NPD numbers are out today, and Animal Crossing: City Folk did nearly half a million this past December. It's making its presence felt on the Japanese charts, as well. It's clearly not going anywhere, and it'll have moved units that put it in the class of its predecessor before too much longer.
We got burned out of our copy pretty quickly. Friends and family didn't really pick it up like I hoped they would. My daughter seems to actually prefer to continue to play Wild World on her DS. The copy I sent overseas to a friend who's a pretty ridiculously devoted series fan is going mostly unplayed. It's pretty clear that City Folk was not meant for us. Without major changes, the franchise peaked with Wild World.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place. We don't know this for a fact, of course, but I could easily see City Folk making inroads into homes where DS isn't—or maybe it's bought "for the kids" and given a library of licensed shovelware. Seeing it played on the TV might lead adults to try it even if it was bought for the kids, and maybe bring more people into the franchise fold.
Doesn't make me any less sad that Nintendo squandered an opportunity to make a really great sequel—or at the very least, innovate on the level they did with Wild World—but at least it isn't ending up a total disaster. Right?
We got burned out of our copy pretty quickly. Friends and family didn't really pick it up like I hoped they would. My daughter seems to actually prefer to continue to play Wild World on her DS. The copy I sent overseas to a friend who's a pretty ridiculously devoted series fan is going mostly unplayed. It's pretty clear that City Folk was not meant for us. Without major changes, the franchise peaked with Wild World.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place. We don't know this for a fact, of course, but I could easily see City Folk making inroads into homes where DS isn't—or maybe it's bought "for the kids" and given a library of licensed shovelware. Seeing it played on the TV might lead adults to try it even if it was bought for the kids, and maybe bring more people into the franchise fold.
Doesn't make me any less sad that Nintendo squandered an opportunity to make a really great sequel—or at the very least, innovate on the level they did with Wild World—but at least it isn't ending up a total disaster. Right?