Sunset Valley

Sunset Valley is the only neighborhood being shipped with The Sims 3. It is very large compared to the neighborhoods in previous The Sims games, having a total of 97 lots with various playable characters. There are lots of different types of houses like, a rustic home on a hill, a modern house in the suburbs, a house by the beach and many more. The main part of the town is the park, where you can have a picnic, go fishing or take a stroll and maybe meet someone new, there are also cinemas, gyms, restaurants, shops, pools, and other recreational facilities. Tons of places to work, where Sims can live out their dreams or crash and burn. Sims can now visit all their friend's and neighbor's homes and call up their friends with the new cell phone, and go out on the town and party. Sims also now can have a laptop.

When you start the game this is the Sunset Valley Story:"Before Pleasantview, there was Sunset Valley, founded by the Goths and built up by the Landgraabs to be a quiet, peaceful town. But when the Altos arrive with uptown ideals, will the townsfolk feel the need to choose sides?"

Sunset Valley is Pleasantview before the original in The Sims, which the neighborhood is named Old Town. The Goth Family will be there as their younger selves, presumably, Mortimer as a child with his parents, as well as a few other familiar families, including the Bachelor Family.

New Families
So far the new families are:
 * The Alto Family: Simply described as "Nouveau Riche and Evil." Their family name may be a pun on the television series "The Sopranos." They seem to have a rivalry with the Landgraab Family. Their teenage daughter is Holly Alto.


 * The Hart Family: They appear to be a normal family...well except the fact that both the mother and father have the insane trait. Their daughter Bebe Hart is just trying to be a normal teenager in this chaotic family.


 * The Houston Family: Zack Houston is a star football player who attracts the ladies, but has an unfortunately messy side and dirty home.


 * The Keaton Family: Try to keep up the sporty Keatons. Mrs. Keaton is a police officer but her husband's career is unknown.


 * The Ursine Family: Claire Ursine is a single lady who lives alone and loves to fish. She might seem like a normal woman, but it turns out she's pregnant (the father is Jared Frio) and she has a job in the Criminal Career!!!


 * The Wolff Family: A newly married couple living along the beach. It seems like they have the perfect life, but it turns out they rushed into their marriage to quickly before finding out that Thornton Wolff is against fatherhood, while Morgana Wolff wants to have as many children as possible.


 * The Roomies Household: Five young adult Sims with different and unique personalities living together.


 * The Lum Family: A family of three, with the teen son Lawrence needing to choose whether to follow his father Theodore or mother Lily's footsteps.


 * The Frio Brothers :The Frio brothers may have a nice house, but they have personality issues which make them less than ideal as boyfriend material. Will Jared face the challenge of fatherhood?


 * The Koffi Family


 * The Wan-Godard Family


 * The Single Moms Family


 * The Jolina Family


 * The Wainwright Family


 * The Bunch Family


 * The Steel Family


 * The Clavell Family :The pick-up line which worked so well on Pauline may not work quite so well on Bessie Clavell, who has no sense of humor whatsoever!


 * The Andrews Family


 * The Sekemoto Family


 * The Alvi Family


 * The Kennedy Family


 * The Working Friends Family


 * The Martinez Family


 * The Glover Family


 * The Williams Family


 * The Baker Family


 * The Funke Family

Returning families
Families returning from the Sims 1 & Sims 2 nearly 50 years earlier are:


 * The Bachelor Family: Jocasta Bachelor and Simis Bachelor are raising their children Michael and Bella.


 * The Crumplebottom Family: Agnes Crumplebottom better known as Mrs. Crumplebottom as her younger self, and her dead husband Erik Darling featured as a Ghost (see Ghosts).


 * The Goth Family: The Goth Family are the founders of Sunset Valley and are very wealthy. Since this is way before The Sims 2, Gunther Goth and his wife Cornelia are adults, with Mortimer Goth as a child. (Mortimer Goth seems to have a crush on Bella.)


 * The Landgraab Family: Live the good life with the Landgraabs as long as your name isn't name Alto. Consists of Geoffrey Landgraab, Nancy Landgraab, and their child son Malcolm Landgraab.


 * The Langerak Family

As for other families, such as the Pleasants or the Burbs, they are believed to be in the game. However, the incomplete, leaked version of the game does not contain such families; but a confirmation cannot be made until the final game is released.