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Portables (Games) Businesses Nintendo

Review: Nintendogs 257

Posted by Zonk from the woof-woof-for-the-win dept.
The unique elements of Nintendo's Dual Screen handheld have led to titles with very different gameplay. Warioware Touched and Kirby Canvas Curse typify the ways that Nintendo wants game designers to begin thinking about using their hardware. There are still new directions that Nintendo wants to push gaming, though, and they're not content to sit back and let others find the path. Non-game games, then, are what seems to be in store for the DS. Titles like Electroplankton, the music-making system, and the tamagotchi-esque Nintendogs are intended to bring non-gamers into the fold with interactive software that they can enjoy but aren't necessarily games. In the spirit of the non-game games, then, read on for my non-review of Nintendogs.
By non-review, I mean I'm not going to give this game a score. Moreover, if I was to give this game a score it would be a meaningless act. Unlike say, Daikatana (pause for laughter), where my opinion of the game could bear some relation to what your opinion of the game is likely to be, Nintendogs is a very different animal. If you don't like dogs, don't play this game. If you require long sweeping narratives with grandly composed music in your gaming chowder, don't play this game. If the thought of having to bathe a virtual creature gives you the shivers, don't play this game. Because, in a nutshell, Nintendogs is a virtual pet simulation where you pretend to have a dog. You feed the dog, you walk the dog, you play with the dog. And that's about it.

All that said, it is easily the most enjoyable Tamagotchi ripoff I've ever played with. When you first start the game, you're presented with a trip to the puppy mill. There are three versions of the game, and each one has different dog breeds available to play with. I got "Miniature Dachshund and Friends", and along with the title breed you also get the option to adopt Shih Tzu, Golden Retrievers, Beagles, Pugs, or Siberian Huskies. Even if you choose a larger breed, you needn't worry about ruined furniture; the dogs in this game are eternal puppies. Once you've gotten a puppy, the game puts you through a quick tutorial ... and then you're on your own. If you just want to sit around and rub your dog's tummy all day, that's cool.

On the other hand, if you just have to do something constructive with your puppy you can teach your critter tricks. By moving the stylus in certain ways, you can get your pup to approximate certain positions (sit, lie down) or actions (roll over, chase your tail). When they perform the trick with your stylus prompting, a little light bulb shows up on screen. If you press the icon, you're given the chance to say something into the built in microphone. Say roughly the same thing enough times, and your dog will associate that vocal imprint with the trick. The key with this is that, as good an idea as it is, the microphone isn't all that great. Multiple words (like "sit down" or "chase your tail") with distinct sounds are the best way to get the wee canine to do what you want.

Once you have it following your voice you can do what every dog owner dreams of: enter it in contests! Actually, the contests are phenomenally boring and are hosted by two incredibly annoying virtual yahoos. The only reason to enter a contest is if you want money ... and you're going to need it. In order to pick up dogs from the kennel, you need to spend money on them. At the start of the game you have more than enough to buy one dog, but if you want to buy any more you're definitely going to need to enter a few contests. Despite the annoyance factor, you've just got to do it. Having two dogs in the house is part of the whole fun of the game. The easiest contest is the obedience contest, which asks you to have your dog perform certain tricks in a specific order prompted by the game. You also have the option of entering your pooch into a frisbee competition or an obstacle course event. The frisbee toss is relatively easy once you get the hang of it, but the control for the obstacle course is terrible. Even with practice it's hard to know what the dog is going to do. Whether it's going to understand your stylus clicks enough to go through the little doggie tube in a timely fashion is critical to success in the contest, and the control just isn't there.

Personally, I much preferred one-on-one time with my dog (a Siberian Husky named Lupus) in the house or taking it for walks. Going for a walk isn't a terribly interactive event, but your dog enjoys it a whole lot. From your house you plan out the walking route, and can aim yourself and your dog at places like the park or the obstacle course arena. At the park you can play catch or practice with your frisbee, and at the arena you can get in some time with the awful jumps and tubes for the obstacle course competition. There are also cheaper second hand stores than the corner store near your place, where you can buy toys, food, and water. A walk mostly consists of you holding the dog's leash while it chugs along, occasionally stopping to wizz or poop. There are occasional points of interest, where your dog might find a gift for you or run into another dog owner out for a walk. The presents are cute, ranging from odd objects that you can use to play with your dogs to even odder fashion items that you can cruelly place on your animal. The other dog owners are know-it-alls, and seek to give you unasked for hints about how you should best play the game.

