Trivia / The Sims 3

• Dummied Out: There's evidence of this for the base game and its Expansion Packs:
  • The base game, as seen on preview photos, was to have rabbit holes for clothes shops. The model for the building was reused for the spa rabbit hole. Clothes' shops were finally introduced... on the last Expansion Pack, Into the Future.
  • The World Adventures Expansion Pack had a couple additional tombs to be explored (one based on the Temple of Karnak, and another one in China). The lots remain, but whithout any tomb system in them.
  • Speaking of, developer's screenshots of World Adventures show that one of the three worlds introduced in it, France, was to have a flowers' shop - flowers and herbs would come later to the game in one of the last expansion packs, University Life.
  • And speaking yet more, it is believed said world of France was to be a completely different concept, based on the city of Paris. A Dummied Out Eiffel Tower is completely modelled and present on the game files; a modder on ModTheSims made it visible and functional in-game.
  • The University Life expansion, already packed with lots of content, was to have even more venues: promo screenshots showed open restaurants (opposed to rabbitholes) and it is believed it may have included yoga as an activity too. Functional restaurants were finally offered as a separate DLC on the official website.
  • Speaking of which, the themes of some expansions are oddly similar to the themes of some objects from the Store, an online shop of official DLC for the game. It is believed some features like proper farming were initially intended for the EP. If true, this would make this items a rare case of Dummied Out content which eventually and purposedly makes it into the game.
  • A lot of sims used for promotional content were not finally included in the shipped game - to the confusion of fans. It created so much disatisfaction that not only were three of them offered as a free DLC along with a house (Piper Hipp, Kim Kent and Liam O'Dourke), but Liam also was a character in the (paid) DLC neighbourhood of Hidden Springs.
• Feelies: The Collector's Edition came with a plumbbob-shaped flash drive.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: In 2013, the Katy Perry's Sweet Treats pack was pulled out of circulation and is no longer available on Origin and Steam. Factors about the pack's retirement can range from unpopularity outside of Katy Perry fans to contract termination from Katy Perry's estate.
• What Could Have Been: Not nearly as obscure as in The Sims 2 (maybe because 3's development was either more publicized or more secretive), but there are a few of these:
  • Sunset Valley -the world that came with the game-, was to have a dramatically different layout, but this was scrapped at some point and the city was rebuilt as it was released on the retail version.
  • There's at least one website that cites several possible sims and stories for Sunset Valley -namely, those present in the original The Sims and its expansions. The veracity of this, however, is highly debatable.
  • The original design of a particular sim, Emma Hatch, was really different -a pale and slim punk rocker, opposed to the pudgy and normally-skinned milquetoast chef of the final version. Her roomate, Tamara Donner, wore slightly different clothes, but was mostly the same.
  • Some players speculate Riverview (a DLC free world for players who registered their games) was to be included on the base game. The facts that Riverview includes the other beloved characters from the original The Sims (Bob and Betty Newbie) and that the game was leaked a little bit before its release may indicate this world was made a DLC to prevent piracy.
  • There's evidence some expansion packs had planned content that was finally scrapped, as seen above.