At a Nintendo meeting today, Kotaku has learned that it was announced that, yes, Shigeru Miyamoto has a cat. Nintendo typically keeps Miyamoto's hobbies secret because they sometimes end up as the inspiration for new games.

Currently, Miyamoto is working on the new Zelda Wii title, which will sport swordplay with the MotionPlus feature. He is also working on a "DS game to play at home" and is interested in how the DS can be used in "public spaces".

Nintendo mentioned that the company was not against HD, and Miyamoto pointed out that a title like Wii Fit would not benefit greatly from HD, but the Nintendo creator added that a game like, say, Pikmin would.

Since Nintendo wouldn't make with the Nintencats despite the wild success of Nintendogs, someone else had to step up to the plate. That someone is Crave Entertainment, who have just announced Purr Pals for the Nintendo DS. You'll get to choose from over 40 breeds of kittens, care for them, train them, and modify their behavioral traits...a process I highly doubt involves a bone saw an brain electrodes, the only real way to modify cat behavior. Further eschewing the realism of the puppy title, kittens in Purr Pals will actually respond to your voice.

The game is expected to be available in late March 2007, just in time for kitten season, for an MSRP of $29.99

Crave Entertainment Announces Purr PalsTM for Nintendo DSTM

Adopt & Raise Your Own Purrfect Kitten Pal

Newport Beach, CA - Feb 06, 2007 Crave Entertainment, a leading publisher of console videogames for the casual gamer, today announced Purr PalsTM, a full-featured pet simulator for Nintendo DSTM that lets players adopt, care for, and raise adorable kitten playmates.

Choose your favorite breed of kitten, give it a name, feed it and play with it, all through the easy-to-use Nintendo DS interface. Your kitten will even respond to your voice, and interact with the environment you provide. Earn an allowance to buy cute accessories and toys for your pet.

Features include:

* Choose from 40 breeds of kittens, each with unique personalities
* Use proper care and training techniques to meet your kitten's needs and desires
* Modify your kitten's behavioral traits
* Customize your kitten with limitless choices
* Use voice commands your kitten will respond to
* Train your kitten with toys and food
* Interact with your kitten within the environment you provide
* Compete in fun mini-games with you kitten

The game is expected to be available in late March 2007, just in time for kitten season, for an MSRP of $29.99

About Crave Entertainment

Based in Newport Beach, California, Crave Entertainment is a subsidiary of Handleman Company. Crave, a publisher of videogame entertainment products creates games for the major console platforms including PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, Nintendo DSTM, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCubeTM, WiiTM, the PlayStation game console, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and the Xbox 360TM video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. For more information about Crave Entertainment, please visit www.cravegames.com.

In the latest triumph of NON-GAME over GAME, Nintendo announced that virtual puppy sim Nintendogs has sold a startling two million copies across Europe since the game launched.

This follows on from the game series selling a million copies in Japan, and over 1.5 million in the US. That's 4.5 MILLION FAKE DOGS everyone. Personally we can't wait for the inevitable Ninten-spin-offs: Nintencats (already in development), Nintenhogs, and the (long rumoured) Nintenhoes.

Nintendo loves you [Nintendo Europe]

I love my Nintendogs, but Nintencats?

Eurogamer has an interview with Hideki Konno about Nintendogs and the possibility of other digital animals hitting the DS.

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!
With Nintendog's success in their minds, could Nintendo release a Nintencats in the not-too-distant future? We'll keep our ears to the ground for any more news on this!

Is Nintencats Next? [Eurogamer, via Cube Europe]