Animal Crossing: City Folk

Animal Crossing: City Folk ((街へ行こうよ どうぶつの森 Machi e ikō yo: Dōbutsu no mori?, Let's Go to the City: Animal Forest) is the most recent video game title in the . It is a life simulation game where the player is able live with animals, similar to the previous games. Nintendo released the Wii sequel on November 16, 2008 in North America. It was released in Japan, Europe, and Australia on November 20, 2008, December 5, 2008, and December 4, 2008, respectively. . The title boasts a variety of changes and additions to the Animal Crossing formula, including the ability to travel to the City.

Initial editorial previews of the title from IGN and GameSpy indicate that, as with the title's predecessor,, Nintendo has made very few changes to the title and that some Animal Crossing players, who have played all of the past Animal Crossing games, might not find as much in City Folk, than other Animal Crossing games, although, the game is still fun and might appeal to newcomers. IGN gave City Folk a 7.5/10 rating.E3 2008: Animal Crossing: City Folk Hands-on. Gamespot gave a positive preview of the title, noting the charm of the game, but gave the game a 7.5/10 rating. The game's MSRP was $49.99 on release, but was later dropped to $19.99. Some editions of Animal Crossing: City Folk include Nintendo's Wii Speak. These editions of Animal Crossing: City Folk were sold for $69.99, but was later dropped to $34.99-$49.99.

New Features
City Folk takes advantage of the WiiConnect24 functionality of the Wii console. It also uses a new feature called Wii Speak, which allows players to talk to each other when visiting each others towns.

The City & New Attractions
The newest incarnation of the Animal Crossing series features a newly accessible location called the City. The City houses most of the characters that, in previous games, were considered special visitors. These include Gracie the Giraffe, Redd the Fox and Harriet the Poodle, among other characters such as Dr. Shrunk and Lyle. This area of the game is available via Kapp'n's bus, and is open all hours of the day. Most of the shops close at 9 PM daily, with the exception of Redd's Store and The Resetti Surveillance Center.

The City Plaza also features new characters Phineas the Sea Lion and Kicks the Skunk. Lyle now works in the Happy Room Academy and Shrunk now works at the Marquee next door. The player can now find Gracie in her store, GracieGrace, who is managed by the new character Labelle.

The game also features more Holidays, such as; Halloween, Harvest Festival, Christmas, Festivale and many others.

Moving
When moving in, the player has two options; to start fresh or to move in as your DS character. Moving in as your character will only keep the character's catalog and appearance. However, not all items transfer from a Wild World save, such as the Royal Crown. No items, Bells or house size will be ported with the character. If you have an illegal game storage device, such as an R4 card or a TTDS, the moving function will not work.

Wi-Fi
This version of the Animal Crossing series features Wi-Fi capabilites, which was earlier implemented in the previous game, Wild World. This feature gives the player access to other towns, enables them to communicate with friends' towns with letters, and also subjects them to special items sent from time to time from Nintendo, such as Nintendogs statues and the Red Pikmin Hat, which reference some of the company's best-selling franchises. It also allows players to experience another feature, which in-game is the Mysterious Cat. This enables a visit from Blanca, a character who travels via Wi-Fi into towns, which promotes connectivity between players locally and globally.

Development and Unveiling
thumb|300px|left|e3 2008 City Folk The conception of Animal Crossing: City Folk began during the production of and was confirmed that an Animal Crossing title for the Wii, then codenamed Revolution, was in development. Katsuya Eguchi, the producer of both titles, suggested that the two titles may be able to link up to one another at e3 2005. In 2006, Eguchi confirmed that City Folk was still just a concept and very little work had been completed. His time was being consumed by research and development of the Wii console. The Animal Crossing team explored ways to involve the Wii Remote. They planned to allow players to use tools, such as the axe, shovel, and fishing rod. They also explored the use of WiiConnect24 in the hopes that a player could visit a friend's town even when he or she was not playing. The friend could then leave letters or gifts. Additionally, they planned to use Wi-Fi Connection to allow simultaneous play. At this point in time, however, the title was still not playable.

In early 2007, Nintendo of Japan unveiled its video game lineup for the coming year. It included "Doubutsu no Mori" ("Animal Forest"). Having finished the Mii Channel for Wii, Animal Crossing: Wild World director Hisashi Nogami joined the Animal Crossing team once more. Later that year, Edge Magazine reported that a trusted source confirmed that City Folk would be a massively multiplayer online game. The publication declined to name the source. Nintendo failed to release the title in 2007. Online publication IGN Wii predicted that the title would arrive in 2008.

At e3 2008, Reggie Fils-Aime unveiled the title in playable form under the name Animal Crossing: City Folk. It was released in November of 2008.

Critics
Ign rated this game 7.5 out of 10.