Topic: The 3DS Fall Might Break Its Back

[NWR_Neal]

PlayStation Home isn't applicable. It was based on nothing. Animal Crossing is a Nintendo franchise that has been around for a decade. That's like saying a generic arcade sports game failing means Nintendo should never make another Mario sports game.

I'm with Aaron; if it were an MMO and the hub for Miiverse, I'd be way more interested.

[NWR_insanolord]

Animal Crossing would make for a horrible MMO, and an even worse hub for Miiverse. The whole charm of the series would have to be eliminated to make it work in that context. Despite the history of the franchise, it would effectively be PlayStation Home; the history wouldn't make it more appealing, at least in the long term, and it would essentially kill a series of games that a lot of people love.

[NWR_Neal]

I just don't understand how it would "effectively be PlayStation Home" when it has what Home lacked: a personality. Does that mean they should scrap Miiverse because it's "effectively PlayStation Home"? I mean, why bother do anything like that when it would "effectively be PlayStation Home"?

Concessions would have to be made, but hey, I'd rather the series take a risk than have its biggest new feature being "hey guys! You can be the mayor this time! It's like, totally gonna change everything! Just like when you could go to the city!"

I see you want the same game over and over again. I guess that means you're cool with endless parades of side-scrolling Marios, traditional Zeldas, etc.

[ShyGuy]

Yeah Insanolord, take that!

[NWR_insanolord]

I just don't understand how it would "effectively be PlayStation Home" when it has what Home lacked: a personality. Does that mean they should scrap Miiverse because it's "effectively PlayStation Home"? I mean, why bother do anything like that when it would "effectively be PlayStation Home"?

I don't see how they could retain the personality and charm of the series while turning it into an MMO, which was my point.

Concessions would have to be made, but hey, I'd rather the series take a risk than have its biggest new feature being "hey guys! You can be the mayor this time! It's like, totally gonna change everything! Just like when you could go to the city!"

That's literally all we know about that game, and it's much more of a game changer than anything the previous sequels have had to offer. I'd prefer to wait and see what the final product brings to the table before writing it off based on assumptions just because we haven't heard anything else yet.

I see you want the same game over and over again. I guess that means you're cool with endless parades of side-scrolling Marios, traditional Zeldas, etc.

I don't want that, but arguing that that's what Animal Crossing has been is shortchanging the series. There have been significant improvements to the core mechanics over the course of the series that aren't immediately obvious on the surface. Just like while on the surface Madden this year looks nearly identical to the same game five years ago, there are a ton of changes you only notice if you've played a ton of both of them.

[NWR_Neal]

The 3DS Animal Crossing is about two or so months from release in Japan, so I guess we will find out then. Even still, Madden and Animal Crossing have both been iterative series. You're right that there are tweaks and changes below the surface, but that doesn't change that Animal Crossing can be compared to a football series that is limited in how much it changes from year to year because it is based off of a professional sport that doesn't see many changes from year to year.

[Kairon]

You're right that there are tweaks and changes below the surface, but that doesn't change that Animal Crossing can be compared to a football series that is limited in how much it changes from year to year because it is based off of a professional sport that doesn't see many changes from year to year.

Hmm... I've never thought of condensed-letter writing as a sport, but maybe it is...

Though I do have to point out, Animal Crossing isn't anywhere near annualized. We get one-per-console and that's it. Done. That's a lower frequency than we get, oh... Zelda games, for example.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm kind of curious to see how much they could add on top of the existing formula without turning it into a completely different game. I think the ideal would be to have a persistent world, but not really an MMO, where you can share a town with a few friends, each with a house, and each able to access it at any time, regardless of who was or wasn't online. This could easily be done, although it would require real servers or they could take the more complicated route of a really sophisticated back-end that made it look persistent for everyone but was really just save file swaps and peer-to-peer multiplayer.

Regardless, just like I buy Madden (and NHL and FIFA) every year, I'll continue to buy Animal Crossing even if it stays with the iterative updates, because every couple years I get the itch to play it again and I might as well play the best version available.

[Chozo Ghost]

people might be interested at first but wouldn't stick around.

Isn't that pretty much how a lot of people feel about Animal Crossing as it is now?

[NWR_insanolord]

Perhaps, but that's a much harsher criticism for an MMO that would require a drastic change to the series than it is for continuing down the current path.