Ntendo Bans Gay Marriage New Game Tomodachi Life | Time

Contents:

• NTENDO APOLOGIZ FOR OMTG GAY MARRIAGE FROM 'TOMODACHI LIFE'
• NTENDO'S REJECTN OF GAY RELATNSHIPS GIV FANS A LOT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT
• NTENDO SAYS 'NO' TO GAY GAME CHARACTERS
• NTENDO SAYS NO TO GAY WEDDGS UPG GAME

NTENDO APOLOGIZ FOR OMTG GAY MARRIAGE FROM 'TOMODACHI LIFE'

Ntendo hted Friday that may allow for gay relatnships future versns of s “Tomodachi Life” vio world’s largt vio game pany has been the target of cricism om gay-rights gamers who plaed that characters aren’t allowed to have same-sex relatnships English edns of the life-simulator game. ”A gay Arizona man, Tye Mari, took to social media last month urgg Ntendo to add same-sex relatnship optns to English versns of the handheld Ntendo 3DS game. "Ntendo has said that the abily for same-sex relatnships to occur was not part of the origal game that lnched Japan, where gay marriage is not legal.

Ntendo me unr fire om fans and gay rights anizatns last week after refg to add same-sex relatnship optns to the game "Tomodachi Life. Already a h Japan, "Tomodachi Life" is set for release June 6 North Ameri and Mari, a 23-year-old gay Ntendo fan om Ma, Arizona, lnched a social media mpaign last month seekg virtual equaly for the game's characters. "I don't believe they are a homophobic pany at all, " Mari said.

NTENDO'S REJECTN OF GAY RELATNSHIPS GIV FANS A LOT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT

"Yet the issue do mark a cultural divi between Japan, where gay marriage is not legal, and North Ameri and Europe, where gay marriage has bee legal some plac.

"While many English-language gam don't feature gay characters, several role-playg seri produced by English-speakg velopers, such as Electronic Arts, "The Sims, " Microsoft Studs' `'Fable" and Bethda Softworks' "The Elr Scrolls, " have allowed players to create characters that n woo others of the same sex, as well as marry and have Ntendo said this past week - rponse to Mari's growg mpaign - that wouldn't add same-sex relatnship optns to "Tomodachi Life, " the publisher of such gamg anchis as "The Legend of Zelda" and "Mar Bros. " was lled out by fans and anizatns such as the gay advocy group GLAAD. "Ntendo has taken a first step, but if the pany's longtime valu are rooted `fun and entertament for everyone, ' then needs to tch up to peers like Electronic Arts, which has been clive of LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr) gamers for years, " said GLAAD Print and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis a statement.

Even as the pany ntu to flounr s current state of fancial secury, much of the cricism om fans, tractors and dtry analysts is livered as if om a ncerned iend, rather than a dispassnate changed on Wednday, when Ntendo of Ameri (NOA) rpond to a social media mpaign askg the pany to allow players to enter to gay relatnships s game Tomodachi Life wh a flat nial issued to the Associated pany "never tend to make any form of social mentary wh the lnch of Tomodachi Life", the statement reasoned. 'Your life', but not if you're gay.

NTENDO SAYS 'NO' TO GAY GAME CHARACTERS

But if you make a game that's meant to simulate life – even a "whimsil and quirky versn" of life – and then tell a portn of your players that they're simply not allowed to make an thentic simulatn of their liv, somethg isn't addg the weirst part of Ntendo's jtifitn for effectively banng gay marriage the prec ltle virtual universe of Tomodachi Life is yet to e.

But part of what they loved about , acrdg to a report by my Kotaku lleague Brian Ashcraft, is that there was ially a bug the software that allowed players to dulge gay relatnships – or at least male on.

Japane players were "thrilled by the bug, postg photos of their gay upl onle". And given s tight-lipped reputatn, the clost we may ever get to hearg anyone om Ntendo speak ndidly about LGBT reprentatn is this week's opaque ncln that is g s sudn anti-gay marriage stance as "an opportuny to better unrstand [s] nsumers and their expectatns" and is "lookg to broan [s] approach to velopment whenever possible" Ntendo – the world's largt vio game pany by revenue – really never thk about the sexual inty of s ctomers before 2014?

NTENDO SAYS NO TO GAY WEDDGS UPG GAME

Whenever the vio game dtry do ask self why ntu to drag s feet on troducg gay characters, however, the answers aren't enuragg.

Earlier this year, Assass's Creed veloper Ubisoft let one of s openly gay wrers expla that even he uld not wre a queer protagonist to his own work "bee of fears that 'll impact sal"'s hard to accept that logic sce 's rarely backed up (at least openly) wh actual data. The same day that Ntendo explaed why didn't feel the need to clu gay marriage s popular sim game, the pany also reported that s earngs for the 2013 fisl year were even lower than the level had pre-emptively lowered them to back January. And the 3DS, that beloved mobile system on which Tomodachi Life will soon appear for gay and straight gamers alike Ameri, isn't dog so hot eher.