At Water Cooler Games, Ian Bogost has posted a fun entry on how Nintendogs was pre-empted by PF Magic's PC 'dog sim' Dogz, which was available around 10 years back - but his write-up includes a certain amount of sour puppy chow.

[We've previously discussed the very recent GBA version of Dogz from Ubisoft, which is the game in name only, since it's actually a Japanese game by MTO given the name of the original virtual pet, but did actually pre-empt the Nintendo title as well in original form, oddly enough.]

However, I do disagree with Bogost more than a little in his comments: "Given [Dogz co-creator] Andrew [Stern]'s role in an arguably more sophisticated and certainly much earlier dog simulation, I must admit that I grimace a bit amidst the effusive praise heaped upon Nintendogs". Why? It's not like people haven't considered pet simulators before, and Nintendogs is a well-done one.

Also, it's claimed huffingly: "It's certainly a serious, legitimate title, and I don't mean to discount that fact. But Nintendogs is also intended to backdoor new players into a Nintendo DS. "I don't play games," a target buyer might think, "but I do like puppies."" Well, to that, I retort - isn't Nintendogs is just a game that Nintendo thought would appeal to a wide audience, who would enjoy playing it - which they do? Overanalyzing a bit much, here? You've certainly backdoored me into linking your article, though, Monsieur Bogost!