The Sims 2 goes gold, set to launch mid-September

Electronic Arts has announced that work on The Sims 2, the sequel to the best-selling PC game of all time, has been completed at the firm's Maxis studio, with the eagerly awaited title set to arrive at retail in the middle of next month.

The new game reworks the original by adding fully 3D graphics, and moving the gameplay away from simply fulfilling the basic needs of its characters and towards a more aspiration-based, goal driven system.

The title will go on sale in the USA on September 14th, with a European launch date of September 17th. While EA has - naturally enough - not released its internal projections for sales of the title, we can only assume that expectations are higher than the 158,000 units the original The Sims was expected to sell; including expansion packs, it went on to sell closer to 40 million units.

The Sims 2 was well-received at its first public showing earlier this month, when Maxis general manager Neil Young demonstrated the game at a Game Screening event at the Edinburgh International Game Festival, playing through a game scenario where the team had recreated the set and characters from classic British sitcom Fawlty Towers.

In related news, EA has also confirmed that BMI music award winner Mark Mothersbaugh has composed the music for the game. Mothersbaugh is a screen, stage and TV regular who was also a founding member of 80s rock group Devo.