'Dollhouses' & other digital games

When you were a kid, did you ever play a role-reversal game with your parents at the dinner table? My brother and I did, and apparently the game hasn't gone away. It has simply gone virtual. The New York Times depicts Francesca, 9, and Richard, 6, "hard at play in Pelham, N.Y., renovating the four-bedroom house they share and picking up after the wayward family they look after." Only that 4BR house is virtual. It's in The Sims. Please check my newsletter this week for more on this and the highlights of all the gaming news from the E3 extravaganza (annual gaming inudstry conference and show).