Thursday, April 10, 2014

The day we've all (or at least three or four of us have) waited for has arrived: Tomodachi Collection is coming to Europe and North America this June

Surprisingly, the bigwigs at Nintendo have decided to retain the Tomodachi part of this seemingly crazy 3DS game's Japanese title, although in the Western world the game will be known as Tomodachi Life rather than Tomodachi Collection: New Life.

Oh, and it will hit both European and North American store shelves on June 6. (It'll carry a price tag of $34.99 in the latter region; I'm not yet sure what it'll cost in the former.)

For more information on this zany life sim, check out its first trailer, below.



If you'd like a more in-depth look at Tomodachi Life, both of Nintendo's Western arms uploaded rather in-depth (and completely bananas) Nintendo Direct broadcasts devoted to the game early this morning. Watch the North American one here, and the European one here.

See also: 'We interrupt this program to inform you that Tomodachi Collection: New Life is almost assuredly heading West'
Posted by Bryan Ochalla
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19 comments:

Steve Pixel said...

I'm still glad this is coming out here, but they have yet to convince me there's anything interesting for me in the game (considering I have zero interest in Animal Crossing, The Sims or anything else this seems to be inspired by). If they suddenly decide to bring back the same-sex marriage "bug", I'd probably feel obligated to buy it, though.

What fascinates me most about this, however, is that they didn't take "Tomodachi" out of the name. And nobody seems to be saying anything about this! I think if they called it something like "Friend Crossing: New Life" they'd probably sell a few more copies here.

9:07 AM
thegaygamer.com said...

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they decide to add same-sex relationships to the NA and EU versions of the games or leave them out, Steve.


Sadly, I'm expecting them to be left out :|


As for Nintendo leaving the Tomodachi part in the NA and EU titles: that baffles me, too. Maybe they made that decision because the game is decidedly Japanese, even in its localized form, and so they thought they'd play on that a bit?


Regardless, I thought they'd go with Friend Collection--although, honestly, that's kind of a boring name, so maybe they went in the right direction after all.


I guess we'll find out in a few months.


Regardless, I don't much care how it sells at this point. I'm just glad I'm finally going to get to play this game in English.

9:17 AM
Zaphod65 said...

After months of seeing "Iwata has to resign!" posts all over the place, it was like Nintendo was thumbing their noses by showing Iwata's Mii goofing off. I loved it! I'll probably buy it.

1:43 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

Ha! I'd love it if that were the case, Terry. Also, I really hope this game catches on in EU, NA or both. It looks like so much fun :)

4:02 PM
Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I'm not sure if I'll get it or not. Defiantly not day 1 as the 3DS summer line up also includes Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Super Smash Brothers with SSB being a top priority for me. Mario Kart 8 also comes out late May and my Wii U is need of new game plus all the other eshop-only games I still need to get.

4:21 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

I'm definitely getting it on day one. The only question is whether I'll get the digital version, physical version or both.


It's possible I'll wait until my birthday (Nov) to pick up Kirby, actually. It really depends on how good of a dent I'm able to put into my gaming backlog in the next few months.


I do want the game, but I just don't need it at launch, you know?


As much as I like how both versions of SSB look, I'm not going to pick up either of them. I've picked up three versions of SSB now, and none of them have clicked with me, so I guess it's just not my thing.

4:30 PM
emisan said...

The game looks like crazy fun, but I spent too much time and energy in my real life pretending to be straight. I'll be damned if I have to pretend in a video game, too. I just want my Mii to end up with Erik Peterson :( Is that really so much to ask?

7:09 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

Hi emisan! And, yes, it's definitely going to be sad (if not worse than that) if Nintendo doesn't allow this in the EU and NA versions of the game. We don't know for sure, though, that those versions *won't* allow same-sex relationships, so don't give up hope yet. In fact, I just encountered someone on NeoGAF who wants to start some sort of effort to pressure Nintendo on this issue. Hopefully something will come of it so all of us can enjoy the game equally.

8:35 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

BTW, I should add here that at the moment I'm still very much planning to buy the game, but I have to admit that it's starting to sadden me--and even piss me off-- that the game may force opposite-sex relationships on me while I play the game. I know that probably sounds silly to some, and I know it's "just a game," but it's actually a rather big deal when you think about it--especially since it wouldn't have been all that tough (as far as I'm aware) for Nintendo to allow gamers to choose which kinds of relationships their Miis will get into in this game.

