[Tomodachi Life] Do very, very odd things with your Miis starting June 6

cloudeagle

So this game series is a big seller on the 3DS in Japan, but it hasn't been released in the west because it was far too weird. How to sell it over here? Add guns and angry eyebrows? No, Nintendo decided to make a video that takes their execs' willingness to be quirky on camera to new heights. Seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcmx4kC0tiU#t=352

Apparently, you can import your mii on an island with their own personality and synthesized voice. Then you can sing, fall in love, roll around on the ground, have cracked-out dreams, engage in RPG battles against hamburgers... er... I honestly have no idea what's going on here. Just watch the video.

Comes out June 6 in the US and Europe.

Ov3rcharge

This is a thing I want in my life. Even if it turns out to br awful.

Maz-

Cloudeagle, you are the mermaid to my endless ocean.

LBD_Nytetrayn

Interested in this, but between this, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Disney Magical World, it seems like Nintendo might risk oversaturating a genre which tends to have a long tail to begin with...

WotanAnubis

I have no idea if I would ever even want this game, but I'm kind of happy it exists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lQIoUK4SLI

Also, the European version had Shibata.

Magic Pink

I can't not own this.

Voth

I do want to play this, I just wonder if it will still keep me interested in the long term.

Sterica

I didn't expect this to get a western release, but I may pass given the controversy.

Fire Emblem was one thing, but at some point you have to put your foot down and say "C'mon, Nintendo."

Jam Warrior

In an ideal world I would love for same sex relationships to be a no big thing in a family video game.

In the real world I do not expect the famously conservative Nintendo to be a trail blazer.

Saddened at the missed opportunity for sure, but finding it hard to be outraged at something so expected.

Niceguyeddie616

Jam Warrior wrote: »

In an ideal world I would love for same sex relationships to be a no big thing in a family video game.

In the real world I do not expect the famously conservative Nintendo to be a trail blazer.

Saddened at the missed opportunity for sure, but finding it hard to be outraged at something so expected.

I feel the outrage here is a necessary consequence, and I'm a huge Nintendo fanboy. If nobody says anything, that gives them the idea to continue ignoring same sex relationships. We have to speak out when this happens, not just with Nintendo but with ANY company, otherwise nothing will ever change.

Brainiac 8

Sporky, I think brought out the fact that in Japan, gay marriage is illegal.

That could be why the option is missing or was maybe never even brought up at the round table.

PMAvers

Didn't the original version in Japan have it, but there was a bug that would eat saved games that was linked to it so they had to patch it out?

Or am I thinking of a different game?

Namrok

I saw something about that elsewhere. Evidently there was a Mii importing hack that would trick the game into having a male-male relationship. However, when the game went to produce a child for the couple, the code for it would choke on which one gets pregnant and die.

This comes not just second hand, but probably fifth hand. So take it with a grain of salt.

Renzo

PMAvers wrote: »

Didn't the original version in Japan have it, but there was a bug that would eat saved games that was linked to it so they had to patch it out?

Or am I thinking of a different game?

That story floated around for a bit, but I'm seeing reports that either it was a bug that would cause game-breaking problems like you're saying OR what people were seeing were female Miis made to look like males.

Jam Warrior

Niceguyeddie616 wrote: »

Jam Warrior wrote: »

In an ideal world I would love for same sex relationships to be a no big thing in a family video game.

In the real world I do not expect the famously conservative Nintendo to be a trail blazer.

Saddened at the missed opportunity for sure, but finding it hard to be outraged at something so expected.

I feel the outrage here is a necessary consequence, and I'm a huge Nintendo fanboy. If nobody says anything, that gives them the idea to continue ignoring same sex relationships. We have to speak out when this happens, not just with Nintendo but with ANY company, otherwise nothing will ever change.

I in no way deny anybody else's right to be outraged if they so desire.

I would also not be impressed by anybody (by which I mean anybody, not specifically getting at any posters) who attacks anybody else for either being or not being outraged. Your feelings are your own.

Sterica

Gay marriage is illegal in many states in the US, but that doesn't make depictions of it in media illegal.

That's like outlawing Cheech & Chong movies because weed is still illegal in most states.

urahonky

Namrok wrote: »

I saw something about that elsewhere. Evidently there was a Mii importing hack that would trick the game into having a male-male relationship. However, when the game went to produce a child for the couple, the code for it would choke on which one gets pregnant and die.

