I must be the only gaming-related blog in the entire world NOT running a story about PS3. This is because, in all honesty, it means nothing to me. I like some games on my PS2, but that’s as far as it goes.

The main purpose of this post is to alert you to a bit of a tidy-up I’ve had around here. “Harvest Moon Diaries” at the top has been changed to general “Diaries” now, which includes HM:AWL and now my old Animal Crossing has a home here too. It’s out of date now, but it’s still an enchanting story of talking animals, happiness and friendship. More games should be like this.

The other reason I thought “what a wonderful world”, apart from the fact the song was used in Strictly Come Dancing tonight, was that a friend of mine in New York just had a tattoo, and was able not only to send me a photo of the outline but also talk to me via MSN whilst she was getting the tattoo. Unfortunately it’s not Sega-related, but nobody’s perfect. Still, isn’t technology wonderful?

Expect another update tomorrow!

I’m listening to The Storm, from Some Cities by Doves

I made my first entry in my Animal Crossing diary on Sunday, May 16th, 2004. Blimey, that’s a fair old while ago..!

I’ve made quite a few entries, which I’ll be putting up one at a time. I really enjoyed writing them and I think they’re pretty cool – hopefully you’ll like them too!

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Got up nice and early this morning to send the code which, I hope, will get me the NES game Soccer. If not, my villagers will probably be mightily confused by my nonsensical letters which, if I’m honest (which I am), is no surprise. I haven’t heard back yet, but there’s always tomorrow.

I took a trip to nearby Laroowoo [Hannah’s town], where Crazy Redd had his Black Market set up. He was trying to sell a Blue Table, a Water Bird and a Fine Painting. All pretty useless and not what I was looking for (I need more Modern furniture!), so that was disappointing.

I mulled over Redd’s poor stock on the trip back to Eville [my town], and when I got back I found that one of my favourite villagers, Cesar the gorilla, had followed me on the train to Laroowoo, but hadn’t come back! This is the second time he’s moved out, so I’m starting to think it’s not to be. I think I need to take fewer train journeys.

———————————————————–

Monday, May 17, 2004

What? Tom Nook’s is closed! Of course, it’s his special sale today, and I missed it by ten minutes. Darn! I’d better take the train to Laroowoo to sell these fossils.

I haven’t got my NES Soccer game yet, so I don’t know what’s going on there. I think I’m going to go to the Post Office and bash some heads!

There’s a letter on the back, which I think might be for me! Time to write some letters and see if it’s my long-lost present.

Twirp asked me to get his watch back from Pudge, which I did in record time and received a heart shirt – he must love me!

I still haven’t managed to find the source of that annoying clicking sound. I think it might be some sort of underground insect, but if it is I can’t find it by digging. I’ll investigate further!

I just caught a large char! That one’s going straight to Blathers! On the way back from the Museum, I ran into Gulliver on the beach, who started telling me a joke and then stopped, so I’ll never know how it ends! I did get a tribal mask from him, which should go nicely… erm… into Tom Nook’s paws.

I’m just about to hop on the train to nearby Laroowoo. I hope nobody follows me this time! I’ll have to play as Hannah and try to get some of the characters to migrate back. I wonder who I’ll see on the train… it’s Rover! I wonder why Sow Joan’s always on the train with me, do you think she’s stalking me? Seeing as she can barely stay awake [obviously caffeinated turnips are in dire need] I don’t think she’s much of a threat.

Blaire got angry at me because I said dieting was boring. Well it is! Maybe she was angry because I pretended to be interested when I was talking to Yuka. Tom Nook didn’t have anything good to buy and there was no-one special in town, so I think I’m going to head back home.

I GOT IT! SOCCER IS MINE! I’m off to go play it now. Rock on!

