Well I got my copy of The Sims 2, and have bene playing it quite a bit. I think I take that game far too seriously. This is the problem when you have such demands on your time, you are determined to maximise the utility of any time spent (much like playing the sims ironically).
So far I think its great, it has a lot more polish and detail than the original, and it looks like they have crammed it with features, rather than leave stuff out for the inevitable add-ons. I've already been inspired by its GUI to revisit the GUI for Democracy.
What I find scary is the sheer level of 'polish' thats gone into the Sims. I need to spend a lot of time improving democracy if I want it to get the ales I plan for it.
I'm still hoping to get it on sale by Christmas though.