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Single men looking for love and intimacy tend to rely on dating apps or chance meetings to find 'the one'.

But those feeling especially lonely - and desperate - might be tempted by a more immediate, and definitely more unnerving, solution.

A bizarre pillow shaped like a pair of girls legs coupled with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is now offering hope to men who do not want to spend the evenings alone sitting on the sofa.

A bizarre pillow shaped like a pair of girls legs coupled with a virtual reality headset is offering hope to men who do not want to spend the evenings alone sitting on the sofa - in the form of a pair of legs that users interact with in virtual reality. Pictured is a man testing the virtual girlfriend developed by a Japanese firm

The idea to create the virtual girlfriend for lonely men was developed by the Japanese development firm Up Frontier that offers the chance to sit next to a blonde virtual girlfriend.

The virtual partners is based on the Unity-chan cartoon character, which is the mascot for an open-source cross-platform game engine called Unity designed by Unity Technologies Japan.

Together with a 'lap pillow', which mimics the shape of the character's legs, users can rest their head on 'her' legs both in the virtual world and real life - sort of.

Anybody wearing the headset and sitting alongside the girls lap can rest their head in her lap, talk to her or just sit there - even if the rest of her is missing.

The lap pillow is known as the Hizamakura and is designed to look and feel like a kneeling pair of female legs. 

The user supposedly has the feeling that they are sat next to a virtual girlfriend, in the absence of the real thing.

And during the experience the character will also talk to them, albeit in Japanese.

The character in the game will recognise the user when they lie down and stand up, but if they walk away from her she'll punish them with a virtual roundhouse kick.

They can walk around in the in-game environment using a video-game controller. 

The bizarre virtual reality pillow shaped girlfriend

The idea to create the virtual girlfriend for lonely men was developed by the Japanese development firm Up Frontier that offers the chance to sit next to blonde virtual girlfriend based on the Unity-chan cartoon character, the mascot for a cross-platform game engine called Unity

Anybody wearing the headset and sitting alongside the girls lap can rest their head in her lap, talk to her or just sit there - even if the rest of her is missing. The user has the feeling that they are sat next to a virtual girlfriend, in the absence of the real thing (in-game footage shown)

The headset design uses the 360 degrees technology developed by gaming firm Oculus Rift, which allows the girl and her surroundings to be viewed from all angles. 

The Oculus Rift company was recently acquired by Facebook and received its early funding via Kickstarter in order to develop the high-tech device.

The pilot version of the virtual girlfriend offers a scenario of sitting on a bench by the seaside complete with seagulls although other scenarios are currently in production, as well as other looks for the girlfriend.

A short video created to showcase what the device can do was road-tested by designer Nico Douga and simultaneously shows what he is seeing on screen and the reality.

His verdict was it was a little embarrassing, and the woman's annoying voice needed work, but it apparently had potential.

The headset design uses the 360-degree technology developed by gaming firm Oculus Rift, which allows the girl and her surroundings to be viewed from all angles when users put the device on

A short video created to showcase what the device can do was road-tested by designer Nico Douga and simultaneously shows what he is seeing on screen and the reality. His verdict was it was a little embarrassing, and the woman's annoying voice needed work, but it apparently had potential