A Japanese man elevated the human race to an entirely new level this past weekend by marrying his videogame girlfriend.

Nene Anegasaki and a Japanese man known as Sal9000 finally got married this past weekend, normally cause for celebration, except for the the fact that Nene Anegasaki is not an actual human; she only exists in the Nintendo DS videogame Love Plus. Sal9000 still "married" her, in a real ceremony that took place in Guam, probably one of the only places you can marry an imaginary being that lives in an electronic device.

The reception was held in Japan, with many attendees that were able to watch slides and other strange behavior. The accompanying video is of Sal9000 kissing his bride, currently appearing to be housed in a Nintendo DSi LL/XL, the new humongous version of the DS that was just released in Japan. Evidently, Sal9000 spares no expense on his wife, already upgrading her to the latest hardware.

Love Plus includes three girls, allowing the player to take them out on dates and to interact with them in various ways to attempt to earn their love. Once you do, you've got a companion for life. It's basically like Nintendogs, but it's not illegal to take the relationship one step further.

From the coverage of this marriage, I get the feeling that it is somewhat of a joke. At the same time, I'm not sure what to think at all. I know that there were people around the internet at one time or another that wanted to marry Sonic the Hedgehog, so at the least this is much better than that. If someone's happiness comes from marrying a set of instructions and pixels programmed into a videogame, I'm fine with that, but if this is real Sal9000 has likely ended his chances of ever getting a real girlfriend.

(Via: Boing Boing)