sometimes i feel like i'm the only one who reads this thread but anyways.
Dont buy Mysims. It's terrible. Worse than Viva Pinata. All you do is talk, build furniture, paint, repeat. No secretive forbidden romances or public fights or anything. I guess i should have expected something really childish but yeah. 1 star out of 5 from me.
In other news, 'hobbies' is going to be the next expansion pack due for release next february. It is tipped to be the final expansion in the series before the sims 3 is released in late 2008 or so. There's been some really interesting tidbits of information floating around about the sims 3 including this stuff
here
They've apparently recruited Richard Evans who worked on Black And White to improve the social interactions and awareness of the sims. Read the article. It's quite interesting and whilst they're still operating on a 2d platform, graphically, the basic simulation that will form the basis of the next addition to the franchise is rather exciting.