Sims 2 plays dress-up

EA has released a themed expansion pack for The Sims 2 with branding from clothes empire H&M, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

The Fashion Stuff pack allows users to create their own clobber for in-game avatars, sample the stores' real-world garb and design their own shop-floor environment.

"Marrying a fashion-forward company with a game and community recognised around the world for its user-generated content will allow people to reflect their personalities and express their creativity," beamed Steve Seabolt, vice president of brand development at EA.

"This brings new and exciting game content from two trusted brands that share the same global footprint and customer profile."

Users will be able to enter their clothing designs into a competition, with the most popular chosen to be broadcast in online fashion shows.

"We're very excited that H&M is the first brand to enter this way into The Sims world," commented Jörgen Andersson, head of marketing at H&M.

"For us the Stuff pack is a fun opportunity to meet our customers and to show parts of our summer collection. The Sims players are known for their creativity, self-expression and cleverness - we are excited to see the participants' designs for the virtual fashion runaway."