Buy your Xbox Avatar a pet from tomorrow

Up until now, I have deliberately avoided buying clothes, costumes, or props for my Xbox 360 Avatar. My reasoning for this is simple: spending actual Earth money on not-actual clothing for an on-screen avatar is a money trap designed to catch fools.

I’m plainly in a minority, because Microsoft mouthpiece Major Nelson has now announced that pets will be available on the Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace from tomorrow, priced at 240 Microsoft Points each. You can choose from:

– Large Dog
– Pug Dog
– Dog in Bag
– Cat
– Siamese Cat
– Long Haired Cat
– Goldfish
– Guinea Pig
– Bird
– Snake
– Pony
– Monkey

Until I read “Monkey,” I was doing my usual sneering at idiots who buy virtual items for some crappy avatar. But now, my ridiculous desire for a little polygonal monkey means I’m going to look like a huge damn hypocrite. Gah. You can check out other animals at Major Nelson’s Flickr.

Of course, this will also allow us to answer a question that has troubled mankind for millennia: who would survive in a fight between a pug and a monkey? You can make them fight to a bloody death, right, Microsoft? Because that’s going to be a dealbreaker.

[Via Major Nelson]