8:38 PM
Monster_Hunter2882 said...

After watching the Direct I might end up changing my mind. It looks zany and I love it. As for same-sex relationships, I'm doubting they'll added it in as those whiny little cowards in Mothers Who Can't Count would never shut up about it.

6:59 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, I'm sure you're right that nothing will be done about same-sex relationships.


I'm glad some folks (myself included) are making a stink about it, though, because if we/they don't Nintendo will never feel the need to change their practices regarding the LGBT community.


All that said, I'm still picking up the game and I'm very much looking forward to playing it.

7:21 PM
diaglyph said...

It got me curious. On the one hand I'd probably be amused by the game, but then I also see myself getting bored after a while

9:33 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, yeah, I can understand that. I have a *feeling* I'll like it enough--and long enough--to make it worth the investment, but I also can see this being the kind of game that doesn't last so long, if you get my drift.

10:22 PM
Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I'm glad too. Though I feel like LGBT people who are interested in it should buy it anyways to show that we're interested in the series and inform them of our desires for including same-sex romance in a clam manner. I also feel like pointing out it was discovered that the glitch didn't really make gay romance possible so at due least the controversy they seem to maybe aware about the demand for future entries. I'm imaging that putting them in the western version would be difficult since they would have to reprogram the way relationships work. Plus on the bright side from what I've seen of the game it appears it that uses the same Mii creator set-up as the Mii Maker which let you put beards on girls and you can maybe give them masculine or feminine voice regardless of sex so we can pretend they're in gay reltionships. The question now is if they can cross-dress like in New Leaf.

9:19 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

I can't fault LGBT people or LGBT-friendly people for any stance they take in regard to this game, honestly. If people want to pass on it because it ignores same-sex relationships, that's their choice.


Me, I'm going to buy it anyway, but I'm not happy about it. And should Nintendo make a sequel and release that outside of Japan--and not allow players to engage in same-sex relationships in the game--I'll definitely join the boycott crowd.


I don't really support the idea that it would have been too tough for Nintendo to allow such relationships in this version of the game, by the way. Yes, it would've required extra work, time, money, etc., but that's not much of an excuse, IMO.


Surely the folks at NOE/NOA made a ton of other changes to the game while localizing it that also required money, time and work, so why not go the extra mile and make a change that make ALL Westerners feel welcome to play it?

12:07 PM
Monster_Hunter2882 said...

Now that I've researched to relationship system more it doesn't seem like adding them in would be too hard to do. The main issue would be them having they could probably add a simple scenario were you Mii asks if they should adopt a child and the screen flashes white and then when it goes back to showing your Miis one of them is holding a baby.


I'm thinking we should not only being giving Nintendo heat for this but also the ESRB (along with the other rating systems in other countries) to change it so same-sex relationships that don't display anything sexual will not affect the rating. Looking at The Sims, the E rated titles in the series limit the relationships to heterosexual only but the T rated ones have no such limitation. I'm not saying this should be the way they have to added it in but they could make a patch that adds same sex romance that way people who don't want to see it or their children see it only have themselves to blame. While their at it maybe allows to change Miis gender mid-game. If they do they'll probably give it a stealth release that'll maybe quietly mention once. I also think patches or DLC don't affect the rating of the core product.

5:55 PM
thegaygamer.com said...

If the ESRB doesn't allow E-rated gamest to include any references to gayness or LGBT folk, I'm going to be really mad.


Gay sex? Yes, that should only appear in media with a higher rating. But gayness in general, or gay dating or marriage? How is that any different from straight dating or marriage?


Gah, this stuff makes me so mad sometimes :|

9:14 PM
Steve Pixel said...

My theory is they put Christina Aguilera in the game as a way to make the gays shut up and buy it. Because straight people haven't cared about her since what, 1999? Too bad I don't like that kind of music.

1:33 AM
thegaygamer.com said...

I don't think many gays cares about Christina these days either, Steve. I guess they could've gone with Lady Gaga or Madonna or even Cher instead, but I'm not sure those would be any more popular.

Seriously, if they're trying to attract the kids (young girls, especially), why not go for one of those other pop starlets of the moment, like Ariana Grande?

8:18 AM

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