Beta tests for "Tropico 3" will be started soon. Haeminont Games is taking applications for potential beta testers. The first round will be starting late July. The length of testing hasn't been specified.

"Tropico" fans now is your chance to see what the next version will be like before everyone else. Just remember, beta testers need to keep what they see to themselves.

• "Tropico 3" Beta Sign-Up Form

The majority of the time when I receive news of EA incorporating a real life star or product into their games, the news doesn't phase me. This time the news is exciting. My favorite soda company and EA is getting together.

The partnership will include new content found on thesims3.com. Plus Dr. Pepper bottles will have codes for downloadable items. Press release gave beach party items or items for the perfect fall tailgating as examples.

I'm a happy gamer. I get my soda and new "Sims 3" objects. Now if the codes were going to be under the covers of Coke, I wouldn't be impressed. I don't see myself buying products I don't normally use or like to get new objects. I do think it's a fun way to get new objects. If I'm already spending the cash, might as well get something fun out of it.

The purchase of "The Sims 3" comes with 1,000 points for "The Sims 3" store. Clothes, hair, and furniture can be bought for a fee. Most clothes items cost 75 points or .75 cents. Complete object sets are over 1,000 points. In real money, that means more than $10.

A few items are free. There's the Prius, Fanta Fridge, and a Lord Sponge lamp. Lord Sponge has a computer and shirts too. The car I like. The rest I'll pass on.

Alice and Kev are sims. They live in an abandon lot. There are no cozy sofas or beds for the father and daughter family. Only way they will survive is by hanging out the neighbors, stealing apples, and getting food at work and school. Robin Burkinshaw, the creator of Alice and Kev, made it more interesting by giving the sims negative personality traits. She tells use about their daily life through a blog dedicated to the pair.

Robin is a fantastic writer. Alice and Kev's story is written with limited embellishment. We see that nice Sims (Alice) tend to get away with a lot more then the miserable ones (Kev).

My next family may be my own version of Alice and Kev. Anyone else going to try a pair of homeless Sims? Or any families not following the tradition route of trying to have the perfect life?

• Story of Homeless Sims