E3: Nintendogs Hands On

With not long to go before release, the amazing DS game, Nintendogs, made a big impression at this year’s E3. The booth was packed with people waiting to pick out and play with their own puppy. My puppy, Lucky, was quite a character and my brief time with him was memorable.

Lucky was a medium sized white dog who came when I called him. The microphone support works extremely well, even on the noisy show floor. There were certain tricks already programmed into the demo version and the dog responded well to them all, except when he was distracted.

Lucky liked to tug on his rope and catch a frisbee thrown with the DS Stylus. He also had a penchant for pushing around the smaller dog in the yard. My dog was rough-housing with a little Pug who didn’t seem too happy about it.

All the standard puppy elements were there. The dogs love to be petted, scratched, and spoken to. They love pleasant tones and will roll over on their back to let you scratch them when they are happy. Of course, their tails wag back and forth when they are excited.

It is easy to see why Nintendogs has made such a big splash in Japan. It isn’t the kind of thing that I would normally be into, but I couldn’t help but fall in love with the little pups. The amount of options for players is immense and I expect there will be plenty of games in this series. Personally, I want to see “The Big Dogs,” with Rottweiler and German Shepherd puppies, or even “NintenCats” where you try to play with your pet but they ignore you anyway. Look for Nintendogs to be taking the US by storm soon.