[originally posted on metaly.org]

I just got around to reading this Animal Crossing City: Folk interview that Leigh linked to recently. It's a discussion between Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, and a bunch of directors who worked on different components of AC:CF, including Hisashi Nogami, Isao Moro, Ryuji Kobayashi and Aya Kyogoku. They explain a bunch of cool behind-the-scenes details about the development team's goals for the new city area and wi-fi interaction, but best of all was this explanation of a new feature in the game that I didn't even know existed:

Quote: Kobayashi: Around the town, there is what I suppose you could call undergrowth. There's green grass, but underneath it, there's earth. This time, we stuck the grass on so it feels a little like it's floating on top of the earth. When a player walks on the grass, it wears it away so you can see a little

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While I wait for UPS to arrive with City Folk, here's part two of what I would have liked to see in a next-gen Animal Crossing, which covers game and wi-fi interaction. Here's part one in case you missed it yesterday.

Quote: [originally posted on metaly.org] One of Animal Crossing: Wild World's biggest shortcomings is the interface itself. For a game involving so many frequently-repeated tasks and interactions, the interface was painfully unwieldy and slow. I won't get into too many specifics about what I'd like to see in the Wii version's inevitably streamlined interface, but at the top of the list are fewer unnecessary, repeated conversations (such as the little raccoons' explanation of what the top floor of the shop contains, every time you go upstairs), the ability to cycle through tools with a single button, and a less laggy interface overall.

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With Animal Crossing: City Folk upon us (my copy is still in the mail), I thought I'd dig up a couple of old posts I made at the end of 2006, after playing Wild World every day for about a year. These cover game improvements I would have liked to see in the Wii version, which was still two years away. With reviews coming in describing City Folk as a mostly phoned-in port of Wild World, it's interesting to imagine what the game could have been like if Nintendo had designed an all-out sequel instead of just playing it safe.

Anyway, here's part one. I'll put up part two tomorrow, or you can read the original post here. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your feedback on my ideas, what sort of additions you would have liked to see in a new Animal Crossing, or initial thoughts on City Folk, whether you're new to the series or a returning player.

Quote: [originally posted on metaly.org]

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[originally posted on metaly.org]



Nintendo officially announced Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii this morning, and that was about the whole reason I tuned into their press conference. Even though I played Wild World obsessively, it's been long enough since I stopped that I'm getting pretty excited for the next version. Details about new features were pretty sparse, aside from there being a new urban area and an auction house, but even if it's mostly the same game with upgraded graphics (I never played the Gamecube version) and a bunch of new catalog items/neighbors/fish and bugs to collect, I'll be happy playing it for a long time. Of course, I'd still love for it to turn out to be my ideal next-gen Animal Crossing that I detailed here and here.

They talked about some other stuff, too:

New Mario & Zelda games for Wii
I would really...