And really, who cares what they think? Nintendogs is entirely about what you can get out of it. Whatever makes you laugh or get warm fuzzies is the right thing for you to do. For example, for a reason that escapes me Nintendo thought that it would be important for you to know every place in the neighborhood that your dog has peed. They're marked by little blue dots on the mini-map showing your progress on your walk. The more your dog pees in a certain spot, the larger the dot gets. Though I know it isn't always the case with Nintendogs, Lupus only peed in places he'd already done so. By the time I was ready to write this article the mini-map resembled a smurf's version of mapquest.

The intelligence and responsiveness of the virtual puppies, as well as their individual personalities, is quite a sight to behold. Not only can you derive enjoyment from your interaction with the dogs, but if you have more than one in your house you can watch them play with each other. Some dogs are playful, some are lazy, and some are troublemakers. Together, a pair or trio of dogs is almost more than you can comprehend. You can only actually play with one dog at a time, but that doesn't stop the puppies from getting right up against the touch screen and struggling for your attention. Lupus and my wife's dog Erin would constantly battle each other for chew toys, affection, and (thanks their exuberant natures) who got to be standing at any given time. If you like animals at all, it's hard not to smile at the image of two happy puppies literally warring for your attention. Nintendo has really captured something intrinsic to the appeal of having a dog for a pet here, and everyone I've shown the game to has had a hard time putting it down. Even without the voice element (the voice commands only work for the dog's owner, obviously) it's hard not to be drawn in by their enthusiasm and wagging tails.

In the end, this unique title for the DS is all about who you are and the connection you can form with little virtual critters. If the idea of a virtual puppy isn't appealing to you, you're probably not going to get a lot of enjoyment out of Nintendogs. If the venerable PC titles "Catz" and "Dogz" were your thing back in the day or you were one of the people that made sure your Tamagotchi was fed regularly, these pups will be right up your alley. Judging by sales numbers the non-hardcore market has already adopted this title, and a dog of their own. Your mileage may vary, but Nintendo has a real accomplishment here.
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Review: Nintendogs More

Review: Nintendogs

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  • Old Concept Revisited with more schmaltz (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:25PM (#13558097) Homepage Journal
    Ah, the joys and travails of a virtual pet. [penny-arcade.com]

    These concepts go a bit further back than Tamogachi, i.e. David Crane's Little Computer People [lemon64.com], which today would be something akin to a cross between Tamogachi and Sims, as you could interact with some little dude who lived in your C64. I thought it was a bizzare idea when I first saw in in development at Activision in Mountain View, back in 1985 (that's twenty years ago!) and it runs in only 64K of memory. Imagine David Crane coming out of retirement or someone else picking this old nut back up and injecting it with new life. IIRC the main fault of LCP was the limited repetoire of the character, which Nintendogs seems to take advantage of technology (i.e. lots of cheap memory) to hold more behaviour and possible courses of action.

    I'd probably lean toward some other animal than a dog. A cat would be easy, it just eats and sleeps most of the time, though you could enjoy the thrill of virtual litterbox cleaning and dragging a string around while the cat chases, or even give it a brown paper shopping bag to hide in.

    What animal would really make for an ideal pet? I've tried spiders, which are actually fascinating pets and that might be cool in a virtual way.

  • Beep beep (Score:4, Funny)

    by ReformedExCon ( 897248 ) <reformed.excon@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:26PM (#13558108)
    I need to feed my Tamagotchi!

  • Puppy love (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ninjakoala ( 890584 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:27PM (#13558119)
    It's an excellent title and it's clear that an amazing amount of work has gone into making these critters very lifelike. I do have a dog IRL and the puppy behaves very much like him. There are of course still some limits (it's obvious that there are lots of event triggers, that can make things look unrealistic), but generally it's just an amazing piece of software and a great toy.

    Now if you'll pardon me I'm off to win the master series in disc throwing ^_^
    • Well until they invent a dog simulation which has them behaving neurotically, rolling on their backs and pissing on themselves, eating their own feces, destroying garbage cans that professional garbage men can't, and figuring out how to turn door knobs to open pantry doors then I can't really say they are lifelike.

