Left: A man stands next to a tiny black and white panel to have his picture taken and displayed including the animated image of a girl through (right) an iPhone application.

ATAMI – A beach town that used to be a favorite of couples for getaway and relaxation has found a new way to attract tourist in the tech inclined application “virtual girlfriends”.

The focus of the men’s attention — and of their smartphone cameras — was a tiny black and white square, a two-dimensional bar code that, thanks to “augmented reality” (AR) software, brought to life the object of their desire.

“Look, it’s like I’m in a snapshot with her,” said Shu Watanabe, 23, as he showed off his iPhone display, featuring himself next to the image of a doe-eyed cartoon character named Rinko, a smiling high school girl.

Rinko may only be digital, but try telling that to Watanabe or the legions of other fans of “Love Plus”, a dating sim or simulation game that is played on handheld Nintendo DS consoles and also boasts AR applications for iPhones.

The hit videogame made headlines when a 27-year-old Japanese man known only as “Sal 9000″ staged a tuxedo wedding late last year, which was watched by thousands online, with his favorite cartoon girl, Nene Anegasaki.

Their latest edition is to team up with Atami, one of Japan city. They have 13 romantic hot spots spread in different locations with images of teenage friends Manaka and Nene.

Love Plus, released only on the Japanese market, has become the country’s most popular dating game since its release last September, selling nearly 430,000 copies, according to research firm Enterbrain.

The secret is that the dating game goes a step beyond the genre’s usual boy-meets-girl script and asks players to build long-term relationships.

“In conventional love games, you went up stages to make a virtual girl fall in love with you, so that she would accept you as a boyfriend or express her love for you,” said Konami spokesman Kunio Ishihara.

“But players of Love Plus are in a scenario where they are a high school boy who is already dating one of the virtual girls. The goal is to see how good you can be to her and to build a relationship.”

Love Plus is an open-ended “communication game” with basic voice recognition software and a screen clock that keeps real time to make players feel like they are really sharing their life with a girlfriend, Ishihara said.

That means that the girl can get moody when neglected by a player who is not sufficiently committed, and that she demands attention when she feels unwell.

If players want to go on a summer trip with their girlfriends, they have to convince her, virtual girlfriend, and plan ahead through virtual communication, Ishihara said.

“Love Plus is fun because the relationship continues forever.”

Atami’s business association was at first hesitant and puzzled by the story line, in which a high school girl spends a night at a resort hotel with a man.

“Some people were opposed to taking part in this campaign, saying the game is immoral,” said association member Saiki Ota.

“We also didn’t expect it would sell that much.”

But they eventually realized the economic impact of the project, he added.

Konami’s Ishihara stressed that the game has no sexual content.

“The virtual girls can kiss you as a way of communication, but nothing happens when she sleeps next to you at the hotel,” he said. “We have no intention of trying to sell a product with pornographic elements.

“I think Love Plus fans would get offended if somebody tried to disrespect his girlfriend like that.”

source NZentertainment

Posted by c-naj on Tuesday, 31 Aug 2010 06:48:AM. Filed under Gaming, Lifestyle, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry