On Xbox Live, there’s no shortage of useless nonsense with which to outfit your Xbox Avatar.  It’s entirely possible to doll up your virtual likeness with a Bumblebee helmet, a Cincinnati Bengals jersey, Highwaymen pants from Fable II, Crimson Omen skate shoes from Gears of War 2, Forza 3 racing gloves, a Tokidoki bubble watch, pink moon earrings, and a rubber chicken with a pulley in it from Monkey Island Special Edition all at the same time.  As of tomorrow, you can add "fake animal" to that list, as Microsoft has announced the opening of the Avatar pet store.

The store will initially offer three types of dogs, three types of cats, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, a pony, and even a monkey.  At 240 ($3.00 in people money) apiece, they’re much cheaper than a real pet, and far less likely to ruin your carpets.  Also, if you don’t feed them, they don’t die.  There are, of course, those who will argue that buying a pet for a cartoonish virtual representation of yourself that does nothing more than stand there and wave is stupid, even moronic.  Yep, there are definitely those who will argue that.

We’ll have to see if the pets will take up a separate slot on your Avatar, or if it will take the place of any other accessories, like the remote control Warthog or a lightsaber, but the safe money’s on the latter.

[Source]