どうぶつの森, or Animal forest is a corky life simulation game released only in Japan where the player (the only human) has moved into a village inhabited by animals who ask the player to run errands for them.   As a result of  the Nintendo 64's declining sales, the game was a mild success.  A year later title Animal Crossing released for the rest of the world on GameCube.  Although the graphics had not been improved from the Nintendo 64 version,     it featured a timid friend code capabilty that allowed players from around the world to trade items.  Since that time a DS version has been released under the name of AC: Wild World, its ground breaking feature was the use of friend codes to visit other players villages via Wi-Fi. 

In 2006 Katsuya Eguchi (leader of Animal Crossing development) announced a Wii version that will take advantage of the WiiConnect24 feature, here is what we would like to see.

Its been shown via Nintendo's site that Animal Crossing for the Wii will feature some sort of Wii Message board compatibility, it is not yet known how far this will reach but we can safely assume you will be receiving such messages as "why the hell have you abanded us!?" and "you're house is invested with cockroaches."   

Wii Forecast Channel compatibility - Some sort of connectivity between it and Animal Crossing could allow for realistic weather outside to reflect the weather in game.

Wi-Fi Minigames - On the DS players had limited interaction with each other, however with the Wii it may be possible to add mini games or even SNES games to play while visiting towns.

Cell Shaded  - With all previous versions of the game looking exactly the same it is definitly time for an upgrade, the most logical would be cell shaded, much like Wind Waker

Customizable Characters or Miis - Playable characters from the Animal Crossing series were generated based on questions asked while setting up the game, this time however its not too far of a stretch to suggest that Miis should be playable characters as opposed to the Raggidy Ann/Scarecrow models from previous games

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Another Take

By Roloke

In Wild World, you could visit one anther's town via wifi after a long arduous process of waiting. The player would enter a room, connect to wifi, search for friends, wait for a response, save information, leave town, load the opposing players information, and then finally was able to visit a now deserted town. As another player showed up, villagers would hide in their houses as if the gestapo had come beckoning, any events being held were drawn to an immediate stop. The word "gimped" would properly describe the games current standing of online dynamism. Rumors have been floating around that the next Animal Crossing is to be massively multiplayer and that it has even been labeled as such on Nintendo's product list. Obviously the security heavy company isn't going to let anyone interact with one another without consent. 

Open Ended Multiplayer - With the above mentioned in mind, it wouldn't be a stretch to have at least proper connectivity with one another. What would truly make this game shine would be to have some kind of bridge (literally) between villages that act as if they were in fact part of the same town. After being connected once players could walk between townships seamlessly to trade items or to have NPCs from separate places interact with one another.

Online Awareness - Xbox live has a dashboard system that tells what game your friends are playing and what they are doing in that game. An alternative to having a bridge to connect players would be to have a giant door, as found in wild world. However, rather than sit and wait for each other if a door is open, the users can merely walk through the door. Each station could have multiple doors, one for each friend. After getting bored of running errands, players could then visit one of their friends and participate in a variety of activities with one another, provided the door is already open. This would provide the same experience as playing a game alone on Xbox Live and then playing with a friend after finding they are online.

Cooperative Play - As Mr. Chaos has mentioned one enjoyable activity for players to participate in together could be minigames, however it doesn't have to stop there. Joint errands could be made available that could not be done with a single player.

Real Chat - May it be with voice or a keyboard so long as I'm not stuck pointing to individual letters on the screen to type ill be happy.

Real Mail - Simple enough, send a letter to someone and it actually goes to them with WiiConnect24 regardless if they are online.

Downloadable Content - Now a staple of the industry, downloadable content plagues games with filthy get rich schemes, however this only happens when the ability is abused. Make avaiable new clothes patterns if you like, but all it would take to make this a positive feature would be to have special items on holidays that aren't already in the game. Spruce up gameplay with new things to be added that were not thought of while in development. Official material would be fine, but for the love of God just don't charge real money for it.

Free Market System - In past games, turnips were used as a sort of stock certificate, the price would raise and lower randomly as dependent on math. Pokemon Diamond and Purl for the DS has a system of placing your beasts up for sale online to be exchanged for beasts you deem of equal power. Now combine the two ideas and you can have an economy much like those found on several massively multiplayer online titles, a universal Nook's Shack. This could create a new way to gain cash that's much more robust and endearing than getting on to buy turnips every Saturday, providing even more reason to come back daily. Also included could be a way to put up user created patterns on a marketplace for either a price set by the owner or for others to place bids on. Also to be biding on could be items such as articles of furniture, fish, fruit, etc.

No Waggle - I know that I'm going to have to swing my remote to chop down a tree, and I know that I'm going to have to preform a shoveling motion to dig a hole. I also know that these motions wont be any more than the equivalent of a button press and so that is why I beg; please let me just hit a button do preform an action. Motion control can be revolutionary, but not if its to do something that can be done in a simpler process.

Even More Replay - We all know the run down at this point. Boot up the game, check on your flowers, chat with villagers as they remark about things they have the last 5 times you've spoken, then go fishing. Smash brothers has overcome repetition by providing an experience where every match is different then the last, and a further step in the correct direction a new map every day. Animal Crossing could take from this idea and send something new out every day for the user to find or do. The motto was "somethings always going on" but realy after spending about a half hour in game, it was done. Anything that would make it so things were infact going on all the time would be notable.

Build A Home - Not a major complaint or idea but being able to pick where your house is built would add to customizing your experience all the more.

Joint Towns - Probably the most ambitious of what I'd like to see, sharing a town between two seperate owners could be particuarly interesting. With WiiConnect24 data can now be sent as it goes on. A player could live in the same town with someone from his or her friends list. If someone else is in the same town then they are connected upon the towns loading, if the oposite user is offline then the town is sent to their neibors Wii to be loaded in the next round of play. This could also be used so that even if the owner of a town is offline, their friends can still go in and visit.