird...it's like a mix of TS2 and TS3! Some of the animations i see are definitely ripped from the sims 3, and others look like they came directly from the sims 2! Also...their smiles look NORMAL!

Well, you see, it was a coin toss between including rockets or cars. Rockets won.

My optimistic side says that they added a few gameplay features (and neglected the hair) because they know that we like to create shiny CC and hate creating animations.

My pessimistic side is laughing at my optimism.

Also, I can't tell if the person in the alien shirt is a guy or a girl. I take it that we'll be able to create androgynous sims? I still love 'em, though. And their shirt.

Looks very similar to TS3 sims to me. I don't see a whole lot of difference other than less detailed hair.



I never had any trouble adjusting out the double-eyelid just with sliders.

I had always read that CC Asian skins were created to completely eliminate even the subtlest look of double-eyelids. Then, I guess I just suck with CAS, lol.

Well, guy would make the line-up alternating male/female straight through.

http://simscommunity.net/the-sims-4-leaked-screens/ a lot more screen shots.

From the OP, that first male Sim with the red shirt, posing for the camera, is one hot Sim!

Well, could just be I have low standards and my Asian sims might not look Asiany enough!



Looks like I was right about the new method of sim sculpting being fixed locations that can only move in fixed directions. Basically same functionality as sliders, but represented in a different way. I do really like that it has multiple body shape "sliders" or whatever you call them now. Also looks like they no longer have disproportionately large heads. Overall, I like what I'm seeing and I think they look better than TS3 and TS2 sims. Kind of similar to TS3 sims, but a bit better looking... except for the less detailed hair. I'm not real thrilled about that, but swapping out textures is usually one of the first and easiest things to mod.

GnatGoSplat, I totally agree with the look of the new Sims. They look great! I love the actual hairstyles, or rather, the idea of them, but the execution of the mesh came out all wrong. But, as you said, nothing that CC can't fix. I'd be downloading a slew of CC hair, anyway. And to be honest, the new hair meshes aren't any worse than some of what EA had already come up with in TS3, specifically that train wreck of a hairstyle that was included in the Ambitions registration set. Octopus, much?

OMG! A violin!

The rest of the game may suck-out-loud but I will be happy because I have a violin! I don't mind the hair (who uses EA hair anyway) and for once the eyes don't look creepy and dead. Can't wait to see more.

And do I see coffee and pancakes on the table? Food and drinks together? At the same time? What a concept.

No more "rock star" plague. Now every Sim will want to be a "violin star."