It's like even before Will Wright's Spore releases, Electronic Arts keeps shoveling more and more moolah into the vault. Someone definitely did something right by getting IKEA involved in the latest expansion to The Sims 2, because the brand-approved luxuries tucked away inside every twenty buck box managed to overtake every PC retail game offered in the US. The full top ten list follows at the full story.

Electronic Arts has released a new patch for The Sims 2 FreeTime. This patch fixes some bugs that are in the expansion, as well as addressing some system issues within the game. Find out the full list of fixes after the jump!

Download: The Sims 2 FreeTime patch v1.13.0.161

The Sims 2 denizens finally get a chance to deck out their digs with stylish IKEA furniture in the latest Sims 2 expansion pack, The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff. Get desk lamps, TV sets, matching set of drawers,beds...everything that you need to make your Sim's home as comfy as possible. Now if we only can get the same luxury. Check out the full article for the important details.

We all know what pushed EA's The Sims 2 to its stellar success: clever gameplay. Apparently, the cleverness in that brand has spilled over in real life as one of its top bosses almost pulled a fast one on the game media. Who would have thought that The Sims 3 was actually already out for some time now? But of course, there's a bit of a catch. How much of a catch? Check out the full article and be enlightened.

Grand theft what? This April isn't exactly rocky even if you're not a fan of the upcoming sandbox behemoth, because other major releases can go neck to neck. For the week ending April 20, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will race to North America with an expansion for The Sims 2 and Okami's waggle reincarnation tailing behind. Hit that jump to see the rest of games about to reach retail.

It's no secret that The Sims is one of  Electronic Arts' hottest selling game franchises. But in case you're wondering just how big the game is, EA's Steve Seabolt over at the GDC's Serious Games Summit hints that they'll be hitting the 100 million mark for The Sims sales by next month. More details on what Seabolt said on this matter are in the full article.

Electronic Arts has announced the list of songs and artists to be included in The Sims 2's seventh expansion, The Sims 2: FreeTime. Included in the roster are international pop star Natasha Bedingfield and American bands They Might Be Giants and Great Northern. Head on to the full article for the complete list of artists and songs in the soundtrack.

Maxis and Electronic Arts will be unleashing another expansion of The Sims 2 among us once again and this time, the Sims will have loads of free time on their hands. So what's there to do? Hobbies and loads of activities. Will your Sims be potters, dancers, or amateur UFO spotters? Find out in The Sims 2: FreeTime.

Check out the details and trailer after the jump.

Having problems running your copy of The Sims 2 by Electronic Arts for the PC platform? If you are, and you're sure that it's being caused by SecuROM, we've got good news. MaxoidDrea over at the Sims 2 site is letting word that Sony DADC - the makers of SecuROM - has set up an FAQ sheet to hep you resolve your problem.

As a recap, players were reporting a few weeks back that their game copy was having conflicts with the SecuROM copyright protection written into the disc. The problem caused issues when players attempted to launch the game, or run their CD-burners and anti-virus protection.

Guys interested in finding out how to alleviate this problem will want to read Sony DADC's FAQ, available via the read link below. As a last reminder, the FAQ you'll be reading will only work for SecuROM version 7.24 or higher - keep that in mind.

 

We've got some new screens and the UK packshot for Electronic Art's The Sims 2: Bon Voyage. If you haven't heard yet, this is the sixth expansion under the game's banner and it draws some familiar references to past experiences with the series.

Think of this expansion as a deeper, better looking equivalent of what was The Sims Vacation for the original game. It lets you wander off to different locales and have your Sims experience the great outdoors.

Apparently, there will be some minute differences in the UK and North American versions of this life simulator. However, it's clear that the one constant thing you'll get no matter where you live is the fun that comes along with taking care of your little friends. The game rolls out this year for both countries.