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Virtual Girlfriend

Sven-Erik writes " BBC News reports about a Hong Kong based company called Artificial Life that has developed a solution for men without a partner, in the form of a virtual girlfriend that appear as an animated figure on the video screen of a mobile phone. But there is a downside to the virtual girlfriend - she will require more flowers and gifts than many real women. All virtual girls will look the same - but each girl will behave differently - depending on how much money is spent on her. In return, she will introduce them to different aspects of her life, like letting them meet her female friends - also electronic images. Artificial Life is hoping to launch the new game later this year, on the latest 3-G mobile phones.

23 of 649 comments (clear)

  1. Virtual girlfriend? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Been there, done that, and boy is my hand tired.

    1. Re:Virtual girlfriend? by Ooblek · · Score: 5, Funny

      But, hey, think about it.....now you can be bitched at over your cell phone without having to spend air time minutes!

  2. No Thanks! by CommanderData · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd rather go to a bar and meet chicks to spend money on.

    Just don't tell my wife ;)

    --
    Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
    1. Re:No Thanks! by JimFromJersey · · Score: 5, Funny

      > steel their purse

      well that is iron-ic

      --
      between the greater and lesser infinities sleep the dreams undreamt
  3. You've got to be kidding me?! by jeffs72 · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the cost and none of the sex? Whats the friggin point?!?!?!

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    This article has recently been linked from Slashdot. Please keep an eye on the page history for errors or vandalism.
    1. Re:You've got to be kidding me?! by polecat_redux · · Score: 5, Funny

      They should have called it: Virtual Frigid Golddigging Bitch.

      Art imitating life?

    2. Re:You've got to be kidding me?! by johnkoer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Preparation for married life?????

    3. Re:You've got to be kidding me?! by turgid · · Score: 5, Funny
      All the cost and none of the sex? Whats the friggin point?!?!?!

      Perhaps it's targetted at Young Republicans and the Abstainers etc.?

  4. This just isn't fair... by switcha · · Score: 5, Funny
    Posting this to Slashdot's front page is like driving a doughnut cart past a fat camp.

    "tsk, tsk...they never had a chance..."

    --
    You know what? ... A little club soda *did* get that out!
  5. Duh by sasquatch21 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "For men without a partner, help may be at hand..."

    Duh

  6. Is that possible? by Trimbo2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "she will require more flowers and gifts than many real women"

    Is that even possible?

  7. One of the saddest things I'v ever read. by The+Angry+Mick · · Score: 5, Funny
    From TFA:
    ... a Japanese company that recently created a Boyfriend Arm Pillow - for women who miss being hugged by a man at night.

    Thanks to that sentence and the topic of virtual girlfriends in general, I almost want to sit down and cry.

    --

    I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.

  8. wrong idea by ucsckevin · · Score: 5, Funny

    great, a Tamagoochi that wants gucchi.

  9. Re:I seem to remember... by rmarll · · Score: 5, Funny

    " Somthing similar to this where guys would buy virtual presents for real women, sometimes spending upwards of $30-$200. Anyone care to shed light on what that one was, and whether it is still in business? "

    I think the developer was De Beers, the gifts were 3-20k. If memory serves, the game was called Failed Relationship.

  10. Re:is it just me... by pikine · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... or does the girl really look like the bride of chucky?

    --
    I once had a signature.
  11. Re:is it just me... by Schnapple · · Score: 5, Funny
    So it's all the fun of spending money on women with none of that annoying sex.

    And to think I got married...

  12. You have no idea how realistic it is. by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wow, it's realistic, too!!
    Just wait until much later in the game when you get introduced to her "virtual divorce lawyer."
    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  13. Re:is it just me... by Mateito · · Score: 5, Funny
    serial killer/rapist/panty sniffer

    What traumatic child-hood experience causes you to lump "panty sniffer" in with those other extremes?

    Panty sniffing is not a problem (obviously between consenting adults)

  14. Re:Oh yeah... by schiefaw · · Score: 5, Funny
    A girlfriend that you can TURN OFF when you're ready to go out for brews and pool.

