Urine luck - video games for guys who pee straight? Also: nixing hotel porn

I come across some pretty strange things in my job as travel editor at the Toronto Star. But reading a story this morning about urination/video games in Tokyo pretty much turned me off my breakfast.

I'm still not entirely convinced it's true, but I read a report today on several websites that said Sega has come up with video games for urinal users in the Japanese capital. Apparently, and I still say apparently as I can't believe society has come to this, there are four types of "toylet" games at four male facilities in pubs and game arcades.

The reports I read said that each urinal "is fitted with a pressure sensor and an eye-level digital display, with ads shown after the games are played. Games include Graffiti Eraser in which a user tries to aim at the pressure sensor and erase virtual graffiti on the display. Then there's Mannekin Pis, which measures the volume of the user's stream, and The North Wind and The Sun and Me, in which the strength of a urine stream determines the extent to which a virtual girl's skirt gets blown up by a digital wind."

I'm no prude. But, my goodness, is there no end to what people will do to make a buck? I mean, on a scale of horribly tacky that goes from 1 to 100 this is about 1,637,893 - times Pi, or maybe that's Pee. Geez, guys, show a little taste and decorum, shall we?

I mean, what's next? Spit your toothpaste really hard into a bowl at the dentist's office and get a prize?  Actually, I don't want to know what's next. It's too frightening to think about.

I understand the Japanese love technology and that a Japanese toilet is slightly more sophisticated than many rocket engines I've toyed with. Last time I was in Tokyo, I tried out one of the "posterior shower jets" and almost died of embarrassment, even being alone (as I recall) in the bathroom. They even have little nozzles that dispense perfume onto your derriere, which is at least a good idea in theory I guess.

But measuring someone's urine stream is pretty gross, as is giving a rat's you know what how you "measure up" to begin with. And having the skirt of a virtual girl go higher because you pee harder than the next guy is truly revolting and horribly sexist and just about anything else I can think of. It's not even worth having in an Adam Sandler movie.

They say this is a "test project" aimed at drawing attention to digital ads. Let's hope it goes the way of beta machines and eight-track tape players, really fast.

MARRIOTT TAKES THE HIGH ROAD ON PORN?

May as well continue, in a way, with the theme at hand here and report that USA Today says Marriott  International, one of the nation's leading hotel groups, tells Hotel Check-In that it's pulling access to adult movies from the new hotel rooms it will be opening the next several years.

"Marriott says that its decision coincides with a pending shift to new, in-room entertainment technology," Barb De Lollis wrote. She also notes many folks now have Netflix or personal DVD players, so perhaps that's part of the issue. Versus, say, some decreased public desire for pornography - which I don't see any signs of if the crowds hovering around porn stars in Las Vegas the other day is any indication.

Marriott, indeed, told De Lollis that revenues from (exorbitantly priced) in-room movies aren't what they used to be. SO it appears economics, quelle surprise, are part of this discussion.

The no-porn policy ultimately should spread across all Marriott hotel properties, officials said. I don't know, but I suspect all those sportswriters in North America who love their Marriott points might have something to say about that.