      • Re:Puppy love (Score:4, Funny)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:09PM (#13558540)
        I hear there's a hidden "Hot Dog" mode in the game that will let your dog do everything you said plus maiming little children that can only be accessed with some patch from the internet. Apparently the ESRB has started to investigate and Jack Thompson is scheduled to speak on the subject on Friday.
      • I used to have a virtual dog I wrote on a MUD (text based pooch!). It was pretty good at being neurotic and interesting. It'd try to randomly interact with players and objects and learn from feedback (pet, give treat, spank, ignore, etc) how to behave. It got to be pretty smart as far as knowing what objects could be used in which areas and with which players. Now and then it'd be lost or just bored though and start doing random stuff to try to get a response. Pretty realistic other than being text-based. ;
    • It is an excellent title. The DS is an excellent system. The non-reviewer rightfully points out that there are other games on this system that are similarly innovative. Meteos, Electroplankton, Kirby: Canvas Curse... the system is really hitting its stride with games that truly are totally different experiences.

      Electroplankton is one of my favorites.

  • non-game games (Score:4, Funny)

    by CSHARP123 ( 904951 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:29PM (#13558135)
    WTF is non-game games?

    • Re:non-game games (Score:3, Informative)

      by grumbel ( 592662 )
      'Non-game' refers to games that have no clear goal or end, but which are more like a sandbox, give the player a few toys and let him play, without dictating the direction into which the player plays.

    • Re:non-game games (Score:5, Funny)

      by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:17PM (#13558614)
      WTF is non-game games?

      As near as I can tell, it's kind of like having tea and no tea.
    • It's much like ordering tea from a Nutri-Matic.

      You get something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a game.

  • Aww (Score:3, Funny)

    by 42Penguins ( 861511 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:31PM (#13558149)
    Let me be the first to say it:
    Awwwww. Ain't it cute?

  • Interesting about Nintendogs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bonch ( 38532 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:31PM (#13558158)
    What's interesting about the game is that it is really designed to be played for about 30 or so minutes at a time. You start it up, teach the dog some more tricks (I think it's 2 max per day), take it for a walk (which you can only do every 30 minutes), and train it for competitions. So must of the fun in the game comes from all the little details and things that happen as you perform the main tasks, and watching your dog change (my shy chihuahua grew "more confident" as I kept taking her for walks...she eventually started to listen to my commands better).

    The only thing I wish for is that the dogs could grow up. I always thought it was fun watching that happen in older games like Dogz.

  • Why no Cubicleman? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:40PM (#13558270)
    A non-game game where you enter numbers into spreadsheet cells. Sounds like non-fun to me.
    • Basically, that's every computer game, in a nutshell. I quit playing around about when Master of Orion came out. Because I figured, this entire game is just one big spreadsheet, and the only way that I can manipulate the cells is to move my ships here and there, and perform certain actions (which take a hell of a lot of time). Applies to every computer game ever written. I suppose this is what you call "burnout".

  • Nintendo simplicity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mario64 ( 573112 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:45PM (#13558303)
    This is another example of Nintendo's gaming genius. Take a simple idea, make the gameplay simple to get to grips with, but program it well.
    The game has been well thought out with some nice touches, but has not been made over-complex.

    Games like this show that you do not need a top spec machine with flashy graphics to run an addictive game. Some of the most addictive games ever made have been simple, but they have a hidden depth (playability).

    Well done to Nintendo, lets hope they keep up the good work.

  • Pee spots (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Overly Critical Guy ( 663429 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:45PM (#13558306)
    For example, for a reason that escapes me Nintendo thought that it would be important for you to know every place in the neighborhood that your dog has peed. They're marked by little blue dots on the mini-map showing your progress on your walk. The more your dog pees in a certain spot, the larger the dot gets. Though I know it isn't always the case with Nintendogs, Lupus only peed in places he'd already done so. By the time I was ready to write this article the mini-map resembled a smurf's version of mapquest.

    It's rumored that the dogs use this to mark territories. Notice that if you meet another dog during your walk, sometimes the mini-map will highlight the other dog's pee spot by making it blink in red, as though you're entering its territory. At this point, it's unknown what effect this has on the two dogs becoming playmates or fighting. There are a ton of weird undocumented little things like this in the game. I found a stick and a juice bottle, and I accidentally bopped my dog in the head with them during catch, and now he just growls and them and runs away when I bring them out. But he loves my kleenex box. Weird little virtual dogs, man.
  • ... compared to my favourite new game.