This comes not just second hand, but probably fifth hand. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'm guessing the code looked something like this:

public function produceChild(Relationship r){
    r.getFemale(); // Throws error if two males in the relationship
}

So of course import hacking would break a game.

Renzo

Killing people is also illegal in I THINK every state, but MAN have you seen some of these videogames these days?

Voth

Right, our politicians, heck even our neighbors, haven't figured out how same-sex relationships play out in society. I'd like them to create an update to allow them to happen at some point but I'm not sure if I could reasonably expect Nintendo to implement this anytime soon.

I'd guess there would have to be an option to allow for same-sex relationships on the Mii level. I mean, I wouldn't expect my straight mii character to start a relationship with a same-sex Mii. Or maybe I'm over thinking it.

Namrok

You know, one day I do want to make a video game. Take a break from my 9 to 5, and go nuts.

I'm quickly learning that the safest thing to do is to not include any people, any relationships, or anything at all that could be taken as an approximation or a political statement about our world. Cause people read a lot of stuff into what is in, or not in, works of fiction. And I'd just as soon not deal with that nonsense.

Sterica

So what you're saying is that you actually don't want to make a video game?

UncleSporky

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sporky, I think brought out the fact that in Japan, gay marriage is illegal.

That could be why the option is missing or was maybe never even brought up at the round table.

Someone else said that, I didn't even know that.

Namrok

There are always abstracts. Geometry Wars!

urahonky

You polygon hating motherfucker.

Viskod

Namrok wrote: »

You know, one day I do want to make a video game. Take a break from my 9 to 5, and go nuts.

I'm quickly learning that the safest thing to do is to not include any people, any relationships, or anything at all that could be taken as an approximation or a political statement about our world. Cause people read a lot of stuff into what is in, or not in, works of fiction. And I'd just as soon not deal with that nonsense.

You should watch this then. Care Free Bomb posted it in the Wii U thread when all this was over there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_tdztHiyiE

Namrok

Only polygons without the exact same number of sides as me.

Voth

Hey, now, I have polygon friends. I can't possibly be a hater

Brainiac 8

UncleSporky wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sporky, I think brought out the fact that in Japan, gay marriage is illegal.

That could be why the option is missing or was maybe never even brought up at the round table.

Someone else said that, I didn't even know that.

I wasn't sure, couldn't remember. That was news to me too.

cloudeagle

Ah, Japan. Where vending machines selling used panties and animated depictions of tentacle rape are a-okay, but two dudes kissing? Shocking!

Sterica

cloudeagle wrote: »

Ah, Japan. Where vending machines selling used panties and animated depictions of tentacle rape are a-okay, but two dudes kissing? Shocking!

Let's not go too far here. The USA doesn't much room to talk, after all.

Kid Presentable

As is often the case, it almost feels like Nintendo's response is a worse sin than the original lack of implementation. Although as I'm saying that I guess I can't actually think of a way for them to say "No" to the #Miiquality movement that I'd be okay with. Wait, no I take that back too; Nintendo of America is just porting over a game that already exists, I don't think its unreasonable for them to decline putting the game back in the oven to add features to it, as much as I would like for them to do so. Instead they came out with a pretty oblivious, flimsy, dismissive and exclusionary excuse.

I get the "Well, its Nintendo" sentiment, in the same way that you sometimes just have to write-off your old racist grandma, but I still wish they were better at this. Get it together, grandma.

Brainiac 8

NoA doesn't have the power to put the game back in the oven. That is all Japan's call. NoA are basically having to put out a fire they have very little to no control over.

Magic Pink

UncleSporky wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sporky, I think brought out the fact that in Japan, gay marriage is illegal.

That could be why the option is missing or was maybe never even brought up at the round table.

Someone else said that, I didn't even know that.

They have a VERY weird sterotype of gay men as well; they feel they just do it as a side hobby until they find the right woman. The most any man could ever be is bisexual and that's just because they're bored.

But yeah this whole thing in Japan was just a hack bug.

Voth

Don't we have that stereotype here, too? Or is that just a Chasing Amy flashback I'm having?

Magic Pink

Voth wrote: »

Don't we have that stereotype here, too? Or is that just a Chasing Amy flashback I'm having?

We have that but just for lesbians.

Gay guys are just abominations, unclean, etc etc etc.

