Sims 3 is uninstalled on my machine and for the moment at least I am unlikely to play it, let alone make any content with it.

To play properly (ie as marketed) Sims 3 seems to need major hacks - see Awesomemod, a hack made by J M Pescado, continually updated and which fixes MOST of the "broken" parts of the game as sold. Download it and read about it. It allows you not to use your precious gamedisk (though of course you need the disk to install) to run the game, fixes Story Progression, fixes the "censor blur", allows for Sims 2-style gameplay if that is your preference, and much more.

That said, it's a good game, though for those of us used to Sims 2's sophistication, or even to playing Sims 1 with all its EPs, it's fairly limited.

OK. Yes it DOES contain SECUROM, apparently in the Launcher. But that said, it has caused me no problems yet AFAIK, nor did the Sims 2 Bon Voyage Securom. I'm told that the Digital Download version also contains Securom.

You can easily avoid using the Launcher make a shortcut directly to the Sims3.exe file, and start the game from your shortcut. (You might need to use the Launcher to install some files. There are workarounds to this at MATY.)

It loads FAST!

I DID have some problem on first install, the rest of my system seemed to be very unhappy with the amount of RAM it requires. And I have 2 Gigs of RAM. Players with older machines may be wiser sticking to Sims 2 unless they can also buy more RAM.

The colouring tool, Create a Style, (click on the palette) is great and was what I had hoped for from Sims 2 prelaunch publicity; instead we got a few measly recolours. But now it's working it is probably the best thing about Sims 3.

Overall gameplay is much like initial Sims 1.0 or Deluxe, because there are no expansion packs, additional things to do, places to go like restaurants, vacations or clothes shopping, no pets;  and because if your Sim is in any kind of career, or has any ambition, he will probably spend a great deal of time skilling. Gardening and fishing are included but not weather (Apart from the mythical lightning storms that appear to kill random Townies). Apartments are not possible so far. And houses STILL can't be built to go to the edge of the Lot. (1 or 2 tile gap).

Children can feed themselves at last! They can make simple meals or eat leftovers from the fridge.

Also, because it forces you to really play only one household at a time, micromanagement once again is very important. Although, much to my relief, they will usually go potty and fall into bed of their own volition. I discovered by accident that it is also possible to leave the game running while I am away from machine for an hour or two, without their completely starving, losing jobs or simply dying, which wasn't really possible in Sims 2 without a lot of hacks. I do quite like that kind of gameplay. I suppose it works because they are designed to function as NPCs and to MANAGE, because of EA's assumption that we will all have Story Progression turned on. 

What I want to know is WHERE ARE THE CLOTHES SHOPS? I like clothes shopping! in an EP I suppose...