When The Sims 3 launched in June 2009, it became apparent that the developers had made the most addictive game in the series yet, improving on its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. Between the core game, the first expansion (World Adventures), and a "stuff pack" (High-End Loft Stuff), there has been no shortage of ways to torture experiment with those poor, unsuspecting Sims. However, one major point of contention, for me at least, was the fact that players still had limited control over the virtual people while they were at work, sometimes making for boring and uneventful stretches of gameplay. This should all change in June, when the next expansion pack, The Sims 3: Ambitions, comes out for the PC and Mac.

According to the press release, Ambitions will give players full control of their Sims on the job for the first time ever, as well as offering a handful of new career tracks. Personally, I was getting tired of rock stars and professional chefs, so being able to make my Sims inventors, ghost hunters, stylists, architects, or firefighters wil be a welcome change of pace. Furthermore, the impression I got from the release is that this expansion will also give more options for pre-existing careers; the example given was a doctor going down the evil path and experimenting on patients.

The Sims 3: Ambitions will be out in June, at which time my personal and professional productivity will once again grind to a halt. You can check out more details in the press release, or view the rest of the screenshots in the gallery below.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 4, 2010 –The EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that The Sims™ 3 Ambitions Expansion pack* is in development and will launch in June 2010. As the second expansion pack to The Sims 3, the best-selling PC game of 2009**, The Sims 3 Ambitions allows players to pursue a variety of exciting paths and careers in their Sims’ lives that in turn affect their overall gameplay experience and neighbourhood. While on the job, the player has direct control over their Sims’ work and can choose how to spend their days. Opt to make house calls and save lives as a doctor or choose the devious route and test experimental medicine on patients; be the hero firefighter tackling raging infernos or smashing everything in sight at the victim’s home with an axe; or take a shot at solving cases as an investigator, nicely convincing sources to divulge secrets or roughing up perpetrators in a dark alley to get information.

“The variety of careers to choose from is unmatched and we’ve never given players the opportunity to follow their Sims to work and affect their actions on the job,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims 3 Ambitions changes that. Players’ actions at work now directly affect their lives, community and neighbours and become an extremely important part of how the game is played.”

Players can now experience some of the most exciting and varied jobs. In The Sims 3 Ambitions, players can choose to hunt down vengeful spirits as the ghost hunter, invent brilliant and potentially destructive gadgets as an inventor, craft glorious masterpieces as a sculptor, and solve riveting cases by any means necessary as an investigator with dozens of cases to solve and numerous clues to find. Additionally, players will be able to change the look and feel of their town by becoming an architect and directly affecting the neighbourhood around them leveraging Build and Buy mode. The stylist career and new tattoo system allow players to make over their Sim neighbours in fashionable or catastrophic ways. For the first time, players will be in charge of how their Sims’ career progresses and decide if they will work for good or evil, pursue creative endeavours or technical affairs, climb to the top quickly, or be a slacker. The future of a Sims’ success or failure is entirely in the hands of the player.

The Sims 3 Ambitions will also be available for feature phones, iPhone and iPod touch in late 2010 from EA Mobile™. These versions will have customized mobile gameplay features which will be revealed in the coming months and will not require a base game to play. For information on carrier availability and pricing for all EA Mobile games, please visit www.eamobile.com.
For more information about The Sims 3 Ambitions or The Sims 3, please visit www.TheSims3.com. Developed by The Sims Studio, The Sims 3 Ambitions for PC/Mac has not yet been rated by the ESRB. To download artwork, please visit www.info.ea.com.