MySims PC-bound in October

Electronic Arts has set a goal of $6 billion in annual sales by 2011, but at last count, it still has more than $2 billion to go. One way the publisher said it plans to close that gap is through its mass-market MySims franchise.

At its analysts and investors conference in February, EA informally announced MySims Kingdom and a PC port for the popular Wii and Nintendo DS game released in 2007. Having officially begun construction on Kingdom in May, the publisher today confirmed MySims will arrive for the PC this October.

On the PC, MySims builds on Will Wright's original creation by immersing pint-sized gamers in their own highly customizable towns. In the open-ended environment, players can flesh out first their characters' appearance and then build a variety of houses, stores, and other businesses. More than just a port of last year's game, the PC edition adds in multiplayer support, where players will be able to chat with and join in on schoolyard games, such as hide-and-seek and tag.

For a closer look at what new features EA has added to the PC edition of MySims, check out GameSpot's new preview.