The Sims Three isn't working for me?

So I bought the Sims 3 after much anticipation. I download it and start up the game. No problem. I create a family of Sims. All is still good. I move them in and furnish the home. So far so good. I start to play with the sims and after maybe a minute of gameplay the sims freezes, the screen turns black, and the game shuts down with no explanation or even an error message. How can I fix this?