So, Nintendo announced that they’d be sending us Nintendogs to live in our Animal Crossing houses and I got very excited for a couple of seconds, as my head filled with images of little puppies running around my feet and leaping up at me when I got home.

Then I realised that they’d just be furniture items, but assumed that when activated with the A button would have short sounds and animations, like a lot of Animal Crossing furniture. Maybe the labrador would roll over on his belly, maybe the chihuahua would start yapping at you, that sort of thing.

Yesterday I got my first Nintendog and it was disappointing, even with my lowered expectations. There aren’t any animations, it’s just a static, basic piece of furniture that does nothing. This may be a technical limitation with the way new items get added to the game over the Internet, but it’s still a bit of a downer.

It does look cute, though, and I shall keep a small collection of dogs in my basement.