Japanese Gamer Marries Virtual Sweetheart

The parents of a Japanese gamer known as "Sal9000" must be surprised! Their son has taken an avatar as his new bride! Sal9000's beautiful new bride is the somewhat famous (or infamous) Nene Anegasaki. Nene is a game character from the simulated dating game, Love Plus, that is played on the Nintendo DS game system. The groom's actual name has not been released, he is only known as Sal9000, his Nintendo Love Plus moniker.

The "happy" couple were married on November 22 in Guam and celebrated with their friends at a reception held in Tokyo. The wedding was live cast on Nico Nico Douga, a popular video sharing website. Plans for a honeymoon have not yet been announced. Check out the details of this unusual marriage on Plugged In, Fox News, or Boing Boing.

This is not the first love story between an otaku and a digital entity. Otaku is a Japanese word used to describe people that are obsessed with anime, game and graphic novel characters. Crazy stories abound of gamers being so involved in video games that they will play until they fall over from exhaustion. There are also many otaku who enjoy "cosplay". Cosplay involves dressing-up as a favorite anime, comic book, or tokusatsu character to attend a party, a convention, or a special photo shoot. Japan even has cosplay cafes for the more adventurous to mingle or dine with other costumed otaku.

The interest level in manga, comic book and video game characters has grown at an incredible rate! Game characters are now reproduced in every possible way, from display art, to figurines, to t-shirts. They are often seen in offices, proudly displayed on desktops and computer monitors. Enthusiastic otaku spend small fortunes collecting sets of figurines and toys.

You can find many of these manga, anime figures and t-shirts along with other memorabilia at Hot Topic, Wal-mart and Amazon.com.

Gamers Help Children

An altruistic group, calling themselves "Loading Ready Run," has taken to the virtual highway for the past several years; playing a game called Desert Bus, often for days at a time. This devotion to an outdated and incredibly tiresome game is to raise funds for a children's charity, called Child's Play.

Desert Bus was developed for the Sega game system and is reputed to be the most boring game ever made; it features driving, in real time, from Tucson to Las Vegas. Nothing occurs on the 8-hour trip, except for driving down a highway, through a virtual desert. Desert Bus cannot be paused and must be played as one continuous "adventure".

If you would like to donate to "Child's Play," please visit Plugged In.

Play Video Games - Become a Spy

The British Secret Service has utilized a new high tech recruiting method for the spies of tomorrow through video games.

The newer fast action online video games require split second decision making and unique player interaction. This environment tends to attract the computer-savvy, intelligent and well-educated audience that the British Secret Service would like to add to their ranks.

The GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), the surveillance division of British intelligence, has placed embedded ads in the Microsoft video games Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Need for Speed Carbon in an effort to recruit the next generation of MI5 and MI6 operatives.