No matter how shy he is about receiving credit for it, it’s the series’ commitment to connecting people, born of a lonely year in Kyoto, 1986, that means the most to Eguchi, and it’s that which has influenced the progress of the series, from the first game’s message boards and mail system (themselves referenced by Wii’s frontend), through Animal Crossing: Wild World’s wi-fi connectivity, and now to City Folk’s WiiSpeak peripheral. Though the WiiSpeak add-on is not intended to be shipped with Animal Crossing: City Folk when it is released in mid-November (in the US – a European date has yet to be set), the accessory has been designed with Animal Crossing in mind.

“With Animal Crossing we’ve always had at least the ability to consecutively visit the village,” establishes Eguchi. “We could have four people in one village and they could all take turns playing, so you were playing in the same world, if not playing at the same time. With the DS version thanks to the wi-fi connection we were able to have four people playing at the same time. Now with Wii we’ve carried over that wi-fi connectivity.

“But we thought a lot about what we could do to enhance that feeling that you were playing with those other people in the same room, or rather that they were right there with you, close to you. While we were trying to think about ideas to do that, our hardware group said to us, ‘Hey, we just designed this mic peripheral – would that be of any use to you?’ and we said, ‘Wow, that’s going to work really well with Animal Crossing!’ So then we worked together to make sure both the hardware and the software meshed together.”

Since the WiiSpeak device is a mic placed on top of (or below) the TV, it “leads to a different sort of experience,” according to Eguchi, “certainly to what you might have had in the past from, say, traditional headsets. It allows you to have a conversation with the people you’re playing with as if you were in the same room. You can have this very natural back and forth. And because this is a room mic, you’ll be able to have group conversations. So if there is one family on one Wii, and one on the other, you’ll all be able to talk to each other.”



Though such a mic seems certain to falter under such conditions, with TV noise and competing family members making unwelcome contributions, we managed to play Animal Crossing: City Folk on the show floor of July’s E3 event (admittedly a quieter place than E3s past) with an excitable Charles ‘voice of Mario’ Martinet on the other side, and it worked surprisingly well. Thanks to intelligent sound filters, and even with the non-stop babbling of a real-life Mario (and Luigi) pouring forth, the results stood up to scrutiny.

There’s more to City Folk than just greater communication options, however. Forever mindful that community is built not just through communication but by sharing, the options that exist for user creativity have expanded greatly, as has the ability to enjoy events with others.

Players will still be able to create patterns at the Able Sisters store, but now, if you’re creating patterns for, say, a pullover, you’ll be able to design not only the front but also patterns for the back, and each individual sleeve. “You’ll also be able to create hats and other accessories to this level, too,” enthuses Eguchi. “And when you create these items, Mable will ask you what you were thinking, so you can categorise your items for other players.

“You’ll also be able to do more than ever together when you play online. You’ll be able to experience events or see concerts together, for example. And while in the DS version we discarded a lot of events that were popular in the GameCube version, we’re bringing them back. We’re including Halloween, we’re bringing back Jingle, the reindeer that visits during the holiday event, and we’ve got some new events, too. For example, during spring we’ve got a special visitor who brings paint and eggs so you can have an egg hunt, and we also have a carnival that’ll introduces another new character to the Animal Crossing world.”