The Sims: Unleashed update

Maxis has sent us five new screenshots from The Sims: Unleashed, an upcoming expansion pack for The Sims that the company is touting as the most significant add-on for the series yet. Most noteably, the expansion pack will let players purchase pets for their sims, including over a dozen varieties of cats and dogs, as well as parrots, fish, iguanas, and turtles. High-maintenance pets like dogs and cats will have eight needs that will require constant attention, just like the sims themselves, as well as three unique skills and a randomly generated personality that can be shaped through obedience training, rewards, and punishment.

Additionally, Unleashed lets players create their own gardens by buying seeds from the local farmer's market. Sims will be able to grow vegetables in their backyard, store their crop in a pantry for later consumption, and sell their produce to the market at a tidy profit. The expansion pack also comes with a larger neighborhood that includes a café that's modeled after New Orleans' famous French Quarter and large park that's perfect for dog walking. There are also five new career tracks (education, fashion, animal training, food, and circus), a number of new characters, and 125 new objects, including spiral staircases.

The Sims: Unleashed is scheduled for release in September, and an original copy of The Sims will be required to play it. We'll have more on this expansion pack in the coming weeks. In the meantime, take a look at the latest batch of screenshots.