There are few things in life as sweet or satisfying as the companionship of a pet. Okay, I think I'm saying that as a crazy-cat-lady-in-the-making, but still! Unable to get a pet of my own, I thought I'd ask developers about their pets. It's a living vicariously through other people thing. Plus, who can resist looking at cute dog and cat pictures on the Internet? Nobody, that's who.
Here's a gallery of the pets owned by game developers who make many of the games we know and love. Well, save for this first cat, belonging to Kotaku's Tina Amini. She's called Gorbachev!
Here's Cliff Bleszinski, the mind behind Gears of War. He's with his dog, Ted. Ted happens to have a Twitter feed, as does his sister, Evee. Following either grants you access to some terrific dog pictures.
Here's Joakim Sandberg and his cat Mymlan. Joakim is best known for indie darlings Noitu Love 2 and Iconoclasts, the former just recently released on Steam. He blames his black cat for his love life, I think. The cat doesn't like to share.
This hound dog called Gladys is owned by Mike Wikan, an industry vet that has worked on titles like Donkey Kong Country Returns, the Metroid Prime Series, and Duke Nukem.
Two for the price of one: here's Krogan and Echo, both boxer dogs. These lovely canines are owned by a game dev duo, Tami Baribeau from The Playforge (behind hit iOS game Zombie Farm) and Luke Sigmund from Trion Worlds (behind the MMO Defiance).
I gotta say, Krogan is probably the best name for a dog I've heard yet.
These are Artemis and Apollo, owned by game designer Zoe Quinn. She's currently working on an online dating simulator called It's Not Okay, Cupid.
This cutie was sent in by Julie Marable from SuperBot Entertainment, the folks behind the upcoming PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. He's called REZ—yes, all caps!
This is Encyclopedia Frown, a black kitten who has boundary issues. Her master would be Anna Anthropy, who is behind the brilliant dys4ia.
Nathan Gary is the creative director at Sony Santa Monica, and he's lucky to lay claim to these two beauties. Here's Beau a Chow and Golden retriever mix and Chopper a Jack Russell Terrier and Chihuahua mix.
Juliette the Maine Coon will stop the Helghast all by herself, thank you very much. She's owned by Poria Torkan, a producer at Guerrilla Games. As you might've guessed, they've behind the Killzone franchise.
Because there's never enough Maine Coon in the world, here's DJ Arcas' fluffy white cat. Arcas is the creator of Fortresscraft.
Paul Alexander works at Camouflaj, the development studio behind the recently-Kickstartered title Republique . He owns a cute lil chihuahua, Lola.
Klei Entertainment developer Nels Anderson owns this Formosan Mountain dog, Avatar. He's a recue dog from Taiwain who has a lighning bolt on his butt. Klei Entertainment are currently developing XBLA title Mark of the Ninja.
Antti Ilvessuo, creative director and co-founder of RedLynx (Trials HD & Evolution) surrounds his 7 year old pug Manu with dinosaurs. How cruel!