The great thing about Apple’s portable devices for fans of simulation games is that you can actually live more of a life while spending almost every waking moment tweaking some setting or researching new technology, or exploring a series of bad decisions as you go to war with your neighbor. This is a good thing. What follows are six of the most engaging simulation type games I’ve come across this week, with many of them available in the HD format for the iPad. Of course, these all work just as well with any of Apple’s smaller-screened iOS-powered devices. And they’re all great fun, enjoy. Civilization…

Get the pizza in, buy the beers and prepare to sign your autumn away on news Electronic Arts will release The Sims 3 for all three consoles and the Nintendo DS this fall. The Sims 3 is already a big seller on the PC and Mac platforms. Millions rushed out to pick up The Sims 3 on the PC/Mac last summer making it the biggest PC launch in EA’s history and the best-selling PC title in 2009. Now, EA says the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS versions of The Sims 3 are on the way. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions will allow content creation and sharing online. The Wii versions gets an exclusive new area Beach…