Tend your dog

It looks like Nintendo have only gone and done it again. I've had a stack of calls and email from female friends asking me if I had a copy of Nintendogs that they could "borrow". Tempted in by the ads and the premise of puppy interaction, they are suddenly keen on gaming. And it's genius by Nintendo. They can go on flogging the endless updates that will undoubeteldy follow while getting their DS hardware into the hands of the previously uninterested. Well, that's the theory anyway. Whether these new DS owners will then go out and try something like Zoo Keeper, which should be equally appealing, remains to be seen. In the meantime it's probably worth playing Nintendogs for novelty alone. But be warned, this time next year, as the eighth add-on storms to the top of the charts, you'll be sick of 'em.