oshaberi oumu puts a virtual parrot inside your nintendo ds: polly wanna silicon cracker?

There’s one thing you can always rely on Japanese game companies for, and that’s weird games. Lots and lots of weird games.

Oshaberi Oumu for the Nintendo DS continues that tradition by putting the fate of a digital bird in your hands. It’s your job to care for and nurture your avian plaything – feeding it, giving it toys to play with, caressing it and so forth.  Developed by Tokyo’s Star Fish games, there are definitely no starfish in the game, just our fine-feathered friends. And as far as I can tell from these game screenshots, there is no evidence of a hungry cat mode either. Damn.

Here’s a little video clip of the game to give you a better idea of what you can expect should you pick up a copy:

Ah, there’s nothing quite like a video game that makes you change the filthy newspapers at the bottom of a bird cage – all while listening to elevator music. Sign me up! Of course, knowing how short my attention span is when it comes to virtual pets, I’d probably end up with something more like this within the first couple of days:

Now that’s what I call a dead parrot.

The good news is that you don’t have to make your way to Japan if you want to get your hands on this strange little game. The guys over at Play-Asia are taking worldwide orders for the game now for $48.90 (USD) – newspaper and bird seed not included.