Like them or loathe them, you'd have to have been living on the moon to not know the influence that The Sims franchise has had on PC sales charts for the last decade. For those moon babies among us, here's a couple of staggering figures to clue you in; over 100 million units of The Sims titles have been sold since the launch of the original title back in February 2000, with the latest iteration in the series, The Sims 3 selling a whopping 1.4 million copies in its first week in stores. The Sims is franchise that has drawn both kudos and criticisms over the years, with the criticisms of Electronic Arts' systematic milking of the franchise often outweighing the message of fun, addictive gameplay that has made The Sims a part of many gaming households across the globe. Now that it has reached its third incarnation, is there genuine reinvention in this iteration of The Sims or are gamers merely being suckered into buying a glossy coated cash cow that's lining up at the gates of Electronic Arts milking station? In all honesty, EA has made some bold changes with this third chapter of this popular gaming series, carving out some of the more mundane aspects of the title while fleshing out some aspects of the title, yet sadly, much of The Sims 3's potential remains relatively untapped - until the obligatory expansion pack rolls in retailers in the near future.
At its core, The Sims 3 remains very similar to creator Will Wright's original vision. The idea of controlling virtual people in their virtual town to do your bidding in an effort to see how their lives play out - or how long they will survive in a pool with no ladder, depending on how sadistic a virtual God you can be
