Tomadachi Life

Looks a lot more bonkers than I was expecting, definite purchase, the clip at the diner when Shibata was confessing his feelings was something else.

I watched the Nintendo Direct for this this afternoon, and my most prominent thought was "What the...?". Depending on the reviews, this might be my birthday ask. It's between this or Kirby.

You're not Nintendo's audience anyway, Stu...

Even though I agree the option should be in there you don't necessarily have to play as your mii, do you? Also younger kids (game has a rating of 3+ ) may be left confused if a same sex relationship was a part of their game.

They shouldn't be. There shouldn't be anything wrong with introducing same-sex relationships to children at the same age as heterosexual ones. You don't have to talk about sex either way, do you?

But I can see why Nintendo wouldn't. Apart from anything else, it's an already existing game that they're just translating. If Tomodachi 2 continues to be different-sex only, well...

True, I just don't get all the serious hoopla over a (very quirky) game.

It's currently top story in the BBC News's Technology section - here. Any excuse for bad headlines about Nintendo is taken: 'Weak Wii U sales hurt Nintendo' was top yesterday. 

From my perspective, it's not the smartest of moves. As Balla mentions, if Tomadachi 2 fails to have same-sex relationships, that's problematic (if that happens, there'll be no celebratory BBC News story, I'd wager!).

Oh BBC.  

As I said in the news one, I think Nintendo have done a crap job of responding to this.  If there are any relationships in the game, there's no excuse not to include homosexual ones.

I'm really pissed off with how this is all going.

I do agree to a certain extent; if you're going to put in marriage, you may as well make it universally inclusive.
However... this is a game where people roll around on the floor as a hobby and dream about giant Virtual Boys, it's not a dating simulator. If you were planning to buy Tomodachi Life to fulfil a romantic fantasy, no matter what the gender, you've got problems.
The outcry from the internet is so overblown that there's every chance that Nintendo will go "oh fuck it, you're not having it then, West." I want to have a conversation with Patrick Stewart and Chloe Vevrier in a 50s diner goddamit.

Sure, the focus isn't on realism. But one of the main objectives is for two Miis to fall in love and have a kid. Speaking as One Of Them Gays You Hear About On The News And That, I would have liked if my Mii could have married a man and had a kid with him. I can't imagine the argument of "but that doesn't make scientific sense!" could apply to Tomodachi Life of all games.

As it stands I see why Nintendo did it, and of course I'll still buy the game. It'll just be nice when the day comes that same sex relationships aren't shrugged off as a matter of programming semantics and are just a normal part of games.

I want to marry a man on the game. I'm not saying that because it's the right thing to say, I just don't want to be stuck in a marriage with one of the few female Miis I have (Birdo, Gail Platt from Coronation Street).

Dusty Knackers wrote:

I just don't want to be stuck in a marriage with one of the few female Miis I have (Birdo).

About that...

Birdo uses the female locker room on Mario Golf: World Tour. Therefore... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXehqqR8J8

Could just be a very clever ploy...

Yeah, I do think the reaction this has been overblown and entirely manufactured by the media. Its part of the reason why I think Nintendo are avoiding the media as much as possible from now on.

Basically, this outrage was a long time coming. Back when the game first came out in Japan, the Western media spun the patch as "OMGZ! NINTENDOZ REMOVING GAY RELATIONSHIPSZ!!!1111" when the reality was nothing of the sort, and the patch was to fix a major bug which stopped people from saving the game.

IMO, its all to do with age ratings. In the US, any game with same-sex relationships gets a higher age rating than one without. This sucks, and shouldn't be the case, but it is. See the case of Harvest Moon DS Cute for example, where same-sex relationships were removed from the Western Release for exactly this reason. http://venturebeat.com/2010/06/21/harvest-moon-and-same-sex-relationships/

A lot of people have responded with "But! But! The Sims did it!", but The Sims was Teenage rated game, and crucially, the Nintendo versions of The Sims also lacked the option for same-sex relations because of the age rating.

