Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo DS)

In a nutshell:
Start a new life on your DS with the most unlikely source of online addiction you’ve ever experienced. You’ve complete freedom to customise your home and the town around it as you socialise with the locals and your friends alike.

The lowdown:
The world of Animal Crossing seems a peculiarly simple one at first: there are no levels to be beaten or bad guys to overcome, just a cheerful little village to maintain, as you water flowers, catch fish and dig for fossils. But before you know it the game has its hooks in you, as you meet friends via the Wi-Fi Network Connection to chat and compete or start playing the turnip stock market. With over 600 different pieces of furniture to collect the game has a near infinite lifetime and by running in real-time with special events all through the year you’ll find yourself checking in daily with what’s going on around town.

Most exciting moment:
Winning a fishing competition against three friends and rubbing their noses in it via the online chat.

Since you ask:
The first Animal Crossing game was actually released on the N64 in Japan – the GameCube version was a slightly enhanced version of this.

The bottom line:
Live the life idyllic on your DS with the best use of the Wi-Fi Network Connection yet.
HARRISON DENT

Players move into a living, breathing world inside the Nintendo DS...and then invite their friends to visit from anywhere on earth. In this sequel to the wildly popular Nintendo GameCube game, players and up to three friends can hang out in the same village and interact in real time either through wireless LAN or over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Now players can visit a friend's village from thousands of miles away. The touch screen makes item management and world navigation a breeze. Typing letters and designing patterns are now just stylus strokes away. Days and seasons pass in real time, so whether players want to decorate their homes, catch bugs or fish, collect brand-new items like hats and sunglasses or just chat with the wild and wacky characters in their villages, there's always something to do.

Animal Crossing Wild World takes you into a real-time virtual world where an entire village is waiting to be explored. Whether you want to decorate your home, catch bugs or fish, or just chat with the characters in your village, there`s always something to do. Days and seasons pass in real time, and you can visit the vilages of online players -- even if they`re a thousand miles away.

 

• In this sequel to the wildly popular Nintendo GameCube game, players and up to three friends can hang out in the same village and interact in real-time - either through wireless LAN or over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Now players can visit a friend's village from thousands of miles away.
• The touch screen makes item management and world navigation a breeze. Typing letters and designing patterns are now just stylus strokes away.
• Days and seasons pass in real-time, so whether players want to decorate their homes, catch bugs or fish, collect brand-new items like hats and sunglasses or just chat with the wild and wacky characters in their villages, there's always something to do.