If you’re looking for a cartridge that includes Samus Cat, classical music, 3D dog poop, birds flying at your face, Elvis hairdos, RC helicopters and an entire house themed around Super Mario Brothers…boy, have I got a game for you!

Or, non-game, I should say. Though it contains excellent competition events, Nintendogs + cats—like its predecessor—is not really a game at all. It’s a strange, surreal, heart-tugging experience—a condensed, crazy mix of everything that’s cute and funny about owning a pet. And it’s 100% Nintendo, with all the detail, wackiness and ingenuity that implies. (more…)

I’m not ashamed to admit I bought my DS to play Nintendogs. When a friend showed me his polygon-pup spinning to the spoken command, “Hurricane Kick,” I realized that, yes, I did want a virtual canine after all. In fact, I bought the Lab and Friends cartridge a week before I got the system, because (remember this?) the pet-sim was selling out everywhere in its first weeks. I finally bought my fat blue DS and fell headlong into the charming, peaceful, bonkers world of never-aging puppies (sing that to the Never-Ending Story theme!)

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that, after its first several weeks, the sim wound up on the shelf and only got revisited on rare occasions. But something great happens every time I do take it out for a spin: it reminds me why it was such a smash hit, and–to this day–remains a fantastic creation that still amazes even after countless imitators have tried and failed to recreate its magic. (more…)

In addition to making awesome house music—the best since Daft Punk—Joel Zimmerman (aka Deadmau5) owns a Wii. And likes to tease cats, apparently.