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Animal Crossing Contest: Giant Miyamoto for the win
When I showed this entry to fellow DS Fanboy blogger David Hinkle, he responded with, "That is the winner. That wins SO HARD." My thoughts exactly. Read all about Miyamoto's monstrous rampage through Tokyo in a full page from the Fanboy Times here."Next time," Miyamoto said, "I'll have to try and control myself when I transform into a 300 foot tall monster."Congratulations, Josh Cox! Your prize will embark on its journey to you shortly. As for the rest of you guys, thank you once again for participating. I'll try and get another giveaway going soon.
Animal Crossing Contest: A guest appearance
That's right. One of the entries for our Animal Crossing contest came from Aaron Griffin--the guy in the photo! This is the hardcore fan that pulled a Bjork, shook Miyamoto's hand and was constantly displayed on the monitors of everyone that entered the contest. Aaron writes:I've been around your site in the past, but somebody alerted me to this contest on my blog. I was flustered for a moment, then I thought "DUH! I should enter!"Check out Aaron's amusing meta-entry by clicking here. [Animated GIF, 2.84MB] Thanks for entering and for being a good sport, Aaron. Next up: The winner.
Animal Crossing contest: Honorable mentions
After trawling through my inbox, examining every image and rolling my eyes at the umpteenth entry that had some sort of Jamaican angle, I've finally picked a winner for DS Fanboy's Animal Crossing contest. In case you're late to the anthropomorphic party, the task was to modify the above image with three simple guidelines: It had to make sense. It had to be funny. It had to not kill me instantly. Apart from those requirements, readers were free to get as creative as their deranged minds allowed. For the most part, you guys did an outstanding job, put a load of effort into your submissions and clearly spent a lot of time thinking up ways in which to take Miyamoto's meeting with a hardcore fan in strange and slightly creepy directions. Isn't it strange how Miyamoto's facial expression is always hilarious no matter what the context?Click through to see some of my favorite, non-winning entries.
Animal Crossing contest: Entries closed
Well, that was fun. The deadline for DS Fanboy's epic Animal Crossing competition has come and gone, meaning any submissions that find their way to me now will swiftly be fed to a ravenous, cyborg goat. Thank you to everyone that participated! Some of you did a truly outstanding job and choosing a winner is very likely to cause to me to mentally unravel and enter a perpetual state of guilt. I wish I had more prizes to give away right now. I'll be posting my favorite entries tomorrow shortly before I post the grand ultimate winner. There will no doubt be disappointment and fury to follow, but thankfully I'm offered some degree of protection from the aforementioned robot goat. He can't tell the difference between cabbage and spleen.
Reminder: Animal Crossing contest!
If you haven't entered our Animal Crossing giveaway yet, we can only assume that you either have the game already or simply can't bring yourself to alter the magnificent visage that is Shigeru Miyamoto. Clearly, Fidel Smith had no such qualms, as his awesome entry above so deftly illustrates. It's a simple, yet effective change that made me laugh. A lot. I've also received some extremely creative entries that take the above situation in truly unexpected directions. Choosing a winner certainly won't be easy.Make it even harder for me. You have until 11:59PM on Wednesday, 5 April.
Custom painted Animal Crossing DS
Wow. Just wow. That would make a fine companion to that copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World we're giving away, don't you think? [Via British Gaming Blog.]
Animal Crossing over to Revolution
And you know what that means: Fishing games. Well, that and a wonderfully addictive celebration of neighborly etiquette and non-threatening anthropomorphism. Spot that description on the box of the forthcoming Animal Crossing Revolution, a title which series creator Katsuya Eguchi mentioned briefly at his own GDC speech last week. Mr. Eguchi explained that it was a fun challenge trying to design a game around a brand new interface and that the Revolution game would largely build on the DS version's accomplishments. The series is essentially leaping from home console, to portable, and back to home console again. It hasn't changed fundamentally in that journey, but perhaps the leap to Revolution will take things in a new direction.We certainly can't imagine a better fit for Nintendo's online network than Animal Crossing, especially where massively multiplayer online fishing battles are concerned. The controller should also provide plenty of interesting ways to interact with the items and inhabitants of your town, most notably in allowing you to beat the evil Tom Nook over the head with a freshly baked baguette.[Via Gamasutra]
Rare to unleash Pinatas on 360s this holiday season
Rare's next project is apparently an original IP concerning living piñata animals that will be featured in a Saturday morning TV/3-D/CG show and then in an Xbox 360 game debuting this holiday season worldwide.
