Just received this from my dad who works for a newspaper .

Players of The Sims 2 will soon be able to add Ikea furniture to their virtual homes as part of a marketing deal between the Swedish company and Electronic Arts, the computer game's producer.EA has formed an unusual partnership with Ikea to make a selection of the retailer's furniture and home furnishings available to players of The Sims 2, sequel to The Sims - the life simulator that is the best-selling PC game series ever.From June 27 Sims 2 players in Europe, the games franchise's biggest market, will be able to decorate their virtual homes with a Malm bed, a Leksvik coffee table and Ektorp sofa, or deck out their virtual home office with a Helmer drawer unit and Lack zigzag shelf.The items will be made available as an add-on software package. EA releases three such packs a year to meet the demands of Sims players eager to expand, evolve and personalise the virtual worlds they create."The success of The Sims has generated a number of online communities committed to the game and eager to share content they have created inside the game," said Nancy Smith, the EA global president for The Sims label. "As a result, we know not only players' passion for creating their own content but their desire to interact with brands. It's an environment in which players like to blur the line between the digital and real world."The Ikea UK marketing manager, Anna Crona, added that the Sims tie-up fitted neatly with the brand's current marketing line, that home is the most important place in the world."For Ikea, The Sims 2 represents a media channel. This is a great channel for us to reach young and young at heart," Crona said.The Ikea deal comes a year after EA announced a partnership with another Swedish company, H&M, which allowed Sims 2 players to dress the characters they create in the fashion retailer's clothes as well as entering a competition to create new designs. Shortlisted entries were showcased throughout last summer in a series of virtual catwalk shows. In its first year, sales of the H&M Fashion software pack reached 1m. EA also struck a deal with Ford to enable Sims players' characters to own a Focus or Mustang. To date, 2.7m Ford add-ons have been sold.Smith said she hoped the partnership with Ikea would lead to an H&M-style interactive design competition to be staged later this year. With UK games industry turnover now outstripping film box office receipts, brand owners' interest in games as an advertising medium is growing fast, according to Mark Boyd, head of content at advertising agency BBH, which is exploring in-game advertising for a number of leading brands.Until now, most activity has fallen into two categories: relatively unsophisticated in-game billboard-style advertising and traditional sponsorship, Boyd said. However, he added that the EA/Ikea deal showed the potential for deeper and more subtle integration of game and brand."The games industry has been built on high street sales rather than advertising revenue so it's not surprising many companies have been slow to evolve in-game advertising. This, however, is now beginning to change," said Boyd. "Consumers aren't up for paying premium prices on products for ever. While the games industry might now seem to be riding high with little need for advertising, this will change as they embrace brands' potential to underwrite games' high development costs and lower retail prices."

Sorry if it's already been posted!

Thanks so much for the codes.