I wonder if my cat would enjoy one of those.
the saddest gift ever would be World of Warcraft or any number of life-wasting games.
or the sims, where you play with imaginary people.
and poor kids wouldn't have the $130 DS to play nintendogs ... so, in reality, a dog is cheaper. at least the christmas kind that parents buy and then later take to the pound each jesus day.
You're right -- it's much better to give them a live animal that they might not be ready or interested enough to take care of.
Pretty funny Nintendogs comic from Penny Ã…rcade:
You can also raise puppies and kittens in Sims 2: Pets.
Useful in showing kids what you need to think about if you want a pet.
Somebody with a DS rent that damn game and abuse the shit out of you puppy! I want to know if it will bite someone and have to be euthanasied.
wow.. welcome to 2004
give the poor kids dogs, so they may be happy when panhandling outside of the cheesecake cafe.
You have to panhandle to afford the dogfood, collar, city license tax, and replacements for all the damage puppies do.
I think Nintendogs is cool. And a lot less messy, especially if you use rechargeable batteries. They're a lot easier to clean up.
First, Nintendogs came out almost a year and a half ago. So, not exactly the most topical post.
Second, I know that Nintendo is a Big Evil Corporation, and as such, exists only to make humanity suffer, but I sort of doubt they brought out this game for the purpose of humiliating poor kids. Especially since, as someone pointed out above, it's pretty unlikely poor kids could even afford the game.
Third, the game just won PETA UK's "Best Animal-Friendly Video Game" award, for what that's worth.
Of course, there's no perfect substitute for a real puppy, but not every family can commit to giving a dog a loving home, whether due to a lack of money, living someplace that doesn't allow pets, allergies, etc. And even families that can get a dog might not be able to get the dog that their children want (some breeds are very expensive and/or have specific needs in terms of space, care, etc). In those cases, I think this game serves as an adequate, if not wholly-satisfying stand-in. The children of a couple of apartment-dwelling friends of mine have it, and they seem to genuinely enjoy playing with their virtual puppies.
I don't think there's anything "sad" about reasonable substitutes for things you can't get.
And, besides, Nintendo America is a local company, right?
Don't let the advertisement fool you. The nintendogs are very very dangerous. I created this cute nintendog pitbull and raised it from a digital puppy to a grown dog. Everything went well........Until one day it ran into mario and luigi. Mario was as usual popping mushrooms and obsessing over the princess when my nintenda-pitbull mauled him for no reason. It did not end there, my pitbull went on to mauling donkey kong who tried to defend himself by rolling barrels and then flinging poo at my ninten-dog. But it did not work.and my dog then ate ms. pac man. Beware of the nintendog.
Nintendogs is cute as Hell. Both my kids play it all the time on their DSes.
They want a real puppy, but we already have cats and our house is too small for another animal.
I'm an artist at a local competitor of World of Warcraft, too, so I guess I'm a horrible monster ruining the lives of all around me.
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