I was browsing HMV when I saw a dating sim game featured on the front page… albeit one using real-life idols instead of illustrated/drawn characters. True to tradition, it’s even released in different versions: Standard, First Press Limited, and Limited Period Manufacture…
According to the product description:
AKB48 1st Official Game!!
PSP Game “AKB1/48 Idol to Koishitara…”The love simulation game like never before!!
All 48 members of AKB48 appear, and the concept is that you have to choose 1 and reject the other 47.
…I have to wonder…
…looking at the screenshots lifted off HMV, it does look like a proper dating sim… albeit one featuring real-life idols from AKB48. There’s a nice write-up about the game here, although my post is not about the game itself.
I was just wondering… if they can do something like this, wouldn’t the reverse be possible? Wouldn’t it be possible to create one aimed at females gamers, one which features male idols instead? Or maybe, to cater to a different niche, one featuring male seiyuu instead? And my next question is, will it sell?
That sort of got me thinking… personally, I guess I prefer animated/illustrated characters. At least with those the funky hair and eye colours wouldn’t look bizarre, to start with. And then you get the seiyuu to act the characters, so you’d get a complete persona… but… I don’t know. Maybe if you get the male idols to act as a certain type of character instead of just be themselves… maybe…
…I don’t know. Any thought, musing or opinion out there?
…oh, also, Togainu no Chi (the PS2 version) is getting ported to PSP. Why am I not surprised? Am not sure if I should buy it… still holding out on a hope that maybe JAST USA will pick up the PC version and license it…
Otome Gaming Diary 
Sep 30, 2010 @ 13:44:40
LOL why am I not surprised? (Actually the question would be WHY would I even think about being surprised in the first place.) AKB48 has always… Scared me, some how, with their (even more) blatant fanservice by stepping up some of the usual things in Japanese girlbands like school-girl, sexiness (umm yeah those summer mvs…), and just all-around objectification and moe-fication.
So yeah. Not surprised that the company would decide to take the message of “beautiful, willing girls all clamouring for youuuuuuuu” further with this subject matter. Smart move, too. I’d check it out if I wasn’t so disturbed.
(Now as to the RL guys version… Haha I’ll pass. Since the kind of guys I would find hot are those with nice toned bodies and… That’s not exactly in accordance with the Japanese aesthetic on “hot guys”. xD) <–ok to be fair they're fit too but just… too skinny. =/
Oct 01, 2010 @ 23:54:20
Until I saw that game, I never even heard of AKB48… and from your comment, I think I rather stay away anyway ^^;
For the RL guys version, I thought it *might* work… assuming that the guys would assume the persona of a fictional character instead of, well, just being himself… like… whenever I have to explain what an otome game is to people who don’t have a single clue, I’d usually tell them to imagine an anime, but one which is interactive. So along the same line, a dating sim with RL guys… will be like an interactive TV drama? …maybe. Might even work, depending on who they cast…
Oct 01, 2010 @ 22:23:41
Wow, first time there… and first time reading this.
Personally, I think the same as you. Real people make the whole thing kinda twisted in my mind. Come on, seeing REAL people when you’re doing this to unlock some GC or endings? lol. That’s kinda weird. Besides, we’re so used to watch anime and drooling after bishies that doing this is kinda weird…
Somehow, seeing real people make me wonder what the hell am I doing playing this when they are real, touchable guys before me. ….Don’t get me wrong (because this DOES sound wrong), I mean, seeing real thing and seeing fake real thing is different. When the fake relationship is pictured with fake people, you relate it to the part of imagination and stuff… but real pictures? Not much for me.
I’ll pass on that…
I hope I didn’t sound any weird… but I’ll blame it on my non-American/British part and that English isn’t my first language. 😛
Oct 02, 2010 @ 00:08:20
First, thanks for your comments 😀
While it’s true that if it’s RL guys it’d feel so weird… but at the same time, wouldn’t it be like a romance TV dramas/movies (albeit one where you can choose your own ending)? There you have a RL guy acting out an imaginary character, and a combination of both the RL guy’s looks and the character’s personality are ultimately the thing which the (female) audience would swoon over. It doesn’t even have to be one from the romance genre… the first example that came to my mind was Legolas from LoTR. While I’m yet to find myself swooning or having a real crush over a fictional character, the multitudes of mary-sue fanfics makes me think it’s probably more common than I thought.
Personally, I’ll pass on the concept as I don’t have enough time as it is trying to conquer imaginary guys 😉 But thinking about it… just thinking, and thinking, and thinking about it… I thought it *might* work.
The part when you said about fake relationship and fake/real people… reminded me of a thought I had when playing Last Escort: Club Katze. Might post something about that…
And don’t worry, if anything, I think I sound weirder than you 😉 I’m neither American or British and English isn’t my first language either 🙂
Oct 03, 2010 @ 02:30:09
LOL I totally get you about the “seeing the real thing and seeing the fake-real thing”!!
Oct 04, 2010 @ 00:52:28
My point of view may be extreme, I guess. It may be because I don’t really “love” the characters in movie. (Lol, Legolas… I used to call him “dégueulasse’ with my sister because we didn’t like him xD)
And, don’t you think that real people would cut off our imagination space? And I doubt you can really extend this kind of game really far… As if we did not complain enough about overacting and stuff…
Bleh, me is trying to finish Queen of Darkness (remake)… TT””” I still can’t get good endings. Maybe I’m doing this wrongly lol.
Oct 04, 2010 @ 12:30:13
True, using real people would limit the possible scenarios. …probably the only doable scenario would be the usual normal highschool romance, and none of the more exotic storylines like fantasy or sci-fi… just because the event CGs and costumes would look tacky :S
…need to get around to playing the remake one of these days… :S
Oct 05, 2010 @ 05:49:32
Besides, I think that using real people would limit the possible goodies… (Yeah, goodies. Who could have thought of THAT? xD)
The only thing it would change is that idols would get more popular, I guess.
Oh, and that people may get even weirder…. (Especially to us, non-japanese people. o_o)
Oct 10, 2010 @ 05:40:42
There was actually a real life simulation for a boy band called V6 back in the 90’s for PS1. I don’t remember the name of it. The player acted as their manager and you could get an ending with one of the members. Even though it did feature the actually members dong daily activites it also had caricatures of the members too.
Oct 13, 2010 @ 17:03:31
…a part of me is actually quite intrigued, wondering if there’s a screenshot or such for it, somewhere…
Oct 17, 2010 @ 08:25:19
Hah. I’d love it if they did a JE one.. but somehow I doubt it. ):