EA has worked animals into its Sims franchise before, but Sim Animals already sounds way more interesting than The Sims 2: Apartment Pets (and its corrupting boxart). Described by NGamer magazine as a "woodland ecosystem god game where Disney-style characterisation meets the teeth and claws of the Discovery Channel," this god game puts you in charge of a big ol' chunk of nature, which you have to ensure remains clean and full of happy, well-petted animals and plants.

Do this successfully, and you'll get to see more of the 25 animals and 50 plant specimens in the game, which sounds a bit lot like Viva Piñata. The food chain plays a role (so to increase numbers of a certain species, bump up the number of animals they prey upon), and the ecosystem itself has its own happiness level. Four players can take part at once (animals remember how each player treats them), and it should be hitting both DS and Wii next year.

With any luck, we'll see more of this soon. If only there were some huge industry event in the near future!