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Animal Crossing MMO

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=174265

Edge magazine is reporting that Nintendo's Wii iteration of its hugely popular Animal Crossing franchise is taking a massively multiplayer online direction.

While we're still waiting for Nintendo to officially confirm anything about a Wii version of Animal Crossing (apart from the fact that it's coming), Edge's latest issue opens with the news lead: "Animal Crossing goes MMO".

The latest issue of the mag reports, "A Japanese source has confirmed to Edge that the upcoming Wii iteration of Animal Crossing is set to be a social networking MMO."

No further details are reported so we're left hanging about exactly when we'll be able to buy cheap turnips off the black market in Russia.

When contacted Nintendo only say it wouldn't comment on rumour and speculation. Bet your biggest fish this is happening...

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7666&Itemid=2

Animal Crossing for the Wii will be an MMO/social networking title. It’s no great surprise – in a few short years, Animal Crossing has become one of Nintendo’s most-loved and top selling franchises (over seven million copies sold), particularly in Japan. Nintendo refers to the title as a ‘communications game’ rather than a videogame, and playing already depends on real-world timekeeping, weather patterns, social conventions, and above all else economic interactions. In almost every way, Animal Crossing has always been the perfect MMO concept, and this development is simply a fulfilment of that promise.

The game has yet to be officially announced (although Nintendo has at least confirmed that an Animal Crossing game is in development for the Wii) and so details are not so much thin on the ground as nonexistent. But there are some indications of where the game will take the series: Katsuya Eguchi, head of development for the project, has made relatively non-committal noises thus far, but hinted that connection to mobile phones and PCs (for basic functions such as messages) would be included in an interview as far back as last year. Animal Crossing’s earlier iterations already feature travelling between towns, the ability for players to live in the same town (though not to play in it at the same time), and the ability to design your own clothing – and to sell it.

Of similar import is the imminent arrival of an official DS flash card, which will initially just be available to allow Nintendo to sell the back catalogue of Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games. The uncontrollable homebrew and piracy communities that use the DS rely on similar devices for their more nefarious ends, but this should, in the long term, allow Nintendo to exercise some control over at least the former through the simple step of offering a path to publisher-supported content. Compared to the slightly vague WiiWare proposition, this has the possibility to revolutionise homebrew development – at least in terms of distribution and the possibility of mainstream success – but how far the notoriously controlling Japanese giant will allow that community the creative freedom it requires to flourish will only be seen in practice. And before getting too excited, the device will launch exclusively for old Game Boy content, initially.

These are two moves that might seem insignificant in the whirlwinds of Halo 3, Home and the AAA titles that will dominate Christmas headlines. But grandmaster Nintendo is already thinking many positions ahead, and these two announcements, when made, will only consolidate this winning stance.
Still a rumour but i trust EDGE :p
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
What would you even do? Dig for fossils together? I think they could significantly change the gameplay maybe.
 
I dunno... Nintendo won't even let us voice chat or even text chat with people we don't have friend codes for.. and now a MMO? "Guess what, you have to register all 2000 people's friend codes!"

Still, this has potential.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important



Don't believe, I mean obviously it'll be online but not that it's really a MMO since Nintendo's politcs with friend codes and all that.
 

epmode

Member
Animal Crossing and Pokemon are so perfect for an MMO setting, I'm amazed that it hasn't happened by now. Then I remember who developed them.
 

LaneDS

Member
theBishop said:
Is this really realistic with only 512MB built-in storage?

I think so. Or maybe it'll be like the Gamecube one and inside the case you'll get a hard drive attachment in place of the GC memory card. Super likely (only not).
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
animal crossing is so damn charming i think i'd have to give it a go. who can help but be beguiled by kapn's sea shanties?
 
theBishop said:
Is this really realistic with only 512MB built-in storage?


MMOs themselves don't require a lot of storage (Even the PS2 had Everquest with only a 8MB memory card). The thing that takes up space are patches, which I doubt AC will need a lot of.
 

Ramenman

Member
Of course that would be great, but let's face it, it could be :

1) really awesome, because it would mean a totally new and improved online service from Nintendo, 'cause yeah, MMO on Wii when developpers of Mario Strikers didn't want to allow more than two consoles connected at a time "to avoid lag", seems like utopy with the biggest U ever.
Not to say that with the "OMG FEAR TEH PEDOS" approach Nintendo has taken with online since forever, something like an MMO seems horribly too scary for children.

2) Totally impossible, for all the reasons I just mentionned.

My guess is on the 2), oddly enough.
 

Jme

Member
Assuming this is true, how the hell would it work?

To keep the same general premise of the game in tact, it would make a terrible MMO (Each player getting an entire town to customize, as part of a larger community)

The solution to keep it interesting isn't without big problems though, being many players with individual homes inside a larger town (Each town being a server most likely) This would cause problems with things like tree placement, bridge placement, etc. How would land be divided? Would other players be able to, say, cut down my entire orchard of Peach trees? Because if they could, they would. Also, things like Museums would become 100% complete in NO TIME.

