I think a lot of Sims players don't really know about the Sims 3 Store.  There is a lot of excitement building around the expansion pack scheduled for November, but EA has been releasing what are essentially mini stuff packs all along.

These are great for players, in that it can quickly expand your existing furniture themes.  Because EA can release them in packs as small as they like, they are free to release a lot more of them, and to take some chances on the designs.  One of the smallest sets is also one of the most experimental - the new Steampunk set, which includes five items, and costs 325 SimPoints.

A word on SimPoints.  A lot of gaming companies are going with "points" these days, instead of having you pay for items directly.  It is similar to the way that video game arcades of yore used tokens, and for the same reason.  When you're spending "SimPoints" it doesn't feel like you're spending actual money.  It also allows EA to adjust the pricing, simply by tweaking the exchange rate.  And it lets them offer bonuses for registering your game and expansion packs, without having to hand over any actual cash.

The pricing scheme for the Sims 3 Store sets is pretty decent.  The Steampunk set breaks down to 65 points per item (65 actual cents).  Regal Living, one of the larger sets available, offers 41 items for 2,400 SimPoints, or 58 SimPoints per item (58 cents).

This is reasonably in line with the per item price for the Sims 2 stuff packs, which ranged from 19 to 60 cents per item.  I detailed the per item price for each Sims 2 stuff pack in an earlier post here.  You would think that downloading electronic copies of stuff packs off the Sims 3 website would make them cheaper, since EA doesn't have to pay for having discs created and shipped.  But you would be wrong - the vast majority of the price of an expansion pack is in the development and creation.  Actually creating the physical copy is a trivial portion of the price, since they are created by the billions in a sweatshop factory in China, and shipped over to the States in container ships by bulk.  Sad but true.

The only real complaint I have about the Sims 3 store at this point is that hair styles don't seem to be collected into sets.  You can buy furniture décor and clothing in sets, but you have to buy hair styles individually.  This means that I have to decide if I want to buy a male or female hairstyle, and which life stage, and then I have to commit to a hair style.  Frankly, that's too much trouble.  

I'm also not entirely sure what the deal is with buying a hair style.  The Shuffle is listed as a hair style for Teen, Young Adult, and Adult.  If I drop 100 SimPoints (one actual dollar) on The Shuffle, will I have it available for all three life stages?  Or will I have to buy The Shuffle three times, once for each life stage?  I haven't yet bothered to find out - I've just given up and bought a décor or clothing set instead.