Well, first let me say that I hate when they do this kinda of thing with straight pairings too. By that I mean, they do all this implying and leading on, and then give no resolution whatsoever, so that it feels like a horrible con in the end. This has nothing to do with the gay factor for me. I hate this kinda manipulative crap in general.
As far as the game programmer thing goes, I do have the strat guide for Persona 4, where they actually ask one of the designers if they'd include another gay scenario in the series, as in one of the P2 games. The guy outright said they put it in because there was a large segment of females that liked that kinda stuff. Given how prevalent this kinda thing is in Japanese media these days, I very much doubt he's the only one with this reasoning.
Another reason I think this is related to your House example. The House and Wilson friendship dynamic has been played for fanservice over and over, and it's easy to see that because this is a show, as you said, which had Thirteen's character arc, as well as numerous other gay characters, contained therein. That's not even mentioning the fact that both House and Wilson have had numerous female love interests each, as well as several hookers. This falls under my manipulation thing. You know they're not going to make them gay, and they know it too, but they continue to play this coy game anyway.
For Japanese examples, take Naruto. Everybody knows about the stuff between Naruto and Sasuke. Forgetting the fact that Shounen manga next to never have actual yaoi in them, Naruto himself is depicted as being incredibly interested in his female teammate. Additionally, he has another female kunoichi incredibly interested in him, and that particular pairing looks more and more like it'll become canon.
Of course this isn't limited to Naruto. The creator of Prince of Tennis admits to putting that kinda thing in to draw the aforementioned female demographic in.
Japanese RPGs by and large cater to this same shounen manga audience, and when they don't give the characters involved het love interests, they usually downplay it some other way. Rita/Estelle they do it by making Estelle go "You're a great friend too, Rita!" every time you get the notion they might be lesbians (Incidentally, that's why I can't do that pairing reciprocated. I cannot imagine a scenario where Estelle could wrap her head around Rita being gay for her). Fang/Vanille they do it when Vanille gets her Eidolon, where Fang openly says "You're family to me, just like everyone else here is family." So unless Fang is open to incestual moresomes, I can't do that either.
You know what I really want? A regular character who just happens to be gay. Not a bunch of horrid stereotypes combined into one character (Joshua; TWEWY), just a person who is just an every day person who has a different sexual preference. For example, in Mass Effect 3, your shuttle pilot is gay. He mentions losing a husband in an alien attack, and later he's crying over the last vid his husband left him, and Shepard can comfort him over it. It's depicted as just a guy who lost his meaningful other; the gender makes no difference.
Hell, for all that fanboys on youtube like to drool over the female!Shepard/Liara thing, it is also depicted in that manner. The only lesbian crack made is in ME2, and that's just Joker's personality. I see no decent reason why these Japanese games and shows can't do something similar.
I note that Fang/Vanille is a secondary pairing in a lot of fics, so the character scroll option will not tell the whole story.
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As far as the game programmer thing goes, I do have the strat guide for Persona 4, where they actually ask one of the designers if they'd include another gay scenario in the series, as in one of the P2 games. The guy outright said they put it in because there was a large segment of females that liked that kinda stuff. Given how prevalent this kinda thing is in Japanese media these days, I very much doubt he's the only one with this reasoning.
Another reason I think this is related to your House example. The House and Wilson friendship dynamic has been played for fanservice over and over, and it's easy to see that because this is a show, as you said, which had Thirteen's character arc, as well as numerous other gay characters, contained therein. That's not even mentioning the fact that both House and Wilson have had numerous female love interests each, as well as several hookers. This falls under my manipulation thing. You know they're not going to make them gay, and they know it too, but they continue to play this coy game anyway.
For Japanese examples, take Naruto. Everybody knows about the stuff between Naruto and Sasuke. Forgetting the fact that Shounen manga next to never have actual yaoi in them, Naruto himself is depicted as being incredibly interested in his female teammate. Additionally, he has another female kunoichi incredibly interested in him, and that particular pairing looks more and more like it'll become canon.
Of course this isn't limited to Naruto. The creator of Prince of Tennis admits to putting that kinda thing in to draw the aforementioned female demographic in.
Japanese RPGs by and large cater to this same shounen manga audience, and when they don't give the characters involved het love interests, they usually downplay it some other way. Rita/Estelle they do it by making Estelle go "You're a great friend too, Rita!" every time you get the notion they might be lesbians (Incidentally, that's why I can't do that pairing reciprocated. I cannot imagine a scenario where Estelle could wrap her head around Rita being gay for her). Fang/Vanille they do it when Vanille gets her Eidolon, where Fang openly says "You're family to me, just like everyone else here is family." So unless Fang is open to incestual moresomes, I can't do that either.
You know what I really want? A regular character who just happens to be gay. Not a bunch of horrid stereotypes combined into one character (Joshua; TWEWY), just a person who is just an every day person who has a different sexual preference. For example, in Mass Effect 3, your shuttle pilot is gay. He mentions losing a husband in an alien attack, and later he's crying over the last vid his husband left him, and Shepard can comfort him over it. It's depicted as just a guy who lost his meaningful other; the gender makes no difference.
Hell, for all that fanboys on youtube like to drool over the female!Shepard/Liara thing, it is also depicted in that manner. The only lesbian crack made is in ME2, and that's just Joker's personality. I see no decent reason why these Japanese games and shows can't do something similar.
I note that Fang/Vanille is a secondary pairing in a lot of fics, so the character scroll option will not tell the whole story.