K. K. Slider

I was much amused about the recent controvery over one of the Animal Crossing characters: K. K. Slider, the puppy who gives his music away for free, remarking incidentally that he's not like those "fat cats" who want to charge for their tunes. My brother wrote those lines, you see--completely innocently, too. He's a story editor for Nintendo--what must be one of the most coveted jobs out there for young hip men. (And he worked hard to get there, believe me.) Anyway, the poor guy was completely horrified that of all the thousands of lines of dialogue in the game, that was the one that got selected by the New York Times for critique. He meant nothing by it, either--it was supposed to be funny, a fitting line for an anti-establishment, ex-hippie type character. After all, my bro's writing fiction for what is basically the equivalent of a little film you can manipulate yourself, so the line means no more to him than any line of dialogue means to a screenwriter or a novelist.

I think it's great, though. I think he should put it on his resume. Nintendo should be grateful for all the publicity he's earned them. There are bloggers out there claiming they'll buy the game just to read the lines now.


Here's a link for the New York Times article, in case you have an account; otherwise, have a look at the this one.