Milking the cash cow that is “The Sims”, EA has announced yet another expansion pack for the game, which people just don’t seem to get enough of. Dubbed ‘Seasons‘, the expansion will allow players to ruin run the lives of their Sims, all the while enjoying “spring, summer, autumn and winter”.

The expansion will let Sims wear seasonal clothes, but that’s only the beginning: each season will offer unique benefits, impacting the Sims relationships, mood, skills, careers and more. There will also be seasonal activities such as building snowmen, going snow-skating, taking a dip in the pool, etc. Besides the seasonal changes, the expansion will also add to the Sims’ wardrobe, add new talents and six new careers, along with enhanced visual effects and more.

The Sims 2: Seasons will be out in March 2007 and will require a copy of the base game to run.

EA’s conference call saw quite a few surprise announcements, the biggest of which is the revival of the classic Road Rash series. The company revealed that development on The Sims 3 has commenced and that it will be a fiscal 2009 title, which begins on April 1, 2008. It was also stated that another installment in the Sim City series is also in the works, as well as a Simpsons sequel, Sims on Wii and a PS3 version of The Sims 2: Holiday Edition (2006 or 2007 Holiday season).

“There is a new Road Rash game,” an EA executive bluntly stated. No further details were given. It was also stated that a next-gen version of Black is being developed, though it is not clear whether it will be a full-blown sequel or a revamp of the original. As per the executive, it will be a “next-generation version of Black.”

Sad news is there too: those looking forward to Crysis and Army of Two will have to wait longer. Both titles have been delayed to EA’s fiscal 2008, which begins on April 1, 2007. No reason for the delays was given.

The Sims, with their “Simlish” language, has always defined bizarre. Now, EA today announced that Depeche Mode has re-recorded “Suffer Well,” a popular track from their “Playing the Angel” album, in Simlish which will be made available through The Sims 2: Open for Business, the third expansion pack for the insanely popular simulation title.

Depeche Mode’s lead singer, David Grahan, had this to say: “Depeche Mode has always been open to new ways of sharing our music, but re-recording a Simlish-language version of ‘Suffer Well’ just sounded completely bizarre. Of course, that’s why couldn’t resist doing it.”

A video of the song, featuring footage of the band and gameplay from Open for Business, will be available on The Sims 2 website, as well as on the band’s website. The song, as stated before, is present in the Open for Business expansion pack which is now available. Also making musical appearances in the game are “Things Can Only Get Better” by Howard Jones, “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo and “Synthesized” by Epoxies.

According to EA, Simlish was created by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, as well as Navajo, inspired by the code talkers of WWII. All that was an interesting read, but what is more interesting is that an EA executive feels that Simlish is an “emotion-filled language that defies translation.” It surely does, Mr. Schnur.

Quite a few games have been released. Check them out:

• 24: The Game (PS2)
  
• Black (PS2, Xbox)
  
• Dungeons & Dragons: Online Stomreach (PC)
  
• FIFA Street 2 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, DS, PSP)
  
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (PC)
  
• The Sims 2: Open for Business (PC)
  
• SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate (PC)

It will come as no surprise to everyone that EA will milk The Sims series till doomsday. So, without further ado, let’s introduce the next expansion: Family Fun. Expectedly revealed in the recently released Open for Business add-on, Family Fun will offer new objects for people to traumatize their Sims with. This time around, the focus, as the name implies, will be on ‘family’ and kids, although no new features have been revelaed, neither have they been teased about. Family Fun is scheduled for release this April.