Software

• Create, build and run the most realistic city you can imagine
• Sculpt mountains, gouge valleys, and seed forests
• For 1 player

• The third expansion pack for The Sims 2
• Cultivate an audience for your wares, from window shoppers to niche markets
• A new radio station featuring famous bands singing in "Simlish"

• Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
• Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
• Also available in DVD Edition

Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.

The People in Your Neighborhood
The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.

Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools.

Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler.

What Else Is New?

Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor.

Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.

The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family.

A Family Affair
The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13.

The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site.

The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall

Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio
Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.

• Sims romantic attraction is now based on personality - Figure out their compatibility, then heat up their love life with new romantic social interactions
• Live it up in fun and style - over 125 new items objects & items including a DJ station, photo booth, karaoke machine and more. Exotic new Sims to mingle or date including vampires, hot waiters and more

Enjoy the hedonistic side of life while you cruise the nightclub scene.

Play your cards right, and you could meet the Sim of your dreams.

Get busy with the DJ station, one of over 125 new objects and items.

Right out of the box, your characters will be ready to hit the town and all the swanky spots. Whether they're cutting a rug until the morning light, flirting with the opposite sex, or getting nowhere throwing gutterballs at the bowling alley, the Nightlife expansion pack will deliver an unforgettable night on the town. With Nightlife, you'll have a better opportunity to discover the chemistry between Sims. Will two people click or clash? Is there a future beyond the night or is it just a steamy affair? If you're ready to add a fun, romantic, splash to your Sims simulation, then look no further than Nightlife to lift your spirits and start the party.

Your Sims' romantic attraction is now based upon personality, life aspiration, and zodiac signs. After you size up a mate and determine likely compatibility, try to throw your Sims' love life into the red zone with new, romantic social interactions such as the longing gaze, the slow dance, or the dramatic dip kiss. If you've done well, success might bring your Sims a romantic gift. Strike out and your Sims might just get a pile of hate mail.

Ahh, hedonism. Choose the all-new Pleasure Seeker life aspiration for your Sims and live vicariously through your characters. Deliver these Sims all the blissful amusements the world has to offer--hot dates, fancy parties, fine dinners, hot tubbin', and more--these Sims know how to live it up. Be careful, though! These pleasure-seeking Sims are terrified of pain, embarrassment, and effort, so anything outside of the realm of "PARTY!" is probably going to deliver quite a blow to their fragile egos.

Partying doesn't just happen. Looking good and hooking up with the right person takes work. Whether it's a girl's night out or an important, romantic date, your Sims will need to get dolled up and dressed to kill for their epic evening in the all-new downtown area. What's the mood? With all the new choices, they can mellow out in lounges, kick up their heels at hipster nightclubs, enjoy candlelight dinners at fine restaurants, or hit the bowling alley with the guys. No matter how they feel, Nightlife has something to offer.

Sims 2: Nightlife Expansion Pack has tons to offer to help your Sims live it up in fun and style. The pack delivers over 125 new objects and items, including a DJ station, a photo booth, a karaoke machine and more. With all the choices your Sims should be ready to impress. Plus, there are loads of exotic new Sims to mingle with or even date, such as vampires, hot waiters and others. So get out there, have some fun and find romance--even if it is just for a night.

• Add home decor that matches the holidays -- light up the candles, set up the garden gnome
• Take Frosty on a ski jumping trip
• Add a unique touch to your holiday festivities with international version of Santa, like Father Christmas and Cheongsam of the Chinese Fall Festival

• The Sims -- the phenomenon that started it all! Completely build and customize your Sims' homes, decide their career paths and romances, and choose from hundreds of items to keep them happy. Their lives are in your hands.
• The Sims - House Party lets you throw the ultimate theme party. Engage in new group activities, and rock the house with different music and dance styles.
• The Sims - Hot Date takes you from candlelit romance to cuddling on the couch. Let your Sims enjoy downtown delights as their relationships heat up.

• Design, build, and operate a simulated theme park with wild roller coasters
• 90+ scenarios with unique challenges; variety of rides, shops, and themes
• Includes RollerCoaster Tycoon, plus Corkscrew Follies and Loopy Landscapes

• Get closer to the action with all-new Zootopia functionality and enhanced 3D graphics.
• New gameplay scenarios in Campaign and Freeform modes.
• Downloadable content

• Start out with the original Sims -- a hilarious game where you actually have to control a person's life from start to finish!
• Once you've done that try out the great expansion pack, Livin' Large. where you have to give your Sims the high life, and help them keep it
• You can even create the perfect Sim for yourself using the amazing new Creator tool!