While most of what was on display at this year's GDC consisted of old games showcasing new technology (such as speakers), there were a few soon-to-be-released titles nestled within the cramped show floor, in particular Nintendo's upcoming virtual pet simulator Nintendogs. This cute and innovative DS title is set to take the world by storm, that is, unless you're partial to iguanas.

If you're a puppy lover you're going to flip over this game, which allows you to own, play, and train up to three cute and cuddly puppies. You start out by purchasing one dog, a shy little guy or gal who keeps to itself and doesn't respond well to commands, but through gentle coaxing and spending lots of time with your new friend, it warms up to you, but it's supposedly going to take a lot of tender loving care to reach this point. This is where the DS' unique capabilities come into play. Using the stylus, you can scratch and pet your dog as well as play games with it. You can even teach it commands by speaking into the DS' microphone, and I must say that Nintendogs features some slick voice recognition technology. Not only will the dogs understand words such as "sit, play dead, and roll over", but they'll also recognize their own names, so over time they'll learn to come to names such as Poopy Boopy Boop or even something as plain as Joe.

The game on display at GDC was really just a small taste of what's possible in Nintendogs. It begins at the front door to my house. I tapped on the touch screen and the door opened, and immediately these three dogs of different breeds happily ran over and put their paws all over the screen. From there I scratched each of their heads for which they were extremely happy, and then we moved into what appeared to be a living room. I didn't need to do anything with them, so I decided to check out how detailed they are, and I must say that Nintendo's done an excellent job with this game's visuals. The puppies are in full 3D and look fabulous, and they move in unscripted ways, so they play with one another, sit still for several moments, or just do their own thing.

There are two ways to get their attention. The most obvious is to speak into the microphone, but since GDC was a rather loud affair I settled on the second method, which involves merely tapping the bottom screen. They immediately perked up and walked over to me and I resumed petting, but there was a lot more to do. At the top right corner of the touch screen is an item box, and when clicked I was taken to an options screen that presented me with several objects that can be used to interact with my pets such as a tennis ball, a balloon, a towel (you play tug of war with the dogs), a Frisbee, and finally a jump rope (you hold one end, a dog holds the other, and the others jump as you swing it around). Now what's really cool about using this stuff (aside from the fact that the ball features a cool physics system and when thrown the dogs go nuts) is they will actually track something if you fake throwing it. I picked up the yellow ball using the stylus and without letting go pretended to toss it, and each and every time the dogs would fall for the fake and go running, intently watch the ball, or leap high into the air to snatch it from my hand.

In addition to playing at home, you can also take your dogs outside, though this feature wasn't showcased at GDC. The most interesting aspect to this is the size of the neighborhood. Even if it's simply an around-the-block affair I'll be thrilled, as I'd love to have the virtual reality experience of just walking around undisturbed.

While outside, you can take your dog to the park and wirelessly meet a friend who is also walking his or her dog, and you can toss Frisbees or just relax and watch both animals interact with each other, though you need to keep in mind that not all dogs get along, though I doubt that they'll do something extreme such as fighting.

There's also supposedly a huge list of items you can purchase including dog collars, bones, and other assorted things. You can even groom your pets, electing to shape their fur, for example, though whether your puppies will appreciate this is another story. Thankfully, washing them doesn't appear to be a horrible experience. The dog just sits still and allows you cover it in suds and then spray it clean, and the experience concludes with it shaking off the excess water.

I probably spent a good ten minutes just playing fetch, and that time is a testament to how engrossing this experience is. Nintendogs is very difficult to put down, and if this game's a hit with kids (especially the female demographic that Nintendo is seemingly targeting), it could be an enormous success. Unfortunately there's no U.S. release date, but that's going to change real soon. Cute, engrossing, and simplistic in design, it's just too addictive to pass up.