The Sims 3 Released for Mac OS X

Electronic Arts has announced the release of The Sims 3, the latest incarnation of the popular life simulation game series. The title adds new twists to the popular life sim gameplay style with customizable personalities, goal-oriented gameplay, movie creation and an online community. On the Mac side, The Sims 3 requires an Intel computer with the latest version of Leopard installed. The game costs $49.95.

The Sims 3 adds the ability to choose up to five traits to create individual personalities. Fresh design tools let players customize the appearance of their Sims, while they can manipulate aspects like their Sims' shape and size, facial features, skin tone, hair color and style, eye shape and color, clothing and accessories. A new “seamless” neighborhood environment lets Sims roam to neighbors’ homes and explore their surroundings, take walks, or simply hang out. Endless customization options are available for both your sims and their surroundings.

Electronic Arts has also posted the complete system requirements for The Sims 3. Those are available below.

System Requirements
• Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher
• Intel Core Duo Processor
• 2 GB RAM
• ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
• At least 6.1 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
• This game will NOT run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems, or the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards.

Mac OS X Supported Video Cards
• NVIDIA GeForce series (7300, 7600 8600, 8800, 9400M, 9600M GT, GT 120, GT 130)
• ATI Radeon series (X1600, X1900, 2400, 2600, 3870, 4850, 4870)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) (GMA x3100)

EA is also offering The Sims 3 Collectors Edition (with bonus content). The cool looking retail box is available for online ordering 24 hours a day, every day, Apple says. The company also encourages visitors of its Games section to check out The Sims 3 for iPhone/iPod touch.