Like the previous Sims games, The Sims 3 is a feast for taking video* and screenshots. Above is a great snapshot of Harlan Whyte's sim-life. You can see how big his garden has grown. You can see the tomatoes, apples, and bell peppers ready to be harvested. In the foreground are several mounds where I've planted mysterious seeds that'll grow into who-knows-what. One of Harlan's aspirations is to grow a Death Flower Bush, whatever that is. It sounds dire, but I hope it will spring up from one of those mounds.

You can see Harlan crouched down, tending the garden after a day at work, still in his mad scientist uniform. To the left is the front of Harlan's crappy car, which I never got around to replacing with something nicer because that would have used up all his money. Just in front of the car is the garden gnome Harlan fished out of a lake. You can name a garden gnome. I named this one Chigurh. The only available interaction is to kick the garden gnome, but considering the name I've given it, and considering that it's already slightly ominous looking, I've refrained from kicking it so far. In the space to the right of the gnome, I think I'll put a park bench. Of course, you can see into Harlan's house because of the cutaway wall view. In the background, looming over the town, you can see the Landsgraab Industries Science Facility where Harlan works. If you squint, to the right side of the screen, you can see Harlan's next door neighbor and oldest friend, Samantha Dingus, just coming home from work. In the foreground is a chess set Harlan doesn't really use, but I bought it to fulfill one of the random wishes that pops up and, if met, rewards your sim with Lifetime points.

It's a suburban idyll, full of details I've accumulated in the course of playing the game.

If you'd like to drop Harlan Whyte into your own town, I've saved an instance of him from before he died. Spoiler, I guess. I'll get to that soon enough. You can click here to download him from my Sims page. Feel free to help yourself to the money trees, not to mention the apples, tomatoes, and bell peppers!

Tomorrow: confronting mortality
(Click here for the previous Sims 3 game diary.)

* For instance, here are some guys goofing around with Sims 2 footage. It's somewhere between morning drive-time radio, an improv skit, and machinima. It doesn't make a lot of sense -- they call them SModcasts -- but they're obviously having fun.