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Animal Crossing: Timely Folk
One thing Animal Crossing: City Folk won't be replicating from previous Animal Crossings is the horrendous delay in getting a PAL version out. Wild World on the DS took nearly four months to cross the Atlantic to Europe, while Animal Crossing on the GameCube turned up two years late (though lucky Australia had to wait for only thirteen months).This won't be the case for the Wii game, which will launch in Europe this December, where it will be known as Animal Crossing: Pointless, Overlong, Awkward Subtitle Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and come bundled with WiiSpeak. Happy news for any Europeans who thought they would miss out on any vital, fruit-related conversation at Game Night!%Gallery-27704% KK says: buy Animal Crossing: City Folk to visit the city, reach out to friends, and make Iwata cry!
New Animal Crossing gets name change in Australia
Australia's OFLC ratings board reveals that Animal Crossing: City Folk will be renamed for the continent, reports IGN. The new name of the game will be Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City. Strange as folk as that may be, IGN speculates that the name change is due to a European direct translation. The site points to a similar case involving Wario Land: Shake It! being renamed Wario Land: The Shake Dimension.
Animal Crossing: Let's Make the Title More Awkward
The good news is that Animal Crossing: City Folk has been rated by the Australian OFLC board, meaning that it may actually come out in that region less than one year after the US release this time. Maybe. The bad news is that Nintendo seems to have decided to release the game there under a different, less mellifluous title than the US version: Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City. For those of you in Australia, we don't wish to spoil the game for you, but the "city" is where folk reside. Is there some regional difference we aren't aware of? Does the word "folk" have a negative connotation in Australian English? %Gallery-27704%
Point/Counterpoint: WiiSpeak vs. ISpeak
Nintendo, who recently introduced the stick controller and the scale controller, is at it again, with the WiiSpeak, a microphone that you put on top of your TV so a whole crowd can share in voice chat as they play Animal Crossing (and, later, other games). Voice chat isn't new, of course, but voice chat for a whole room is.Is this a worthwhile innovation? Is Nintendo's new approach really preferable to just wearing a headset and having conversations with your Internet pals? Will having the mic several feet away even be a workable solution? We obviously don't know, but we can debate about what we think. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; }
Amazon opens WiiSpeak preorders
WiiSpeak isn't the kind of thing we can imagine selling in Wii Fit quantities, but it's getting hard to tell nowadays. Maybe the microphone add-on and Animal Crossing: City Folk will be overshadowed by the other big first-party release of November, and supplies will be plentiful, but why take the risk? You can now preorder your own WiiSpeak at Amazon, and rest assured that you'll be able to bitch behind Nook's back with your Wii Friends from day one. Hang around now, and you may be confined to the keyboard.[Update: Removed potentially confusing comment]%Gallery-27704%[Via Punch Jump]
Animal Crossing/WiiSpeak bundle gets priced
The WiiSpeak microphone add-on should add a fresh dimension to the Animal Crossing: City Folk experience, and having awkward conversations with fellow internet people about fruit prices won't even be that expensive. Nintendo reps have informed a GameStop manager's conference in Las Vegas that the City Folk and WiiSpeak bundle would retail at $69.99 (the equivalent of 423 apples, five Porcelettas, and a Red Snapper at today's dollar-to-Bells rate) when the game releases in November.That's a tenner less expensive than purchasing the game and peripheral separately, and obviously you'll be able to use WiiSpeak in other titles. Sound fair to you?%Gallery-27704%
Animal Crossing boxart warms our cold, cold hearts
Just as Animal Crossing: City Folk won't be abandoning the series' trademark graphics, so the boxart is exactly what you'd expect: a bright, bustling village scene featuring fresh fruit, happy animals, KK strumming out a tune beneath a tree, and Tom Nook waiting to rake in your Bells. A lot of those villagers look familiar to! While a lot of traditional elements are on display, there is a hint of the fresh possibilities afforded by the titular city, and a bright yellow bus to transport us there. Ah, we're excited already! Do you approve, dear reader? %Gallery-27704% [Via Go Nintendo] KK says: buy Animal Crossing: City Folk to visit the city, reach out to friends, and make Iwata cry!
