So the 3DS is hot, right Reggie?

It's the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere, which means it's the longest day — in terms of sunlight rather than hours, because more hours would be silly — of the year. Ooh, all the more time for playing games with the curtains drawn because the pesky sun is making it hard to see the TV or portable screen properly: marvellous.

Of course, we should probably be basking in the extended hours of sunlight until our pasty skin is a delightful, burnt red, but we'll play some video games instead. In fact, we plan to play plenty of video games over the weekend, because it's a fun way to pass time.

So, as always in these articles, a group of your humble Nintendo Life writers will share their weekend gaming plans below, and we hope you'll do the same in the comments section. A lot of us are playing some weird game where you run around shaking trees and talking to animals, hm...

Mike Mason

Animal Crossing: New Leaf has taken over in full force. Whenever I get a spare few minutes I'm digging up fossils, catching fish and trying to scrape together enough bells to pay off that thieving raccoon. It's already becoming a problem.

I'll also be testing out the new StreetPass Plaza games and trying to squeeze in a little bit of New Super Luigi U.

Tom Whitehead

New Leaf is my first Animal Crossing game — engages flame shield — and I can't help but be oddly addicted; I'm struggling to find time to play, but I make sure I do the rounds in my village at least once a day. I'm also blasting through New Super Luigi U for our review and enjoying it a lot, as its changes from the original are subtle but significant.

I'm also planning to play episode 3 of Telltale's The Walking Dead on PC one night. I always insist on playing an episode in one sitting, so hope to find a few hours late one night to go through it; it really is an exceptional piece of storytelling, even with meaningless button tapping thrown in.

Andy Green

This weekend I plan to get stuck into Animal Crossing: New Leaf as I've hardly played it since downloading it last week, other than a few quick sessions here and there. I think that's what I love about it really, the way I can jump in and out as I see fit, and as I have a digital copy I can leap right back into Fire Emblem: Awakening without having to arduously muck about with cartridges - such a chore!

Naturally, Awakening will be getting a lot of playtime as I'm really into it now. I like to play it in long bursts so it's become a bit of a weekend game for me.

I will also be forcing people to play Animal Crossing: Sweet Day on Nintendo Land with me as I've become addicted to it again after playing it with the Nintendo Life crew last week during E3! So many sweets... I feel like Gaius...

Jon Wahlgren

It's my birthday weekend so I hope to carve out some celebratory game time — nothing like the gift of a cleaner backlog to give myself. I've been ripping through Injustice: Gods Among Us' story mode, which I find surprisingly fun, and I expect to knock that one out before long. I'll wait for the fabled update before bothering too much with multiplayer.

Otherwise I've got a small stack of Wii U games to work through, like ZombiU, LEGO City Undercover and eventually Game & Wario. Most likely I'll just end up playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

Rory Cocker

Like most of the Nintendo Life crew, I've been knee-deep in Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the past seven days. It's been so long since I've been engrossed in a game like this. For those who're yet to experience it, Animal Crossing's infectious charm is really difficult to put into words. Rest assured, though; once Blathers sinks his talons into you, it's nigh-on impossible to break free!

I also picked up The Last of Us midweek. I was planning on getting stuck in this weekend, but then I remembered I'll be in Birmingham for the Rezzed Expo! You win some, you lose some! Come say hi if you're going, and don't forget to bring your 3DS!

Orla Madden

I think it's pretty obvious what I'll be playing this weekend. Anybody who follows me on Twitter will know that all I've been talking about all week is Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It's just such an adorable game that I find very hard to put down. I've spent most of my time visiting other's towns; watering their plants, buying from their shops to help their town's development and passing on fruit from my town, I'm nice like that.

Other than that, I'll jump on Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for some online action with friends if I get the time. Trying to upgrade my armour to G-Rank, which is proving to be a tough task.

Philip J Reed

I'll be shocked if anyone doesn't say Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It's my first Animal Crossing game (I was won over by Katy's fantastic review) and it's adorable. As of this writing I haven't done much but sleep in a pup tent, but I'm already in love. Also, when I first arrived in my new town I was handed a pink floral shirt and Peach's Parasol, so the game obviously has a pretty strong grasp on me as a person.

Ron DelVillano

Yeah, yeah, I'll be among the many constantly checking in on his town in Animal Crossing: New Leaf this weekend, but there are a few other games that I'm hoping to finally find the time to play through. The one that I'm specifically gunning for is Spec Ops: The Line at the behest of Mr. Wahlgren and some other friends who really want me to experience the story. I'm excited to see how that goes.

I'd also like to get around to finishing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. It's a game that I put down about a week or so ago, and I keep thinking that I should play it, then I realize that I'm behind on work, or that I need to harvest some virtual fruit, so I haven't gotten back to it. It's a real shame because I was enjoying it quite a bit.

Morgan Sleeper

Dear Nintendo Life:

I'm writing to let you know I've turned over a New Leaf, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. It's just so peaceful here in Twinseed; our village is lined with flowers, we've got an orchard full of exotic and suspiciously valuable fruit, and I've just put the finishing touches on a new town tune! I'm having a wonderful time, but I do find my mayoral duties taking up quite a lot of my days (and nights!) recently. Maybe I'll take a trip to a little island I know - I could take Tails Adventure for a spin for my review, and kick back with Kirby's Dream Course... but then again, we're so close to funding our next big project... maybe just a few more fish... oh, a butterfly!...

Send help,
-Mayor Morgan

Dave Letcavage

I'm not 100% sure what I'll be playing this weekend besides Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Farm Simulator 3D for review. I have so many things on my radar (Luigi U, Chronicles of Mystara, and BioShock Infinite to name a few) but have so little free time coming up. I am hoping to go retro shopping on Friday, and there are a bunch of N64 games I'm looking for, so there very well could be an old-school night happening soon.

Oh, and I would be playing The Last of Us, but I finished it yesterday evening. Word of advice? Play it by any means necessary. It's not quite perfect, but it's phenomenal, regardless.

Stephen Kelly

With absolutely nothing planned for the weekend, I'll be huddled up in a ball at home staving off allergies with the power of video games. This will naturally included bunches of Animal Crossing: New Leaf — something different happens every day in that delightful game — and I might continue my goal of making par on every Mighty Switch Force! 2 time limit. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past will also take up my time, along with the robot-intensive action of Binary Domain, which I enjoy far more than I probably should. Of course, that's just a small taste of my stupidly large pile of untouched games, so it's entirely possibly that indecision's iron grip will reduce me to a puddle of uncertainty capable of nothing more than watching YouTube videos ad nauseam.

Either way, successful weekend!

Marcel van Duyn

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (PC) - The Wii U version suddenly doesn't have a specific release date, so I just got the PC version on Steam instead. Two great arcade beat 'em ups in one package, both with 4-player online co-op, what's not to like? Cleric all day every day.

Gaz Plant

Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins — While everyone else is playing in a fantasy world of animals and paying mortgages, I'm setting my sights on the more realistic setting of a world inhabited by little plastic people and solving crimes by dressing up as a builder. You know, video games are really weird when you think about it...

GRID 2 (PS3) — Probably the most disappointing game I've played this year, but there's a certain charm to smashing up a McLaren supercar and limping it over the line. Except when you're playing online and getting rammed off...

Phew, a lot going on in our weekends. What about yours? Share your deepest and darkest weekend gaming plans below.