    Oh, come now! I'm sure you've turned off plenty of women.

    --
    Angleyne: You can't bend that girder - it's unbendable! Bender: Well I don't know anything about lifting, so that ju
  15. Re:is it just me... by Aerog · · Score: 5, Funny

    I feel good about not having a real girlfriend all the time. All it takes is one run through the meat-grinder that is a whiny, lying, needy, depressive, self-centered, cheating wench. Now I have more time and money than I've had in a long time and none of the trying to please someone who doesn't deserve it. So I bought a new 19" NEC LCD, named it Nicole, and declared that it can now be my new girlfriend. Strangely enough (to answer ACs right up front), the sex got better.

    But I guess if some people haven't had to deal with (in)significant-other hell, then maybe this is just what the doctor ordered. Then they can "dump" their virtual girlfriend and save a fat sack of cash. Might I suggest a nice new monitor and a DSL connection?

    --

    - Relativistic? That's barely Newtonian!
  16. It's *so* obvious where this is wil go... by Jucius+Maximus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Upgrading to Wife 1.0

    Last a friend of mine upgraded from Girlfriend 4.0 to Wife 1.0 and found
    that it's memory hog leaving few system resources for other applications.
    He is now noticing the Wife 1.0 is also spawning Child-processes, which is
    further consuming valuable resources. No mention of this particular
    phenomenon was included in the product documentation, though other users
    have informed me that this is to be expected due to the nature of the
    application.

    Not only that, Wife 1.0 installs itself so that it is always launched at
    system initialization where it can monitor all other system activity. Some
    applications such as PokerNight 10.3, BachelorParty 2.5 and PubNight 7.0
    are no longer able to run on the system at all, causing the system to
    lockup when launched (even though the apps worked fine before).

    Wife 1.0 provides no installation options. Thus, the installation of
    undesired plug-ins such as Mother-in-law 55.8 and the Brother-in-law Beta
    is unavoidable. Also system performance seems to diminish each passing day.

    Some features my friend would like to see in the upcoming Wife 2.0:

    A "don't remind me again button"
    A Minimize button
    The ability to delete the "headache" file
    An install feature that provides an option to uninstall 2.0 version
    without loss of other system resources
    An option to run the network driver in "promiscuous mode" allowing the
    systems hardware probe to be much more useful/effective.

    I myself wish I had decided to avoid all of the headaches associated with
    Wife 1.0 by sticking with Girlfriend 3.0. Even here, however, I have found
    many problems. Apparently you cannot install Girlfriend 4.0. You must
    uninstall Girlfriend 3.0 first, otherwise the two versions of Girlfriend
    will have conflicts over shared use of the I/O port.

    Other users have told me that this is a long-standing problem that I
    should have been aware of. Guess that explains what happened to versions 1
    & 2.

    To make matters worse, the uninstall program for Girlfriend 3.0 doesn't
    work very well, leaving undesirable traces of the application in the
    system. Another identified problem is that all versions of Girlfriend have
    annoying little messages about the advantages of upgrading to Wife 1.0.

    VIRUS ALERT

    All users should be aware that Wife 1.0 has an undocumented bug. If you
    try to install Mistress 1.1 before uninstalling Wife 1.0, Wife 1.0 will
    delete MS Money files before doing the uninstall itself. Once that
    happens, Mistress 1.1. won't install and you will get an "insufficient
    resources" error message. To avoid the aforementioned bug, try installing
    Mistress 1.1 on a different system and 'never'
    run any file transfer applications (such as Laplink) between the two
    systems.

    1. Re:It's *so* obvious where this is wil go... by errxn · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...not to mention that once you upgrade from Girlfriend X.X to Wife 1.0, it quickly becomes bloatware.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.
  17. Re:is it just me... by kannibal_klown · · Score: 5, Funny

    So it's all the fun of spending money on women with none of that annoying sex.

    And to think I got married...


    Oh, so you're already there :)