A virtual pet is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, as people may choose to keep a digital pet instead of a real one.
The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. As of June 2023, over 91 million units have been sold worldwide. Most Tamagotchi are housed in a small egg-shaped handheld video game with an interface consisting of three buttons, with the Tamagotchi Pix adding a shutter on the top to activate the camera.
Animal Crossing: Wild World is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in Japan in November 2005, in North America and Australia in December 2005, and in Europe in March 2006. It is the second installment in the Animal Crossing series, and the sequel to Animal Crossing on the GameCube.
Nintendogs is a real-time pet simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan, and was later released in: North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and other regions. It was originally released in three different versions: Dachshund & Friends, Lab & Friends and Chihuahua & Friends. It has been re-released twice, first as a bundled release with a special edition Nintendo DS with a new version called Nintendogs: Best Friends and later as Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends.
Harvest Moon 64, released in Japan as Bokujō Monogatari 2 (牧場物語2), is a 1999 farm simulation video game developed by Victor Interactive Software for the Nintendo 64 console. It was published by Victor Interactive in Japan and by Natsume Inc. in North America. It is the third game in the Story of Seasons series.
Zoo Tycoon is a business simulation game developed by Blue Fang Games and released by Microsoft. Although first released for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it was ported to the Nintendo DS in 2005. It was followed by two expansion packs, Dinosaur Digs and Marine Mania, which were released in 2002, as well as a sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2, released in 2004.
Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters. Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem". Other terms include artificial life game and simulated life game (SLG).
Joy Berry is an American writer and child development specialist.
Webkinz is a stuffed animal and video game franchise by the Canadian toy company Ganz. Webkinz stuffed animals have online counterparts in the video games Webkinz Classic and Webkinz Next. It was originally released by Ganz on April 15, 2005.
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is a farming simulation video game released in Japan on June 7, 2007, by Marvelous Interactive, in North America on September 30, 2008, by Natsume Inc., and in the PAL region in October 2009. It was released for Nintendo's Wii console and was the first title in the Story of Seasons series originally developed for the Wii.
Legacy Games is a game publisher and distributor of casual and indie titles for PC and mobile. It distributes games digitally on its website, at www.legacygames.com. Legacy also sells physical discs with digital codes in Walmart stores as well as on Amazon. Legacy is best known for its game packs and sells more than 100 different bundles of themed hidden object, indie, puzzle, adventure, match 3, and simulation titles.
Petz: Catz 2 and Petz: Dogz 2 are video games for the PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 and Wii, the latter two are similar to The Dog Island. Players can choose from 40 breeds of dogs or cats; in Dogz most breeds have a choice of two fur colours. In Europe, these games are titled Dogz and Catz.
Mia's Language Adventure: The Kidnap Caper is the fourth title of Mia's Big Adventure Collection software series created by Kutoka Interactive. Released in 2003 in Canada and the United States, the game teaches French and Spanish as a second language to children between 6 and 10 years old.
Multiple video games based on the 2000 Nick Jr. television show Dora the Explorer have been released. Most of these games have received a mixed critical reception. Unlike other video games, these were not released in Asia, due to the TV show having less interest in that continent than North America and Europe. A number of other video games were released exclusively for the Nick Jr. website, such as Dora's 3D Driving Adventure, and Dora's 3D Pyramid Adventure.
American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.
The American Girls Premiere is an educational computer game developed and published by The Learning Company for American Girl. The game allows players to create theatrical productions featuring characters from American Girl's Historical collection, along with scenes and other elements unique to each of the girls' respective time periods.
Animal Jam Classic, formerly known as Animal Jam, is a massively multiplayer online game that is developed by WildWorks and recommended for kids up to the age of 12. It was launched in 2010, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society. As of late 2020, there were 3.3 million monthly active users and a lifetime total of 130 million registered players in 200 countries across both Animal Jam Classic and Animal Jam.
Virtual Safari is a 1997 video game developed by Anglia Multimedia and published by Fujitsu Interactive. The game is set in a first-person 3D environment around Africa on a Safari trip to take photographs of animals. The photographs could be submitted to Anglia Multimedia and the best ones would be displayed on their website.
Emergency Room is a simulation video game series in which the player assumes the role of a medical person who treats hospital patients. The first game, Emergency Room, was released for MS-DOS in 1995. It was developed and published by Legacy Software, which created additional games in the series as Legacy Interactive Inc. beginning in 1999. The subsequent games were released for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows up until 2001, and a Nintendo DS game was released in 2009. The eighth and final game in the series, Emergency Room: Heroic Measures, was released in 2010.
A companion robot is a robot created to create real or apparent companionship for human beings. Target markets for companion robots include the elderly and single children. Companions robots are expected to communicate with non-experts in a natural and intuitive way. They offer a variety of functions, such as monitoring the home remotely, communicating with people, or waking people up in the morning. Their aim is to perform a wide array of tasks including educational functions, home security, diary duties, entertainment and message delivery services, etc.
