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It puts the dog food in the basket or else it gets the hose again: Ubisoft announces Petz World
Several MMOs, such as Free Realms, flirt with the concept of virtual pet ownership and conditioning, but it looks like Ubisoft is ready for a full-fledged commitment to the concept with Petz World. Gamasutra reported that Firma Studio is developing the free-to-play MMO, which will be published by Ubisoft in 2011. Based on the popular Dogz and Catz virtual pet simulators that date all the way back to the stone age of the internet (1995!), Petz has since expanded the franchise to include a wide variety of animals including hamsters, tigers and horses. In these games, players "adopt" a virtual pet of their choice, provide for their needs, and train their behavior through repeated actions. Repeated actions -- that sounds right up an MMO's alley, doesn't it? Ubisoft hopes that Petz World will bring parents and children closer together through the gameplay. The MMO will involve a large variety of collecting, achievements and unlockables as players scour the world for cool pets and conquer special challenges. Ubisoft's Chris Early thinks there's enough to appeal to a wide demographic: "This game is a unique way for children and parents to play games together." This is the latest move by the publisher to expand into the casual MMO landscape, following other titles like Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms.
Ubisoft taking Petz franchise into the MMO space, also ponytown
Ubisoft recently revealed two upcoming installments in its prolific Petz franchise, which are actually shaking things up in a pretty significant manner. See, one title, Petz World, will actually turn the franchise into a free-to-play MMO where players can "explore and learn about exotic locations, meet new and exotic animals and even save them." See, now both kids and closeted adult Petz fans can congregate in an online world, and interact without the ... oh. Oh, wait. Now that we've said it out loud, that actually sounds like a terrible idea. The other innovative title is Petz Horsez Family for the DS, which bills itself as the "ultimate horse nurturing game." What's so special about Petz Horsez Family, you might ask? Well, aside from having an unusually high noun-to-word ratio for a game title, it's ... only going to be on sale at Toys 'R Us when it comes out on October 24. Don't even try to pre-order that stuff at GameStop -- you'll be sorely, sorely disappointed.
