Loving those dinos!

Although I think we'd all prefer our resident Nintendo-loving soul of goodness John Lucas to be the one introducing the official write-up to the long-awaited debut of Animal Crossing for the Wii, I'm afraid the big guy is still recovering from a marathon run in helping get our all-new Popzara Blogs off the ground and running smoothly.  Forgive my ineptitude with the franchise, which unfortunately goes few steps beyond minutes with the Gamecube version and only viewing the ultra-poplar DS sensation.

Naturally I fully expect the mainstream gaming press to babble and complain as they always do, with exclamations that Animal Crossing: City Folk is simply too much like its previous iterations to talk about.  Keep in mind these folk absolutely drool like babies over the latest Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and God of War entries.  Ain't nothing wrong with more of the same, especially if that's what you want.  The Animal Crossing fans are themselves legion in number and twice as loyal when it comes to protecting their beloved franchise, so I'd watch what I say if you know what was good for you.  Seriously, these people will mail you pumpkins and shower you with butterflies.  Scandalous!

Still, with full Nintendo WiFi online integration, the long-awaited inclusion of Wii Talk (included!), message boards, and many other features, there's little doubt that the latest and most gentle of the massively-multiplayer console games is going to drive the fans wild.  Enjoy the first trailer and bonus screenshots just below...and wish Lucas all the best!!