Animal Crossing DS bundle hits next week
According to a listing on retailer EBGames.com, Nintendo is about to unleash a new Nintendo DS bundle--this time starring everyone's favorite anthropomorphic town simulator, Animal Crossing: Wild World. Of course, by new Nintendo DS bundle, we really mean old Nintendo DS bundle. We're afraid there's no Lite at the end of this $149.99 tunnel.[Via GAF]
Another Animal Crossing gift arrives
Being the die-hard romantics that we are, it's unclear how we managed to miss Nintendo's little Valentine's gift to the residents of Animal Crossing: Wild World. Upon connecting to the Wi-Fi network, you should receive a letter from "Your friendo, Nintendo" along with a "Lovely Loveseat" item for your home. How lovely--be sure to lovingly put it in a lovely spot so as to lovingly convey the loveliness of your lovely home (which is brimming with lovingly lovely love.) That was a bit too much. [Thanks JonathanEx!]
DS Meet introduces online tournament system
A while back we asked you to tell us how good you really were at Mario Kart DS. Now we might ask you to prove it. You see, the guys over at DS Meet, one of a few sites that allows users to share their friend codes and meet new players online, have implemented a cool new online tournament system. It allows you to join up with existing tournaments or create your own, all via a reasonably easy to use interface.Once you've created a tournament, the site will automatically take care of rostering (though you can manually alter this as well) and keeping track of the friend codes of those competing. You also have the option of having a forum to discuss and coordinate matches with your fellow DS players. The onus is on the tournament operator to keep track of everybody's scores though, so a level of honesty may be required if you're going to take charge of a tournament. Being the best Mario Kart DS players in the known universe, we're all about the honesty.Mind you, it's not all about the snaking. With support for Animal Crossing's various competitive activities and the upcoming Metroid Prime: Hunters, it's about fishing and shooting too. It's also about competing with people from all over the world. How about a DS Fanboy reader Mario Kart tournament? Can we have a show of hands from those who would be interested? [Thanks echelon! Keep up the good work.]
Animal Crossing online catalog
The guys over at DS Meet have put up a nifty online catalog detailing all the items that are available and for sale in Animal Crossing: Wild World. It'll let you keep track of which items you've already purchased, which ones you still need and who's selling that elusive snowman fridge you've been dying to get your hands on. It's a great way of managing your collection of furniture and other decorative junk, as well a good starting point for getting some more friend codes and inviting new visitors to your town. Just be sure to check them at the gates for any suspicious materials... [Thanks echelon!]
Animal Crossing: Beware the evil tulips!
