A Japanese source has confirmed to Edge that the upcoming Wii iteration of Animal Crossing is set to be a social networking MMO.

For the record, Edge normally aren't the types to dip their toes in the rumour pool unless the water's great. So, a social networking MMO? If true (and remember, the Wii's current online capabilities are working against it), we're down with that, so long as you're indebted up to your eyeballs from the get-go and there's plenty of fish in the river.

 http://kotaku.com/gaming/animal-crossing/animal-crossing-wii-to-be-an-mmo-314383.php

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Interesting idea...I'm not sure how much social networking can go in in a Nintendo Wii MMO until they get the microphone up and going.  On the other hand, they have added USB support for keyboards and this may suffice. 

 So what does everyone think?  Is this the right direction for the AC IP?

well that would be a day 1 purchase for me, i always loved AC

It better not be with friendcodes... XD... Looks promising though... Bought the cube version... Was kinda fun, but looked crappy (Ye, i know it was a N64 port alright...) 

that seems... anti-wii online policy. What with the friend codes would make it a nearly impossible hassle.

No thanks. If I'm only able to play online with a game it ain't my type of game. I'm not really into online gaming to begin with.

Good point, Onna. Something tells me the online functionality of the game will be secondary, however. I think the game may allow for multiple people visiting your village, but I don't think everything will exist in one grand city where you get to cut up parts of the suburbs to call your own.

Something definitely seems fishy about this rumor given the existing architecture of the past games. I'm just happy to see some AC news pop up on the radar again.

could be very interesting.

i don't have a Wii (so I wouldn't know), but why do people say that online games don't work on the system?

They work.  It's just the Wii seems to have been set up to protect your regular 10 year old kid, from your average Xbox live type, swearing annoying online user.  In other words... other 10 year old kids they don't know.

For example you can use chat in Wii's multiplayer mode but only in the version that is with only people whos friends codes you have.

You can't talk to random strangers in the random games.  So if Animal Crossing was a MMO where anyone could go up and talk to anybody that would be odd. 

Also it'd probably be less then 3 days before someone ran a "Pedofiles can talk to kids online on the wii!1!11!" story.

 ah, that makes sense.  That does limit the system somewhat when it comes to multiplayer games.

 Nintendo should just add profiles that are password protected (so the parents could monitor them) and configure them with certain rights.  That  would solve both problems.

Well good for AC fans... Which I'm not. I don't like online gaming much and Animal Crossing in my opinion is a lame game. That's just me though. It is good news though for people who enjoy it.