Nintendo pisses Rick off by not having a demo with a Beagle.
Were you never allowed to have a puppy as a kid? Do you travel a lot and miss your little furry family members? Nintendo has the perfect solution with Nintendogs, where you can raise little puppies (that never grow up, staying adorable for ever), teach them tricks, take them for walks… oh yeah, and clean up their poop.
The E3 demo has three puppies to play with, a Dachshund, a Golden Retriever, and a Chihuahua. The puppies all seem to have very similar mannerisms (which is to say, how they move), but different temperaments. The Golden, named Daisy, was a very well behaved little puppy girl, very playful, and more than willing to show off some tricks.
Voice interaction was difficult on the show floor, but in a fairly short amount of time, I managed to have her learning tricks, including playing dead when I would say “Bang!” I was able to play with all three dogs at the same time, throwing a frisbee or using a tugging rope, which the puppies would compete for.
Suffice it to say, in a very short amount of time, these puppies can worm their way into even the coldest of hearts, mine included. By the end of the demo, I was cooing and cheering for my pups, and growing more and more disappointed that my favorite (the Beagle) was not on display. Nintendogs is only three months away, but the wait seems interminable. I might just have to go play with my real puppy.