Taking a bold step in a different direction for its Sims franchise, Electronic Arts announce d today that it will be releasing a new line of story-drive n games called The Sims Stories. These new games will be riding on the success of the rest of the Sims franchise, which has sold over 70 million copies worldwide. The first of these games, The Sims Life Stories, introduces the all-new Story Mode with two stories that follow the lives of Riley Harlow and Vincent Moore, two very different characters who have reached similar crossroads in their love lives. A comic romantic plot centered around engaging characters guides players through twelve chapters of this one-of-a-kind entertainment experience. Players can take their Sims through unique and entertaining storylines filled with romance, intrigue and dramatic twists. EA says the games will be laptop friendly because they will not require other versions of The Sims to play, meaning each version of the game will be standalone. We're assuming that this just means that the games won't require as much hard drive space because they will be able to be installed separately, but, either way, your laptop will still need the minimum requirements for each of the games in the series in order to run properly. The Sims Life Stories is scheduled for release on February 2^nd in Europe and February 6^th in North America and is rated T for Teen. The Sims Pet Stories and The Sims Castaway Stories are two other titles set to be released as part of the series and are scheduled for release in summer 2007 and winter 2008, respectively.

D3 Publisher of America announced the release of its new turn-based RPG for the Nintendo DS today. Fossil League Dino Tournament Championship, or Fossil League (DTC) for short, follows the epic journey of boy action-star Taiga as he travels back in time to historic Jurassic eras to recover his stolen and most personal treasure, the “Big Mother” fossil. Fossil League (DTC) offers classic turn-based RPG play with players adventuring as Taiga to battle, tame and collect realistic 3D dinosaur models, each with their own special powers. A “dinopedia” will give players true dinosaur facts as they engage in fun mini-games, utilize special attacks and experience cool archaeological digs. The game also allows players to adventure across 6 historic dinosaur eras to collect and battle more than 100 different 3D dinosaurs, each with their own effects. Players will utilize the dual screen capabilities of the Nintendo DS to experience fascinating archaeological digs and collect as many dinosaurs as possible to utilize wireless multiplayer mode for up to two players to compete in the Dinosaur Grand Prix at the end of the adventure. Fossil League (DTC) is now available exclusively for the Nintendo DS for $29.95 USD.

That's all for today's News Pop!. As we've mentioned over and over again World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade and WarioWare: Smooth Moves released today. Be sure to check back with us tomorrow.