‘Sims 4’ paves the way for medical inclusiveness in new patch

For the cozy gamers at MHCC, a new patch update for “The Sims 4” has arrived with another improvement on the game’s real-life gameplay: more gender-diverse selections in the game and much-improved functionality for console users.

A life simulation game, The Sims 4 is the latest edition of the popular Sims game series. Since its release in 2014, the game has been supported by regular expansion packs and patch updates, and the sims community has seen the base game significantly change over the nine years it’s been supported.

In its early days, the Sims was a game that originally didn’t have toddlers – your infant sim would age directly into an elementary school-aged sim. Many players – “Simmers” as they sometimes refer to themselves – disliked the early versions of The Sims 4, opting to continue playing The Sims 3 edition.

The Sims Team at Electronic Arts (EA) has come a long way since the game’s launch, and the base game experience has improved greatly.

The most recent announcement is the anticipated Infants Update, scheduled soon, on March 14. Previously, a Sims baby could only be interacted with as an object and could not be removed from their bassinette. In the upcoming update, infants will be playable and customizable, just like other Sims in gameplay.

The developers have announced a new expansion pack will be released, but haven’t shared when, or with what theme. Fans have speculated that the expansion pack will be “Generations,” due to

the notable babies update available as a free download to Base Game on March 14. In The Sims 3, Generations was a widely popular expansion pack that explored more gameplay for each stage of life and family roles. (The topic of the new expansion pack was to be officially announced this week, on Feb. 2.)

As for the most recent free patch update, fans were happy to receive base game improvements that the community has been asking for.

Items categorized as Medical Wearables have been added to the Create a Sim (CAS) interface; these include hearing aids and glucose monitors. Additionally, top surgery scars have been added to the scars menu in CAS and binders and shapeware have been added.

And for 40 Simoleons, Simmers can now purchase a light switch for their Builds. A purely decorative light switch may seem like an odd free item but imagine building a house without any light switches! Players have been asking for this update for a long while.

For any MHCC Sims player who wants to read more about the 1/31/2023 patch update, visit ea.com/games/the-sims/news/update-01-31-2023