Saw on Bluesnews that The Sims 2 has shipped, and indeed should now be avaialble. Again I'm not sure if this only applies to US retailers.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2004--The wait for millions of Sims fans is over. Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS - News) today announced that The Sims(TM) 2, has shipped to retailers under the EA GAMES(TM) brand and is now available on store shelves. The award-winning The Sims 2, developed by EA's Maxis(TM) studio, is the sequel to the #1 PC game of all time. The Sims game and its expansion packs have sold over 36 million units worldwide.

"We are excited to have reached this milestone and thrilled to turn over this revolutionary game to our community and fans and let them take playing PC games to a whole new level," said Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer of the game at EA's Maxis studio. "For the first time, players will see emotions, live through life's most memorable moments and unleash their inner film-making capabilities, all in one game."

You can read the full and rather large press release here.