The Sims 3 is coming out early 2009 and looks flat out awesome. I have been a Sims fan ever since I got hooked on The Sims: Superstar. EA boasts many new features on the upcoming release including larger neighborhoods, the ability to pick different carreer modes, character personalities, and by far the coolest feature - the game is REAL TIME. Your neighbors grow up, get married, have kids, etc. Everytime you log in your character will age as well. 

I generally don't play The Sims with Tips, Codes, or Cheats but I have found using The Sims 3 Walkthrough or a guide very helpful for finding hidden features that I would never find otherwise.

One more thing, does anyone know if we'll be seeing this on xbox or ps3? I like to keep my computer free of games these days.