This Animal Crossing 3DS developer roundtable is appropriately mellow for a game about hanging out in a quiet village. Producer Katsuya Eguchi speaks to pastel-clad members of the development team, presented with cute forest borders on the screen and set to some sweet music. How placid! The developers answer questions from fans, revealing a bit of news in the process.
Right away, director Aya Kyogoku reveals that you'll become the mayor of your village, ousting the despotic Tortimer. "As mayor, you can develop your village," Kyogoku said. "Well, you also don't have to." You'll have a secretary to help you conduct mayoral business.
Also new to the series: pants! You can customize your (now taller) character's shirt and pants, doubling the selection of clothing items you'll have to spend years playing to complete. Female characters can wear pants, and male characters can wear skirts. Along with reevaluating the main character designs, the village's animal inhabitants have also been redesigned. The smaller species (like squirrels) are now noticeably shorter than the taller ones.
Other new features include StreetPass house designs, which you can share with anyone you happen to be near. They appear in others' games as model homes, watched over by a real estate agent ... Tom Nook. Stay tuned until the end for a live performance of a new song by the "real" K.K. Slider, composer Kazumi Totaka.
