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 one game to the next. This version is limited to 14 copies created for media review purposes only and is not available at retailers. We sincerely apologize for the incident and are working with media who received the game cards to return them to Nintendo immediately.”

This is a surprising slip-up from the family-friendly company with what is perhaps their most family-friendly game, but at least they admitted to their mistake immediately. 1UP also received a copy of the DS cartridge and has been requested to return it, as stated in their response.

SOURCE: 1Up.com