One more game I'll be buying after I (finally) get a Vita: Pix the Cat

I've been aware of this digital PS4 and Vita title for a couple of weeks now, and every time I think of it, I want it--and a system that will allow me to play it--a little more than I wanted it the last time it popped into my head.

Why is that? For starters, Pix the Cat was made by the crew at Paris-based Pastagames, whose past products include one of my favorite XBLIG titles, Arkedo Series: 03 Pixel, as well as the superb (and sadly under-appreciated) DS gem, Maestro! Jump in Music.

Also, there's the following trailer:



NeoGAF user Sir TapTap recently described Pix the Cat as being akin to Pac-Man ChuChu Snake Rocket Championship Edition DX+--or a mash-up of the ancient Snake game, Pac-Man Championship Edition and Sega's ChuChu Rocket!--which of course makes me want it even more.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely I'll be able to buy this game--or, for that matter, a Vita--until the end of the year. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to continue lusting after the trailer above and poring over Tiny Cartridge's recent write-up of the title.

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22

When we last checked in with the residents of Animachi, Aino and Bryan had just finished remodeling their homes, Robin and Winnie had just moved out of theirs and Chadder had moved into one of his own.

What has happened since then? For starters, Halloween happened.



Mayor Aino's favorite part of this spook-tacular holiday? Scaring the crap out of her neighbors--especially the ones who didn't vote for her during the last election.



Halloween wasn't the only cause for celebration in the last four or five weeks. Another: Snake's birthday on Nov. 3. Aino got him a treadmill as a joke, but Snake actually seemed to like it so she did her best to stifle her giggles after he opened it.



Aino and her fellow Animachians also celebrated the grand opening of Katrina's fortune teller shop earlier this month.



Sure, it could be a bit more visually appealing, but it still looks better than the defiled trash can that used to fill this empty alley.

Speaking of grand openings, Animachi recently welcomed the T&T Emporium to its main street, too.



The highlight of this gigantic, multi-floored store for Bryan: Gracie Grace's shop--despite the fact that its proprietress is a bit on the (strange and) snobbish side.



Although the fair citizens of Animachi said a good number of "hellos" in the last month or so, they also said a few "goodbyes." Case in point: Poppy decided to move to greener pastures shortly after Halloween. (Hopefully it wasn't because of that prank Bryan pulled on her?)

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

You'd think more would've happened in the five weeks since I last published one of these posts, wouldn't you?

Actually, more did happen, but I decided to edit things down a bit for a few reasons--one of which has to do with my hard drive dying on me with little warning a week and a half ago.

Thankfully, all of that's behind me and my laptop now, so I can get back to the business of recounting the soap opera-esque lives of Aino and Bryan and their fellow Animachians.

Before we get to the drama, though, how about we traipse through a few of the previously unseen rooms in Aino's sprawling home?

For instance, here's the speakeasy-ish cafe-slash-coffee house that's located in Aino's basement.



Only those who know the secret handshake--and slip Aino a fiver at the door--are allowed entrance.

And here's a look at Aino's new--and rather garish--guest bedroom:



A pretty daring use of the Lovely and Polka-Dot furniture series, don't you think? Or did the design work here bring to mind another d-word--like "dreadful"?

Finally, here's an updated look at Aino's study:



Actually, this room has received a bit of an overhaul in the last week or so--a bit of which can be seen in the following photo (which focuses on the golden house model the mayor received for reaching 150,000 Happy Home Academy points).



Another new piece of decor that can be found in Aino's home:



Yep, that's Barold's picture. Which means all Aino needs is Snake's photo to complete her collection. (OK, so she needs to nab Rodney's and Rizzo's pics, too--but Barold's and Snake's are her Holy Grails.)

Cherry on top

Dublin-based Twitterer (and YouTuber) MechaGamezilla made my night (no, not in that way) last week when he drew Animal Crossing: New Leaf villager portraits for five of his followers.

My favorite of the bunch was his rendition of the punk-ish pup, Cherry:

His Ankha and Snake portraits (below and, er, below-er) are pretty awesome, too.

