Nintendogs

Nintendogs seems to be a simplistically cute stroke of genius.

A prerequisite for any DS game's success revolves around how well a developer integrates the touch screen mechanics with the game engine, and Nintendogs seems to be a sadistically cute well executed stroke of genius.

Nintendogs premise is very simplistic; players will be able to raise a virtual puppy, ala Tamagochi, in an effort to enter your dog into pedigree and ability competitions so that you can win more money to...buy more puppies.

Horde the Puppies! Horde Them!
Nintendo is releasing three versions of Nintendogs, Dachshund & Friends, Chihuahua & Friends, and Lab & Friends. Each version of Nintendogs will be identical except for the initial selection of playable breeds. Nintendogs will feature 6 breeds from the start with the rest of them unlockable.

Once you've picked your pup, you'll have to familiarize them with their surroundings and establish the dog's basic skill set. You'll be prompted to teach it to respond to its nameby using the DS's Mic, and use the touch screen to interact with the pup to reinforce your commands. Unfortunately, your puppy will forget things really fast, and you'll probably spend hours repeating tricks.

Training your pup isn't the only activity in Nintendogs either; players can purchase toys, take your puppy for walks and interact with other Nintendogs via Wi-Fi. Walking your dog allows the pup to visit other locales, find additional items, and evacuate to mark its territory.

Stop Sniffing Your Butt, Bad Girl, Bad Girl.
While play time with your pup is intoxicatingly cute, your doggie will also require a tremendous amount of care to optimize them for learning. If your pup is hungry, thirsty, dirty, or bored, it'll act unruly and be difficult to train--ignore the puppy's care for too long, and it'll run away! To make sure this doesn't happen, you'll constantly have to navigate a maze of screens to check the dogs profile page because there's no onscreen indicator.

Despite some screen layout flaws, Nintendogs is infectiously cute, and pretty addictive. It's really easy to form an emotional bond with your puppies--they're so life like. Who knew rubbing a pixilated sprite could be so enjoyable.

KEY MOMENT: Teaching your dog to chase its tail on command. Poor little abused puppy.

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