Why Game? 1 - TextFiles.com

me. Christina said, “What are you doing to her?”
then came over and started petting Popper to let
her know that she appreciated her obedience. “I
bet you’ve been doing this all night!”
“No I haven’t,” I replied. “I’ve been waiting
for you to come home.”
She rolled her eyes at me and tossed one
of Popper’s toys across the room to which she
responded by chasing after it. “Quit tormenting
the dog,” she said.
I rubbed the stylus on my virtual dog’s
belly for a bit then got up and went to the bath-
room, taking it with me.
The joy of portable systems is that they
can go anywhere with you – the DS is no excep-
tion. I took down my pants and sat down on
my throne only to whip out my stylus (not that
stylus) and begin petting the DS screen again.
“Sit,” I told Pooper. My voice echoed off of the
bathroom walls making it sound even more
crisp, and the dog sat. I rubbed the stylus from
her head toward the ground again and she laid
down. I hit the lightbulb in the corner and said,
“down.” The game let out a chime to let me
know that it understood and Pooper wagged her
tail. I got her to lie down a few more times and
the game confirmed that she had learned the
voice command. I practiced sit and lie down with
her for a while, then set the DS onto the ground
and finished up with the bathroom. I came back
into the living room, took Pooper for another
virtual walk, then turned the system off.
That night, I played the game again in bed,
then again the next morning, then in the bath-
room at work, then when I got home and again
68 The Gamer’s Quarter Issue #3
the next night. This went on for a few days
and in no time at all, my dog was an expert at
both catching Frisbees and hopping hurdles at
dog shows. Unfortunately, with my admittedly
limited bathroom time, she still hadn’t learned
many voice commands.
Every week we take Popper to her puppy
classes at PetSmart, so one day after work I
had to forego my usual virtual walk in favor of
spending time with my actual dog. I didn’t want
to totally abandon her though, so because we
were going to be in a place with a lot of pet
lovers, I decided to try out Nintendogs’ “bark
mode.” “Bark mode” uses the wi-fi functions of
the DS to search for anyone else in the area that
also happens to have “bark mode” enabled. If
you find someone with “bark mode,” your DS
will literally bark at you, the two systems will
exchange business card information, and a new
breed will potentially be unlocked. Anyway, I
turned on “bark mode,” closed my system, and
went out the door with real and virtual puppies
in tow.
The first stop was Qdoba to meet Christina
for dinner before class. I laid my virtual dog
beside me in the car, grabbed my real dog and
went to the outside eating area in front. I told
my girlfriend what I wanted and she went inside
and ordered while I sat with the puppy on my
lap and kept her company.
Just as Nintendo was betting when they
made Nintendogs, nobody can resist a puppy,
and people would come up and pet my dog while
I waited for dinner. My dog encourages this sort
of behavior, and if anyone walks past without