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Nintendogs E3 2005 Preshow Update

We glean new details on Nintendo's quirky, adorable doggy simulator in advance of the company's E3 display.

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Nintendo gave a noninteractive demo of the Japanese version of its strange but undeniably cute dog simulator, Nintendogs, at its recent pre-E3 event, and while we've covered this import pretty thoroughly already, we couldn't resist trying to find out some new details about the game's eventual US release. First, a quick primer: The game lets you raise a virtual puppy using the DS's touch screen (to pet it and play with it) and the microphone (to call its name and teach it tricks). It's one of the most unique games we've seen in a long time, and though the import version is thick with Japanese text, we found it highly entertaining and are certainly looking forward to getting our hands on an English version.

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The most interesting aspect of Nintendogs that we learned about during the demonstration was what's being referred to as "bark mode," which acts as a sort of standby mode during which you can receive messages from other Nintendogs owners. When you're out on the go with your DS, you can put the game in bark mode so that it consumes minimal battery life, and if you come within wireless signal range of another Nintendogs user, your DS will let you know about it. At this point, you can both whip out your restless doggies and have them meet up to play, trade gifts, and so on. However, even if you're not up for whipping out your system right then, you can still receive a gift or even a recorded voice message from the other player and wait until later to view them. Bark mode will obviously provide an unexpected social aspect in the game, if American gamers take to it the way their Japanese counterparts appear to have done.

In Japan, Nintendogs was released Pokémon-style, as three separate products that each contain five breeds of dogs. We've learned that no matter which of the three you purchase, it's possible to unlock the other 10 breeds as you progress through the game, so nobody's getting shortchanged by getting only one version. When asked about its plans for releasing one or more retail versions of the game in America, Nintendo reps said only that it's yet undecided how Nintendogs will be packaged. On the upside, we're told that all of the breeds in the Japanese versions will be playable in the English game (or games), and more breeds unseen in the import would also likely be included.

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Nintendogs isn't a game that's easily demonstrated--we saw a Nintendo rep's pooch acting quite disobedient when the game was booted up on a DS dev system with an internal clock set a couple of days off. If anything, that little snafu just drove home the point that your Nintendog really does require consistent attention and care if you want him or her to become a winning show dog. The game is due out in the US on August 22, so we shouldn't have long to wait to find out more details on the English version of what will likely be one of the biggest DS games this year. Stay tuned for more on Nintendogs from E3 and beyond.

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