I received a press release last night for an upcoming game called Omega Quintet, which sadly has nothing to do with Omega Boost or beloved 16-bit Enix sub-developer Quintet but rather is an Idea Factory game that has to do with managing (dating? probably both, knowing the developer) a singing group comprised entirely of teen idol girls. Besides the revelation that Idea Factory now self-publishes in the U.S., the press release also included this image, which made me deeply angry:
I mean, the overall aesthetic is pretty terrible, but look at that. There’s an emoticon in the logo. Worse, I’m absolutely certain the game’s name was selected entirely to justify using the *ω* emoticon rather than as a solemn promise that this will be history’s last moe idol simulator. They’re just messing with us, now. They’ve crossed the Rubicon.
Although I suppose it could be worse. They could have called the game HtoL#NiQ or something incomprehensible like that.
I just read the heading and could count up several events in history in which Japan went too far. This article was kind of not what I had expected ^^
It’s possible that this title was not intended to be taken entirely seriously…
It’s funny, because American games seldom star women, but Japanese games often have women as the lead role.
Even more odd, it’s always teen pop stars. Persona 4, Final Fantasy X2, this….
*shrug*
I’m all for more empowered female leads, but this doesn’t look like one for the “win” column… especially since games like this usually put you in the role of their male producer/manager, and the female “leads” play a subservient role.
Anyway, a good percentage of Western games I’ve played in the past year either star women (Alien: Isolation) or take a gender-neutral stance to leads (Saints Row IV).
I wonder if the “w” part of that emoticon is meant to ironically reflect the use of “w” (short for warui) in text speak. It is the equivalent of “lol” in English. And by ironic, I mean this is meant as a joke game, instead of something to be taken seriously.
That implies a degree of self-awareness that these developers have yet to demonstrate in their work. (Also, it’s not a w, it’s a lower-case omega.)
warau, not warui
(\/) ;,,; (\/)
Why Not Zoidberg?
The only emoticon that matters.