As if those vile tulips weren't content with terrorizing the innocent population of Amsterdam, they've now spread to the wild world of Animal Crossing on the DS. Some unfortunate virtual villagers mistakenly thought they were receiving a wonderful new gift from Nintendo today, only to be pricked by the thorn amongst the "Red Tulips". If you receive a gift marked as such, pawn it off on Tom Nook right away.That way, he'll be the one forced to deal with the weird glitch that comes attached with the gift. Placing it inside your humble abode will actually cause it to create an invisible and immobile piece of furniture and prevent you from using that space for anything else. Don't drop the item inside your house or even outside (it'll plant itself as a tree sprout) and be wary of visitors of your town that come bearing suspicious gifts. You don't want them dropping these evil, invisible tulips all over the place, now do you? According to 4 Color Rebellion, the glitch comes from an unfinished letter that was accidentally sent out by Nintendo. Apparently, they've already stopped the letter from going out anymore and are looking at a fix for those that were affected. Check out some video proof of the glitch over here. Get revenge by going outside and stomping on your mom's flowers.[Via Joystiq]
Exchanging friend codes made easier
How long before the act of exchanging friend codes becomes geeky sexual innuendo? Probably not long at all, now that the full power of the internet can be used to spread your unique set of DS numbers to the world. We now know of two websites that can ease the pain of reciting a bunch of numbers into your friend's ear, a process which has to be repeated for each different game you play. Oh, if only someone could have thought up a centralized network populated with universal "Gamertags"...oh well, maybe someday.First up, we have a site called DS-Play. They allow you to sign on and create a little virtual business card for yourself, proudly displaying your screen identity and your frighteningly complex friend code. It's a place where you can log on "any time of day or night and always find REAL people to play against or trade items and facts with." Good, because I just hate losing to those damn synthetic humans all the time. Them and their mad nanoskillz.Another site that does more or less the same thing but promises to keep account info more private (though this protects the identities of filthy synthetic humans), is DSconnect. It'll send you an e-mail whenever your friends are going online with a specific game and the site's creator was even nice enough to add a team page for Joystiq readers, accessible after you sign in. So, which site should you use? We'd tell you, but our feelings towards synthetic humans would cloud our judgment and so we'll just wait for you guys to try both out and deliver a shocking verdict. [Via Joystiq. Thanks Kyle!]
Animal Crossing blue screen of death
I'm not sure what the association is between the color blue and the concept of death, but blue tends to be the color of choice when it comes to informing the player that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong in the game. Perhaps burnt sienna or turqoise just didn't have the clout to convey the severity of the situation, and red would only add to the player's fury. Have you ever encountered Animal Crossing's polite, but unceasingly blue screen of death? [Via Infendo]
When Japanese chart numbers attack!
Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous. It seems that I spend at least half of my time each day writing paragraphs that poignantly explain the results of another sales chart (where do they all come from?) that involves the DS. They all go something like this:This week in Japan, the DS sold a million pentatillion gazillion* units, crushing all competition and laughing maniacally before tossing their twisted bodies onto a pile of humiliated silicone chips and deceased pixels. The immense display of strength can largely be attributed to the addictive properties of Mario Kart DS, which sold a trillion** units, and a steady diet of the fofofillion*** unit selling Animal Crossing: Wild World. Though the top-selling game (with 10 omomillion**** sold) in Japan was the PS2's Rogue Galaxy (a delectable cel-shaded RPG romp), the DS was the ultimate hardware victor.* Actual figure: 299,000** Actual figure: 219,000*** Actual figure: 121,000**** Actual figure
NY Times on Animal Crossing's jab at music industry
You may remember a little game for the DS going by the name of Animal Crossing: Wild World. You may also remember a story we posted last week about one of the game's free-spirited characters subvertly commenting on the state of the music industry. Clearly, your memory is filled with trivia that's largely useless....except when it comes to understanding the context of this article published on the New York Times website.The author, Tom Zeller Jr., asks whether Nintendo was actually sharing some real social commentary or whether they really just intended it as a winking, tongue-in-cheek joke (which makes the joke look like it's having a seizure). Surely it could be both? Nintendo's marketing robot, Perri Kaplan, says "no real social commentary was intended" and that by "free music", the character really meant "freed from his guitar, free from any constraints." In fact, Ms. Kaplan was quite keen on pointing out that the comment was made by a musically inclined cartoon dog in reference to overweight cartoon cats. See, it's a cats and dogs thing, not a music piracy thing!Or maybe she's just downplaying the fact that some see this move as Nintendo holding up a sign that says "Hey, we totally support piracy." Yeah, the same Nintendo that stuck with cartridges for millions of years and cranked out limiting proprietary optical discs in order to prevent piracy? That seems unlikely. My take on this is that Nintendo is making fun of the reaction record companies have had to people sharing music online, with the RIAA in particular suing old ladies and kidnapping children left and right because they downloaded music. Don't get me wrong - music piracy isn't acceptable, but with the dubious prices on CDs and the draconian measures adopted by the industry in enforcing their rules, it's funny that they seem to be encouraging piracy more than anything else.
