1UP, a video game magazine, wrote an article on TS3. In it, they said:
Individual meters indicating bladder and sleep-deprivation levels are replaced by a new system of discrete moods, the aim being to get players off the treadmill of fulfilling primal eat-sleep-pee-repeat requirements so they can focus more on, well, going out on the brand new town.
This might just be something that will be taken out in later developments; it might not. But it still means that I'll be directing my Sims to talk to random people on the street instead of telling them that yes, they do need to pee. Without the needs bars, the game doesn't feel like an actual Sims game, and feels more like a regular ol' video game (like an RPG where you have to explore and talk to people.) It feels more like MySims, which I played for the DS, and I didn't like. I wanted the needs bars, the sitting at home on the couch reading cook books, and my socially awkward teenagers.
In fact, for taking care of needs in TS3, you just click on a pop-up window, and you're done. There's no clicking on refrigerators, choosing whether or Sim will just eat cold cereal or attempt pancakes, and watching him slice his finger. It's just click and done.
I dunno. I like the Sims as a life-simulator. And part of life is the going to work, coming home, seeing if the kids did their homework or not, skilling up for work promotions, and choosing between hamburgers or pork chops for dinner. It's just weird to have that be taken away in a sense and have the Sims deal more with neighbors.
I'm still sticking to TS2. I like playing god to my Sims and watching them gain their little skill points. (I am easily amused watching one of my favorite Sims play chess.) And really, the two second wait for the taxi isn't horrible, especially if you have Sims that are socially awkward, like I do.
And a hack that takes away the friend requirement for job promotions!