Kid Presentable

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

NoA doesn't have the power to put the game back in the oven. That is all Japan's call. NoA are basically having to put out a fire they have very little to no control over.

Agreed, that's kind of what I was getting at in fact. They probably should have just said that, instead of the dumb things that they did say.

Niceguyeddie616

Kid Presentable wrote: »

As is often the case, it almost feels like Nintendo's response is a worse sin than the original lack of implementation. Although as I'm saying that I guess I can't actually think of a way for them to say "No" to the #Miiquality movement that I'd be okay with. Wait, no I take that back too; Nintendo of America is just porting over a game that already exists, I don't think its unreasonable for them to decline putting the game back in the oven to add features to it, as much as I would like for them to do so. Instead they came out with a pretty oblivious, flimsy, dismissive and exclusionary excuse.

I get the "Well, its Nintendo" sentiment, in the same way that you sometimes just have to write-off your old racist grandma, but I still wish they were better at this. Get it together, grandma.

See this is my problem, that one of my favorite game companies are acting like grandma. They've had enough issues recently with being outdated, from tech specs to online play, and this is not gonna help that image at all.

cj iwakura

Voth wrote: »

Don't we have that stereotype here, too? Or is that just a Chasing Amy flashback I'm having?

I always thought Chasing Amy was pretty even-handed in its portrayal of gays. Aside from Banky, who(as Kevin Smith's made clear) is the dumbest character in the film and anything out of his mouth should be taken with a pile of salt.

agoaj

PMAvers wrote: »

Didn't the original version in Japan have it, but there was a bug that would eat saved games that was linked to it so they had to patch it out?

Or am I thinking of a different game?

That wasn't accurate
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/05/nintendo-on-gay-marriage-and-tomodachi-life

“There actually was a misconception over what the issue in December was,” product marketing manager Bill Trinen told IGN last April. “There were two things that were going on at the time that essentially were grouped together as one. The first, that there was a patch. And what the patch was fixing was actually a data leak.”

Trinen explained that a free tool on the 3DS eShop allowed players to transfer over Mii characters from the 2009, Japan-only DS version to the 3DS game caused a problem. When a player brought those characters into 3DS’s Tomodachi Collection, it caused a data transfer issue that corrupted the save data and prevented people from progressing.

“The other thing that was going on was that quite a few Japanese players were dressing up Mii characters,” Trinen explained. “Essentially they would create a male version of a Mii character and assign their gender as female, and that was how the two males were able to have a baby.”

The patch did not change the fact that players could do that.

Zython

Is it just me, or are the only games that get criticized for this kind of thing Japanese games? I'm not the only one whose noticed this, am I? I mean, no one raised a huge stink about GTA V or DmC. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for same-sex marriage, and would like to see it implemented in future installments in the series (a little late to do so for this one), but I find the trend of which games get criticized, and which ones get a pass to be a tad troubling.

UncleSporky

Zython wrote: »

Is it just me, or are the only games that get criticized for this kind of thing Japanese games? I'm not the only one whose noticed this, am I? I mean, no one raised a huge stink about GTA V or DmC. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for same-sex marriage, and would like to see it implemented in future installments in the series (a little late to do so for this one), but I find the trend of which games get criticized, and which ones get a pass to be a tad troubling.

I would say that the main games that get criticized for this are the games where you are ostensibly playing as yourself, in your own body, as opposed to playing a character with their own life or playing a role. And the game must also feature romance of some sort to where sexual preference would be an actual game mechanic.

For example it's not a problem if you are playing as a 15 year old boy named Elzin who has 2 childhood friends who accompany him on his quest of great importance. Because maybe he's just straight.

It's not much of a problem if you are creating a character who exists in a fantasy world who is not necessarily intended to be you, the player, because you can be a dragon man or a cat man or whatever and maybe they've got weird mating rituals that we can't even identify with. Guys play as female elves and roleplay whatever they feel like, because it's not supposed to be them.

But a Mii is supposed to be you, so I understand that. And there is romance in Tomodachi Life.

Find Mii on 3DS also has your Mii and they even drop blonde hair on them and call one version of you a prince and one a princess, assigning different genders to your Mii. This is just silliness though, and there is no mechanic in the game where this might matter at all.


People in the Wii U thread said that the idea of a game making a statement about what is and isn't acceptable is like the idea that a generic novel about a male and female married couple would be making a statement about what is acceptable, but the married couple are specific people who are not you, and maybe they just both happened to be straight.