Cats on cats on cats: Friskies goes dual-species at SXSW

We all know that cats and kittens dominate the internet, and since SXSW Interactive is basically the Internet incarnate, why wouldn't cats make an appearance?

That's the reasoning behind Friskies' "You vs. Cat" iPad game. We met up with Julie Voss Catron, a brand representative for the cat food brand to talk about the game and why SXSW Interactive was their choice venue for the game's debut.

"There are more cat videos than just about anything out there on YouTube," Voss Catron said, "And we know there are quite a few cat lovers here at SXSW Interactive, so it made a lot of sense."

This isn't Friskies first time at SXSW Interactive, however. They were here last year to debut a new cat food, and though it raised quite a few eyebrows it was a perfect fit, Voss Catron said.

The "You vs. Cat" game is an iPad app where humans try to flick a virtual object past the cat into a goal. That is if the cat doesn't stamp it out first.

"This is just another step in Friskies fueling the fire for Friskies being the leader in cat gaming," Voss Catron said, "It's something that has caught fire since we launched our first game last year called Cat Fishing for tablets and iPhone. There was such a good response from it that we decided there was such an opportunity for us to expand and grow in this area."

The cat chosen to compete with the humans during the Friskies event was a long-haired rescue cat named Buddy. The nine-month old, extremely friendly cat is what Voss Catron calls "the world's greatest cat gamer."  We just thought he was cute, and that we could definitely conquer him in a spirited game of cat hockey.

Sure enough, Buddy proved more than up to the challenge beating us 3 times in a row, once without us even scoring a point!

You can battle your own kitties in the game if you have an iPad - download You vs Cat for free from the iTunes store now.

Keywords: sxsw 2012