———————————————————–

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

No big surprises today, it was a gentle jaunt through the land of Eville. Three animals moved in – Alfonso the Mario-wannabe crocodile, Static the supercharged-squirrel and Stu, my old moo-dude friend who’s lived here before. In fact, his new place is in exactly the same spot as his old house, surrounded by flowers and everything. It’s beautiful 😀

I went to Nook’s and bought a blue clock for Ellie, who complained she never knows the time when she’s inside. I got Boots’ organiser back and received a reward of some 837 Bells. Not too shabby! After that I caught a couple of cockroaches [try saying that ten times quickly] and got some exotic fruit to sell. After scouring the beach for shells and making around 16,000 Bells in half an hour, I decided I should answer Nature’s call, and went inside to bed.

———————————————————–

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

In keeping with what Boots and others told me, I didn’t let the rain dampen my spirits, so I went around the town trying to cheer up the other villagers. I don’t know if it worked on everyone – Boots himself got all grumpy when I asked “who needs umbrellas, and he called me stupid! – but I think I brought a little sunshine into some animals’ lives. That made me feel better.

What made me feel even better was when I finally caught a snail! I’ve been on the lookout for one of those blighters for a while, and I always thought they came from rocks, but when I saw something slithering on the flowers I knew I had to get it. I took it to Blathers immediately, who rather confusingly put it in the insects section. Never mind, at least it’s in a good home now.

After delivering a watch to Kabuki in Laroowoo, I came back just after 4 o’clock, which on a rainy day means only one thing – coelacanth time! I’d previously only caught one a day, but I wanted to wait until the post was delivered at 5, so I spent a good hour trawling the seas for the living fossil. In the end I caught some seven or eight of the blighters, netting me a very handsome profit of over 130,000 Bells! After Pete delivered my mail, including a notice of departure from Pudge, I decided to call it a day, and went inside to put my feet up, my future secure.

———————————————————–

Thursday, May 20, 2004

It’s a beautiful sunny day in Eville, and I left my house to be greeted by one of my best friends – the flashing mail icon! I picked up a couple of letters from the Museum, and a few from friends too, but they haven’t quite figured out what to buy me yet. They will do though, one day!

I hopped around town for a bit, just saying hello to everyone to keep them sweet, and Copper mentioned he’d seen a sports car in Acre B-4. I knew what this meant, so I ran like the wind and found my favourite neckerchief-wearing [and very nifty] giraffe, Gracie! My friend Hannah from Laroowoo had successfully claimed a citrus shirt from Gracie earlier, and I was confident of emulating the feat. Unfortunately my first try was a failure – it didn’t even sparkle! I came back later with renewed determination [and muscle strength], but still only managed to claim a weedy No. 4 shirt. Somewhat dejected, I trudged home – not even the sight of my dancing Gyroid could lift my hopes. It’s going to be a long night.

———————————————————–

Saturday, May 22nd 2004

On arrival into Eville I checked the mail and found absolutely nothing exciting. I headed over to Twirp’s house in the next acre, but he didn’t have the time to talk to me because his niece was coming over, and wanted a ball. I quickly found one for him, but then I cackhandedly (cackfootedly?) kicked it into a pond. Somewhat embarrassed, I ran past Twirp to see Blaire.

Blaire used to be a villager in Eville at the very beginning, and it’s good that she’s moved back. She wanted her videotape from Ellie, which I swiftly got and received some petal paper in return. Not too shabby.

I saw Cleo, and she was desperate for my Ammonite! She gave me a choice of wallpaper or flooring, and I chose the wallpaper to receive a mod wall! Not my best trade, but she was begging for the ammonite, and I live to give. Running past the Wishing Well I saw Boots, who wanted me to write a letter. No problem.

Past the Well, a familiar buzzing sound reached my ears, and a mosquito appeared and started to chase me! I swung my net at it once but missed horribly, but I just managed to evade its attempt to bite me. Turning back, I took another swipe at it and this time it nestled beautifully into my net. Victory! I ran into Stella the sheep’s house and she was so keen on my mosquito, she offered me 2,610 Bells for it! Well, you don’t often get an offer like that, so I sold it to her. Definitely one of my better transactions!

