Register now for Nintendo's Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, coming next month

Update, October 25: As promised, Nintendo has released the first details about its next Android game. Called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the title will be free to play, with in-app purchases, but the good news is the IAP system appears to be entirely optional. In other words, you’ll be able to enjoy the whimsical world of Animal Crossing without paying any real-world money.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will have you manage a camp inhabited by the series’ well-known anthropomorphic critters. You’ll be tasked with building and decorating the camp site, in order to attract more furry friends, who will reward you with in-game currency when you complete certain tasks for them. It’s an open-end game, perfect for picking up for a few minutes on a quick commute or during lunch breaks.

You can read more details about the game on the official site. Nintendo says Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will hit the Play Store in late November, but you can pre-register now by clicking the button below. Unfortunately, the game will be released in a limited number of countries, at least initially.

Original post, October 23: Nintendo is finally going to reveal the first details for its third, and perhaps most anticipated, mobile game yet. The company has announced it will hold one of its online Nintendo Direct media events on Tuesday, October 24, where it will talk about the long awaited mobile adaptation of its hit Animal Crossing series.

The event will take place at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Pacific time) on Nintendo’s website. The 15-minute event will focus just on the mobile version of Animal Crossing, so it’s likely that we will not only get the first gameplay details about the title, but we may also get a release date as well.

In case you are unfamiliar with the franchise, the previous Animal Crossing games for Nintendo’s consoles are community simulation titles, where the human character lives in a village surrounded by cute animals. The player character tries to live in this land, and can participate in a number of activities, while also collecting items and purchasing some with Bells, which are the in-game currency. The open ended gameplay of Animal Crossing is perfect for a free-to-play mobile game, and indeed that will be the business model for the upcoming smartphone version.

The first Animal Crossing game was released in 2001 for the Nintendo 64, and versions of the game have been launched since then for the GameCube, the Wii, and the Nintendo DS and 3DS portable consoles. Nintendo first announced plans for a mobile version of the game way back in April 2016, but a planned launch for the end of 2016 got delayed until Nintendo’s current fiscal year, which began in April 2017.

Nintendo previously released the endless runner game Super Mario Run for the iPhone in late 2016. This year, it launched the same game for Android, along with the free-to-play RPG Fire Emblem Heroes, for both Android and iOS.

Are you excited to learn more about the Animal Crossing mobile game? Let us know what your feelings are in the comments.