As for how they were created: MechaGamezilla shared with me that he began with pencil drawings on paper, then scanned them and colored them using Photoshop's pen tool.

To see his takes on Gaston and Muffy, check out the "photos and videos" section of MechGamezilla's Twitter page.

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks 11 and 12

Let's get something monumental out of the way right of the bat in this installment of "Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi": Animachi finally has a proper town flag.

Here's a shot of Mayor Aino as she stands proudly beneath it:



Here's another look at it, in case you can't make out all of the details in the shot above.



The "A" is Animachi, of course--although a few of the town's snarkier citizens have suggested (in hushed tones, naturally) Aino may think it's supposed to represent and honor her on-going mayorship.

The figures that can be seen standing around the "A," by the way, are (from left to right) Ankha, Snake and Barold.



Hamlet, above, didn't make the cut, sadly. Is that what prompted him to pack up and leave town last week? No one knows, but at least a few Animachians suspect it may have been a factor.

Although both Aino and Bryan were sad to see the little jock go, the former was happy that the removal of his home meant an illuminated tower could be erected in its place.



The tower in question looks snazzy enough by day (above), but it looks nothing less than stunning at night (below).



Another reason Aino, especially, wasn't entirely gutted by Hamlet's departure: he sent her a framed photo of himself as a parting gift.



Speaking of villager photos: Aino also got Winnie's "pic" last week after completing an entirely mundane task for the long-faced lass.

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks Nine and Ten

Were Aino's and Bryan's ninth and tenth weeks in Animachi as adventure-filled as the ones that came before them? That depends on what you thought of those previous weeks, I guess, but I think both of the aforementioned citizens would say they were filled with at least a bit of adventure.

They certainly were filled with a smidge of intrigue, as it was revealed that Barold, Rodney and Snake all are gay.

OK, so maybe that's a stretch, but the conversations above at least suggest they could be gay.

Hamlet isn't gay--or at least I don't think he is--but he is a bit fidgety, as evidenced by his recent urge to leave the, er, hamlet of Animachi for greener pastures.

Being the meanies they are, Aino and Bryan didn't try to stop him, even though they like him quite a bit. Unfortunately, he's one of two hamsters in Animachi, and one of two jock villagers, and Aino and Bryan prefer Rodney and Snake when it comes to hamsters and jocks, respectively, so ... Hamlet had to go.

Only he didn't. Move out, I mean. The day before he was about to do so, Aino checked in on him and when she did she was informed that he would be sticking around for a while longer. (Yeah, right; she's heard that before.)

Which would've been all well and good, but around that same time Filbert wandered into town to make use of its campground. With Hamlet staying put, the adorable blue squirrel wasn't able to fill his spot as Animachi's tenth villager.

Aino got over her disappointment rather quickly thanks to the professionally shot photo Ankha gave her after she completed some gargantuan task (like catching and handing over a coelacanth).

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Week Five

Life in Animachi was a bit less frantic this week than it was in weeks one through four. That's not to say it was boring, though. For instance, Mayor Aino continued her quest to pimp out her ever-expanding, not-quite-humble abode--including the trippy "balloon room" that can be seen below.

As effervescent as that room is, Aino doesn't spend much time in it. Instead, she spends most of her time in her brand new (and still-in-the-works, admittedly) study.

Aino also erected a few more public works projects in the past week, including this "illuminated heart":

And this "stone tablet":

As exciting as those events were for the citizens of Animachi, both pales in comparison to the opening of the town's first cafe.

That's not to say Aino ran around like a headless chicken the entire week. She also relaxed a bit. Case in point: one day, she spent a few minutes (with Ankha and Winnie) taking in the sight of a double rainbow.

She also had a nice--if exercise-centric--chat with her main "brozinsky," Hamlet.

She hoped to have a similarly enchanting tête-à-tête with Barold, but, well, those of you who've met him know how can be...

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Week Three

Considering this is Aino's and Bryan's third week in Animachi, you could be forgiven for thinking there wouldn't be as much as report on as there was during the first two weeks.

