Nintendo Creates a Place Where Everyone Feels at Home

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The new Animal Crossing™: City Folk game for the Wii™ console launches Nov. 16, allowing players to move into fun communities, customize their surroundings and interact with hundreds of animal characters. The world is filled with possibilities, and players never run out of things to do. They can collect more than 2,400 items like shells, fossils and bugs, or design new clothing patterns that they can share with their friends.

The new “city” area of the game provides access to the latest fashions and offers players the ability to give their character a Mii™ makeover at the hair salon, which transforms the character’s features to look like the player’s Mii. Players can also put items up for auction in the city and bid on items others want to sell.

“Animal Crossing: City Folk is all about building communities, customizing your world and staying in touch with friends and other characters,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “There’s no ending, so people can keep playing for months and even years. It’s an experience that everyone in the household can share together.”

Up to four people can create characters and move into the same town. And using the Wii Speak™ accessory, players can voice chat with friends and family members around the world. The microphone sits atop the TV set and captures the voice of everyone in the room, providing for a more communal experience. People can now get together to chat with their distant loved ones, which is especially meaningful when they can’t be together for the holidays. The microphone can also be used with the upcoming Wii Speak Channel, which launches in December.

The Animal Crossing: City Folk calendar passes in real time, so climates along with bugs and fish change with the seasons. Players can catch fireflies in the summer or celebrate Harvest Festival in the fall. If players use Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection to meet up with friends in other countries, they will experience the holidays native to the friends’ cultures.

Animal Crossing: City Folk is a great value for the holidays because it can be enjoyed by everyone. The game never ends, which gives players months – or even years – of exploring and interacting with their virtual community.

Animal Crossing: City Folk retails at an MSRP of $49.99 and the Wii Speak accessory is sold separately at an MSRP of $29.99. Bundles of the game and accessory are also available at an MSRP of $69.99.

Animal Crossing remains one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises. The original Animal Crossing for Nintendo GameCube™ sold more than 1.55 million copies in the United States alone, while the Nintendo DS™ version, Animal Crossing™: Wild World, sold more than 1.75 million in the United States.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com. For more information about Animal Crossing: City Folk, visit Animal-Crossing.com.