So when your mom comes into your room and finds you playing The Sims 2, does she tell you, "Quit wasting your time with that game," you can show this this article for proof that playing Maxis' people sim game can actually pay off. The game's publisher Electronic Arts announced that a person who designed an outft in the game will see that outfit in the real world and sold in over 1,000 H&M stores.The outfit was designed via a contest where people were encourage to upload H&M inspired clothing designs into the TheSims2.com Exchange. The winning outfit, which was voted on by over 100,000 people, will begin to be sold in the US on July 31 and cost $14.95....

A new patch for The Sims 2: FreeTime, an expansion pack that allows your Sims to partake in leisurely activities such as "tossing a football with the family, practicing ballet, restoring cars with friends, or building train sets," has been released.Other than testifying to the absurdity of software patch numerical iterations, the patch also provides a few minor bug fixes and tweaks.Download The Sims 2: FreeTime patch 1.13.0.161 from Big Download...

We know what you are thinking. "Man, there are so many expansion packs for The Sims 2 but there is just not enough content for the game available. What will I do?" Well, have we got an announcement for you. Electronic Arts just announced the beta launch of The Sims 2 Store, a new web site which will allow players of the hugely popular people sim title to download thousands of extra pieces of content directly into their game (for a price of course).The web site has content from a number of previously released expansion packs for the game along with all new original content as well. As part of the beta launch, people who registered on the site will receive six free in-game content items. The store uses SimPoints as its currency which can be purchased via credit cards....

Yes we are in the home stretch of June now but that doesn't stop the NPD Group, no siree Bob. They now have the top 10 best selling games for the entire month of May 2008 for us to check out. If you have been following the weekly lists this monthly edition should come as no surprise as Funcom's MMO Age of Conan is firmly on top with the now sold out Collector's Edition coming in at number three. Without further ado, here's the list: 1. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Funcom/Eidos 2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts 3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Collector's Edition - Funcom/Eidos 4. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard 5. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts 6. World of Warcraft - Blizzard 7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard 8. The Sims 2 FreeTime - Electronic Arts 9. Sim City 4 Deluxe - Electronic Arts 10. 15000 Games - Viva Media ...

Never underestimate the selling power of Lego and George Lucas. The latest Lego PC game made its debut on the latest NPD Group list of best selling PC games for the week ending June 7. That would be Lego Indiana Jones from developer Traveller's Tales and publisher LucasArts as it comes in the number three spot last week, behind number one selling Age of Conan and number two selling Mass Effect.The full top 10 list is below and check it out; BioShock has reappeared on the top 10 list after going missing for several months. Looks like Ken Levine just got a new bargaining chip: 1. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Funcom/Eidos 2. Mass Effect - BioWare/EA 3. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - Traveller's Tales/LucasArts 4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts 5. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard 6. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts 7. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard 8. BioShock - 2K Games 9. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard 10. The Sims 2 Freetime - Electronic Arts ...

The NPD Group has release its latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US, this time for the week ending May 17. As expected there's not a lot of change in the list; a few older games have reappeared at the tail end of the list such as Assassin's Creed and even Crysis but mostly there's nothing major that has newly popped up. We expect that will change very soon; next week's list should include Age of Conan and the week after that could see the PC port of Mass Effect pop up. In the meantime let's look at what we have available at the moment: 1. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts 2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts 3. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard 4. The Sims 2: FreeTime - Electronic Arts 5. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard 6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision 7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard 8. Sins Of A Solar Empire - Ironclad/Stardock 9. Crysis - Electronic Arts 10. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition - Ubisoft [Via Game Daily]...

While the NPD Group has a weekly list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US, they also go back and look at the overall monthly chart as well. For April, the top 10 list is dominated by Blizzard; it has four games in the top 10 including the number one best selling title World of Warcraft: Battle Chest (which has the original MMO game and the first expansion pack Burning Crusade in one package). Electronic Arts also did well; it has three Sims 2 titles in the top 10.Ubisoft's PC port of Assassin's Creed debuted at number two in April while Activision's Call of Duty 4 continues to sell well at number three. The sleeper hit of the year, Sins of a Solar Empire from Ironclad Games and Stardock, sticks with the list at number seven. May should see some major changes in the list with the debuts of Age of Conan and the PC version of Mass Effect, among others. 1 World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard 2 Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition - Ubisoft 3 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision 4 The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts 5 The Sims 2 Free Time - Electronic Arts 6 World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - Blizzard 7 Sins Of A Solar Empire - Ironclad Games/Stardock 8 The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts 9 World Of Warcraft - Blizzard 10 Warcraft III Battle Chest - Blizzard [Via Voodoo Extreme]...

Electronic Arts isn't a stranger to putting in-game ads in their games but for their latest PC expansion pack for The Sims 2 they went and made a deal to put the ads in the game's title as well. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, due out on June 23, lets the best selling Sims characters shop and use products from the home furnishings of the Swedish-based retailer.Yes, now you can put in the trademark sofas, beds, tables and more furnishings from the iconic store into your Sims enviroment. You can bet this latest expansion will show up quickly in the top 10 best selling PC games list as most Sims expansion packs tend to do. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff will be priced at $19.99....

So little has changed in recent months -- The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft still completely dominate PC game sales. Sure, now and then something usurps them for a short time, but they always come back. The top 10 PC games in the NPD sales report released this past week:1. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe3. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack4. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest5. World Of Warcraft6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare7. Sins Of A Solar Empire8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack9. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2That makes four years that The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft have been fairly consistently pwning the industry. The only other PC exclusive on the list is Ironclad/Stardock's runaway 4X RTS hit Sins of a Solar Empire. The others -- Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 -- are multi-platform titles. WoW's position is no surprise, given the NPD's research with regards to online game revenues. The Sims 2's domination of the charts, however, speaks to a vast, silent market of gamers to whom hardcore games like Rainbow Six don't appeal....