Of course, anyone who's also traipsing through Animal Crossing: New Leaf at the moment knows how wrong that line of thinking is--thanks to how slowly various areas and aspects of this adorable 3DS game are made available to players.

Cases in point: in the last week, both the Dream Suite and Kicks opened their doors to the citizens of Animachi, while Club LOL will follow suit this weekend. (The museum should get a second story, too.)

Other noteworthy events that came to pass in the last week: as showcased in the screencap below, Bryan paid a visit to the New Leaf home of Reggie Fils-Aime, president/COO of Nintendo of America.



Also, Aino helped celebrate Bluebear's birthday--or, rather, she watched while Bluebear and Snake celebrated in the former's darkened home.



Oh, and Animachi lost its first resident about halfway through the week, when Chevre moved to greener pastures. (Pun intended.)



Will Flo the penguin be the next to go? Both Bryan and Aino certainly hope so and have been doing all they can to prompt her to leave. Unfortunately, most of those efforts have blown up in their faces--as evidenced by the snapshot below that shows Aino falling victim to a pitfall seed she'd planted earlier in the day in front of Flo's home.



One Animachi citizen that won't be sent packing anytime soon is Rodney. Sure, he irked Aino and Bryan early on, but that changed when ol' Rodney showed his "true colors," so to speak.





Also helping matters has been Rodney's rad bachelor pad, which features two arcade cabinets, a pinball machine and a ping pong table, among other entertaining contraptions.

Other than that, Aino has been spending a lot of her free time racing around town--an endeavor that more often than not ends in disaster.

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Week Two

So, I've been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf for about a week and a half now. How much have I been playing it? I'm going to plead the Fifth on that one. Let's just say I've played it a lot.

What happened during all of that playtime? I thought you'd never ask! Here's a not-so-brief glimpse at the goings on in my New Leaf town, Animachi, over the last week or so.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the week started with a ceremony to celebrate the completion of my town's "vital" campsite project.

And, yes, I punished all of the villagers who failed to show up for this momentous occasion.

One villager who got a pass for not being there: Ankha, who was moving into her new home at the time.

Although I wasn't sure about Ankha at first, I warmed up to her after checking out her new home's decor.

Shortly after the above-mentioned festivities, Animachi experienced its first Bug-Off event. Mayor Aino took part despite the fact that Nat, the master of ceremonies, proved to be more than a bit creepy.

Aino endured the creepiness, though, and ended up winning the whole she-bang.

Oh, and that empty spot on the podium? That's where I would have been standing I hadn't been off fishing or stalking beetles or picking my ears while I gazed lovingly at the "Pikmin Garden" I won via a fortune cookie the other day.

Welcome to Animachi

For the last two days, I've been doing what every self-respecting 3DS owner has been doing for at least that long, if not longer--playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf as much as possible.

Granted, much of that time has been spent fishing and "hunting" various insects with my trusty butterfly net--as opposed to, you know, gardening or landscaping or planning the layout of the gyroid-filled mansion I'm sure to own in the future--but considering that's how I've spent 90 percent of my time while playing previous Animal Crossing games, I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

That's not what you came here to read about, though, is it? No, I'm guessing you came here to read about--and see screenshots of--my New Leaf town and characters. Thankfully, I've got all of that in spades.

Below, for instance, is a snapshot of my female character, Aino--named after a figure from Finnish mythology--stepping foot into Animachi, my town, for the first time.



I came up with the name Animachi, by the way, by combining the first three letters of "animal" with one of the Japanese words for town or village. Fitting, don't you think?



Oh, and here's a shot of Animachi's first citizens (aka my welcoming committee): Rizzo, Barold, Snake, Winnie and Chevre. (My favorite at the moment is Barold, by the way--don't tell Snake!)



One of the first things I--er, I mean, Aino--did after getting settled in Animachi: buy a fortune cookie from the nearby Nookling Junction shop. (And, no, I don't know why Aino decided to wait until she was inside the museum to crack it open.)



Aino sports the above-mentioned "green hat" (aka the "hero's cap") in the screenshot below. Pretty nifty, eh?



Not so nifty: the fact that the river that runs through Animachi is infested with piranha. Not that Aino seems to mind.