Deceptively new scans of Animal Crossing
The problem with showing new images of Animal Crossing: City Folk is that, unless the screens happen to feature the new city environment, what you see ends up looking pretty much exactly like the original Crossing. Only subtle clues point to the newness, such as the lack of hats, the different clock, and, oh yeah, two player characters onscreen together. It's still very important, and it's still really exciting, it just -- happens to look a lot like Animal Crossing!We wouldn't want it any other way. We're ready to start it all again -- picking fruit, paying off Tom Nook, meeting new neighbors, filling our catalog, pulling weeds, the whole thing. This time, we'll be able to enjoy the game over some friendly conversation!
Latest Nintendo Power dishes out new Animal Crossing details, including DS-to-Wii functionality
For many, Animal Crossing: City Folk looks a lot like the original GameCube game, both from a presentation standpoint and included features. Sure, Animal Crossing: City Folk has some new stuff, but none of it is really that innovative or indicative of the franchise going into any kind of new direction. It's basically the equivalent to treading water. But, it turns out that popular opinion may not be justified, as some new details regarding the game can be found in the upcoming issue of Nintendo Power.First of all, those of you who spent time with Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS, you can transfer your avatar over to the new game. Another cool DS-to-Wii feature will allow you to "take your travel data and download it to your DS." We've no idea what that will entail exactly, but it sounds promising.As for the Wii game, the holiday-themed events will be returning. Jingle the Reindeer will be back for Toy Day and a new character, Zipper T. Bunny, will make an appearance for Bunny Day. Sound promising!%Gallery-27704%
Wii Warm Up: E3
Because we've also asked DS fans, we thought we'd pose the same question here: how would you rate the Wii's E3?Despite the angry tidal wave of criticism over what many (but not all) saw as a disappointing Nintendo keynote, the more recent announcement of a third Pikmin game seems to have tempered the outcry a little. Not that there was a shortage of announcements in the first place -- WiiSpeak, Wii Sports Resort, Animal Crossing: City Folk, MotionPlus, Wii Music, and online, WiiSpeak-enabled multiplayer in The Conduit were all entirely new to us.Fill us in on the bits of E3 you liked, the bits you hated, the surprises, and the no-shows.
E308: Making Iwata cry in Animal Crossing: City Folk
By now, you've read about the new city in Animal Crossing: City Folk. The itinerant characters like Gracie and Lyle now have their own shops in the new "City" area. Two new locations in the city, as I found in my hands-on session, combine to form a shortcut to hilarity. A theater in town offers stand-up performances from Wild World's Dr. Shrunk, which (through his reactions more than his actual terrible jokes) teach your new avatar an emotion. You can then trigger these emotional responses with an icon on the onscreen keyboard or an icon located at the top of the gameplay screen. I got "sorrow," which causes the character to cry briefly. Heartbreaking!The Nintendo rep then led me into the new beauty shop, where you can give yourself a makeover in the form of a Mii mask. I chose the Iwata mask for my avatar Sarah, which replaced her Crossing-style head with Iwata's. This odd sequence of events left me in a position to make a cartoon version of Nintendo's president, clad in a dress, weep. You can see a picture of said crying jag after the break.
E308: Reggie baffled by outcry over conference
So it seems a good portion of the internets didn't like Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference, with many accusing the company of forgetting "core" gamers, whoever they're supposed to be. The negative response from the online community quickly got back to bossman Reggie Fils-Aime, who immediately announced a new Zelda game admitted that he couldn't understand the fuss.As Sir Reginald of Fils-Aime sees it, Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii ("the Animal Crossing that people wanted") and Grand Theft Auto on the DS are exactly the kind of thing "core" gamers would want, and reminded us that the Mario and Zelda folks were hard at work. "How could you feel left out?" he exclaimed to G4.Over to you, good reader.
