Crash At Launch - Please Help

[s1nful]

Hi -

I just installed The Sims 3 tonight (from a disc), and I'm having some trouble with the launch.

When I click my taskbar shortcut, it opens the Sims Launcher just fine, and I'm able to start the game. The EA logo appears, followed by the Sims 3 logo and introduction video. After the video, however, the cursor loading icon pops up on a black screen, freezes, and then the game kills my monitor's video input. I can still hear the music in the background, so I know that the process is still running, but all of my other Windows hotkeys are frozen and I'm unable to restore the system. Each time this occurs, I have to hard boot my PC, and it's getting extremely irritating. I have a feeling that it's related to the game's default resolution, which is probably incompatible with my monitor, but how am I supposed to change it if the game won't even load? What could be causing this, and how can I fix it?

General Information:
- The game is patched to the latest version. (1.29.55.014001)
- My PC's video drivers are up-to-date.
- There are no excess processes running in the background.
- I have checked and re-checked my monitor's cables, and they are not the problem.

PC Specs:
- OS: Windows 7 Professional x64
- CPU: Intel i7 930 @ 3.0GHz (8 cores)
- RAM: 6GB DDR3
- Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme
- Sound: On-board
- Video: NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX x2 (SLI-bridged)
- Monitor: I-INC 28" 1920x1200 16:10 w/ VGA input

Thanks for any input.