Virtual Girlfriend Impressions

You think that your actual, real-life girlfriend calls you too much? Just imagine how deep in you'd be if she lived on your phone! To answer the call of lonely mobile gamers in Asia and Europe, Virtual Girlfriend is stepping out of the realm of the technologically improbable and into a subscription-based service. If its creators are to be believed, it will be by far the most realistically modeled dating simulation to ever grace any gaming platform, mobile or otherwise.

Hong Kong-based Artificial Life has spent the last decade developing one of the most complex human personality and language modeling systems in the world. After this immense scientific effort, the company is ready to make a mobile game that will capture the essence of the mating game, right down to the most bizarre minutiae you can think of. Your virtual girlfriend, whose avatar appears as a spunky, pan-Asian composite hottie (reconfigurable for various target markets, of course), will run you ragged through 20 levels of increasingly nuanced social interaction. After the first date, which will help to refine the game's parameters to your personality, your v-girl will provide you with her daily schedule and begin expecting you to follow her life. For example, she may ask you to find her lost sock by remembering the various locations that she's been over the course of the day, like the gym and the apartment. Clearly, this version of the game will not account for those who resent overly dependent mates.

Artificial Life's proprietary artificial intelligence algorithm resides on the company's network of servers in Hong Kong, and it is capable of recognizing 30,000 distinct conversational situations. This means that you will be able to chat (or argue) with your girlfriend in real time on any number of subjects. You can ask her to go shopping for you or debate the finer points of going to bed early, for instance. The game stays in constant communication with the server to keep your v-girl as lifelike and conversant as possible. Most of the game, therefore, is actually stored on the server side. The client software contains the user interface and a range of 3D animations that display what your girlfriend is up to at any given moment, kind of as if she were looking into a webcam. Like any long-distance relationship, Virtual Girlfriend will take a lot of time and effort to support; the game's creators estimate that it takes about three months to progress through the 20 levels of intimacy to marriage. Meanwhile, the service will run players about 5 euros ($8 or so) a month. It's not all smooth sailing, either. Apparently, you'll meet all of your girlfriend's catty female friends around level 18, at which point you'll have the option to begin "multitasking"--or cheating, as it is generally known.

Virtual Girlfriend has already appeared on high-end handsets in certain Asian markets, and it will appear in Europe within the next three months. A North American release date has not been set at this point, although Artificial Life intends to build a version of the game for Series 60 Java handsets. We'll have more information on this game as it becomes available.