Besides, Nintendo said that they've taken note of the feedback. (Of course, that part was glossed over by a lot of the media.)

The sad thing is, because of this, Nintendo will be less likely to take a chance on localising quirky games for the West in the future. I've been wanting Captain Rainbow to be released here for some time, but after this reaction, you can quite understand why Nintendo thought that the Birdo/Vibrator scene would be too much...

Axis1500 wrote:

Besides, Nintendo said that they've taken note of the feedback. (Of course, that part was glossed over by a lot of the media.)

While I agree with a lot of what you've said (mostly that it's a sad but inevitable practice, and that fury out of nowhere is unwarranted), I read little to nothing into this.  They gave the most non-committal answer possible.  It meant nothing, and deserved to be glossed over until they give a more committal one, or do something to show that they've taken it on-board.  "We understand your concerns" is politics-speak for "will you go away now?"

And accusations of homophobia are completely different from a little crude humour in Captain Rainbow.  If Nintendo can't tell the difference... that wouldn't actually surprise me.

Anyway, my plans to marry Einstein off to Hitler have been destroyed. Time to see whether Her Maj. of England might be interested in a little bit of scientific lovin'.

Balladeer wrote:

While I agree with a lot of what you've said (mostly that it's a sad but inevitable practice, and that fury out of nowhere is unwarranted), I read little to nothing into this.  They gave the most non-committal answer possible.  It meant nothing, and deserved to be glossed over until they give a more committal one, or do something to show that they've taken it on-board.  "We understand your concerns" is politics-speak for "will you go away now?"

Nintendo said this:

"We have heard and thoughtfully considered all the responses," Nintendo commented on the hashtag campaign. "We will continue to listen and think about the feedback. We're using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization." We have been looking to broaden our approach to development whenever possible as we put all our energy into continuing to develop fun games that will surprise and delight players."

I really don't know what more NoA could say given that they're essentially powerless and would have no say over Tomodachi Life 2 as Japan calls all the shots.

Quote :

Anyway, my plans to marry Einstein off to Hitler have been destroyed.  Time to see whether Her Maj. of England might be interested in a little bit of scientific lovin'.

You could always turn Hitler Mii female....   

In that case, something along the lines of "we'll pass that along to Nintendo of Japan, who call the shots" would have done.  Or "Nintendo of Japan have this to say in response, that isn't as non-committal as our answer."

I'm not saying that what they said is deserving of ire.  I'm just saying it's not deserving of anything.  Anyway, I guess we'll see in the future what it actually meant.

Now, would Ms. Hitler keep the moustache...?

New statement!

http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/c4FWbi-Uave2T9R1h7SFzX0aoa-d4pgx

We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.

Now that's what I'm talking about.  Well... played...

Wait...

Nintendo wrote:

We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.

Nintendo wrote:

We're not creating a next installment in the Tomodachi series, you whiny bastards.

I hope I'm wrong.  Still a good statement though.

Balladeer wrote:

Now that's what I'm talking about.  Well... played...

Wait...

Nintendo wrote:

We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.

Nintendo wrote:

We're not creating a next installment in the Tomodachi series, you whiny bastards.

I hope I'm wrong.  Still a good statement though.

You may be waiting until the next handheld system for it, and now you'd have to say it'd be a long shot as to whether it'll be released in the West. As ever, sales will dictate.

~~~

Much happier with the second statement than the first, though it will no doubt not raise headlines like the first one. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot at an already difficult time, Nintendo. 

Yep, its sad that it had to get to this point, but if Nintendo's statement paves the way for more inclusive games across the board, that can only be a positive thing.

It also means that Nintendo's E3 won't be overshadowed with constant "Nintendo Y U hate gays?" questions, which was something I feared. (Tomodachi is out the same week.)

ZeroJones wrote:

Much happier with the second statement than the first, though it will no doubt not raise headlines like the first one.

Mmmm, these words are tasty! 

Pretty good, BBC. Pretty good.

In other news, Nintendo are actually advertising for once!