    Nintengirls!

    Japanese Product Page [tecmo.co.jp]
    Some blog [blogspot.com]
    English Box Shot [www.home.no]

    • I guess that would involve some heavier petting then?
    • That is something that I'd actually buy a DS for. ;)

  • Non Game games? (Score:3, Funny)

    by ponds ( 728911 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:48PM (#13558341)
    Holy shit guys, Donald Rumsfeld is writing for Slashdot now! I would try out Nintendogs, but I just have too many known unknowns.

  • Thing to note about microphone (Score:5, Informative)

    by Overly Critical Guy ( 663429 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:50PM (#13558362)
    Some people have been having trouble with their dog recognizing vocal commands, until they realized they were leaning forward and practically yelling into the DS mic. The mic is very sensitive, and you only need to speak clearly at room-level volume with the DS at a normal distance, and the game will recognize your voice much more clearly.

  • Minigames (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pavon ( 30274 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:56PM (#13558423)
    Bah, my pets were never that well-behaved. Bringing the frisbee back to you after you threw it - what is the fun in that? No, with my dogs you had to chase them down and pry it out of their mouths, while defending from the other dogs that were also trying to get at it. It made for some awesome games of base^H^H^H^Hcalvin ball.

    Which brings me to the question of why these role playing games never include any decent side games. From everything I have talked to this game has the pet-owner emotional attachment parts down to a tee, but then you have all the boring things, that you would have in real life. I guess it has the redeeming factor of teaching kids responsibility, but as an adult I have enough of that, so it just comes acrossed as meaningless busy work - the infamous grind. Why not make the contests where you earn money more fun mini-games?

    If you look at the old Atari games, most of them were nothing but mini games, and they fun. Now you have all these MMORPGs, where advancement and community is the entertaining aspect of the game, while the things you do to advance are dull, dull, dull. Something that Nintendo does very well in nearly all their games is combining fun gameplay with the opportunity for advancement (new things to unlock). I am still waiting for someone to create a MMORPG, take a cue from the old Atari games and newer games like Super Monkeyball, Mario Party, and approach the advancement tasks like they were mini-games that are fun to play in and of themselves. They would have to do a little more work to integrate them into the game (for immersion and all that), preferably happening in the same world. For example, being in a race should be implemented more like vehicles in FPS, rather than like Mario party where map screen and game screens are completely different. They would also have to include multiplayer coop games for the community aspects, and have different characters classes and stats would result in diffent advantages in the games. If anyone ever did this, it would be pure crack.
    • the question of why these role playing games never include any decent side games. From everything I have talked to this game has the pet-owner emotional attachment parts down to a tee, but then you have all the boring things, that you would have in real life... Why not make the contests where you earn money more fun mini-games?

      Because, um, you didn't read the review or any other descriptions of Nintendogs, which does include what you're asking for? Whatever "everything" you're talking to, it seems not to

    • Re:Minigames (Score:3, Informative)

      by nerdup ( 523587 )
      Check out Puzzle Pirates: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ [puzzlepirates.com]. It sounds like pretty much what you describe: a MMORPG where everything in the game, from sailing the ship to swordfighting to manufacturing is accomplished via Bejewelled-esque puzzle games. It's a great concept, and it works really well.

      For the brief period that I played, I got into two ship-to-ship combats. You can have several people on the same ship, in the roles of sailing, carpentry, gunnery, bilge pumping, etc. etc. Each of these tasks

  • Foxtrot (Score:5, Informative)

    by dividedsky319 ( 907852 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @12:56PM (#13558426)

    The nice thing about this game is that it can appeal to gamers and non gamers alike... Nintendo is really trying to reach out to the people that typically wouldn't pick up a gaming system, which is smart IMO. An untapped sector of the market.

    Last week, the comic strip Foxtrot dealt with the mom and her wanting to play Nintendogs... it was pretty funny. Here's the first day's comic [ucomics.com], click "next date" to read the days following.

