Earlier, we brought the rather surprising news that in sending out completed copies of Animal Crossing: Wild World for the press to transfer data to Animal Crossing: City Folk, MTV Multiplayer and Kotaku came across something of a hip-hop slur/racial epithet (depending on who you ask).

Since the initial reports of one baa-d sheep straying from the flock, Nintendo has contacted us, coming forward to respond to the issue at hand:

"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." -- Nintendo of America

Hmm, I wonder how eager any of them are to return this little conversation piece. Or how many have made plans for eBay.

[Editor's note: We were contacted by Nintendo shortly after publishing this post, which originally had a source link. However, we've since removed it since Nintendo contacted us itself. -- Phillip Levin]