KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
>> THEO TKACZEVSKI,
A 23-YEAR-OLD AMERICAN
STUDENT LIVING IN
JAPAN, FOUND HIMSELF
CONFRONTING A MORTIFYING
GIRLFRIEND SITUATION.
He was heading home on a
crowded commuter train in Osaka
two years ago when his girlfriend,
Rinko, began chastising him for
abruptly ending their conversation the night before. She demanded a clear indication of his
devotion: He had to profess his
love to her, right there, in the
middle of the throng.
“I love you, I love you, I love
you,” Tkaczevski dutifully whispered in Japanese, trying to
keep his head down so other
passengers wouldn’t stare.
Shortly after making amends,
he stuffed Rinko into his pocket.
Rinko is the first girl to whom
Tkaczevski has ever said such
words. Rinko is also a video game:
She’s one of three virtual girlfriends that players can choose
from in LovePlus, a Japanese dating simulator for the pocket-sized
Nintendo DS game player.
Though LovePlus is sold exclusively in Japan and in Japanese,
thousands of men and women
around the world — from highschoolers to the middle-aged
scattered from Johannesburg
to Jacksonville — have become
hooked on the companionship its
digital girlfriends provide. (An
unofficial version of the game
is also available with some text
translated to English.)
Some play to better prepare
themselves for real-life dating,