Tuesday, December 10, 2013
My Animal Crossing: New Leaf Experience
185. That's how many days it has been since the newest Animal Crossing game, New Leaf, released.
185. That's how many days I've played Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
I've played the same game, for at least 30 minutes a day, for half a year. Sometimes I don't even want to play. It will be nine or ten in the evening and it will hit me that I haven't played Animal Crossing yet. On days like those I will do the bare minimum of my daily Animal Crossing routine. The bare minimum being: watering flowers, digging up fossils, talking to villagers, and checking the stores.
You know, the bare minimum seems like a lot when I write it out like that.
However, on the days when I don't play out of some bizarre combination of obligation and guilty, I will sometimes get the wonderful feeling that the first Animal Crossing gave me. I would describe it as joyful peace... or peaceful joy. Now, though, that feeling is sprinkled with a little nostalgia.
You see, although I am an unabashed lover of the series, New Leaf is the first Animal Crossing since the original Gamecube game that I truly enjoy. I played the DS and Wii iterations of the series, but both felt like half-steps or half-measures. The series had grown stagnant. So stagnant, that I would still play the original over the sequels with far more to do. More fish, furniture, fossils, and flowers are great, but neither of those games matched the charm and quaintness of the first Animal Crossing.
It is hard for me to even pin-point what exactly Nintendo did with New Leaf that they didn't Wild World and City Folk. Could it be a simple as the broadening the 'rolling globe' effect when moving around your village? Perhaps. The village does seem more vast and welcoming than in the previous two games.
Much more likely, however, is that changing the player's role from villager to mayor injected the series with a newness it had been missing.
Although Animal Crossing is part-life simulator, part-resource management, and part-social network with anthropomorphic mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc., it is first and foremost a RPG. So, by giving players the option to change their village how they want, Nintendo gave players the level of personalization they didn't even know they were craving.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
This week on Psychobuttons.com (11th - 15th)
Here is a list of all my articles (including our podcast) on Psychobuttons.com this week:
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 4
ESA announces public education campaign - One Article Remaining: March 11th, 2013
Next-gen games getting 'pilot' episodes - One Article Remaining: March 12th, 2013
Nielsen survey into console usage - One Article Remaining: March 13th, 2013
Bioshock: Infinite 'False Shepherd' trailer - One Article Remaining: March 14th, 2013
Saints Row IV - One Article Remaining: March 15th, 2013
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 4
ESA announces public education campaign - One Article Remaining: March 11th, 2013
Next-gen games getting 'pilot' episodes - One Article Remaining: March 12th, 2013
Nielsen survey into console usage - One Article Remaining: March 13th, 2013
Bioshock: Infinite 'False Shepherd' trailer - One Article Remaining: March 14th, 2013
Saints Row IV - One Article Remaining: March 15th, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
This week on Psychobuttons.com (4th - 8th)
Here is a list of all my articles (including our podcast) on Psychobuttons.com this week:
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 3
Nintendo at SXSW - One Article Remaining: March 4th, 2013
Wii U and NFC functionality - One Article Remaining: March 5th, 2013
The Walking Dead in fall 2014 - One Article Remaining: March 6th, 2013
Wii U price point - One Article Remaining: March 7th, 2013
SimCity marketing campaign suspended - One Article Remaining: March 8th, 2013
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 3
Nintendo at SXSW - One Article Remaining: March 4th, 2013
Wii U and NFC functionality - One Article Remaining: March 5th, 2013
The Walking Dead in fall 2014 - One Article Remaining: March 6th, 2013
Wii U price point - One Article Remaining: March 7th, 2013
SimCity marketing campaign suspended - One Article Remaining: March 8th, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
This week on Psychobuttons.com (25th - 1st)
Here is a list of all my articles (including our podcast) on Psychobuttons.com this week:
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 2
Episodic games in the next-gen - One Article Remaining: February 25th, 2013
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag - One Article Remaining: February 26th, 2013
Replaying Mass Effect - One Article Remaining: February 27th, 2013
The state of game development - One Article Remaining: February 28th, 2013
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 2
Episodic games in the next-gen - One Article Remaining: February 25th, 2013
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag - One Article Remaining: February 26th, 2013
Replaying Mass Effect - One Article Remaining: February 27th, 2013
The state of game development - One Article Remaining: February 28th, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
This week on Psychobuttons.com (18th - 22nd)
Here is a list of all my articles (including our podcast) on Psychobuttons.com this week:
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 1
New Far Cry 3 updates - One Article Remaining: February 18th, 2013
Bioshock Infinite - One Article Remaining: February 19th, 2013
PS4 Announcement Impressions
Mass Effect 3's final pieces of DLC - One Article Remaining: February 21st, 2013
Next-gen game prices - One Article Remaining: February 22nd, 2013
ButtonMash Season 2: Episode 1
New Far Cry 3 updates - One Article Remaining: February 18th, 2013
Bioshock Infinite - One Article Remaining: February 19th, 2013
PS4 Announcement Impressions
Mass Effect 3's final pieces of DLC - One Article Remaining: February 21st, 2013
Next-gen game prices - One Article Remaining: February 22nd, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
One Article Remaining: February 15th, 2013
"One Article Remaining" is a new, daily column I began writing on Psychobuttons.com. I'll generally pick one piece of news in the video game industry (one that I think is noteworthy) and tell you what I think about it. I write it towards the end of the day after most of the news for that day has broken.
Today's entry was about Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and what consoles it could be coming to this fall. You can find it here. Enjoy.
Today's entry was about Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and what consoles it could be coming to this fall. You can find it here. Enjoy.
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