Puppies, protozoa and skipping rocks

LOS ANGELES - When the band at an E3 party last night broke into a little Black Sabbath, a seven-foot-tall teddy bear escorting a posse of masked fireplug-sized Mexican wrestlers bounded up and gave me a high-five.

I didn’t blink. Such activities can only be expected at the world’s largest video gaming event.

On the other hand, when earlier this week industry executives like Xbox executive J Allard waxed nostalgic for the days when the family gathered around the Atari 2600 hearth, I blinked. We all blinked.

And when Douglas Lowenstein, president of the group that runs E3, compared the game creation process to an echo chamber where "you’re talking to guys who have the same interests," I detected a theme.

It’s true that gaming is close to a $10 billion industry in the United States and that when you take into account not only console games, but mobile phone games and Web games such as online checkers and Bejeweled, you did find gamers of all ages and more than one gender.

But this is E3 we’re talking about. Birthplace of the first-person-shooter. Homeland of the Mohawked, the pony-tailed, the head-shaved and those guys that really need to get out more. Where could one possibly find games that reached beyond the already indoctrinated? I made that my goal this week.

Nintendo was my first stop.

"Nintendogs," the interactive puppy training experience for the handheld Nintendo DS, is so darn cute it’s almost sickening.

Nintendo If another "Nintendogs" owner is within range, you can set up a puppy play date.

Pick a puppy from the pound. Go on, pick one. They’re all so cuddly. "Nintendogs" runs voice recognition software so when you issue commands using the DS’s built-in microphone, your puppy will respond. Administer cuddles and hugs by rubbing the DS’s bottom touch-screen. Ain’t it cute?

Now take your "Nintendogs" on the road. If another "Nintendogs" owner is within range your DS will "Bark!" Pop open your DS, accept the puppy play date and watch your puppy interact with someone else’s puppy. No need to carry trash bags.

Another Nintendo DS title called "Electroplankton" is not a game at all, but a music-making program. The object is to create sounds by maneuvering marine molecules across a watery landscape. Create interesting enough patterns for the underwater creatures to move around in and you’ve got yourself a good time.

During the Nintendo press briefing a DJ from New York demonstrated how two DS machines running "Electroplankton" could generate sounds fit for a Paris Hilton table dance. What a gig for that DJ! I wonder how he explains his job to his mother?

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