I have mixed feelings about Animal Crossing Wii, as it’s most likely going to be announced next tuesday at E3. While I’m really looking forward to it, there’s a major problem facing this game…it’s being made by Nintendo. The Wii is a surprisingly powerful little device for the specs it has, but even Nintendo’s first-party games haven’t taken full advantage of the system. My main concern is that Nintendo will do next to nothing new with the Wii version of Animal Crossing, especially in the online department. We can pretty much count on them using the same friend code system, but there are so many more things they could do with it. There are a few things I’d love to see Nintendo do with Animal Crossing Wii.

1) Take full advantage of the WiFi Connection. I want them to deliver on their promise that you with WiiConnect24 you’ll be able to visit your friend’s towns without their system being powered on, as well as their proposed cell phone/email interaction with the town. I want to be able to send my town a bunch of spam from my PC and then go to find that I have a hundred new letters. I also want to be able to visit websites that will send my town a special promotional item. Also, don’t use the Pay-and-Play version quite yet. I do NOT want to pay just to go to my friends’ towns. What I DO want is to upload and download patterns and town themes to a huge central server.

2) Take full advantage of the Wiimote. I want to be able to hold down the A or B button and thrust forward to dig, and then be able to visit options and switch between waggle mode and button presses. I want the Nunchuck to be used for walking around, with the option of using the Wiimote on its side instead. (That might be asking for too much) I also want to be able to store at least one of my dudes on the Wiimote and take it to my friends house for some split-screen co-op. I do NOT want to have anything that depends on pointing, except for the Able Sisters’ whatnot.

3) I want to be able to design or at least have some say in the layout of my house. I want more creative freedom! I also want to be able to play my own mp3s (heck, I’d settle for AAC) on the music players and hang up my own pictures on the walls. In fact, I want to be able to hang up random crap on the walls in a display box! On-wall shelves, ftw! I also want an increased storage system. (Not inventory, mind you, just the shelf system made better in WW.) I want to be able to store two of everything. I want that “Tom Nook Point System” thing to die. I never used it, and it was really annoying that it didn’t work properly for me. At the very least, I’d like to see some kind of re-design of it.

4) I also want to dig up something besides Gyroids (although they are freaking AWESOME) and fossils. I want a pet. I know that’d be kind of weird to have a small pet dog or bird or whatnot when there are these huge animal neighbors asking you to fetch random crap, but I’d settle for anything of the sort! I also want more types of buildings, and more neighbors. I want my town to GROW. I want to become the mayor! I want that island from the first Gamecube game.

5) I want Mii furniture. I want to be able to plop down a Mii doll after buying one from a novelty shop or whatnot. I want to be able to create multi-track town themes, and change the instrument. Speaking of intruments, I want to be able to do more than play random notes on that cool electric guitar I plopped down in my house. I want to pick it up and start playing it, OoT-style. I want to change what I play on my TV, using a DVD or Video or Betamax or something. I want more furniture…although that’s kind of a duh.  I want more insects and fish, too…maybe even a new kind of creature? Birds? You could shoot’em down with the new Rifle tool, which can also be used to hold up the bank or gun down that annoying neighbor who planted the pitfall seed…hehehe…

6) I want full DS connectivity. I want to be able to play mini games and design furniture with my touch screen, or even use my DS as a controller. I want the errand-running system to come back, in addition to a reworking of the whole townsfolk-interaction system. I want my furry animal friends to sound more intelligent, aided by a redone AI system. I want there to actually be a CHALLENGE in the fishing/insect contests, and not a random chance that my fish/insect will randomly be outdone by some other animal’s. I want to see the animals do more than walk around my town…and I’d like to see THEM actually help take care of the town. Lazy butts. They need to do their share of weed-pulling and tree-planting. It’s not my town, for crying out loud!

7) I want a stat system. I want to genetically engineer bugs and fish. I want to have a magic system! …okay, I don’t really want any of that stuff…although a stat system of SOME kind might not be that bad. I mean, you can let a dinky little fish get away but catch a gigantic Coelacanth? Come on!

That’s all I can think of for now. Even if they implemented half that stuff, it would constitute a new title. Nintendo, I’ll be seriously ticked if you do a near-direct port of Wild World.

Over at Quick Stop Entertainment, there is a rather unusual songwriting competition going on. I quote:

“We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.

To that end, we’ve launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.

In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.

Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…

A few weeks back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Only 19 responded in time.

Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They were given one week to complete their songs – however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth”

There are also Song Masters, which right now are down to Paul & Storm and Jonathan Coulton. JC is the reason I found out about the site to begin with, and boy is he kicking butt! The Masters’ challenge this week was to record a song in the style of the other. Jonathan Coulton pulled no punches with “Big Dick Farts a Polka”.  I personally didn’t care for the Paul & Storm song, but it could be due to my Jonathan Coulton fanboyism! I recommend that you go on over there and hear some of these guys…they’re quite talented, actually.

Looking at the site, I see that it’s down to Master Jonathan Coulton and Challenger Jeff McDougall. They were both my favorite…so this could be a very tough next round!

…he’s got plenty of plant! Welcome to Plent, where we discuss the latest news (or anything of interest) in Gaming, Music, and Plants! There’s a lot to talk about, so keep checking back here for more news!

Eventually, we’ll get a forum up and running for our community, but for now you can leave comments.

E3 is coming up, and this year it looks huge. I personally am looking forward to the Nintendo conference, which I’ll get to in a second, but there is far more to get hyped up for. My most-looked-forward-to games are Animal Crossing (Wii), Fallout 3, and The Force Unleashed, but The Conduit has my attention as well. Since all other gaming blogs have put out there predictions, I’ll give you some of my own:

Nintendo

…will announce Animal Crossing Wii, but they will have majorly cut back on what the online could be, and done very little to change it from Wild World.

…will reveal their solution to the Wii’s internal storage issues…but it will not use a USB hard drive, or only a first-party Nintendo accessory that costs around $50 and holds a mere 5GB or so.

…will indeed give us a glimpse of a new Kid Icarus game.

…will unveil either a new handheld system or a redesigned DS.

…will finally show us a non-prototype version of Wii controllers and/or consoles in something other than white.

…will show another Pokémon Stadium game for the Wii, but it will follow in the lines of Battle Revolution and deliver infinitely less than the original N64 games.

Microsoft

…will, despise their sketchy dismissals of rumors, show off their motion controller.

…will give an in-depth demo of their new Avatars system, the Microsoft Mii answer.

…will at least once make fun of Nintendo or Sony.

…will show a teaser image of the next Xbox.

Sony

…will preview features of a future firmware upgrade.

…will show off the next PSP.

…will have their own motion controller system to demo.

…will show a very in-depth walkthrough of PS Home.

…will have technical difficulties during a presentation.

There you have it. Go ahead and leave your own predictions in the comments section.