Nintendogs Fever!

For the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of owning three beautiful puppies. I have taught them all how to do all kinds of tricks, such as sitting down, rolling over, and shaking their booties to the latest music. I take them out all the time to the park and play frisbee with them. Hell, I've even entered them into competitions and won some money off of them, and remodeled my house to look like a traditional Japanese home!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what kind of dogs they are, I have a golden retriever named Che, a Siberian Husky named Fidel, and a Shih-Tzu named Cookie.

And they love to take a poop in my neighbor's front lawn.

Of course, I'm not talking about REAL dogs, but rather, I'm talking about virtual dogs that I'm raising on Nintendo's latest cult release, Nintendogs, for their handheld Nintendo DS system. Utilizing the system's touch screen and built-in microphone, you can pet, feed, and train your dogs using a combination of voice-commands and hand movements. While this might sound like an advanced Tamagotchi or something, the fact is that this game is a bit more than that. It's sooo...interactive. It's like owning real dogs! You have to feed them just as often as you would a real dog, and you have to take them out for walks before they poop all over your apartment. You also have to bathe them, and you can buy all kinds of accessories for them, too.

Basically, if you've ever wanted a dog, but either don't have the room for one, or can't afford one, Nintendogs is a great alternative.

And boy, am I hooked.

Sure, this game is so cute, it hurts my teeth. Seeing these little puppies yelping and tail-wagging is enough to make even the manliest of men sit down and say, "Awwwwwwwww." But god damn, it's had my attention for a good while. At times, it gets repetitive "playing" this game. (You really don't "play" Nintendogs... you take care of them...) But there's something that keeps you coming back for more...

I think it's like "virtual responsibility" or something like that. (Shrug)

Anyways, if you even have a chance, check out this game for like 5 minutes and see what I mean. Or just head to Nintendo's Nintendogs website to see mini-videos of these dogs in action.