Don't get me wrong, the constant 24/7 world of Animal Crossing is a perfect fit for a Social MMO, but the gameplay premise would have to change drastically to make it work. That said, such a drastic change *might* be the kick in the pants Animal Crossing so badly needs to stay fresh.
 

theBishop

Banned
AceBandage said:
MMOs themselves don't require a lot of storage (Even the PS2 had Everquest with only a 8MB memory card). The thing that takes up space are patches, which I doubt AC will need a lot of.

But what keeps people playing these games is added content. I don't think WoW would be the sensation it is if Blizzard weren't constantly adding new areas to explore
 

JCX

Member
I think it will come bundled with a HDD. It wouldn't be too surprising, since AC GCN came with its own memory card.
 

Scribble

Member
Wow, just wow. If this is true...

It could be both a good and bad thing, tbqh. I hope that humans don't replace CPU controlled villagers.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
theBishop said:
But what keeps people playing these games is added content. I don't think WoW would be the sensation it is if Blizzard weren't constantly adding new areas to explore

Well, this could be more of a social mmo (a glorified graphical irc if you will), and new content would be small items, or new areas based on reorganizing existing building blocks etc.

Or maybe the "new" content is already on the disc :p
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
JCX9 said:
I think it will come bundled with a HDD. It wouldn't be too surprising, since AC GCN came with its own memory card.
Bingo. Other posters have in the past alluded to Nintendo getting ready for some sort of HDD add-on.. and what better game to do it with than the juggernaut that is Animal Crossing? The catalyst to the DS extravaganza.

But we'll see what happens though.
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
oh listen ye
to mine salty shanty
about the sweet
lady
who once loved me

she looked fair and fine
with her eyes upon mine
oh, until
she got ill,
seasick from brine

seasick from brine
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
If this is true, I hope there isn't a monthly fee. I'm not interested in paying a membership fee to pick apples and pull weeds.
 
Staccat0 said:
If this is true, I hope there isn't a monthly fee. I'm not interested in paying a membership fee to pick apples and pull weeds.

That would be very unlike Nintendo to have a monthly fee.
But who knows...
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
beelzebozo said:
oh listen ye
to mine salty shanty
about the sweet
lady
who once loved me

she looked fair and fine
with her eyes upon mine
oh, until
she got ill,
seasick from brine

seasick from brine
I love his songs
 

donny2112

Member
If it's a port of the DS game with Wii-mote replacing the stylus, I'll probably not buy this game. I never cared about the online stuff in Animal Crossing DS, and the DS version took out lots of cool stuff from the GameCube version. Without a means to easily chat or to actually do something meaningful together, I never saw the point of online. I love Animal Crossing, but I'm quite pessimistic about this news. :/
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Nintendo are not the types to charge for online play these days.

Maybe the whole thing has got to do with Totakeke needing a broader audience during his Saturday night shambles. One person audience isn't going to cut it anymore.
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
i think greg kasavin pointed out once what might be to the detriment of an animal crossing mmo: that it's ultimately about interacting with these quirky, interesting animal characters. if you replace kapp'n and tortimer and pelly with a bunch of adolescent douchebags playing online, it loses a lot of its charm
 

Scribble

Member
beelzebozo said:
i think greg kasavin pointed out once what might be to the detriment of an animal crossing mmo: that it's ultimately about interacting with these quirky, interesting animal characters. if you replace kapp'n and tortimer and pelly with a bunch of adolescent douchebags playing online, it loses a lot of its charm

Ugh, with hundreds of text dialogs written in shorthand popping up every second. YUCK.
 

Grecco

Member
beelzebozo said:
i think greg kasavin pointed out once what might be to the detriment of an animal crossing mmo: that it's ultimately about interacting with these quirky, interesting animal characters. if you replace kapp'n and tortimer and pelly with a bunch of adolescent douchebags playing online, it loses a lot of its charm


No reason why you cant do both in the game.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
beelzebozo said:
i think greg kasavin pointed out once what might be to the detriment of an animal crossing mmo: that it's ultimately about interacting with these quirky, interesting animal characters. if you replace kapp'n and tortimer and pelly with a bunch of adolescent douchebags playing online, it loses a lot of its charm

Are you saying I'm not quirky or interesting!
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
beelzebozo said:
i think greg kasavin pointed out once what might be to the detriment of an animal crossing mmo: that it's ultimately about interacting with these quirky, interesting animal characters. if you replace kapp'n and tortimer and pelly with a bunch of adolescent douchebags playing online, it loses a lot of its charm
Quite true. One of my favourite things in AC:WW is to boot it up at 3am and talk to the regular animals at that hour, nice chilled music and throwing in a line to see if I can cop a rare fish. Perhaps if this rumour isn't a baseless throw in the dark, Nintendo will just go the DS online route but with easier access perhaps. Want people in to your town? Tell Copper to drag down the gates and let them in to flourish.

Who really knows what Nintendo will do. They are very "friend-codes" strict yet are starting to become quite keen for random play to happen as long as restrictive conversations are in place and random invites are disabled.

bryehn said:
Did you guys totally miss the part about an official flash cart to play GBX/GBC games on?
Yeah I saw it. Nothing too big, just saves me having to shell out $30-50 or so for a new GBA SP.
 
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