Believe it or not, the quirky life-simulation title Tomodachi Life has been a source for some controversy lately. While the game allows for male and female Miis to form relationships and have children together, it doesn’t extend those abilities to Miis of the same sex. It was rumored that a glitch in the initial Japanese version of the game allowed players to do that, but that the glitch was later patched. That claim was later debunked, however, by Nintendo product marketing manager Bill Trinen.
“The other thing that was going on was that quite a few Japanese players were dressing up Mii characters… 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.” A patch released around the same time was actually made to correct a data-transfer issue, he told IGN, and was unrelated to issues of gender and sexuality in-game.
However, this has not stopped players from protesting the inability to have romantic relationships between two men and two women in Tomodachi Life. Petitions have been launched and commentary has sprouted up online regarding the game’s- and Nintendo’s- stance on the matter. Despite that, Nintendo has retained their initial view on the issue. Their most recent announcement reads:
“Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life,” a Nintendo of America representative said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary.”
Tomodachi Life is set to release in North America and Europe this summer for the 3DS.