E308: Nintendo keynote photo tour
Click to start the tour So, we've had tons of content up for you all yesterday, because that's how we roll and we'll be damned if The Man is going to stop us! For those of you hungry for more, know that we're going to continue the flood of content, but we've also got a huge photo dump from the Nintendo E3 keynote for you. Within, you'll find all of our pics from the luxurious seats found in row 12. Missed some of the bits about how well the DS is selling? We got it in images. Want to see Shaun White's hideous Mii? We got you covered. Check it all out in our gallery below.%Gallery-27788%
The Daily Grind: What does "MMO" mean, anyway?
What is an MMO, and what isn't? There was the central question in a hearty debate in the Massively offices yesterday after some of us watched (or attended) the Nintendo and Sony E3 press conferences. It's an old question, but it's all the more relevant in the context of E3 this year.At the Nintendo conference, a game called Animal Crossing: City Folk was announced for the Wii. In that game, each player has his or her own persistent town hosted on Nintendo's servers. There are likely thousands of players, but only four players can be in each town at a time. Is Animal Crossing: City Folk an MMO? On one hand, you have thousands of players in persistent worlds. On the other: only four players per world? That doesn't sound very massive! We decided it's not, but what do you think?A couple of hours later, Sony announced a PlayStation 3 game called MAG, which stands for "Massive Action Game." In MAG, up to 256 players battle over control points in a persistent battlefield. There's even character advancement. Is MAG an MMO? That depends on just how many players have to be in the world for it to be called "massive," doesn't it? You might say that there should be thousands. Then again, some first generation MMOs like Meridian 59 didn't usually have much more than a couple hundred people on each server. Tough call?
Nintendo Wii E3 2008 screenshot roundup
Well, at least grammy's pleased with Nintendo's first party lineup... (Plus: If you've got a longer attention span than Nintendo, we've got shots of two overlooked titles after the break!) %Gallery-27738% %Gallery-27739% %Gallery-27741%
E308: WiiSpeak brings yet another power brick to the table?
When the WiiSpeak peripheral was unveiled for Animal Crossing: City Folk, we were happy to finally get voice chat on our Wii. But, a curious slide at the conclusion of Nintendo's E3 keynote showed the device has a very peculiar brick-like adapter that the USB end's cable plugs into. Now, we're assuming this is just a power brick, but you know what your school teachers told you about assuming!At least one thing is certain: the thing has enough cable to wrap around Nintendo HQ many times over.
E308: Wii Fanboy reacts to Nintendo's keynote [update]
[Updated: Now with JC talking about things!]With so many highlights from this year's Nintendo E3 keynote, we're finding our live chat wasn't enough to cover our thoughts and opinions on what was shown. So, below, you'll find some impressions akin to what we did last year. Enjoy.
Nintendo introduces the Wii Speak community microphone
During their announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk at E3, Nintendo announced a new "community microphone" called WiiSpeak -- from the look of it, it sits on your television right on top of the sensor bar, and Nintendo says it'll let you speak with other players around the world. Here's hoping they enable other online activity with the microphone as well. Finally, some Mario Kart voice chat? Yes please!
Animal Crossing: City Folk coming to Wii in 2008
At Nintendo's E3 press conference this morning, the company announced Animal Crossing: City Folk, a new game in the series that will have graphics similar to those of the GameCube version. The game will use the Wii Message Board to allow players to send messages to friends and allow players to put on masks to look like their Miis. It will also support a new community microphone option known as WiiSpeak that will allow you to talk directly to other players around the world. More details as we get them.
Animal Crossing and Kirby coming to Japanese Wii in '08
According to Nintendo financial documents, "social networking MMO" Animal Crossing and a new Kirby title will hit the Japanese Wii this year, along with some other notable titles. ShackNews posted the Nintendo financial docs showing that beyond Animal Crossing and Kirby, there is also Wii Music, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball, and Everyone's Common Knowledge Television -- that last one sounds like it might stay in Japan. The document also shows that Mario Kart Wii is still expected for the spring in North America and Q2 for Europe, but there isn't much more beyond that at this time. That doesn't mean Nintendo doesn't have something up its sleeve, just that it isn't on this financial document from Nintendo Japan.
