Preview: The Sims 3

LIKE REAL LIFE, JUST NOT: A scene from Sims 3.

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Maybe it's neat, childish, lucky, ambitious and insane - just depends on what traits gamers choose for their neighbourhood of virtual playthings in "The Sims 3," Electronic Arts and Maxis' popular life-simulating game for the PC and Mac.

Executive producer Ben Bell said it will focus more on social behaviour than ever before.

"'The Sims 3' is a huge step forward for us," said Bell. "You can create incredibly detailed people who have real personalities that you get to design using a feature we call personality traits. By combining words, you can create a new kind of a person that has totally different desires in life and then you get to go fulfil their destiny in the game."

Unlike previous editions in the series, every character will live their lives simultaneously in the fictional town of Sunset Valley.

Bell said "The Sims 3," available June 3, will also feature a moviemaking tool and more options for players to customize their Sims' homes, furnishings and clothes. Gamers can even turn their Sims into kleptomaniacs.

"A Sim who has this trait is going to have wishes in life to steal things from other people," said Bell. "They also have the ability to sneak into a friend's house, walk into a room where nobody happens to be hanging out and maybe swipe something. One of the fun things I've seen people on the team do is build up a whole household of stolen things."

In perhaps a case of life imitating art, a pirated copy of "The Sims 3" has already been leaked on several file-sharing websites two weeks before the game's launch.

EA said the pirated version "is a buggy, pre-final" version of the game.

"It's not the full game. Half of the world - an entire second city - is missing," said spokeswoman Holly Rockwood in a statement.

Electronic Arts has announced it is publishing "The Sims 3" without restrictive anti-piracy software known as DRM, a form of copy protection that requires online authentication.

- AP