GoPets: Vacation Island Update

The last time we got word on GoPets: Vacation Island was at last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo when Konami announced the DS version of the popular PC virtual pet game. The simple online game lets you create and train a virtual cat or dog. Besides the perks of not having to deal with fleas, messy household accidents that ruin carpets, and other assorted realities of pet owning, virtual pet owners can enjoy watching their pet develop its own personality, appearance, and hobbies. Konami and developer 1st Playable Productions are offering a DS incarnation of the popular game that will mirror the PC title. Though the game wasn't playable at a recent Konami press event, a brief update was given, which revealed a new feature: PC interactivity.

The DS game will offer a close approximation of the bulk of the PC game's feature set and will let you create your own cat or dog, which will develop its own personality and interests. The DS touch screen will let you interact with your virtual critter and play the various minigames you'll find in the game. One of the unique aspects of the DS game is a single-player experience centered around the tropical island in its title. The DS game will also feature new pets, items, and minigames that are platform specific, and it will include Nintendo Wi-Fi connection support to let you interact with other DS players and even with PC players, whose community numbers in the hundreds of thousands. DS owners will be able to use the game's icon-based language, IKU, to talk with other players. GoPets: Vacation Island is slated to ship later this year. Look for more on the game in the coming months.