If you've never heard of Tomodachi Collection: New Life . . . well, don't worry, you're not alone.

The Sims-inspired game for the Nintendo 3DS has been earning a low-key reputation here in North America because it allows players to marry someone of the same-sex. Granted, this feature was actually a bug -- gay marriages were strictly man-on-man and could even progress to the point where one of the men could get pregnant -- but in a newly released patch, developers are putting a kibosh on gay marriage.

Sadly, it appears that the fun is over. Nintendo released a patch today which it said would correct a handful of technical issues including, according to Kotaku's translation, "human relations that become strange." That is perhaps not the most precise description of same-sex marriage ever and there's been no confirmation yet that it has actually been eliminated, but it seems clear enough that this isn't a torch Nintendo is interested in carrying. [SOURCE]

There is, however, some good news and bad news here: the good news is that since this is only a patch, players don't actually have to download it. The bad news is that refusing to download the patch could leave the game with glitches that make it unplayable. In the meantime, if you really want a game that features gay relationships, maybe consider Mass Effect 3.

[Image source: nintendolife.com] 

Because she already has a TV show, a couple of books, numerous albums, a comic book and some movies under her belt, it's about time RuPaul got her own video game. Or at the very least, an iPhone flash game, which is . . . sort of like a game? Kinda? Well, they're close enough to actual video games that Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw will review a handful of them every year, so fuck it, it's a video game.

Anyway, here's the trailer for Dragopolis, the video game based on RuPaul's Drag Race, featuring Pandora Boxx, Manila Luzon and Yara Sofia. Until the day someone makes a Kickstarter so that we can create a full Super Smash Bros-style fighter, this will have to do.

Look, I know, okay? I know. The original Star Wars trilogy was a cinematic masterpiece -- yes, even the one with the fucking ewoks -- and the prequel trilogy was like being punched in the dick by your entire family as they each tell you why they no longer love you. But there's still a lot to love about the Star Wars mythos, and most of it is buried in the extended universe.

Consider the Star Wars video games: sure, The Force Unleashed games were just kinda okay, but The Old Republic has been a surprisingly well-crafted and engrossing game, and BioWare has announced that it will be implementing same-sex relations . . . soonish.

Topic #4: Same Gender Romance: Any news on this front would be great… Answer: First of all, I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play. As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of. [SOURCE]

So basically, not only will the game be completely free, give or take a few ads that you'll just have to suck up and deal with, you'll now be able to virtually love whoever you want to love. This almost makes up for Jar Jar.

Almost. 

(Image from Penny Arcade) 

A quick little refresher for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: Minecraft is essentially a grown-up version of Lego. It's a game with no real set goals, objectives or motivations, other than creating something out of nothing. You mine elements from the ground, combine them into new elements, and with that you build whatever you can think of. And there are, like, zombies and skeletons and exploding monster things, too, because come on, what's a video game without exploding monster things?

Anyway, in a post on Minecraft creator's Markus "Notch" Persson's tumblr page, Notch explains how he consciously made a decision that every living thing in the game would be neither male or female, and that any living thing can reproduce with any other member of the same species, which technically makes everything in the game intersex and homosexual.

The human model is intended to represent a Human Being. Not a male Human Being or a female Human Being, but simply a Human Being. The blocky shape gives it a bit of a traditional masculine look, but adding a separate female mesh would just make it worse by having one specific model for female Human Beings and male ones. That would force players to make decisions about gender in a game where gender doesn’t even exist. 

All the other mobs in the game are genderless and usually exhibit the most prominent traits of both genders. Cows have horns and udders (even if I’ve later learned that there are some cows where the females do have horns), and the chicken/duck/whatevers have heads that look like roosters, but still lay eggs. For breeding, any animal can breed with any other animal of the same species. 

Obviously, I’m not saying this is a good way to deal with gender in all games, as the better your graphics are, and because of how quickly the human mind tries to identify the gender of other humans, you are going to have to make a decision as a developer about gender, but I felt we could get away with it in Minecraft. 

There’s no point to this post. I just wanted to clarify, so there’s an official word on it. Also, as a fun side fact, it means every character and animal in Minecraft is homosexual because there’s only one gender to choose from. Take THAT, homophobes! 

Personally, I think it's kind of nifty that he created the game with the intent of completely removing any and all labels from his characters. Your character is simply a cute little avatar who punches cubes of rock out of the ground and fights skeletons, and anything else is simply a matter of how you want to be seen. And if you haven't actually played Minecraft yet: seriously, it is like bonkers addictive, so only go for it if you happen to have a ton of free time handy. 

If you're a gamer, you probably already know what EA is. But for the sake of those who can't tell E3 from PAX, Electronic Arts (EA) is the company behind such video games as Medal of Honor, The Sims and the never-ending stream of Madden games. But despite the overly repetitive football games, EA has one saving grace: it's one of many companies that's signed an amicus brief in support of marriage equality. 

Love or hate EA, you have to admit that when it comes to LGBT rights and same-sex marriages, they've taken a strong public position. Whether in the form of an "It Gets Better" video starring EA employees, openly celebrating Pride month, or responding to an anti-homosexual email campaign, the company has refused to back down from a position of equal civil rights for all. Now the games publisher is hoping to put the issue before the Ninth Circut Court of Appeals via an amicus brief asking that the Defense of Marriage Act be overturned as unconstitutional. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, no state or political subdivision is required to recognize a same-sex marriage or union if it occurred in another state. DOMA was passed by a majority of both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. Many legislators, including Clinton himself, have since changed their position and advocated for DOMA's repeal. (From The Escapist magazine)

EA has never been one to shy away from gay themes, including gay relationships in the Mass Effect series as well as allowing same-sex marriage in The Sims, but their going on the record in support of gay marriage is still pretty huge for a company in a still very male-centric, heteronormative industry.