  • Nintendogs is too much of a chore (Score:5, Funny)

    by elcheesmo ( 646907 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:05PM (#13558505)
    I got Nintedogs about two weeks ago, and I enjoyed it for about the first week. Now it's starting to get old. The problem is that you have to actually feed the dog everyday. Shouldn't a virtual pet have the benefit of not having to be fed and washed like a real dog? I even tried setting the DS's game clock backwards to try to fool it, but it somehow knows if you've done that. The last straw was when one of the virtual people in the game yelled at me for not picking up my dog's virtual poop. Nintendogs needs a virtual shotgun so that I can end it Old Yeller style.

    • Re:Nintendogs is too much of a chore (Score:4, Funny)

      by lowrydr310 ( 830514 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:33PM (#13558764)
      I only played the severly limited demo version at Target, but it would be really cool if you could pick up your dog's poop and fling it at the virtual person yelling at your for not picking it up.

      Or how about a version with viscious pit bulls that you can sick on other helpless little dogs, or even on those people who yell at you for not cleaning up the poop? I wonder if there's a hidden "hot coffee" Nintendogs mod that has a virtual scene?

      I'm not a big fan of having a real pet dog. I like playing with other peoples' dogs, but I don't want to take care of my own. I barely clean up after myself, and I don't want the responsibility of cleaning up after something that's almost as much of an animal as I am.

    • Re:Nintendogs is too much of a chore (Score:4, Funny)

      by Idarubicin ( 579475 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @04:27PM (#13560422) Journal
      Nintendogs needs a virtual shotgun so that I can end it Old Yeller style.

      Geez man! How about a spoiler warning next time?

  • I am becoming more and more worried about the big N. They are falling into the same hole that they started digging around the time the 'cube was released; the only truly innovative games (Warioware, Kirby, Nintendogs, etc.) are only being released by Nintendo. The GBA and its predecessors were vastly supported by many third parties. The gamecube hasn't been and it appears that the DS might now have the same problem. With the mystical controller of the Revolution I am concerned that any special features
    • Yeah, but I guess the question is, what else are they supposed to do at this point? They can't force third parties to make innovative games. If the third party developers aren't interested in making unique games with new control types, then they won't. Nintendo can try and entice developers to the platform, but I don't think they can actually stimulate their creativity beyond releasing their own games.

      I think Nintendo has to just keep doing their own thing, and let the chips fall where they may. If that mea
    • You probably can find other third party titles that, while not being so outrageously innovative as those you mention, still are fun and innovative games on their own right.

      Off the top of my mind: Meteos, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (only in Japan so far), Another Code...
  • Obviously if Nintendo can make such a game with dogs, they can also do the same with cats, mice, rats, rabbits. Taking some of these for a walk might be a problem, although I did have a neighbour who used to keep a cat indoors in her flat and take it out for a walk while on a leash.

    But if anyone enjoys taking dogs out for walks for real while not having the space for a pet at home, then they should consider a visit to their local animal sanctuary. They are usually always in need for "dog walkers" - someone
    • I can't remember where I read it, but some website talking about the game had quotes about how originally they had planned on having cats in the game as well, and they even did a lot of the artwork for it, but the decision was made to just go with dogs.

      A lot of the time cats are more fun just to watch than to directly interact with, since they like to ignore you, and they've got a strong case of ADD. But since nintendogs has sold so well, and they've already done a bunch of artwork on it, I wouldn't be surp

  • the obstacle course is not that hard (Score:3, Informative)

    by MirrorSpock ( 466201 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:10PM (#13558566) Homepage
    If you think the obstacle course is hard you are doing it wrong.
    You are probably doing what I was doing, just tapping and hoping your puppy will go there. The trick is to keep the stylus on the screen and drag the route, your pup will follow it and you can guide it perfectly. (after a few tries for the pup to learn)

    Also remember to slow your pup down on the see-saw bye dragging the stylus to a point behind him after he crosses the middle, to let it drop, or your pup will get scared and jump off. /me is off to go to a real training class with my pup now //much cuter than any virtual pet

  • Agility contest control (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zigg ( 64962 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:12PM (#13558579)

    Just a nit -- I find the agility contest control to be about the most precise control in the game. The key is quick reflexes to steer your dog away from potential distractions. I've got three dogs in my game and they all get distracted differently; it's about learning how they react, I think.

    I've had this game since August 11 and have played it every day since. Awesome game.

    • It sounds like Zonk was trying to just tap his way through the agility course which is what I did at first. However, I found it vastly easier to simply hold down the stylus the entire way through the course.

