The Sims Social, Gamescom's 'Best Browser Game,' lives on Facebook

While EA and Playfish London have officially set The Sims Social live at this year's Gamescom (with a show award, to boot), we're going with "lives," because the game technically already lived. Alas, despite a shoddy launch and some unfortunate down time, this gem of a Facebook game has launched to nearly 5 million players. Even counting since its downtime (and "open beta" issues), The Sims Social has grown exponentially in the past week, gaining about a whopping 3 million players in that time, according to AppData.

I'd hate to speak too soon (no I don't), but these look a lot like Zynga numbers. Could the big red bull dog have finally met its match, the biggest casual gaming brand long before FarmVille? It's quite possible, especially considering what players say the game could imply for the future of the genre.

"When we created The Sims Social, it was important for us to incorporate the deep gameplay nuances The Sims Studio has perfected and leverage what Playfish does best – develop compelling, cutting-edge social-gaming experiences," Playfish London GM John Earner said in a statement. And based on these explosive numbers, it looks like the players might agree. If The Sims Social keeps growing at this rate, it could catch up with Zynga's top games in a few months.

Gallery: The Sims Social on Facebook

The game already has branded partnerships with companies like Dunkin' Donuts, so it's clear how serious EA is about this game. Between what seems to be a hit on Facebook and a hit machine in the bag for possibly $1.3 million, maybe the Madden guys can hang with the FarmVillers, after all.

Sims Social survey lets you sound off on item prices, favorite features and more

It's that time folks - time to let your collective voices be heard! EA wants to know how much fun (or not) you're having with the Sims Social on Facebook, and they've released a fairly long survey to help you tell them. This survey contains all sorts of questions, ranging from the basics of how often you play the game, to allowing you to rate your opinion on item pricing (are they too cheap? too expensive?) and what some of your favorite features are in the game.

Of course, the point of all of this is to gather enough opinions to actually sway the way the game develops in the future. Hopefully, with questions dealing with how much we like to "build" items with parts (bookcases, double beds, etc.), and the option to say that you don't like it at all, we may actually see a lessening in those kinds of items, if enough users agree. You can even rank various gameplay features (decorating your house, visiting friends, customizing your Sim, etc.) in the order that you like them. In this way, perhaps we'll see more focus being placed on the most (overall) liked feature, and you'll be able to say you helped to make that happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of survey that will allow you to give your opinion on future item sets, but there are plenty of blank text boxes for you to say exactly what you want to the developers in a place that you know they'll see it. Again, this survey is prety lengthy (when compared to other Facebook game surveys anyway), so you'll want to make sure you have around 5-10 minutes to set aside to take it.

We've taken this survey as well, and if we start to notice any gameplay changes arising because of options listed here, we'll make sure to let you know. In the meantime, head over to this link right here to take the survey for yourself.