Money Can Buy: A Virtual Girlfriend

Artificial Life Inc., a Hong-Kong based software company, announced that it has developed a 3G mobile game called Virtual Girlfriend," according to BBC.

According to the news release by the company, the game is based on intelligent 3D agent technology that drives a girl avatar. The virtual girl lives in her virtual world in the mobile screen, working in the office, dining at a restaurant, or relaxing in her home. Players of the game not only watch, but interact with her through real time chat, SMS or MMS messages. The technology is available for speakers of English, German, Chinese, Korean and Japanese,

Players can send vertual gift to her, and the gifts can elevate the level of intimacy to her. BBC explains that players buy the gifts with real money, and the virtual girl asks the player to buy her those gifts. It is a king of content-based fee system, which becomes increasingly popular business model of online games.

Artificial Life is in fact a public US corporation, founded in Boston in 1994 and registered in Delaware, and now headquartered in Hong Kong. The company will launch on December 1, 2004 in Hong Kong. A Virtual Boyfriend version of the game is scheduled for release in February 2005.