Japanese virtual pet isn’t a friend for life

Tamagotchi, the “loveable” Japanese virtual pet, was launched this week at London’s Yo! Sushi restaurant. Like the plastic key-ring-sized pet itself, the launch was a demanding affair. Nurses in Carry On-inspired outfits dished out food, discipline and attention, the things that the pet most often demands. “Mad” scientists and their assistants gibbered away in cod Japanese. And Turning Japanese by The Vapours was played again, and again. The demands of DW’s own virtual pet proved equally tiring, and it had died by the next morning.