Love Virtually

A couple weeks ago,Kurt spoke with director James Cameron about his spectacular new movieAvatar. He told Kurt that while the technology he used to craft the movie is important, at heart it’s a love story: it’s just that instead of boy meets girl, it’s boy meets twelve-foot blue humanoid-cat… by posing as a virtual twelve-foot blue humanoid cat, himself.

Pure fantasy?

Well just a couple of months ago a Japanese man married his virtual girlfriend, a character from the Nintendo DS game ‘Love Plus.’ The man Sal9000, and the bride Nene Anegasaki, wed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The ceremony was broadcast live online, and among the human attendees were Sal’s best friend, an emcee, and, of course, a priest. The virtual world was represented by the bride’s girlfriend, who toasted the new couple’s happiness.

Boing Boing contributor and Studio 360 pal Lisa Katayama made this report of the ceremony:

And on this week’s show — a special episode all about Japan — Lisa takes Kurt into a Tokyo sticker picture booth. When Lisa offers to make him into ‘a beautiful girl,’ will Kurt lose himself in his own virtual world? Find out this weekend!