Bumping into my old friend Stu, he wanted me to deliver some clothes to Boots, which I did in record time, and received a Lunar Lander for my troubles. Hannah from Laroowoo is collecting space furniture, but she already has a lander, so I sold it to Tom Nook. It was nice of Boots to give me some furniture, though!

I dug up a couple of Croakoids, a Mega and a Tall version, which I sold to Nook. There are enough Gyroids in my house to last me a lifetime, they drive me mad!

I found an old Imperial Tile in my inventory which I thought would match the wallpaper I had in the living room. It actually turned out I had Lattice Wall, so I went to Tom Nook’s to see if he had any Imperial Wall in stock. It just so happened that he did! Unfortunately I had no money on me at the time, so I had to scrounge together a few items – cherries, clothing and a painting – in order to pay for it. I finally got my mitts on it and took it home, and now my living room looks more co-ordinated, if still a bit messy. I really should get around to tidying it up one of these days!

After stopping off to see K.K., and be entertained by his Calypso, I took the train to Laroowoo. When I got there, it was absolutely tipping it down with rain! Up went my new Mod Umbrella to protect me from the downpour, and I headed out into the night.

I soon saw a snail on the flowers, which I nabbed with ease. I saw K.K. again, and this time he played K.K. Soul – two new songs in one night, wicked.

I managed to bring Pudge’s organiser back to him, as since he’d moved to Laroowoo nobody could find him! Thankfully, I’m a resourceful chap, so I hunted him down like a stinking… bear. He was so pleased to see it again, he gave me some wallpaper – Imperial Wallpaper! Hooray! I’d just sold half my worldly possessions in order to buy some, and here I was getting some for free! In a somewhat unhappy frame of mind, I boarded the train home, and went to admire my new wallpaper. Two lots of it. Beautiful.

I remember writing this! I loved the original Animal Crossing, though not as much as I love the DS one, and I wanted to write a diary. So I did! Obviously this is out of date by now, but it’s still something I really enjoyed writing. This is just a post to introduce you to my characters and friends – the rest of the diaries will be moved into a separate page in a few days, so they won’t be on the main page. Enjoy!

It’s been almost two months since I visited Eville, and it certainly shows inside my house. The cockroaches were about, but that’s okay, because squishing them is one of my favourite things to do! I found twelve June tickets which are now wasted – shame that, as I could’ve won something good. I never learn, though – I think I’ve only ever entered the raffle once. I’m not much of a gambler, you see.

Somebody’s camping… it’s Peanut! She told me to start camping. What a stupid idea – why should I get into a tent when my house is the next acre over? It’s not like I can play Donkey Kong in a tent. I smiled and nodded whilst she told me about some camping thing, then went to pick more weeds. This place sure is dirty.

Murphy shouted at me when I went to say hi. Baddie. He says I’ve only been away for seven weeks, so there’s no point getting nostalgic. I suppose he has a point!

I went to see Bea, one of my best friends in Eville. First she told me she doesn’t like the warm weather, and wants to feel cold shivers running up and down her spine, but then she told me that she always feels warm on sunny days (even without a coat), and that sunny days are the best. Which is it, Bea? I shut the door behind me and felt very confused outside. Still scratching my head, I made my way over to Blaire’s house. She wasn’t in – probably out gossiping somewhere! I caught a grasshopper and went to see Tad.

He didn’t have much to say, just telling me about Katrina (guess who’s coming to town), so I wandered over to the Wishing Well and, surprise surprise, found Blaire running around. She’s always gossiping at the Wishing Well, so for research purposes only I thought I’d ask and see if there was any gossip I’d missed out on. She did tell me she likes calendars and notebooks, so she can mark the days I come to see her, then toddled off, whistling a jolly little tune to herself. That’s about the first time I’ve ever known Blaire be that happy!

Katrina’s coming in two days – I’d better get my fortune told. I wonder what it’ll be..? Maybe I’ll be rich, or popular, or clumsy!

