Tap the light bulb and a microphone icon briefly appears, prompting you to speak into the DS microphone and name the trick. Rub your puppy the right way (no Johnny Gill jokes, please) and a light bulb icon appears, indicating that it has just performed a "trick" that it can learn. Nintendogs features voice recognition techology that saves a soundbite and maps it to an action your dog can perform. There are preset stylus motions that correspond to tricks your dog can learn, which is where the microphone comes in to play. The stylus controls a hand icon that you move back and forth on the dog's body, resulting in some amusing and lifelike reactions depending on where and how you scratch. The touch screen is very intuitively used to pet your dog and teach him tricks. Even the most stone-hearted, cold-blooded bastard will fall in love with his cuddly critter thanks to the degree of realistic interaction afforded by the DS touch screen and microphone. I never saw the appeal of virtual pets because they were always too abstract for me, but Nintendogs solves that problem nicely. Think of it as a Tamagotchi taken to the next level. Instead, the focus is on caring for your new puppy, training it, and interacting with it. Much like Animal Crossing, there's no particular end goal in Nintendogs. You choose a female or male dog, name it, and you're off to the races. There are six breeds initially available: Yorkshire Terrier, Beagle, Golden Retriever, Boxer, German Shepherd, and of course Dalmatian (an unlockable bonus in the other four versions of the game). The game begins with you adopting a puppy from the kennel. I highly recommend it to anybody looking for something a little different. While its game experience may be short and limited in scope, Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends is a thoroughly engrossing showpiece for the unique capabilities of the DS hardware. This occurred to me as soon as I booted up my DS and chose a Dalmatian puppy to call my own. There are several certainties in this world: death, taxes, and the fact that puppy dogs are adorable. Jonathan: Who are you kidding, you're going to think it's ADORABLE Jon: Man, my girlfriend is going to think Nintendogs is ADORABLE It uses the microphone and touch screen, which is all very neat, but isn't it all a gimmick? When I volunteered to review the new Dalmatian version, I had the following (paraphrased) AIM exchange with PGC Director Jonathan Metts: After all, I figured, it's just a glorified virtual pet right? Yeah, you raise puppies, pet them, walk them, and play with them, I get it. Nintendogs is a game that I'd heard a lot of good things about, but I always hesitated when it came to buying it.
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