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Nintendo: Tomodachi Life is here, is straight, get used to it

Nintendo responded to an outpouring of fan requests for LGBT representation in its upcoming Nintendo 3DS game Tomodachi Life, denying the possibility of same-sex relationships among the game's Mii denizens.

The upcoming Tomodachi Life features Mii characters based on a player's real-world acquaintances, pairing them up in an ongoing series of unlikely situations. Though Tomodachi Life allows male characters to go on dates and marry female characters, the game does not grant the same opportunities for same-sex couples.

"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," a Nintendo of America representative said in a statement to the Associated Press. "The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary."

Though North American players will never see same-sex relationships within the world of Tomodachi Life, the Japanese version of the game shipped with a glitch last year that allowed same-sex coupling among male characters. The bug has since been patched out and removed from subsequent retail releases.

Tomodachi Life will launch in North America next month.

[Update: Nintendo's Bill Trinen clarified the glitch present in last year's Japanese release, explaining that supposed same-sex relationships were the result of user manipulation of character data. "Essentially [players] would create a male version of a Mii character and assign their gender as female, and that was how the two males were able to have a baby," he said.]

[Image: Nintendo / Tiny Cartridge / NintenDaan]