In spite of the open and free atmosphere of Nintendo's Animal Crossing videogames, you don't expect to come across social commentary within your conversations with the town animals, yet one player came across something curious from K.K. Slider, the guitar wielding dog that inhabits your town, in the Nintendo DS version.
When you sit down for a chat with K.K., he'll appear to start rapping on the state of the music industry and its attempts at discouraging piracy. "Those industry fat cats try to put a price on my music, but it wants to be free," he says before handing the player a copy of his music and a newfound sense of resentment against the RIAA.
In all likelihood, the translation team at Nintendo of America put that in there simply to poke fun, but Nintendo's already backpedaling. The New York Times contacted Nintendo VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan, who plainly stated "no real social commentary was intended."
Instead, Kaplan said her interpretation of the comments meant K.K. wanted to be "freed from his guitar, free from any constraints," and "as a dog, it's understandable that he would not want to deal with any 'fat cats.'" That's a respectable spin on the topic, but it certainly comes across as Nintendo understandably distancing from the popular interpretation.
Social commentary or not, the fact that publications like The New York Times are picking up stories based on conversations with videogame characters is a testament to the kind of influence the world sees in videogames.
Animal Crossing supports music piracy?
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