Nintendogs: An Article On Game Design

Found a very intresting article on game design and Nintendogs over at Gaming-Age... enjoy!

http://lostgarden.com/2005/06/nintendogs-case-of-non-game-that.html

A Couple E3 Pics...

I swear I haven't completly ditched the site... no really, I swear. I'm still playing Nintendogs on a semi-regular basis, just have a bit of writer's block right now. So anyway, here's a few pics of the Nintendogs experience I took at E3:

E3 Updates In a Bit...

So, I'm back from E3 and I'll be updating the site soon with some pics (I already posted my Drinky experience over at the Puppy Times club). One cool tidbit I found out from the shown (and can be seen in this IGN interview) is that Nintendogs was planned as a GameCube game! Wacky indeed! Of course, the game works much better on the DS platform, but it would have been cool to see what the people at Nintendo had in mind for the console version. Alright check back later, more Nintendogs info to come!

Getting Connected...

I finally got the chance to coax my daughter into letting me mess around with her copy of Nintendogs so I could play around with the game's wireless features. After a few minutes of trail and error (remember, these are the Japanese versions of the games) I figured out the simple process of connecting with other DS Nintendog owners. Here's a pic:



It's really pretty darn simple - you just select the wireless icon, click on the gift you want your dog to present to other players and flip down your DS lid to put the system in sleep mode. After putting both DSs in sleep mode in a pretty long proximity of each other (around 30-50 feet) I slowly started to merge the two together, and what do you know - both the systems started barking at each other!

After flipping the lids back open, my dog Leia and my daughter's dog Mofo made first contact. They both played with each other and both DSs gave the option to share toys from the item menu. Neat. After the play session I went through to the owners menu and was able to pull up my daughters little voice message she put in her game. Again, just plain neat.

So, that's it - once this game hits stateside it will be really interesting to see where other Nintendog owners will show up - but until then the Mears family will continue to experiment with our two copies of the game and report our findings here.

Oh, with E3 coming up, expect lots of cool updates after the show -I have some cool ideas for the blog that will hopefully take bloom down at the show next week... Stay tuned!

The 4000 Point Club

Just one more small update for the night - thanks to Drinky's awesome performance in a Frisbee competition, I hit the 4000 owner point mark, and... (cue drumroll) I unlocked yet another new breed in the kennel section of the game - a adorable set of Pugs. This brings the avalible number of breeds in my game to 7 - and that's without connecting to anyone so far! Alright, that is all.

I'm Not an Addict... (AKA Denial Isn't Just a River in Egypt)

I’ve been playing video games since the early 80s and I can only recall a handful of cartridges/disc that really had me addicted. The first Zelda captured my imagination like no other kind of media before it, I can remember sitting in my room drawing out maps on a graph pad and completely being absorbed by Link's first foray. The Sega Saturn game Nights also comes to mind, with it’s analog driven flight control that kept me coming back for more. Most recently Worms absorbed my thoughts and dreams – perhaps the best multiplayer game of all time. Ah, and Animal Crossing… which leads me to my current addiction – Nintendogs.

I’d didn’t really realize I was a full blown addict until Monday afternoon, when because of forgetting to recharge my DS I was left Nintendog-less. For the past week I had been checking in on my dogs every two to three hours – I’m not talking hour long play sessions, but just checking in making sure everything was ok – and here it was, Monday afternoon, with no idea how Leia and Drinky were making it through the day without me.

Again, these are virtual pets! What the heck is wrong with me? I’m a grown man that has a real attachment to these little runts! The most interesting thing is that I really feel that I’ve just scratched the surface of the game – I truly can’t wait to play the English version so I can fully understand all of the miniscule details that these ingenious pups have to offer. What will happen when I get a full grasp of the Nintendog universe? Anticipation…

So, back to the addiction… I happily took my Nintendogs with me today and spent my break time giving Leia and Drinky some play time and their daily walks. Everything is right with the world and I’m ready to admit I’m an addict. Between the direct interaction and attachment to the dogs and the ultra fun collecting aspect of the game, I really don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon.

Alright, that’s it for today. Ireland, my daughter is also really digging her copy of Nintendogs and I promise that next update will have some info on the communication aspect of the game. Until next time!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

Nothing to much new on the Leia and Drinky front, I've been mostly helping my daughter raise her Nintendog Mofo over the past few days. Figured I'd update the blog with some real Nintendog game content in form of these super cool wallpapers from Nintendo of Japans' official Nintendogs website:

Click here for some neat wallpapers for your desktop

Cute, no? Enjoy!

Enter the Drinky

In yesterdays update I professed to wanting a chocolate lab that would fend off the evil Colonel Klink… and this pup is what I ended up with instead:



Enter the Drinky. After being invited to join the Drinky Puppy Club with my peeps over at Puppy Times, I couldn’t think of a better choice – a male Chihuahua with attitude. As you can tell this pooch is too cool for school.

Having a second dog in the house has definitely changed the dynamic of the game - twice the responsibilities, twice the play time and most of all twice the fun. Leia and Drinky are getting along just fine, and it’s entertaining to watch them play with each other. Drinky seems to be enjoying his new abode, although he’s a bit wiry – just like a real Chihuahua should be.

Oh, and just for giggles I decided to confront the infamous Klink with Drinky during a short walk – I’m not sure if it’s the sun glasses or Drinky’s machismo attitude, but the once overly aggressive German terrorist has suddenly changed his ways – bow down!

Alright, time to get back to my two trouble makers. Ireland (my daughter) is also wanting to start her Nintendog adventures so expect some crossover and transmitting info soon.