Gamertell

If you’re in Japan between March 26 and May 6, 2008, and you love cats and video games, you may want to stop by the Cat Café Kyariko. Sega has DS units with demos of their latest game Yume Neko DS, roughly translated as Dream Cat DS, exclusively at the restaurant. Yume Neko DS is essentially a cat version of Nintendogs and the Cat Café Kyariko is a small café with 19 cats who live and roam around the area. Customers can come in and interact with the animals while relaxing, enjoying some food and now playing a DS demo. The cafe itself is located in the Kichijoji neighborhood of Musashino, which is a part of Tokyo.

The café will not only have demos, but also be have more Yume Neko DS related ambiance during the promotion period. Game Watch shows that there are coasters with images of cats from the game, posters on the walls and music from the game will play throughout the location.

Yume Neko DS has received quite a bit of press in Japan, due to Sega’s marketing decisions surrounding the game. Since it is a pet simulator, like Nintendogs, featuring lots of cute kitties, most of the press involves the use of adorable kittens. The promotional media which have received the most attention are the commercials - they feature adorable cats frolicking with music from the game playing in the background.

That game could just play videos of adorable real kittens playing and I’d buy it. I swear. You don’t need gameplay when you can watch cute cats frolicking while soothing music plays. It’d be the best kind of shovelware. The little kitten in the beginning and the cat that shows up 3/4ths of the way through can be the stars.

That being said, I’m still probably going to buy Yume Neko DS - even though it won’t have videos of real cats being cute. I’m a sucker for cats. I’ll have to get the Japanese version too, because that music is equally adorable. I wish my cat were cute like those cats. My cat’s a former stray who’s got this hobgoblin look going on. Sweet as can be, but look at him from the wrong angle and it may make you shudder. At least he possesses the same kind of sweet-stupid that the cat that shows up 3/4 of the way through the commercial displays.

Read [Game Watch] Via [Go Nintendo] Also Read [DS Fanboy]