Friday, August 26, 2005

Throwing DS owners a bone

I've had my Nintendo DS since the day the system was released last November. In the nine months since, I've not found too many titles that really impress me. Super Mario 64 DS was pretty good, but that was the only "must have" title until recently. Now, it seems like developers (and Nintendo in particular) have finally started to realize what the portable system can accomplish. Games like Meteos and Kirby have come along to prove that Nintendo still has what it takes to dominate the handheld industry. Then Nintendo went to the dogs ... and it's probably the best thing that could have happened.

Nintendogs was one of the biggest things to hit the DS when it was released in Japan a couple of months ago. Now, the game has made its way stateside and it looks to be almost as popular here as it is abroad. In case you've been living under a rock for a while, Nintendogs is a pet simulator that uses all of the DS technology to recreate the experience of raising a puppy. Your Nintendog will never age, die, need a trip to the vet, etc. It's reminiscent of the Tamagotchi or Neopet virtual pets ... but amped up to a whole new level.

I'm not going to go in depth with a review of the game here. There are plenty of solid reviews around the net. In fact, I wrote one of 'em myself for Electric Playground, which should go up any day now. The game is highly addicting. Once you get started, you just can't put it down. Nintendogs is also the type of game that will get people playing the DS that normally wouldn't have an interest in gaming.

If you own a DS, you definitely need to pick up a copy of Nintendogs.

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