Doki Doki Majo Saiban, a little game (which almost surely will go no further than Japan) from SNK that was shown at TGS is suddenly back in the news. Has it been released? Are there videos? Not so much. Instead, people have been busily photoshopping some very risqué images that are being passed off as official screens. Of course, that's nothing new -- and it wouldn't be surprising if they were actual screens. However, some of the outcry around this particular set of faked screens is that some of the "characters" look extremely young. A certain p-word has been bandied about in reference to the game, and we hate to see misinformation spread, particularly when it comes to branding something as being a part of the "rapist game demographic" (a horrific quote if ever there was one), so we looked into the rumors. And we'll warn you up front that some of the sites linked herein further link to images that are most vehemently NSFW.

Doki Doki Majo Saiban thrusts the player into the role of an intrepid young man hunting witches who appear human but are not. How can you tell the difference? By touching them. Seems innocent enough off the top, but the game is designed in a rather mature anime style. Now, this is common in Japanese media, and there's an entire genre of games (eroge) that, to non-Japanese audiences, might seem a little ... unusual. That's par for the course – what is anathema in America is acceptable in Europe and common in Japan, and vice versa, switch it around, etc. Sex and violence are handled differently in different countries and cultures. Doki Doki Majo Saiban is a Japanese game, and many Japanese gamers enjoy eroge. Until someone starts talking about releasing it elsewhere, who are we to impose our cultural sensibilities and sensitivities on it?




The anime-inspired art of Doki Doki Majo Saiban.

It probably wouldn't even be an issue, if not for two things. First, it's Nintendo, everyone's number one choice for the family system. Nintendo has traditionally shied away from mature content, though that seems to be changing. It's all about touching with the DS, however; who couldn't anticipate that this would come along eventually?

The second problem comes in when armchair designers leaped on the first screens from Doki Doki Majo Saiban, creating new "screens" that looked real, but took the action a little further, and with much younger-seeming characters. Another faked picture even featured a Wiimote, and suddenly the title was being reported as a release for the Wii. Art from Japanese blogs and forums was suddenly linked to the title. And as it spread across the Internet, the story changed. It was no longer a silly, risqué "touching" game for the DS. Suddenly, it was a little disturbing. (See here; note that the images are certainly not work safe and may not even be mind safe ... and these are only a few. There are others we won't link.)

We're all in favor of more mature games for Nintendo consoles. In fact, we'd like to see more mature games on all consoles, as a reflection of the fact that many adults enjoy games that may not be suitable for children, and we don't think that children should determine the entire face of the market. And many gamers complain about the perception that gaming is just for children ... and a large developer like SNK produces a game that is somewhat adult-oriented and well within cultural bounds for what is sexualized in Japan, and what happens? People outside Japan treat it as some sort of dirty pedophiliac mini-megaton because someone faked some screens.

We're reminded of all the guys who lament a lack of gamer girls, but treat any gamer girls they happen to meet with disdain and derision simply because they are women. It's the same sort of hypocrisy, and not only does it limit the gaming market, but it tends to make us all look foolish as well.

Wouldn't it be nice if more Internet sources hesitated before plastering fake images all over the web? Unfortunately, the story around this game now has nothing to do with the gameplay, but whether or not someone is a potential child molester if they express an interest. Tongue in cheek remarks are one thing, but rape and molestation jokes generally go over like a lead balloon.

There is definitely a line of demarcation between blogging and journalism. We're hyperaware of the division. However, news bloggers of any sort have the same responsibility to their readers as journalists when it comes to making sure that what they're posting is factually accurate (or at least tagged as questionable). In fact, considering the wildfire speed with which rumors spread across the tubes of the Internet, we perhaps have more of a responsibility even than journalists. That means taking care (something these guys didn't do) when linking to sites in other languages that feature disturbing images ... the language barrier makes some of the pictures, which are not a part of the game, seem legit. Blogging should mean checking into things. Blogging should mean explaining what is and is not official. At the very least, we need to be honest. If we don't know whether or not something is official, it should be tagged as such. Photoshop artists are very good at what they do and, for the layman, the difference is often impossible to spot. When it comes to images of undeveloped preteens in sexual situations, the blogger's responsibility to check the facts becomes paramount. Is the traffic from the buzzwords more important than the truth? We hope not.

But who knows, maybe certain gaming sites are just looking for a piece of the pedophilia news pie. It's the hip thing to be jaded about right now, isn't it? After all, thanks to Mark Foley, it's all over the news. And why should he get all the attention?

In what is certainly the most laughable part of the story, half the screenshots that are being presented aren't even from Doki Doki Majo Saiban, they're from Denshi Maid Techou: Koi, another SNK game from TGS that features a robotic maid. It's difficult to say if tagging things with the wrong title is worse than making mountains from molehills, but if you're going to be aghast over the content of a game, make sure it's the right game.