Animal Crossing speaks out against the RIAA

by Blake Snow { Dec 13th 2005 at 1:01AM }

The RIAA gets about as much love these days as bankers of old, and Nintendo developers aren't helping to spread empathy. CheeseGod writes: "This can be seen by listening to K.K. Slider's song in the basement of the museum. After listening to the entire song he will give you a copy of the song and the above dialogue takes place."

So maybe Nintendo will release their Revolution back catalog of games free of charge. Nah.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Merus @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I'm reminded of the crows' dialogues in Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door. You were told that the crows were smarter than they let on, and if you hid you got to hear the crows recite poetry and discuss the environment and the Internet.

Forshor @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

It's a bit of a stretch to say this is about the RIAA.

Toast @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I don't think it is that much of a stretch. pretty darn funny too. Why am I up so late?? :-

dorfmister @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Forshor: how is it a stretch? C'mon dude, put on your thinking cap:

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%2B%22music+wants+to+be+free%22+%2Briaa

+"music wants to be free" +riaa = many links between the phrase and the entity we all love to hate.

Qubit @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Down with the RIAA!!!

Fantus @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Haha, this is brilliant. The Animal Crossing dialogues are amongst the funniest I have ever come acros in a game.

mercatfat @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

i think the google search makes it a bit more of a stretch.

it's not like "music wants to be free" is a new concept. it's been around since the sixties, if not earlier.

k.k. is just a hipster, as his dialogue proves.

Ed @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Why is it that I played this game, read this part of the dialogue, and thought nothing of it? You all want to start controversy between rival companies, when this is no more a stab at any particular organisation than it is a mock of the *age-old* struggle between artists and their representing companies. Just because actions of Sony and the RIAA have been accentuated in recent years due to the advent of the Internet, we can't read into this so intricately.

Shut it Joystiq (1).

Ed @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Last time I checked Nintendo and the RIAA weren't rival companies...I kinda doubt this was a jab at Sony either. It was more of general statement about the whole internet music downloading issue.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

It's clear to me that this is a statement about the "music wants to be free" debate. The RIAA is necessarily entangled in that issue.

vrf @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Blake, this is a jab at nothing. It's a joke, maybe, a cultural reference.

We know you get paid by the post, but for crying out loud, at least try to make sense.

Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

The script writer is hardly a representitive of the Nintendo's entire voice.
It's just one guy's/girl's input that may or may not be related to RIAA's present situation in music copyright.

Ryan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

lol, let's all buy rom and PassMe carts for our DS, because Animal Crossing wants to be free as well.

Sense @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Whether or not this is about the RIAA...

Nintendo tries very hard to protect its copyrights. They've shutdown several ROM sites if I'm not mistaken. And now they have a pretty extensive copyright notice before all their games (This game, its contents, and all its music are copyright Nintendo etc...). For a company that does so much to protect its IP, I doubt it's promoting piracy (ARRRRR!)

GlitchCog @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

KK also gives you what he calls a "bootleg copy" of whatever song he played you.

Now if somebody finds a Cabana iPod, we'll know for sure.

Sean DL @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

"bootlegs" and "music wanted to be free" has been around way longer then the internet and MP3s and Napster.

That's what this reference is about, it is about the RIAA and the "fat cats" taking the art out of music and then sell pop music at twice the value of the album....Not about "illegal downloading" or that music should be "free" as in no price or profit.

But KK is like a indy musican would gives out his music looking to be big one day.