I met a new citizen called Sandy – she appears to be some kind of ostrich-type creature! Cool! In fact… I think she might be a road runner – she called me “speedy”, and looks a bit Road Runner-esque. Pure cool.

I popped in to see Elmer, one of my bestest buddies, and he greeted me with his cheery laugh as always. Then he went on to tell me about this scary story where he found something disgusting under his furniture, but he managed to scare himself more than he scared me, and ended up stomping around in a grump! I couldn’t cheer him up, so I decided to just leave him to it.

I don’t recognise the town tune any more. Did our new citizen Becca change it whilst she was popping through? Possibly. Maybe it’s a grower.

Got stung by bees. Nuts. I was a little scared of talking to Boots in case he laughed at my injury, but he was very understanding and told me to just “chalk it up to experience”, so I did. Then he told me to forget about getting his camera back (I already had, whoops!), and gave me a glare. I took that as a hint and trundled off to the post office. There was nothing there.

Having tidied up the town a bit, and made sure none of my friends had forgotten who I am… argh, I forgot about Teddy!

I raced across town to find Teddy’s house by the sea, even ignoring the fruit and weeds lain tantalisingly by my feet. I got to his door, completely out of puff, and knocked to find… he wasn’t in! Teddyyy!

Yey, I found him! He was in a bunch of trees. Now, what would a bear be doing in the woods..? He wasn’t very happy to see me – he told me off for shaking trees, and told me I deserved to get stung… Teddy

I was so sad I didn’t even want to get my new Donkey Kong Jr. game. How could Teddy be angry at me, and say such nasty things? I decided to lock myself in my house and go to sleep. I guess not everybody missed me as much as I missed them…

Live in a town filled with talking animals. Pick fruit and sell it to a raccoon. Fish, catch bugs, plant and water flowers. Buy furniture. Send letters. Visit other players’ towns. Watch fireworks. Go shopping. Design clothes. Listen to a guitar-playing dog. Watch colours change as the seasons go by.

Animal Crossing is a game that survives on length rather than depth. You play it over a period of time, rather like a game of skill, although there’s next-to no skill involved. You improve by mastering emotions – sadness! Surprise! – and paying off your mortgage. I think it’s fair to say Animal Crossing perhaps isn’t the most exciting game in the world.

Playing it with friends is even better, and what really lifts this above the Gamecube version. Although the trading sadly doesn’t extend to animals, you can swap patterns, villagers, phrases, constellations, furniture… quite a lot, really.

Animal Crossing is almost impossible to review because it either appeals to you or it doesn’t. I’ve tried at great length to talk two of my best friends into appreciating it, but it’s not a game that can be taught; only learnt.

In short: A parallel, beautiful world of wonder and charm.

Except it won’t be. Confused?

Animal Crossing: Wild World arrived today. This makes me very happy indeed.

I loved writing my Animal Crossing diaries for the Gamecube version, and I would hope to get the same enjoyment from writing them on the DS version when I get the chance – time is very tight at the moment, but I think I can take notes and write them up when I get some spare time. Of course, putting aside time to play a game like Animal Crossing and write a diary about it is quite ambitious, especially considering my workload, but I’m sure I can succeed.

I just need a name for my town and subsequent weblog now. I don’t want to go with Eville because I think it’s actually a pretty poor name for a town, but I’m stuck for ideas. Only eight letters rules out Sonictown, Tailsville and Knucklesopia; Nightopia is too long, none of the NiGHTS or Sonic levels would fit and I don’t really like the sound of Mobius. Some stupid ideas to jot down:

Pippin
Granvill (shame about the missing E!)
York (obviously)
Doninton (slightly bastardised version of my home town)
Joyville (happier version of Eville!)
Happyton
Jolly
Aspinia
Saraband
Balsamo
Remotest
Vagabond
Enrich
Mineral (I wanted Mineral Town!)

I know that most of them are plagiarised but I don’t really care. I am devoid of good ideas, but I think I’ll go with one of the SFIII ideas as I like them a lot.