  • Offtopic comment re: puppy mills (Score:5, Informative)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:15PM (#13558603) Journal
    When you first start the game, you're presented with a trip to the puppy mill.

    I know that this comment will be trashed to hell and back and yes, I know that Zonk was just using a phrase but please, those of you who are considering getting a pet do not go to puppy mills (or kitten mills).

    The animals are kept in cramped, deplorable conditions. Instead of having some semblance of a decent life the females are impregnated as fast as they can. It doesn't matter if the one doing the impregnating is one of her offspring, so long as she is pregnant is all the breeder cares about.

    If you're considering getting a pet please go to either your local Humane Society or a reputable non-profit animal shelter. Your new companion will thank you for giving it a good home where it is wanted.

    Also, please remember to spay/neuter your new friend. If that simple act were done the tens of thousands of animals a year who are dropped off at shelters or abandoned along a road would be significantly reduced.

    I now return you to your normally scheduled rantings about whatever you think is worthy of your time.

    • But maybe she likes being sexed like that. How do you know the dog isnt a nympho? Did you ask it?

      Come to south florida where if you see an animal crossing the road people aim for it! Sure keeps the feral animal populations down. The one i really cant comprehend is with all those chickens roaming around wild in miami why i see so many starving cats.
    • Just don't get a dog at all. Stick to the ones in software. That vast majority of dog owners are ass-holes about it. I can't count the number of times I've heard a dog owner rationize leaving their dog unleashed because "my dog doesn't bite". Every dog owner tells the same story. "But I treat my dog right". Well, unless your a duck hunter or a seeing eye dog trainer, you are problably one of the ass-holes.

      Dogs are pack animals that work off of an alpha-male system. Dogs WANT to be commanded. This
    • I agree 100% with this guy. Do NOT go to a puppy mill to get a dog. You are NOT guarenteed any quality and you ARE encouraging breeders to increase the dog population while other dogs are being put to death in animal shelters.

      My family went to a puppy mill that was selling some kind of "certified" or "registered" 100% purebred beagles. We thought that this was pretty cool. However, after a few months, our dogs started having TONS of health problems: liver problems, digestion problems, kidney problems. Then,

  • So much for Death to the Industry (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:27PM (#13558700)
    Compare and contrast this game (and several commentators' negative opinions on it) with this flashback [slashdot.org] about the death of creativity in the gaming industry. Comments of note:
    "A great video game does something that nobody expects and totally expands views of what's possible in the genre."

    "What makes a game fun is the pattern it forms in your mind as you do things and get rewards for them. Building a business around these patterns is tricky...."

    "To say there's been no creativity in games of recent times is to admit that you haven't played any."

    So, congrats to Nintendo for going out on a limb with a new type of game system and new types of games to play on it. They may not have a majority marketshare, but they've got imagination in spades.

  • Graveyard of forgotten virtual pets.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by modi123 ( 750470 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:32PM (#13558753) Homepage Journal
    *sigh* Here comes another round of misery and depression for the world.

    Back in the Tamagatchi era, I worked in a retail store that sold them. I could never get over the emotions attached to the toy - specifically the sadness people would have over their deaths (read: battery loss, water, older brothers, fights, etc). At one instance a little girl was balling over her Tamagatchi's death (due to battery loss) and refused to have her mother buy her a new one - she wanted her old one back. She was so distraught that I decided to step in and be the humanitarian. I told her I would try to bring it back, and took her toy over to the batteries department. Luckily they had the right size, so I popped the back off, slapped the new battery in, and replaced the facing. At the initial chirp the girl freaked out, latched onto my leg in exuberant gratitude, while the mother thanked me (apparently the girl had cried non-stop for two days now) for pacifying her daughter. Soon after other parents of this girl's friends approached me - all asking me to help bring their kids toys back from the dead. Smelling a pretty penny to be made off the irrational suffering of children I started dolling out my phone number and made house calls on the side. I was raking in $15.00 per house call off of a dollar battery install. Unfortunately the replacement batteries outlived the Tamagatchi phase. Such is the whim of children.

