EyePet

What is that thing?

Source // PlayStation

I definitely remember thinking "wouldn't it be cool if every other footballer in this game was actually controlled by a human somewhere else in the world" when I was younger, and clearly before I knew what the Internet was. We're not there yet with 22-player online football, so far as I know, but the point is that in the future, technology could lead us anywhere.

But never did I think that "one day I'm going own some kind of augmented reality digital pet". Technology can't do pets, can it? Tamagotchi's aren't pets. Furby's aren't pets. They're both a pain in the arse, whereas a pet is a companion.

Other folks - smarter folks than me - thought otherwise, and with camera tracking and motion controls, something like EyePet could finally be unleashed upon living room floors the world over.

Should it have been is a question we're about to find out.

Viva Piñata

Get that shovel away from me...

Source // Moby Games

Gardening. We're not all fans of it, that's for sure. I'm quite happy to look at a garden and enjoy the life within, but getting out there and maintaining it... Nah. I let nature take its course. Which is why I spent the precious few moments of sunshine yesterday indoors, tending to a virtual garden full of strange little cartoony critters in Viva Piñata.

Battered shovels at the ready, because we're about to create a thriving ecosystem in our digital backyard.

Seaman

"Come on, stay with me here..."

Source // The Wha!?, Emuparadise

It's a fish with a face. A disappointed, unamused human face. It's Seaman, the virtual pet for the Dreamcast so utterly bizarre that it has made its way onto a list of 1001 Must Play games, and I don't think it's for the gameplay.

This one is going to be different.