Last Day of Work on Wednesday released Virtual Families, a Sims-like game in which players adopt a character and make life decisions for it, including whether or not to marry, whether or not to have a children, and how to further their career. Family members grow and evolve in their suburban environment even when the game isn't running.
The publisher said inspiration for the game came from the way players interacted with its previous release, Virtual Villagers: Players liked pairing up villagers with each other and creating storylines about them. In Virtual Families, players must not only deal with their characters' situations, with trophies awarded for meeting certain goals, but also solve mini-puzzles in which family members must find hidden objects.
Special launch pricing is US$14.95, reverting to a regular price of $19.95 at an undisclosed date. 96MB of RAM and 32MB of video RAM are required; the game is available as a 20MB download.
Last Day of Work said that a version of Virtual Families for iPhone and iPod touch is coming soon.