Anyway, there are probably more people like me who once adored and eventually forgot all about their virtual pets. And with that premise, someone started a project on Kickstarter called “Virtual Pet Shelter.”

The first phase of the project will involve the founder getting his hands on as many virtual pets as he can on eBay and other sources. These units will then be fixed up or have their batteries replaced with new ones to get them working again.

The “Virtual Pet Shelter Foster Parent Program” will also be launched, which is like a subscription service where you pay to get a virtual pet sent to you to take care of. When you’re bored with it or ready to move on, you can then request to have another one sent to you.

The project is currently up on Kickstarter for funding. The goal is to raise just $250 (USD), which isn’t much – but as of this writing, there has only been one backer who pledged $15. If you want to help save some virtual pets, you can contribute as little as $1 to the cause.

The player has to raise Wappy though five different stages of development. The stages range from a puppy up to an adult dog. As the player is able to take care of the pet and as it grows the behavior and voice of the robot pet changes as well. Each of the pets is customizable and comes with stickers.

The robot dog accessory will bark at the player and the game will translate what the barks mean for the players. The pet has a digital mode so the player can nurture the virtual pooch even away from the hardware portion. The game is only for Nintendo DS  and sells for $49.99 (USD) including the robot dog accessory. This is one pet that won’t poop in the yard and parents won’t end up having to feed.

The basic concept of Touch Pets Dogs is simple. Pick out your favorite breed of dog, raise it from a puppy, teach it tricks, choose a doggie career, and dress it in silly costumes. You can share your dog’s progress through feeds to Facebook, and even take care of your friends’ virtual pups when they’re away. There’s also a mode where you can view everyone’s dogs across a global dog sharing network.

The game comes with seven breeds including Jack Russell Terrier, Dachshund, Westie, Portuguese Water Dog, Labrador, German Shepherd, and the elusive Robot Dog. I’m personally offended that there is no Bernese Mountain Dog or Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in the mix. I guess they’re just too big to fit into that iPhone. Knowing ngmoco:) they might offer more breeds as downloadable content in future.

Here’s a little footage of Touch Pets Dogs in action:

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Touch Pets Dogs is available now over at the iTunes App Store for the low, low price of… free. But there’s a catch – you’ll need to buy bowls of virtual dog food for anywhere from 99 cents for 10 bowls of digi-kibble, all the way up to $29.99 for 400 bowls of food. So just like real life, you’ll need to pay up or your canine pal will starve. On the free version you earn a very small amount of food the longer you play, but it’s definitely not enough to really keep Fido fat and happy.

At least your iPhone won’t poop on the carpet.

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:

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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:

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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.

The “Ego-gram” test assigns of 22 personalities to start your virtual doppelganger’s life. Once your personality is set, you can interact with other virtual characters on the device, or beam your “self” to other Human Players via infrared and wreak havoc in their worlds. Check out the wacky Japanese video below for an explanation of how the Human Player works:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now that clears everything up, doesn’t it? If you happen to speak Japanese, you can take the personality test here. Available in Japan starting at the end of March, each Human Player will run