<-250x250 Square - left->Sold in 100 million copies and translated in 22 languages, The Sims has become a phenomenon in the whole world. From its launch date (February 2000) this game made a lot of people living a virtual second-life.
The newly announced Sims 2 Double Deluxe lets you choose how your Sims will live their lives. You can build houses, create unique characters and watch how your future generations will create an entire dynasty of characters.

This new released box set of games will sell for a $29.99 price and will contain The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack (where you can enjoy dancing as much as you can), The Sims 2 Celebration! Stuff Pack (where you can plan parties carefully) and a bonus DVD.

On the other part, The Sims 2 Kitchen and Bath Interior Design Stuff will try to use your creativity side by allowing you and providing all the items to create the kitchens and bathrooms that you always dreamed of. From a large variety of furniture to different outfits for your Sims, this latest Stuff Pack is the way to create a unique place for you. The purchase price for this add-on is $19.99, and like the “The Sims 2 Double Deluxe” can be bought from retailers across U.S. and Europe.

For some people, gaming doesn't have to be really complicated. In fact, gaming to replace taking care of a pet could be a good choice, if you don't have enough space, can't afford to raise your favorite animal (take a whale or an elephant as an example), or simply you want to kill your time with a game that can only entertain you, and not enrage you, as it happens with a lot of games (save, die, load, die, load again, I guess you know how it goes). Now, how about having to take care of some penguins?

Today, Total Gameplay Studio announced Penguins Mania 1.0, "a simulator of a penguin life based on figure-clicking action." It starts with a few eggs left behind by a penguin colony that misteriously vanished, so you should defend your penguins from natural enemies, human poachers, as well as collecting magic fish and unlock special penguins.

The game doesn't try to be a realistic simulation - it's all about following an amusing storyline, earning various trophies, and having fun all the way! It doesn't sound like a game for anyone, but if you like the idea...there's a trial version available, and the full version is priced at $19.50.

I must confess something - good simulations always made me lose my nights in front of my computer, no matter if it was about history or racing, but I also must admit I was never too much into sport sims or "The Sims" series... Anyway, every time when I hear "Gran Turismo," something happens. Even a few days ago, I was in a store with a friend, and I saw racing on a TV. "Wow, racing! What channel is that?" In fact, it was Gran Turismo 5 Prologue but, until now, there was no chance to play this amazing game on your PC...

Does this mean we will get to play Gran Turismo on PCs anytime soon? Unfortunately not, but even the hope of such an amazing thing on my computer makes me think about those nights I will probably loose racing around...so let's see what do we have, shall we?

In an interview with a German magazine, Gran Turismo's project head, Kazunori Yamauchi, said "It is very very unlikely that GT will come out on another console. But perhaps it may come out on the PC."

The Chinese gaming market is a huge one, but PCs have the largest part of it, and so releasing this awesome game for the PC is a brilliant idea, the only problem being the extremly high piracy rate there. Anyway, as soon as this game arrives on PC, I'll be the first in line to buy it!

While most games are based on events that passed, especially the big wars mankind passed through so far, some use a completely different recipe. Games with political links are only a few, and I can't remember a single game that uses future political events as its main theme, as Political Machine 2008 does, and that's exactly what makes this game more interesting!

Well, Stardock Entertainment saw the 2008 political campaign in the US as an opportunity to release a game for Windows PCs that allows each of us to become a president... but only virtually, of course. Brad Wardell, lead designed at Stardock, said "This is the ultimate game for political junkies and a really fun way for anyone to learn about the election process," and if you look at the image above, you can surely get an idea about the percentage of fun vs serious stuff...

Anyway, despite the cartoon graphics, Political Machine 2008 also takes things seriously - "Once you put yourself in the campaign manager's shoes, you really get to see how each campaign tactic ultimately affects the outcome of the vote. The whole point is to be fun but part of that means being reasonably accurate."

Currently scheduled to be released in June, for a RRP of $19.95, the game allows you to play real-life candidates such as Obama or Hillary, but you can also create your custom candidate, of course. Sounds interesting? To find out more, feel free to visit the official page, here!

<-250x250 Square - left->EA has recently announced the artists who recorded the songs for the Sims 2 FreeTime soundtrack.
The expansion pack give to the Sims the possibility to explore new activities, hobbies and try interesting new careers, on the music of Natasha Bedingfield who’s new song, Pocketful of Sunshine, was chosen for the game and is sang in the Simlish language.

Along with this song you will also hear the voices of Lexington Bridge band from Germany, I’m from Barcelona band from Sweden, Datarock from Norway with "Fa-Fa-Fa" and Lara from Spain, while from the US are They Might Be Giants, Great Northern and Fire Flies with their "It's A Party".

Natasha Bedingfield has declared: "It was such a fun and delightful challenge to learn how to sing in Simlish. The language of The Sims captures a wonderful sense of beauty, creativity and humor, so my song 'Pocketful of Sunshine' translated well!"

On February 26 the FreeTime expansion pack will start shipping in US and on February 22 to Europe.