Sims Makin' Magic in October

One multi-million-selling game and a litany of mediocre expansion packs later, EA is finally abandoning The Sims in favour of the spruced up and deoxyribose nucleic acid-enhanced sequel. But not without one last fling, due out this October 31st, entitled The Sims Makin' Magic.

If you've ever played a Sims expansion then you'll know what to expect; a new location, some new items, and a few new activities interwoven with the usual management of comfort levels. This time out, our Sims are enticed by a travelling MagiCo salesman, who hooks you up with a starter kit.

Thenceforth, our little fellows will be able to use magic to improve their love lives and transform all sorts of people and objects into frogs, minions and so on. Anything you like, really. You can also hypnotise your friends, which sounds great, and build up a collection of increasingly nasty spells using the family Spellbook.

However, each spell requires a certain number of ingredients, and with a bit of research you can create original spells. You just have to be careful and make sure your sim is up to the task of performing said spell, because each spell has the potential to backfire in an explosive fashion, manifesting toad plagues, donkey heads, lightning strikes and worse.

Fortunately there'll be plenty of places to practice your magic dotted around the game's new location - Magic Town - which has Side Shows, Spook Shows and Magic Trick Tables upon which to ply your trade, as well as customisable carnival rides like the Fun House (accio mullet!) and Haunted House, and a Duelling Arena where you can fight for MagiCoins. MagiCoins, obviously, can be used to purchase spell ingredients from the various Magic Town shops.

You can also expect to buy Wand Chargers, Charm Makers, Faerie Toy Boxes, Magic Crystals, and even Dragon Nests for little pet dragons. Yes, we are just listing things from the press release now. You would be too. There was a "unique" a few paragraphs up that we sidestepped, you know.

The Sims will be Makin' Magic in October, like we said at the top. If you're going to buy it, nothing we can say will stop you, so have some screenshots too.