In a roundtable discussion with series producer Katsuya Eguchi, director Aya Kyogoku, design lead Koji Takahashi, and sound director Kazumi Totaka, we are given new information on some of the new features to be seen in the newest iteration of the Animal Crossing franchise.
One of the biggest news pieces we see is that you are not merely a resident, but rather the mayor of the town. This allows you greater control of the towns appearance such as adding benches and street lamps.You are also given a secretary to help with the duties names Shizu, but Kyogoku stated that she is a bit clumsy and may not be the best at her job.
Another change they made was is in your character model, which better distinguishes you from the animal residents and allows both males and females to wear pants and skirts. So now you can project that cross-dresser inside of you onto the game. Along with character tweaking, they’ve also added furniture cushion designing and the ability to change your fence posts and mailbox.
New Town Size and Layout
The town itself also got a few nice changes. For one thing, the town is bigger as well as the beach, which you can now swim in. There is also now a shopping mall on the other side of the train tracks, but one big thing you won’t find there is Tom Nook and his shop. He is now the town real-estate agent and how he affects you and whether or not you owe him money in this game is still unknown.
Lastly, you can use StreetPass to exchange house designs with other players, and their designs can be found in the “model home” area of town.
No release date has been announced yet so we it can be assumed to be released some time 2012.
Feel free to watch the video below to get a full view of all the new features we will see.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HIlN9bnj0[/youtube]
This looks like it could be quite a lot of fun. The video shows a lot of gameplay that gives one a lot to look forward to. Also, I wonder in what ways I may be owing Tom Nook some money or is he able to build bigger buildings to update the town? Looks like we’ll have to wait and see.
I Love Animal Crossing!
I heard it comes out Jan 3