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Strangest Japanese Videogame Genres Discussed

Posted by simoniker on from the rhinoceros-beetle-raising-looks-cool dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for their column discussing a number of videogame genres that are popular in Japan, but not in the West. Picks include the more obvious such as dating sims ("Players look through the eyes of a young man and try to woo a variety of girls by making the proper dialogue choices"), pet raising sims ("where you raise and, uh, feed an everyday hamster... or a rhinoceros beetle"), and even voyeurism-based titles such as Primal Image, where "...poorly constructed 3D women with frightening facial features played brief animated sequences while you took pictures before the time limit ran out." Have Japanese-only genres such as dating got the capacity to take off in the States?

2 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Karma whore? Me? by Haeleth · · Score: 4, Informative

    My other post here says why I think Gamespy's assessment of dating sims is [censored], so here are some links for anyone who wants to find out about them from people who don't think they're only for the terminally weird:

    The ren'ai games mailing list.

    You already read Megatokyo, right? Check the forums: the "dating sims" forum there includes plenty of information, as well as a FAQ which covers the subject in some depth.

  2. Re:I've played my fair share of dating sims by Psx29 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are thinking of two different things, although I suppose they are similar in many ways. There are "dating sims" and then there are "adult games". The latter is of an entirely pornographic nature and usually the stories of these games is nothing to write home about. OTOH, many so called "dating sims" do feature a good story that can be interesting. And BTW, most of the regular dating sims are for consoles and not for the PC. (In fact, the console manufacturers will still not allow pornographic material to be published)