Nintencats?

[Empyrean]

In an interview with Eurogamer, Hideki Konno, the genius behind the mega-hit Nintendogs, the possibility of a similar game with cats arose. Details inside...

This is a copy of the relevant part of the interview:

Eurogamer: You mentioned there that you were looking at other types of animals [to be included in Nintendogs]... Why did you pick puppies in the end?

Hideki Konno: We narrowed down the candidates into dogs and cats - after all, they are the two main types of companion animals loved by people all around the world. Why dogs instead of cats? Well, one of the things we really wanted to do was to let players teach tricks by utilising their own voices.

Cats are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning tricks, and also we wanted to have animals with much more fun-loving natures - we wanted the animals to be able to take part in contests, such as agility competitions, and we wanted people to be able to take their pets for a walk. So we decided that dogs were more preferable than cats when it came to realising those elements.

Eurogamer: Hmm... So does that mean you have no plans to do another version of the game which features cats?

Hideki Konno: Actually we are not excluding the possibility of developing games based on other animals. Now, with the success of Nintendogs in Japan, we are considering other options.

Eurogamer: So, er, Nintencats is a real possibility then?

Hideki Konno: To tell the truth, we were already starting to develop a cat-based game at the outset of this project. So we already have the cat models, voice data and so on.

Eurogamer: All righty then... When do you reckon we can expect Nintencats?

Hideki Konno: Give me more time to review the possibilities!

The fact that Nintendogs has been such a sell-out success in Japan since its release could mean Nintencats may yet see the light of day.

[pached]

Hm I think Nintendogs works better than Nintencats.

[DragonJC]

umm.... pet, feed, play with, clean cat box, clean puke, give hairball medicine, puke in owners shoes, puke on anything of owners, crap on anything, lick self? what a fun game....

[pached]

It sounds kiddyish, but is very fun.

[Crusader]

There is not a significant difference in breed as there is in dogs, so that's the instant down-side.

I have enough fun with my annoying cats puking and filling up the litter box to necessitate a Nintencats game.

I tried just a few moments of the Nintendogs and didn't really see the attraction myself. I think it's more of a hit in Japan simply because they don't have pets like we do. Japanese really don't have pet dogs or a big backyard to play with them in. It's obviously going to appeal to them a bit more.