Konami's Dating MMO?

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1UP has a story up about a Konami MMO entitled Tokimeki Memorial Online (PC). The MMO, part of the Tokimeki Memorial series of school simulation and dating sim games, puts players in the role of students trying to score virtual dates with their classmates. Of course, unlike the offline games in the franchise, in this one the classmates are all other real people playing the MMO rather than NPCs. And, as 1UP points out, online genders can be deceiving.

The Tokimeki brand must be pretty powerful, because Konami felt it worthwhile to construct an entire internet cafe devoted to the game:

To help market this slightly odd experiment, Konami has just finished putting the final touches on a Tokimeki Internet cafe in the Harajuku area of Tokyo, Japan. The Cafe is set up to look like a classroom complete with an announcement room and a stage. Employees are dressed in school uniforms that match those of the school where the game takes place. In this cafe, there are dozens of PC terminals that all allow the customer to log into Tokimeki Memorial Online, currently in beta testing. Customers can walk into a cafe and pretend to be back at school, all while sitting at one of the computer terminals and playing a game where they can pretend to be back at school...on the Internet.

It just goes to show you, people will make a game out of anything. Then, they'll probably put it on the internet.

In unrelated MMO news, it seems that China's time limit system for online games simply isn't working, which doesn't come as much surprise. People are finding fairly direct ways around the three-hour limit. This comes as two Chinese parents are suing Blizzard after their son fell to his death jumping out of a tree while allegedly acting out a scene from World of Warcraft.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 23, 2005 8:32 AM

    I can date Japanese schoolgirls? Sign me the fuck up.

    YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, I'M NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT.

    • reply
      November 23, 2005 8:37 AM

      so you look up from your screen and... hmm.. its a bunch of nerdy dudes in a cafe... flirting with each other, hahahaha

    • reply
      November 23, 2005 1:26 PM

      I agree, glad someone else said it to.

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