The Sims 4 is Due to Make an Appearance in 2014 For PC and Mac

Electronic Arts today announced that The Sims 4 will debut next year.

The game will be available for PC and Mac in 2014 from EA subsidiary Maxis.

"The Sims franchise is fueled by the passion and creativity of its millions of fans around the world," Maxis said in a blog post. "Their continued devotion to the franchise ignites the fire of creativity of the team at The Sims Studio, driving them to continually improve and innovate on one of the world's most successful simulation game that has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide."

EA promised more details about the game later today. In the meantime, it encouraged fans to share their excitement on Twitter via the hashtag #TheSims4.

The Sims 3 made its debut in 2009, and PCMag found that the series had finally grown up. "With The Sims 3, the series has evolved from a virtual sandbox into a well-thought-out world with three-dimensional characters," we concluded in our review.

The Sims 3 included interface improvements, finer controls for placing objects within a house, and more character depth. One irritation, however, was that items from the previous expansion packs were not included in The Sims 3.

Since then, there has been the World Adventures expansion pack, The Sims Medieval, The Sims 3: Pets, and more.

Hopefully, EA will learn from the mistakes that it made earlier this year with the launch of SimCity. The always-on requirement quickly overloaded servers, meaning many eager gamers could not log on and play the game. EA apologized and offered up free games, but the damage was done. Since then, the company's CEO has stepped down and the company has endured several rounds of layoffs.

According to GamesBeat, The Sims 4 will work offline.

UPDATE: In a follow-up blog post Monday afternoon, Maxis said The Sims 4 "celebrates the heart and soul of the Sims themselves, giving players a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever in this single-player offline experience."

Yes, The Sims 4 will indeed be an offline experience for those concerned about the SimCity disaster.

"The Sims 4 encourages players to personalize their world with new and intuitive tools while offering them the ability to effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans," Maxis continued, before thanking fans for their continued support. [Source]

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Dell Releases The XPS 18. A Monster of a PC That is Also a Tablet

There’s a new tablet in town, but it’s not quite what you’d expect. Meet the Dell XPS 18 All-in-One, a desktop computer with an 18.4-inch screen – that you can carry around, slate style!

Announced at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas this week, the Dell XPS 18 takes more than a few cues from Asus’ insane all-in-one-slash-Android-tablet. Plonk it on your desk, and it acts as a regular Windows 8 machine with a touchscreen you can prod your way around, powered by an Intel Core low power processor.

Need to leave the study? No problem. You can simply pick the Dell XPS 18 up and carry it around away from the mains. It’s got a kickstand built in for both standing tall and shallow, and weighs just over two kilograms – not too shabby for something so large. It doesn’t boot into Android like Asus’ monster, but Windows is now finger friendly, so it’s no bad thing.

Right now, Dell is keeping schtum on everything from price to release date, but we’ll keep you clued in as soon as details hit. In the meantime, let us know what you make of the concept in the comments below. Would you ever use a tablet this big? [Source]

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