What Is Postpet 2001? PostPet 2001 is the second generation PostPet Program. The most obvious feature is that it has twice as many pets as before... However, there are several more "hidden" features, and the e-mail functions have been greatly improved. Instead of gold and silver CD ROM installation disks, it comes with red and white Win/Mac "hybrid" disks. This is because "Kouhaku" or "red and white" are traditionally lucky in Japan, and associated with Japanese New Year celebrations.... Very close to when PostPet 2001 was released! There was a premium edition sold in early December of 1998, which quickly sold out. These editions came with one of three different sets, which came with four miniature figurines based on the computer models of the 8 pets (and two extra characters). The Tulip Set came with a Sitting Momo, a Bunny, a Pouched Penguin, and a Postman. The Daisy Set came with a Walking Momo, a Cat, a Big Mouth or Big Mouse Hamster, and a Mystery Mechanoid. The Iris Set came with a Proud Momo, a Turtle, a Dog, and an Unknown Pet. Since then, various Japanese computer magazines and unofficial PostPet books have been published with extra guests, extra snacks, and beautifully designed rooms! It is interesting to note that some of the official Singapore PostPet Premium Rooms are actually rooms designed for PostPet 2001. These rooms were designed by manga (Japanese comic book) artists, and in the case of one room offered to Japanese PostPet Park users only, by Japanese pop stars! What Is Postpet 2.1? PostPet 2.1 (also known as PostPet The World... I'll be using the two terms interchangeably) is the updated, improved version of PostPet 2001. It now has such convenient features as Smart Hyperlinks (I think that's what it's called... basically, where you can click on a hypertext link in an e-mail and have your default internet browser open up to display that page!), as well as all the features of PostPet 2001. It features 14 new rooms, 6 of which seem to have been created specifically for PostPet 2.1! (The other 8 are the default pet rooms for the Bear, Bunny, Cat, Turtle/Tortoise, Dog, Hamster, Mechanoid/Machine, and Penguin. Some of these have had a bit of a makeover... see if you can guess which ones!) What are the new functions? A lot of the "new functions" were incorporated into PostPet Premium (version 1.2), but some are unique to PostPet 2001. The "new functions" include Being able to sort mail according to sender, date, title of mail, etc (Not available in older versions.) Being able to use the Searcher Ant to find e-mails containing certain key words (works much like Yahoo or any other search engine, only it searches through your e-mails!) Support of both 8-bit and 7-bit encoding IMAP support Secret Functions! (Click here if you don't want to read PostPet Spoilers) The PostPets now get three "toys" that make them react in certain ways; the Record Player toy might make them boogie, the Banana Peel might make them act silly, and the Tiny Momo Doll will show your pet's inner character (will your pet cuddle Momo, or drop-kick it across the room?) You can now choose to Wash the pets that visit you! They will also note in their Secret Diary whether they were washed, what kind of snack they got, and whether they picked up any new treasures. If you set your PostPet Mail Priority on Highest or Lowest, your pet will carry something nasty or nice to the recipient! (NOTE: This only works if the recipient is using PostPet 2001!) E-mail me at aurora2@nettaxi.com if you want to see how this works; I'll send you back a Screen Capture! All pets will enter your PostPet 2001 window carrying some sort of package; rumour has it that boy-pets carry blue envelopes, girl-pets carry pink envelopes, and unknown-gender pets carry yellow envelopes! If you type certain words in the title of your e-mail, your pet may do special tricks while at the recipient's home! (NOTE: This only works if the recipient is using PostPet 2001!) Your pet might dance crazily if the e-mail has "Re: Re:" in it, or run around the room at hyper speed if the e-mail title is "URGENT!!" Nobody knows the full list of "Special" e-mail titles... Certain "Special Snacks" also make your pet react in strange ways; these are so special, they're in italics in the Snack menu! Can I get PostPet 2001, too? The problem with PostPet 2001 is that so far it's only available as a Japanese Win95/98 or Mac program. They only appear to be selling it within Japan, and even their online sales form doesn't allow for international customers. (Heck, their own patented secure ordering system won't let any non-Japanese people register as users. *bleah*) This essentially gives you several limited options: If you have contacts in Japan, or have found a reputable online dealer living in Japan, you MAY be able to get your hands on a Postpet 2001 CD ROM. From there on, you just need to install a Japanese version of Windows on your hard drive and be able to read Japanese well enough to derive enjoyment from your pet. This all presupposes that you have money to burn, or REALLY good friends. Just download the necessary add-on files and try to run the 30-day trial version on your computer. Keep in mind that certain (and perhaps all?) versions of Windows 95 can't handle the CAB file format that the Japanese Postpet Installer uses, so you will get an error message or a crash every time you try to install it. Where can I get PostPet 2.1? PostPet 2.1 is available in select stores in Singapore and Malaysia (I think... you may wish to check with PostPet Park employees on this one, as they probably know best!). As well, it can currently be downloaded from the website http://www.sony.con.sg/postpet in trial form. You will have to purchase a license key over the internet if you wish to keep your pet beyond the 10 day trial. PostPet The World (CD ROM VERSION) should be available through Sony's Online Store in the near future. It may cost more than the license key, but keep in mind that the price for the CD ROM package includes the extra CD for a friend, packaging, shipping... all sorts of extra costs! I currently have all 8 pets included in PostPet 2001 (and 2.1); please e-mail me at aurora2@nettaxi.com (Japanese) or twotone@friendfactory.com (English) if you'd like to send your pet to visit them! (Let me know what pet you'd like to visit.) (NOTE: All of the "new" PostPet 2001 pets will appear as UNKNOWN pets in PostPet 1.2!! Please do not ask me to send you one of my PostPet 2001 pets "so that you can see what it looks like", as it will only look like a creature in a paper bag... PostPet 1.2 does not have the data files for the new pets, so it will not know how to interpret the pet-data files accompanying my PostPet 2001 e-mail.)

Home	V-Pets	PostPet	Boardroom	Guestbook