Could the limited edition Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS XL bundle be on its way to Europe? That's what a listing spotted on retailer ShopTo.net would seem to suggest. Set to coincide with the game's release on June 14th, budding mayors could well be fishing, bug catching and town planning in style, as the retailer listed a bundle on the site which includes a very nicely designed Animal Crossing 3DS XL, complete with a pre-loaded copy of the game (as the kind of game you'll want to check in on on a daily basis, the ease of a digital copy makes sense) for £190.
Oddly, the listing appears to have been removed from ShopTo.net this afternoon, although there could well be a good reason for this. Tomorrow at 3pm, Nintendo will be holding another of their "Nintendo Direct" mini online press conferences, which will focus specifically on the 3DS. With that in mind, it would seem ShopTo have jumped the gun somewhat, and put the limited edition bundle up for pre-order before Nintendo have even had chance to announce it themselves.
Is it just us who're a bit disappointed with the design? It could be... brighter!
Originally released in Japan alongside Animal Crossing: New Leaf, when the game launched there last year, it seems the console's been enough of a success to make the jump to these shores. With over 2 million copies sold since November in Japan alone - no mean feat for a console that's "only" sold 10m units in Japan - it makes sense that Nintendo would be keen to repeat their success in the west. With a devoted following in the UK, US and Europe who've been tormented by an excruciatingly long localisation delay (we know we've been looking forward to it for a long, long time) Nintendo could be bringing the bundle to these shores as a way of apologising for the seemingly endless wait. What was it they said about "good things come...?"
Either way, whether the announcement was a cock-up at ShopTo's end (we doubt it), or an early leak of the bundle before Nintendo gave the go-ahead (much more likely), we'll find out the truth in tomorrow's Nintendo Direct at 3pm. Fingers crossed!
