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Today's driest game video: Seaman 2
GameTrailers shows off a few brief Seaman 2 videos, our collective pick for today's video. While not yet announced for release outside of Japan, Seaman 2 taps into the risky, creative side of gaming we laud. Admittedly, those gambles don't always pay off, but when they do, they're why we play games.The videos show a few people playing the game, even Japanese schoolgirls! And while we question the focus-group style of the clips -- the clips could have easily been created by an ad agency and actors -- they give a glimpse into this simian sequel to the previous underwater pet title.See the clips after the break.
Bandai's Human Player virtual "pet"
We've seen some virtual pets over the years, but we're not entirely sure what to make of the virtual pet. Do you mate them and create strange new breeds? Or fight them to the death via IR? Apparently (and hopefully) neither this time; Bandai's new Human Player is a little more like you than an amorphous pixelated blob. You start by taking a 50 question "Eco-Gram" that assigns your little avatar one of 22 personalities, which commingles (or rejects) other Human Players, and establishes quaint, confined "interpersonal" relationships. Hits Japan for ¥2,980 ($25); it's certainly a new take on the virtual pet, but still a little creepy for our tastes; we're strongly hoping this isn't how we get reincarnated.[Via Kilian Nakamura, thanks Michael]
DS Daily: Virtual Pets
We don't have to tell you about the resounding success of Nintendogs -- it's likely that you've played it, or at least known someone caught up in the doings of their electronic pups. Dozens of knock-offs and other pet franchises are crowding in as well, hoping to cash in on the demand for portable pets. The DS does seem uniquely suited as a system to virtual pet games of all types; the touch screen, after all, offers a level of versatility most control schemes can't match. Convenience is another likely factor in the popularity of such games, and the DS is nothing if not convenient. The question is -- do you think any game can match Nintendogs when it comes to virtual pets? And what do you think of the genre in general?
GoPets: Konami does DS virtual pets ... on an island!
Arrr, says the pirate cat stranded on Konami's Vacation Island. Squeezing in somewhere between Nintendogs and Animal Crossing, GoPets is Konami's attempt to capture some of the virtual pet niche's market share on DS. Players will be tasked with nurturing the growth of either a virtual cat or dog, and then presumably must send their pets off to an anthropomorphized island community where minigames are the way of life.While derivative, GoPets will support the underused Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing pet groomers to share their experiences through a text-based chat system, complete with universal icons for cross-language communication -- it's unclear if friend codes must first be exchanged in order to chat (a requirement that has limited Animal Crossing's online mode). Apparently, the handheld version will also share some level of compatibility with a planned PC iteration of the GoPets franchise.
Special Edition Tamagotchi celebrates 10 years of wasted time
We're not afraid to admit it: at the height of the Tamagotchi craze we received a cheap imitation digital pet for Christmas and have never recovered emotionally from that pain of that day. Now that Tamagotchi is getting ready to celebrate 10 years of keeping small children from their homework, we feel the tears rushing back, but they are good tears -- tears of healing. Bandai is releasing a limited-run Special Edition of their addictive digital pet to celebrate this joyous occasion, and are producing 1000 each of three different-colored versions. They've tossed the thing into a snazzy Japanese-style box and are selling them in Japan for what we're sure will be prices just as confiscatory as the original.
