Nintendo has not been having a good week responding to queer critics. The gaming giant is set to release Tomodachi Life in the United States. The game features the daily lives of the characters (similar to the Sims for computer platforms). In the Japanese version of the game, a bug allowed characters to participate in same sex relationships. However, Nintendo “fixed†the bug for the American market, and many gaymers have been incensed with the change.
Their first statement about the change was horribly worded and led to more attention being focused on this problem. This prompted Tye Marini to start the #MiiQuality hashtag on Twitter to prompt the company to change the game to allow for variations in relationships. After the story got picked up by several mainstream news outlets, Nintendo put out a new announcement.
Maybe this will start a movement throughout the gaming industry to recognize that more and more people are calling for queer characters to be represented on the same level as their straight counterparts. We’ll see if Nintendo lives up to their promise
