New Animal Crossing 3DS details revealed

Nintendo has offered up a few new details about the forthcoming 3DS entry in its Animal Crossing franchise.

A new developer roundtable discussion, posted to the US Nintendo Channel and reproduced below courtesy of YouTuber NintenDaan, sees series producer Katsuya Eguchi discuss the game's new features with its director Aya Kyogoku, design lead Koji Takahashi and veteran Nintendo sound director Kazumi Totaka.

Among the revelations was news that this time out you'll play as the mayor, allowing greater control over how your town looks. Want to add some benches or streetlamps? Go nuts.

You clearly can't handle all that hard work on your own though, so Nintendo has granted you a secretary called Shizu to help out.

"She's a little clumsy so I'm not sure how good of a job she can do," warned Kyogoku.

The dimensions of the game's character models have been made a little more lifelike to better convey physical differences between the animals. It also means you'll have a greater array of character customisation options available to you.

"The big thing is that now there are separate tops and bottoms," explained Takahashi. "So girls can wear pants and boys... well..."

Yes chaps, you can don a skirt should you so desire.

There's more item customisation this time too, including a furniture shop where you can apparently design your own cushions. You can also tweak your home's exterior, with everything from fence posts to your mailbox now tweakable.

The town has increased in size since the last game with new additions including a shopping mall on the opposite side of the train tracks. The beach is bigger too, and you can even go for a swim in the ocean.

Nintendo have also included StreetPass features that let you exchange house designs with other players. These will be displayed in a 'model home' area at one end of the town.

Surely the biggest bombshell of all though is news that reviled capitalist whip-cracker Tom Nook has left his store behind and got himself a new job. He's now the town's estate agent.

Watch the whole clip below for new footage and a few more tidbits, including Totaka-san grabbing an acoustic guitar and playing things out with the game's new theme.

Nintendo still hasn't put a release date on the follow up to Wii entry Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City, but it's expected on shelves some time next year