Culture

Nintendo to ‘fix’ bug which allowed male same-sex relationships in computer game

May 13 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

Computer game giant Nintendo has addressed a “bug” in one of its popular titles, which allowed male same-sex couples to have relationships, get married and have children. Despite calls from users to keep the feature, Nintendo has issued a statement to say it will “fix” the issue.

Last week it was revealed by several gaming websites that the Japanese 3DS console version of the title Tomodachi Collection: New Life, allowed male Mii characters to get married to one another, due to a “bug” in the game. The game also allowed them to have and raise children together.

Female characters were not able to marry one another.

Advocates of equal marriage had hailed the bug as the first time Nintendo had allowed equal marriage, or same-sex relationships, on one of its titles, believing that it was not an accidental feature.

However the company has said it is to issue a patch, in order to “fix” the bug which allowed same-sex couples to be together.

According to a translation by Kotaku, the Japanese press release from Nintendo said that “human relations become strange”, and said it would issue a software patch to fix that, as well as several other bugs in the game.

The patch will also address problems such as “the inability to boot up the game”, “error messages”, and “the inability to save”.

Some users have publicly pledged not to download the patch, in a statement to promote gay rights, by continuing to allow gay relationships on the game. Others have used Twitter to reach out to Nintendo to ask it to leave the feature in place, and some have posted pictures of their male same-sex relationships.

In January it was announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic would follow other games to give players the options of same-sex relationships and romances.

The decision to add same-sex relationships in the Star Wars game was first floated in 2011. At the time EA Games said the introduction of gay characters left it inundated with anti-gay letters.

EA Games said it received “thousands” of letters complaining about the inclusion of gay characters, with many threatening to boycott the developer, but defended the decision to represent gay players.

EA hosted an event in New York in March focussing on LGBT issues within the gaming industry, and worked with the Human Rights Campaign and Ford Foundation to discuss issues from taking a stand against DOMA, to gay romance within video games, and getting involved in gay pride events.

In January, Electronic Arts joined coalition of businesses has formed in support of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, to allow equal marriage recognition to same-sex couples federally.

Last year, the makers of Final Fantasy XIV said that they will include same-sex marriages within their game.