Hey! I'm not a music major, just a hobbyist and am trying to find out what this instrument is. I think most of these should be easy because they're acoustic I believe, but not sure. When I hear these types of sounds, it reminds me most of the Sims but is also heard in other happy/uplifting songs.

1.) Heard at this time here in an interview: Wind type?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379NjchCjzw&t=0m32s

2.) Or here (Wind type?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXEiSTXp9o&t=0m7s

3.) Different instrument here? (Epic part) Second Favorite. String type? Violin?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXEiSTXp9o&t=0m40s

4.) I think it's a wind instrument?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXEiSTXp9o&t=1m10s

5.) Last one! Probably the most important to me as its dramatic. I can't tell this one. Initially I thought it was a wind instrument. But then sounded like a pad or synth the more I listened to it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR6kcnqLFzI&t=2m8s

strange, the embeded videos don't have the time markers I linked. The actual links do to the specific instruments.

2.) English Horn? Flute?
3.) Sounds like a viola
4.) Same as 2.
5.) I would say it's cello played pizzicato.

The first one is some cheesy pizzicato with a flutey like thing on top, I think. Pretty synthy. I think you can get that sound with nearly any keyboard or library with a couple of acoustic sounds.

The second one is a clarinet, the second time it's flute plus oboe or english horn. Personally, I think that the music from the first Sims cannot be beaten. Some of those tracks were so good.

The third one sounds like a violin to me, but might be a viola as well. Second time it's layered with the oboe or english horn.

Four is a clarinet, perhaps a bass clarinet.

Five sounds indeed like cello pizzicato, or perhaps it's just one of those "full string" patches, with a flute one octave higher to me. The flute is blown a bit hard and short (overblown, staccato). The strings are synthy. Especially the marcato strings starting at 2:28 sound artificial to me. As if they come from an old sample library, like Miroslav. But there might also be some woodwind playing along, a bass clarinet possibly.