Nintendo Apologizes For Racial Slur in Animal Crossing Press Carts

On Wednesday afternoon both MTV Multiplayer and Kotaku posted stories detailing how they had received copies of Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS from Nintendo. Because these carts were meant to show off the character importing feature of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, the DS carts were already opened and had saved games featuring a ton of money and bonuses. Both Multiplayer and Kotaku discovered one unexpected twist, though: a strong racial slur repeated during conversations with in-game character Baabara. We contacted Nintendo regarding these reports and received the following official response: "Previously played copies of the 2005 DS game Animal Crossing: Wild World were sent to 14 members of the media to demonstrate the ability of players to transfer items to the new Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii. We regret that an offensive phrase was included without our knowledge via a wireless function that allows user-generated catchphrases to spread virally from ... (link)