As just reported, Animal Crossing: City Folk has been announced for the Nintendo Wii at this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit. Communication, as always, is the focus, and Nintendo made sure of this with WiiSpeak, a device that will allow players to chat to each other in groups within the game.

Like previous iterations, Animal Crossing: City Folk is a life simulator, a living world within your console, where the Animal Crossing folk go about their daily lives even when the Wii is switched off. The idea is that you have the freedom to do whatever you like, without any real end goal. Build a snowman? Go Fishing? Flash the cash on a shopping spree? It’s up to you.

Animal Crossing: City Folk’s world reflects that of a real world, with real passing days, weeks, months and seasons. So you’ll be able to go trick or treating at Halloween, celebrate Christmas, and experience many other noteworthy celebrations.

The biggest innovation for the series, however, is the introduction of WiiSpeak. With the new WiiSpeak microphone, it’s like you’re all in the same room. The microphone sits atop the sensor bar and picks up the conversation of everyone in the room to encourage a more inclusive experience. This is compounded by the fact that you’ll be able to send messages and images via the Nintendo Wii Message Board.

Animal Crossing: City Folk will arrive this Winter.