romance

Same-gender romance will soon be in the air in Star Wars: The Old Republic, meaning your Jedi Knight or Bounty Hunter will have more opportunities to get some lovin' in the online game.

To date, characters' romance options have been limited by class and gender. But in a blog post today, Jeff Hickman, executive producer of the BioWare/EA title, revealed that that's shifting come spring -- to an extent.

The upcoming Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion pack, he said, will make it possible for players on the new planet (called Makeb) to flirt with same-gender non-player characters, created by BioWare to give quests, sell items, and otherwise move the story forward. Players will not yet, however, be able to put the moves on same-sex companion characters, the NPCs that accompany them on their intergalactic escapades as a major plotline piece. … Read more

Online role-playing games, typically of the massively multiplayer variety, have a reputation for wreaking havoc on real-world relationships.

Now, researchers can back up that notion with survey results and can pinpoint the problems that result from such gaming. The survey, from researchers at Brigham Young University, is set to appear tomorrow in the Journal of Leisure Research.

The findings confirm what many gamers know all too intimately--perhaps having heard the message delivered loudly in words with four letters. Three-quarters of spouses of online gamers wish their partners would put more time and effort into their marriages than they put into … Read more

Valentine's Day approaches, and in case you're one of those odd ducks wondering about the Most Intimate iPad Game, here's your slam-dunk recommendation: Fingle. Based on my time with it here at the office, it's earned nothing but awkward blushes.

Fingle's an iPad-only app because you wouldn't have enough finger room on an iPhone or iPod. It's basically Twister with fingers: two players place one hand each on the iPad and put their fingers on the spaces indicated, then start slipping and sliding around the board as indicated. Stay long enough on the … Read more

It started on Facebook. She looked into his two-dimensional eyes, ignored the fact that the game was called Mafia Wars, and decided that this might be love.

Oh, perhaps it didn't start with precisely those indications of love and foreboding, but I can tell you how it ended--with an $8,386.88 lawsuit for "misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, defamation of character, and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

All of us who read romantic novels must pay a debt to the Tri-City Herald, which dutifully recorded the progress and regress of a Facebook relationship between Cheryl Gray, 50, from … Read more

Tired of dating people who stare at you blankly when you talk about your affection for Asimo? Dream of having a robot baby head all your own one day? Online dating site Robot Passions says it can help you find a partner who shares your love of robots--or at least thinks Gundam is pretty cool.

Robot lovers longing for a date with metal sexpot Roxxxy might be disappointed to learn that the site is currently restricted to humans. It does, however, note that it hopes to include robots among its members "once their AI is sufficiently advanced." Wait, what does one get a Roomba for Valentine's Day?

Robot Passions is part of Passions Network's extensive roster of free online dating sites, which include such other geek offerings as Comic Book Passions, Zombie Passions, Trek Passions, and Ninja Passions.

Join one site in the network and you're automatically a member of the entire network, though as you register, you can choose the sites that best match your interests if you'd prefer, for example, not to include members of the Mullet Passions site in your search for love. … Read more

I am sure that, like me, you have already bought your flowers and used a very special body wash.

However, how can you be sure that your Valentine's Day--or any other date night--will go off with an appropriate timbre?

Please, then, go down on your knees and give thanks to Shagscore.com. Of all the days in the world, Shagscore decided to launch today, so that your Valentine's Day can be more of a sure thing.

Shagscore has a very simple--and surely scientific--premise. Once you enter details of your dating plans, Shagscore's "shagadelic" algorithm is … Read more

Are you ready for some cheery PR spin? Some deeply thought out, loving, but slightly cold-hearted PR spin?

Alright then. Staples, the people who offer you the Easy button, would like to impart some important personal information to ease your spirit.

For the company has just performed its fifth-annual Small Business Survey (yes, I missed the first four, too) and discovered that techno-love has now superseded the fleshy, inadequate, unsatisfying version in which so many of us still naively believe.

It appears that 60 percent of small business owners admit that they dedicate more time to holding their cell phones … Read more

Some of you may well be readers of Glamour magazine. Others may not.

So may I quote this repository of optimism about a certain technologically sophisticated wedding proposal purportedly made in Central Park on Sunday?

"A Proposal Story: This Sweet Guy Proposed in Central Park--Then Threw the Ring! (I Got Teary Eyed!)" reads the Glamour headline. The post is accompanied by a YouTube video of the proposal.

The video purports to show a woman called Kasey who has been lured by a friend to the park, where she is surprised by her fiance in a rowing boat. While … Read more

Love is something that ought to be celebrated.

Yet it appears that Google Street View, the place where we have already seen passed-out drunks, vomiting Brits and even the same woman 43 times, has removed one of the more positive images ever found on its slightly snoopy pages.

You see, a young couple happened to be sitting on the grass in Wolverhampton, England--or just outside of the city, according to Google Maps--and fell into a loving embrace. It was, I am sure, a common occurrence on Common Road.

A Google Street View car was passing by during this amorous moment … Read more