Japan’s Most Wanted – the slot machine game
A website that features a slot machine game in which players try to match up the faces of Japan’s most wanted fugitives has made the news:
Software designer Famista Inc. said Friday that it introduced the free, slot-machine-style game to publicize photographs of suspects in high-profile murder cases, hoping to tap into Japan’s obsession with games to help police catch killers.
The game is like a typical slot machine but with mug shots instead of cherries or lemons. When three of the same mug shot line up, the player wins. The jackpots bring details of the suspect and the crime, as well as how to give tips to police and the amount of any reward offered, company official Takashi Saito said.
“We thought this could be a way to contribute to society. If you play the game, you’ll remember their faces,” Saito said.
Some have acknowledged that the site could make the public recognize wanted criminals, there are concerns that the game could offend the families of murder victims.
[hat tip to Hatsumi]
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I think this is a pretty clever idea and would personally like to see it transferred over into real-life pachinko machines. I admit the whole thing would be a bit tacky but considering the potential benefit of having so many people paying close attention to the profiles (as opposed to just glancing at the poster as they walk by it) it seems more than worth it. Even more, they could use a small portion of the proceeds from machine sales and donate them to anti-crime programs as an added purchase incentive for pachinko parlor owners.
Hah. I agree with montsan that it is tacky.
It also probably won’t really be very effective, but all it takes to be a success is for 1 person to recognize 1 guy.
When they put this on PS3 or XBox 360 let me know.