Will Sims 3 run on Mac OS X Leopard 10.6 with an Intel HD Graphics 3000 card?

I recently replaced my broken laptop with a Macbook Pro 13" operating on OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7. I wanted to continue playing the Sims 3 as I had done on my previous laptop. It installed fine onto my Mac and allowed me to create people. When moving them into a household, the game suddenly froze (appearing as if it is on pause) meaning I need to actually switch on and off my Mac to clear the screen.

Could this be because my Mac has an Intel HD Graphics 3000 card? The Mac system requirements for the Sims 3 asks for an ATI X1600, a Nvidia 7300 GT or an Intel Integrated GMA X3100. If so, how do I go about fixing this? Would I need to physically buy a new graphics card to accommodate the game?

I'm not a massive gamer but it appears I am a bit of a Mac dummy!

Please help if you can 🙂