In a blatant attempt to steal some of the limelight away from the latest craze being exported from - Nintendogs for the handheld - have today announce that they will publish MTO's latest virtual-pet game, Dogz. The exclusive deal will see Ubisoft releasing the new canine title on the GBA, which could make Dogz the perfect companion to the GBA Micro, Ninty's smallest ever handheld.

Like Nintendogs, Dogz will see players training, exercising, feeding and just plain loving their miniaturised virtual animal, albeit without the intrigue the use of the microphone and stylus on the DS add to Nintendo's game. The link-cable will enable gamers to hook-up GBAs to send their pet off to a friend's place for a visit, and there will be three modes: Run Puppy Run!, Puppy Reversi and Puppy Quiz. How... cute.

Always Together Mode will allow for the data of three 'fully-grown' (i.e. the ones you didn't delete because they became a menace to society) dogs to be saved on the GBA for playing with at any time. Which is nice, and far less hassle than looking after a real animal. We'd imagine.

By Luke Guttridge