Animal Crossing: Wild World will be released in North America on December 5th, 2005. Not surprisingly, members of the Animal Crossing Forums on www.animalxing.com can't wait to get their hands on all of the new features debuting in AC:WW. AXA members were very eager to tell me what they're anticipating the most.

An active member of the community who uses the handle "Kouji" told me that he was looking forward to the wi-fi feature particularly. Kouji expressed that he expected that increased player-to-player interaction would make the game more pleasurable, and the portability more convenient: "It will be very cool to finally be able to play with my friends on AXA, and AC is the kind of game that's more fit for being on a handheld, instead of on some big console." Kouji is not alone. Another user, Squirtle, shares the same sentiments as his fellow AXAer. "It will be cool to play with my friends anywhere in the world," says Squirtle, "and the portability was a big problem on the GameCube version, because who wants to spend the time turning on a 'Cube and sitting down and whatnot for a 5-10 minute play session. The DS is perfect for that." Yomon, too, concurs: "I mean, seriously, you're bored, you're sitting in a waiting room, then BAM! Pop out AC:WW and go whack some villagers with a bug net or something."

Wi-fi will indeed be a crucial feature of the new game, and is likely to rekindle interest in the game for burnt-out Animal Crossing fans. Such is the case with Mew, who told me that the only new feature he is looking forward to is the wi-fi compatibility. "[The wi-fi compatibility] is the biggest new feature and will sell the game by itself," Mew said. "Online play is the only thing that can make me get the second AC, and AC:WW has it." Wi-fi is also likely to attract numerous new Animal Crossing players who enjoy online multiplayer gaming.

Despite the incredible amount of excitement about Wild World being wi-fi compatible, many users have also expressed fear about using the Wi-Fi function. In Animal Crossing, when you invited a player into your town, that player had free reign of your village. Thus, players had to be careful only to let in users that they trusted. The one place that could not be altered by visiting players was the interiors of the houses. However, Wild World allows up to four players to share a house and walk in the town simultaneously. Not only do you have to worry about your precious flowers being trampled, but there is concern about protecting items. However, some users feel confident that their friends will not abuse Wild World's new feature. KirbyRocks expresses that he is "looking forward to AC:WW's new 4-players in a town at once feature. I'll be able to play with my friends at the same time and we can do stuff together while playing and share our towns with each other."

Though Wi-Fi is overwhelmingly the favored new feature, there are numerous other aspects of the game that AXA users are excited about. Many are looking forward to the whole split-screen interface. Writing letters with the stylus and touch keyboard will be significantly easier than the button system used in Animal Crossing for Gamecube. Additionally, the touch screen will make it quicker to select items and draw textures. The stylus will also likely be used for another aspect of the game AXA members are looking forward to: increased character customization. Supposedly, users will be able to determine their own player features, rather than having it decided by a series of questions and answers (the opening conversation with Rover the cat). This has Merit very excited about AC:WW. "I'm looking forward to all the different hairstyles," she said. "[You'll be able to] Customize your character like never before!"

I have no doubt that members from all corners of AXA will be playing AC:WW for hours on end with each other. Everyone I spoke to was very excited abut the game. I'm sure they'll be rushing to their local retailer as soon as the game is released. Hopefully, they'll be rewarded will all the new features they've been waiting for, and more.