    This irrational concern for the artificial seems strange to me. I have seen girls all out ignore flesh and blood cats for the Catz program, or in the same vein shun real dogs for Sony's Ibo. I would be curious to see a study on the empathetic relationship between people and their real animals versus people and their real animals plus the artificial ones. I would think the latter would be a bit more twisted since digital pets reinforce the "use, abuse, throw away" relationship. *shrug* I guess that is why there are alligators in the sewers, and feral cat colonies in the country - some people just cannot take care of something.

    Well enough of memory lane..

    modi123
    Cleric (level 2)
    Neutral Evil (profits on the suffering of children)
    Favorite saying: "I rez dead Tamagatchi"

  • The Real Fun With Pet Sims (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @01:43PM (#13558876)
    Virtual pets are ALWAYS more fun to abuse than treat properly. I used to have a tamagotchi, and I would punish the animal after every time I fed it. I was kind of surprised when it started associating punishment with feeding and started refusing food.

    Of course, then I started punishing it for not eating...

  • I have a virtual cat in my Linux box (Score:5, Funny)

    by nherm ( 889807 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @02:00PM (#13559013) Journal
    $ cat

    ?
    ?
    hey cat theres a mouse overthere go get it
    hey cat theres a mouse overthere go get it
    asdf
    asdf
    quit
    quit
    ^C
    $

      Stupid cat.

  • Red rocket (Score:4, Funny)

    by PhotoBoy ( 684898 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @02:29PM (#13559295)
    "If you just want to sit around and rub your dog's tummy all day, that's cool."

    What if I want to be like Eric Cartman and play red rocket with the pup? Can I do that?

  • Move over Hot Coffee! Hot Biscuit! (Score:3, Funny)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @02:30PM (#13559304) Homepage Journal
    Click here [ytmnd.com]. Uh oh. :)

  • When displays get really cheap... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TomRC ( 231027 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @03:16PM (#13559730)
    This type of application will get a lot more interesting when displays get so cheap we can paper our walls with them, so virtual pets can literally roam around the house - following you or playing hide'n'seek.
  • Don't get me wrong, I like the 'game,' its a very interesting simulation, but I ran out of things to do. you can walk the dog, go shopping, have it compete in contests, or just play with it in the house. the game has no real sense of purpose, and no real progression, and everything you can do in the first day of owning the game is exactly what you can do on the 8th. I really wanted to like nintendogs, but its already boring me. i've moved on to a new guilty pleasure for ds: "Nightmare Troubadour," which

  • My Experience with Nintendogs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by LKM ( 227954 ) on Wednesday September 14, 2005 @05:22PM (#13560934)

    First of all, Nintendogs is definitely a game. It has clearly defined objectives and ways to reach these objectives. Of course, you don't have to reach them, but the fact that you can race the tracks in Need for Speed backwards and still have fun doesn't mean that Need for Speed isn't a game.

    Second, I think the "microphone problems" Zonk mentions are an intentional part of the game. I've noticed that some dogs respond better to commands. I have a dog which actually responds to commands my girlfriend gives to her own dog while she's sitting a few metres away. Having played Bomberman, I know the voice recognition of the DS can be made to work pretty well. The fact that some dogs don't immediately respond to commands seems to be part of the gameplay - it reflects the fact that real dogs don't immediately respond to all commands, either.

    I actually find the competitions to be quite exciting. The two commenters are annoying for sure, but the games themselves are pretty funny, and I enjoy playing them a great deal.

    I suspect Nintendogs works so well mainly because it's so unbelievably believable. If you throw a ball and your three dogs run to get it, fighting each other for it once one of them picks it up, you simply don't think about how they're not real dogs even for one second. There's hardly a situation where you're reminded of the fact that they're only virtual - and when it happens, it's mostly because you go "wow, I wonder how the heck they did this!" because your dog did something so natural, you simply don't expect a simulation to act like that.

    Lastly, I want to respond to all the "Nintendogs sucks because you should get a real dog" comments. Let me put it like this: Screw you. I live in an apartment where I can't have pets. I'm a student, so I don't have enough income to simply move somewhere else. I don't actually have enough money to take care of a pet at all, and I'm not home most of the day, anyway. What kind of crappy life would my dog have? And what about kids? I read that in GB, Nintendo works together with an animal charity in order to promote Nintendogs. It's a lot better for parents to get their children Nintendogs so they can learn to take care of an animal each day, than to get them a real dog, only to get rid of him again after the children lose interest a few months later.

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