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Nintendogs In-Depth Strategy Guide
heday writes "1up.com has a comprehensive strategy guide for Nintendogs, which was released this Monday. The article explains a lot of the nuances and idiosyncratic stuff with videos and pics." From the article: "The subtle sounds of shuffling feet running towards you. Those adoring eyes glazing at you with complete obedience. The moist soft tongue running up and down the back of your feet. That pendulum tail wagging back and forth that embodies the dog's adoration for you. If there were any companion animals vying to be man's best friend, the dog would be unmatched in terms of friendship, loyalty, and devotion. Anyone who has loved a dog would testify that raising one is truly one of the most rewarding experiences in life. But owning a dog is no walk in the park--it requires the utmost responsibility. "
Is it such a slow news day that a website putting up a strategy guide is considered news?
For people like me who were thinking wtf Nintendogs Wikipedia has a page on it.
That one goes in between The Escapist and GameSpot, is that right?
What button combination and timing rids an ailing chihuahua of its fleas?
"The subtle sounds of shuffling feet running towards you. Those adoring eyes glazing at you with complete obedience. The moist soft tongue running up and down the back of your feet. That pendulum tail wagging back and forth that embodies the dog's adoration for you. If there were any companion animals vying to be man's best friend, the dog would be unmatched in terms of friendship, loyalty, and devotion.
If this is what you're looking for, how about you go down to you local Animal Shelter and get an actual dog? I'm sure they'll love you for getting them off Death Row...
Anyone who has loved a dog would testify that raising one is truly one of the most rewarding experiences in life. But owning a dog is no walk in the park--it requires the utmost responsibility.
Interesting commentary on today's society...people would rather invest in a virtual dog than accept the responsibility of owning an actual pet.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
The writeup sounds like some sick pr0n story.
"Those adoring eyes glazing at you with complete obedience. The moist soft tongue running up and down the back of your feet."
I mean, really. Zonk, after a morning deluge of articles you nearly redeemed yourself with the BBC one, but no, you can't stop posting. You have an itchy submission queue trigger finger (and we all know where it's been).
Quality, not quantity, dude. Please.
Nintendogs can simulate most of what's in the slightly disturbing blurb, but then there's this...
The moist soft tongue running up and down the back of your feet.
If the DS can simulate a moist, soft tongue, I'm never, ever going to touch one again. There's realism, and then there's just downright creepy...
"You bought a used DS? Just think about where it's mouth has been!"
Goo goo g'joob.
Stuff that matters? Honestly, if we start seeing a post everytime 1UP is updated, slashdot as we know it is dead. We don't see this everytime gamefaqs posts a new strategy guide.
Not only am I too lazy to have a dog, I appear to be too lazy to have a dog simulator. Instead, it appears I will be perfectly happy having just read the strategy guide.
"But owning a dog is no walk in the park..."
If it's only one dog, yeah, it is a walk in the park, they only have a CR of 1/3. Certainly not very difficult to pwn.
"Quoting yourself is stupid." -Me
"Couldn't the same really be said for all games? Why aren't you outside playing?"
Now I'm not going to completely aggree with him or anything, and I'm not opposed to a pet simulation as such. But still, just for pointing out the obvious, there's a difference between a dog sim and, say, a jet fighter sim or a Formula 1 sim in that aspect.
You _can_ get a dog fairly cheaply, whereas I don't think most of us could afford an F-16 or MiG-29, even if it was legal to buy one.
Plus, very few people are physically unable to have a dog. Yes, people with allergies do exist, but they're not a majority. Whereas piloting a fighter jet is something which has a lot more strict requirements.
Plus, there are a lot of situations in games which are too risky in real life. If you crash a F1 car, you may well be dead or crippled. (Even a few premier league drivers discovered that.)
Even something more mundane like trying to replicate a medieval duel (e.g., if you want to do that instead of playing WoW) with something even vaguely resembling 6 ft worth of steel blade (as opposed to a silly PVC tube wrapped in foam), even unsharpened, you might break a bone or two. Historically, european straight swords were used to break ribs even through a maille hauberk: even if it didn't penetrate, a hard hit as with an axe or mace could still cause enough damage to disable an opponent.
So there are a lot of situations where doing something in a game is anywhere between the only safe choice, and the only choice, period. Having a dog, on the other hand, just doesn't fit that bill for most people. You don't absolutely _need_ a simulation to play with a dog.
The other aspect is that simulations are but an imperfect replica of the real thing. That goes doubly for any sim that involves AI. Just above anything above the intellect of a goldfish, is just too complex for a modern computer. (And not to mention it would be a full time job for academic AI researchers and psychologists to stimulate, not of a game designer who thinks "AI == hard-coded triggers for simple scripts".)
Having pretty much grown around various pets (but especially cats, hence they're still my preference), and on summer vacations around other farm animals too, I can tell you that the real thing differs _massively_ from anything I've ever seen simulated on the screen. It has quirks, it has moods, it has a personality, etc. E.g., a real dog won't be just unconditional puppy-love, but might as well one day challenge you for leadership of the "pack" if he thinks you're doing an awful job as a pack-leader.
A pet sim can be a substitute for that just about as much as a dating sim is a substitute for having a girlfriend. I.e., not at all.
Plus, there's the whole aspect that it's a living being you physically touch, and which you know isn't hard-coded to just simulate puppy-love. You know that that's a real being reacting to your actions, good or bad, not just some script being triggered. Personally I just don't see how a script can possibly really replace that.
Again, personally I won't lose any sleep if you do use a simulation for that. But just saying I can see where a "get a real dog" recommendation would come from.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
The replacement of children with pets in America continues apace.
One thing about dog lovers, though: they're much more easy going than cat lovers. They are wound up extremely tight.
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Do they tell you how to hump the hell out of every nintendog you come across? If I had the game thats what I'd train my dog to do "Here boy go f**k!"
What the hell is this ad doing on /.? Seriously. I mean, there have been blatent ads before, but for a strategy guide? I think the "editor" who posted this could do with six months in the "don't display their stories on the front page" bin.
"...one of the smartest breeds in the game, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi's is widely known for its intelligence. Even Hollywood acknowledges this fact, as seen in the recent anime series Cowboy Bebop, which featured Ein, an incredibly gifted Pembroke. Not only are Corgis intelligent, they have a vast amount of energy."
BeBop did *NOT* come out of hollywood. There is this place called Japan. They make a lot of animation these days. And often its better than the stuff out of hollywood.
It's virtual pets (Tamagachi) crap rebundled with shiny graphics instead of dot matrix crap. The point is, it's been done. Move along people, don't stare at the partially retarded kids playing with themselves. Play WoW, where you can actually talk to REAL people.
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