New parenting game Baby Pals announced for DS

Just a handful of years ago – before the release of DS – the thought that publishers would be bringing out games about babies and animals on Nintendo's system would have seemed ridiculous. Or financial suicide.

Now it's reality, with Ubisoft in particular forming what seems to be a whole strategy based around cooking, cute animal, baby and fashion games, and no one seems to have much to say about it. Perhaps the hardcore gaming community are hoping that if they don't comment on them, they might go away and stop making the shelves in game shops so pink and feminine.

Unfortunately for them, it is happening. Take baby rearing games, for instance. They might not be about to put an end to releases like Metroid Prime and Zelda, but releases of its type threatening to become prolific.

The latest is Baby Pals, which was announced today by publisher Crave Entertainment. Baby Pals' press release has possibly the most sick-inducing strapline we've ever read ("Someone special, someone dear, someone new to love is here") but, to be fair, the game is certainly looking like the sort of thing eight-year-old girls will squeal loudly in favour of.

Among its special features is being able to use the stylus as a virtual spoon to feed your baby, and as a bar of soap to bath it. You can also customise your baby's appearance and choose clothes for it to wear and toys to play with (there are further new items to unlock as you play). Finally, you can teach your baby how to talk (we're not sure if the DS mic will be used, Nintendogs style for this), crawl and then walk, while keeping him or her entertained and motivated along the way with tickles and games of peek-a-boo.

But what we really want to know is where are the critics who say games are too grown up and violent when titles like Baby Pals are revealed?

In the meantime, form an orderly queue – Baby Pals is due for release some time in November.