Will Wright's The Sims franchise has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide by endearing itself to players of all backgrounds using its simple but clever gameplay. This week, one of the brand's bosses decided to get clever, too.

EA's Nancy Smith told MTV Multiplayer that The Sims 3 is already out. As a matter of fact, it shipped along with The Sims 2: Free Time expansion.

Did you miss that? Apparently, you're not alone. Most of us did, because what happened with the Sims 3 isn't of the real world. She was actually referring to The Sims 3 being playable by your Sims 2 characters using their in-game gaming PCs.

Wow. We knew from the start that there had to be a catch there. EA maintains that the release date for the Sims 3 is top secret, but we have a hunch that it won't take them long to come up with a new one.