Vancouver SPCA backs virtual dog video game

Marke Andrews
CanWest News Service
Thursday, August 25, 2005

VANCOUVER -- Nintendogs, a virtual-pet video game from Nintendo which has sold through the roof in Japan, has dog-paddled its way to North American shores.

The game, which uses touch-screen features and voice commands to allow players to care for, train and play with an electronic canine, has sold more than 500,000 units in Japan in just four months. Nintendogs, developed by Zelda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, was scheduled to arrive in Canadian and U.S. stores this week.

The game has been particularly popular with young gamers, a dozen of whom gathered at the Vancouver office of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) last week to play the game.

To get started, a player adopts a dog from a menu of 18 breeds, which are realistically rendered to look and move like real dogs. Using the touch screen or issuing voice commands (using voice recognition, the dog will respond only to its owner's voice), the player can pet, feed, give commands, or play with the animal. Using a neighbourhood grid, the dog can be taken for walks, where it might end up at a park to play frisbee or chase balls. If you train your pet well, you can enter it in dog-show competitions.

And yes, the animal will make doggie-doo, which the player is expected to clean up. It will also pee to mark a territory.

In short, the virtual pooch will do everything a real dog does, only it does it within the confines of an NS portable video-game screen. No mess around the house, no howling in the middle of the night, no animal dander to make you sneeze.

Craig Naherniak, general manager of humane education for the B.C. SPCA, likes the game both for its "empathy development," and for the way it teaches young players to care for an animal.

"People underestimate how much work it is to have a pet," says Naherniak. "With this game, attention, patience and care builds loyalty from the pet. I think that kids who practise these things with the game are more prepared to have a [real] dog."

Nintendo marketing manager David Le said at this point there is no plan for a Nintencats game, but it shouldn't be a difficult one to design. The cat would simply ignore all instructions.