It’s uncommon for us to give too much attention to DVD promotions after the movie has come out. Typically once a DVD has hit shelves, we’re not as interested in it, unless it’s pushing it into one of our Friday Night Double Feature lineups. But every once in a while something catches our eye enough to make us hit a DVD release one more time.

As part of the promotion for TMNT, which came out on DVD, HD DVD, and Blue-ray last week, Warner Brothers has brought out “TMNT Virtual Turtles,” a chance for you to raise your very own ninja turtle, who then can fight against other turtles. You get the chance to design their shells, then raise them from a little egg while feeding them pizza and bathing them in radioactive slime.

While this is a lot of fun and something that can be kept running in the background, it’s not for the impatient. As I write this, my turtle (Thanatos – pictured at right) has been active for 46 minutes. It took 2-3 minutes before he broke out of his shell and he hasn’t grown up enough to fight yet. He just sits there, looks entertained, and asks for food or a bath every once in a while. And yet I’ve gained 800 points just doing that and am currently ranked in the top 900. Scary.

Thanatos is here waiting to grow up and fight, so come join the TMNT Cowabunga Community yourself. Who knows. Maybe I can kick your rear end in some turtle-to-turtle combat. And don’t forget TMNT is already out on DVD, and high definition formats, although if you’re a real turtle fan (and one of the 800 ahead of me in this game), you probably already know that.