Make Your Nintendogs + cats Pop Out Onto Your Desk With AR Cards

Nintendogs + cats is Nintendo’s first-party game of choice to release alongside the Nintendo 3DS when it launches on February 26th in Japan. In addition to adding 3D display and cats to the mix, the game is also compatible with the 3DS’ altered-reality feature. You can read more about this in our impressions from Nintendo World 2011.

Online Japanese retailer, AmiAmi, reveals that Nintendogs + cats is compatible with AR cards — the 3DS itself comes with six of these — that can make your puppy or kitten appear on your desk or in the palm of your hand.

Additionally, during a recent “Iwata Asks” Q&A session, Nintendogs and 3DS developer, Hideki Konno, also revealed that special care has been taken to model the dogs’ eyes in the game this time around. On the Nintendo DS, the dogs’ eyes were depicted using textures, but this time around, they’re built with a polygonal mesh that can move independently.

The development team went a step further with the cats. In bright light, the iris of a cats’ eye closes over the pupil to reduce the amount of light that falls onto their retinas. Konno’s team designed the cats in the game to change eyes in light and dark surroundings as well.