What I'm Excited for in 2019 (Part 1)

We are already one month into 2019! Albeit, it was a rather easy first month. Eastern started a week after New Years' instead of the week of. Then we had this polar vortex thing going on which cause Monday, Wednesday and Thursday classes to be cancelled at the end of the month. It has been an underwhelming semester so far (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but hopefully this year doesn't keep that same theme. 

Anyway for this blog I want to talk about what I am excited for in 2019 regarding my interests and what I follow. This week I want to talk about Animal Crossing (AC). For my future self, I think I will write down my thoughts, hopes, and expectations and hopefully I will revisit them at the end of the year and see how they held up!

The biggest release I'm excited for this year is Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch. While there is no specific release date, it is coming out in 2019! Based of the last entry in the series, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, it will most likely come out during the summer. Which is good because it won't distract me from school but also bad because Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers comes out in early July. Hopefully the releases are staggered so I don't become overwhelmed. 

Back on point, I believe Animal Crossing is probably one of Nintendo's best series. I think the fandom behind it is so strong and passionate because the games themselves aren't meant to be beat. It's a game you play everyday, either for a quick minute or sometimes an hour, it all depends. The passion from the fans also comes from the scarcity of each game. Now, it's not like Nintendo is starving the fans of content, but each release that comes out is solid. AC 2019 is going to be the fifth main game in the series. Animal Crossing has been around since 2001 and only five games have came out in the span of almost 20 years? Compare that to Pokemon where a game has been released every year since 1996.  

The reason to why these games are so popular is because they elicit very strong emotions from the players. I've went this far into talking about the game but some might not know what it is. Basically you move into a town that is inhabited by cute little animals. You get house, after you loan Tom Nook a bunch of bells (the currency), and that's it. It's a social simulation game that is for the most part, a single player game. The other people you talk to are the cute animal people with a variety of personalities. You explore the town, go shopping, and try to sell stuff to pay off your debt. It's simple but extremely addicting and fun. The soundtrack adds to the cozy atmosphere of the entire game. 

As mentioned earlier, this game is addictively fun. I want to end this blog post with a (long) video. It's about Audrey, an 87-year old woman, who has an Animal Crossing town that she has put 3500+ hours into. Check the video out and skim through it to see her AMAZING town (it's better than mine).