Nintendogs 3rd Million+ Seller For DS

TotalVideoGames reports that Nintendogs has passed the millions-sold mark, making it the third game for the DS to do so. From the article: "Additional titles set to break through the milestone shortly include Mario Kart DS, Yawaraka Atamajuku (Gentle Brain Exercises) and Motto Nou wo Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (Prof. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? 2), whilst Bandai's hugely popular Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisetchi (yes Tamagotchi) has also passed the mark making it the first 3rd party title to do so." We've previously reported on the DS's domination of sales charts in Japan.

If you average

[Strell]

That everyone who got the game got 2 puppies, and that probably half of the buyers don't play the game anymore, I'm going to assume that means Nintendo is a large proponent of digital doggie homicide, as that is roughly 1 million pixel-laden souls dead in the digital confines of a two-screened portable.

At least, I'm a contributor to that figure.

Re:If you average

[ArwynH]

You killed your dog? How?

I've had my copy since July and I've ended up putting it through months of neglect, attacked it with frisbies and tenis balls. I even found out that if you are careful with the stylus you can raise it's paw in such a fassion that it perfoms a half loop and falls over! But I've yet to kill it! The worst that has happend is that it developed fleas...

Re:If you average

[tourvil]

You killed your dog? How?

Well, you can always throw the game away [penny-arcade.com]. :)

Re:Good stuff.

[Thwomp]

Why next week? And if it's true I hope they make it a bit less bulkier.

Re:Not making much sense

[Guppy06]

"Instead of this, why not get a real dog??"

Read two posts up. [slashdot.org]

When these two trolls cancel each other out, is there energy released?

Not meant to be a troll comment

[Strell]

I was making fun. I own a DS and love it. Played Nintendogs for a good 2 months, but Animal Crossing came into the picture and that's a much bigger draw.

Quick start to the "get a real dog" complaints!

[Blackwulf]

Instead of this, why not get a real dog?? Are we really living in such a digitized world than even pets need to be fake (electronic)? Or will the excuse be that many people live in dwellings where they aren't allowed pets? Cause guess what folks...lots of homeless animals are just waiting to be taken home from shelters and the like. Would the kids really prefer to a computer graphic to a living animal?

I'll bite. Every time Nintendogs gets mentioned, I hear exactly what the poster here is saying.

Personally, I own the game because I already have two cats and I'd get evicted from my apartment if I took in some dogs, not to mention the headache of getting my 5 year old cats who have lived together all of their life to accept a dog coming into their territory. I happen to like my apartment and it's location, and don't wish to move to a house where I can have 84938493 dogs and 4839284932 cats.

I also do a lot of business travel unfortunately - kinda hard to take a dog with me to hotels all around the country. But the DS travels just fine.

Your "excuse" also holds merit to a situation I was in years ago - college dorms don't allow pets. So, I played PF Magic's Catz and Dogz while I was in college to be able to have pets again. It was a long way home to the cats my parents had.

Another reason that I've seen some parents latch onto Nintendogs is that they can see if their child can actually take the responsibility of introducing a pet into the house. Yes, the parents do take care of the pet as well, but if they expect the child to be a part of the caretaking process, what better way to see if they can handle it by using a virtual pet? Granted, it's not the best test, but it's a good first start to placate the child while the parents perhaps look through humane societies finding the perfect new family member. (The Nintendogs manual does spend a lot of time reminding you that Nintendogs are not real dogs, since they stay puppies throughout the entire game and don't get sick or die.)

I'm sure that an AC like you probably won't accept any of these reasons and claim that everyone should have two real pets for each virtual pet they happen to have as a video game, but there are real and noble reasons to have the game in my mind. And, yes, I do donate to the Humane Society (including the Georgia license plate that benefits animal care) in lieu of not being able to have more than two pets in my place of residence at a time.

-Bobby Blackwolf

Stupid.

[LKM]

Instead of this, why not get a real dog?

Yeah, and why don't people drive real cars instead of playing racing games? Why don't they enlist in the military instead of playing first person shooters? Why don't they jump on real turtles instead of playing Mario?

Geez, it's a game. It's not a dog replacement. I'm getting tired of reading this same stupid comment in each Nintendogs article.

Anway, I've written about this before here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org], so I won't repeat those arguments.

Re:Stupid.

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Why don't they jump on real turtles instead of playing Mario?

That is brilliant. You don't have to say another word about Nintendogs ever again.

And the mental image is great.

Re:Stupid.

[cttforsale]

I'm sick of all these Nitendog "owners" showing up at our kennel club meetings. And then they get pissed when my boxer sniff and nips at their DS. Sheesh, get a real dog if you don't want bite marks in your DS...

It's about the gameplay.

[MaWeiTao]

"Instead of this, why not get a real dog?"

Well, I think most people are playing the game because it's fun, not because it's any kind of replacement for a real dog.

Re:It's about the gameplay.

[ClamIAm]

Also, Nintendogs + DS costs something like $160. A real dog can be had for less, but I think that recharging your DS batteries costs much less than buying Kibbles for 10 years, plus getting rid of bacteria on your DS means getting a can of Lysol, not going to the vet. Add on the amount of time needed for a real dog, etc, etc, etc.

Re:It's about the gameplay.

[BigCheese]

I like to play it while Paco [flickr.com] lies next to me.

Wondering About Animal Crossing...

[Babbster]

I wonder why they don't mention Animal Crossing: Wild World? It's gone over 1.5 million [advancedmn.com] in Japan alone and, unlike the non-Nintendogs titles in the article, AC is available in the US as well (apparently, despite the fact that I've visted AC towns in the UK, AC won't be officially released in the EU until March).

Re:Wondering About Animal Crossing...

[Babbster]

Could someone please mod me into oblivion? I read the article again (I thought I read it the first time) and, of course, it mentions Animal Crossing. I have GOT to get new eyeballs that read without skipping sentences.

Yawaraka

[mowph]

Nitpick: The "Yawaraka" in "Yawaraka Atama Juku" doesn't mean "gentle" in that context. It means "soft" or "flexible", referring to maintaining brain plasticity through regular use. Anyone who's played the game can tell you that it's not particularly gentle.

A more literal translation of the title's meaning would be "School for Flexible Brains". ("juku" refers to the famous Japanese cram schools, which are known for being far from gentle as well...)

Re:Yawaraka

[Retroneous]

Nitpick: The US title will be "Gentle Brain Exercises" when it is released this year.