If you all think about it very carefully, Animal Crossing first released in 2002 and since next year, 2012, will be the 10th Anniversary of the Animal Crossing series, they might be going back to Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Gamecube with Animal Crossing 3DS as there are a lot of things that have reappeared that were from the Nintendo Gamecube version and it might be like what SEGA has done with Sonic Generations.
This is, however, just my own opinion, but it is certainly looking to be correct.