I was starting to panic, yesterday, when it seemed that The Sims 3 was sold out everywhere.. But GameStop Rathmines had it in stock (as did GameStop Blanchardstown, in case anyone's looking for a copy, in that direction), so we got one from there.

I blogged about my first impressions, on my TS3 profile page, so I'll just cut & paste from there;

What I love, and what I don't love
POSTED ON  06/06/09 12:39 AM

I love that you can now customise the sims, more than ever before. I haven't even gone crazy with that yet, I've only created my first sim (Maria Verona), never bothering with special hair colours or such - but as I was creating her, I tried all the different body sizes, freckles, etc.. I love the way she looks! Also, most of the clothes look very natural and nice. Extra points for getting to choose the voice and adjust the pitch! =D It's also brilliant, that you now get to choose the Lifetime Wish - I hated the random lifetime aspiration, in The Sims 2, because my custom sims never got one that suited them. (I'm aware that there were user-created options to alter it, but that's not the point.) And it's fun to have more control over the Wishes, too.

The open world is fun, and although the little control freak in me doesn't really love the thought that my sims will live their lives and age independently, if I choose to play someone else, I still appreciate the fact that it does make the game even more realistic. After all, before, you could play one family through generations, while their neighbours stayed forever young - not very natural, eh! Also, there IS the option to switch this new realistic time & aging off..

It's fun to follow your sim to work and other places - a bit like Sim City, with those individual sims.. =)

I find the new build & buy menus really cute, but I'm disappointed with the default wallpapers, etc. There are only one or two that are decent enough to use - I haven't actually explored the customisation options yet, though.

It's great to be able to have many more positioning options by default (as in, without having to type in cheats and memorise key combos..) as it instantly creates a more realistic feel to the rooms.

I kinda hate most of the lamps, and I'd like to have bigger houseplants.

I'm also still a bit lost with following (or not following) my sim. Sometimes, I'd like to scroll around my sim's lot, planning what to build when she makes the money, etc., but it seems sort of centered on the sim, so I can't get to the other end of the lot, without making her to get closer first. However, sometimes I seem to have the option to control with mouse-clicks, whether to follow her or not - yet, it doesn't seem to work always..?

Right now, my main urge is to get some cheat codes! Having played The Sims & The Sims 2 for years, I'm simply not that interested in actually PLAYING their lives anymore, even if it's The Sims 3 now, with more options and all.. I want to build mansions, I want to make insta-rich sims, I want to have fun! Sooo, I'm off to see if there are any motherlodes for TS3...