New from E3 - a game for all you lonely gamers out there :)

[Dark Jezter]

Believe it or not, the first Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball actually had addictive gameplay. My brother and I rented it a few years ago, and it managed to entertain us all weekend long. So there was actually a reason to rent it other than computer-generated bikini babes.

On a semi-related topic, I will never understand why dating sims are so popular in Japan. To me, buying a video game that simulates dating is the very epitome of loserdom. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't see how it could compare to actually asking out girls and taking them out on real dates.

If dating sims ever catch on in the US, I think they should have warning labels attached that say "Warning: Playing this game will result in you remaining a virgin forever."

 

[KenM]

I don't understand dating sims either. I get rejected enough in real life, the last thing I want is to play a game and get rejected in that, too.

 

[TwistedBishop]

The "dating" in "Dating sims" is a very stretched euphemism. At least the ones I've seen.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I don't understand dating sims either. I get rejected enough in real life, the last thing I want is to play a game and get rejected in that, too.

Dating Sims ARE for you then, you almost can't get rejected. No matter what option you take, you'll get nudity.

Now, there are dating games like Rub Rabbit, but I doubt anyone likes them. I think "dating sim" is just a polite coverword for "select-a-porn".

 

[trancejeremy]

True, they're porn, but they're soft porn and somehow acceptable to see them alongside Playboy in most chain bookstores not limited to adult customers. Even them stores carry their labeled videos (assuming they have a video section).

No, the actual porn I'm talking about are from such labels as Vivid or Sin City.

They were soft porn, then they went hard in 1998 or so, in order to compete with the internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penthouse_Magazine

Though apparently this cost them.

 

[trancejeremy]

D'oh! Double post.

 

[trancejeremy]

On a semi-related topic, I will never understand why dating sims are so popular in Japan. To me, buying a video game that simulates dating is the very epitome of loserdom. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't see how it could compare to actually asking out girls and taking them out on real dates.

Well, I think you have it the other way around. It's for people who can't get dates. I know I have a heck of a time with it*, and I'm just boring, broke and ugly. If I were also fat or bald or had a lousy car, presumably those things would start to look appealing.


* With women anyway. For some reason, I have to beat men off with a stick. Which would be great if I were gay. But I'm not. Even on dating sites and things like Friendster, it's all gay men, almost zero women.

 

[Ranger REG]

Okay. Now that's just wrong.

Really? Because I was thinking of a hardware device that would complement a videogame based on Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

 

[ThirdWizard]

On a semi-related topic, I will never understand why dating sims are so popular in Japan. To me, buying a video game that simulates dating is the very epitome of loserdom. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't see how it could compare to actually asking out girls and taking them out on real dates.

They can be fun! The good ones at least. They're rarely about actual dating, thus the term visual novel or bishoujo game is more accurate. The vast majority is crap, though. Gems like Kana and Divi Dead make up for that. It's not a very good substitute for real dating, and I know too many Japanese treat them as such, but they can be fun on their own merits anyway.