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If you've ever spent any time in Japan, you've seen them: big black buses blaring right-wing propaganda. And today, you're going to see an entire fleet of them. More »
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The things that make us reconsider who we are and what we believe in are often bizarre, random, coincidental; sometimes completely unremarkable save for the sudden realization that concusses you. Lately, things I've been reading and playing have coalesced into a divine cognizance for me. I've been reconsidering my faith. More »
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The debate continues to rage (or perhaps it is at a smouldering point at the moment) as to whether or not video games are art. In an essay from the book, Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God, Andrew McAlpine of the band Andrew M and The Coalition of the Willing, asserts without reservation that video games are not art. His reasoning is simple: The end of art is the aesthetic experience, while the end of video games is the playing of them. More »
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Minecraft, congratulations! You've officially arrived. Religious nuts are railing against you. More »
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Playing as a mayor, or a President, or a Captain in a strategy game gets boring after a while. You're always the straight guy, the man in the suit, the uniformed leader burdened with responsibility. More »
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Pokémon. It's a card (and video) game for kids. You capture monsters, they faint a lot, it's all good, clean, harmless fun. Right? More »
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Religion and belief were two of the key themes in the 1982 Disney classic Tron. Three of the key themes at Lifechurch.TV's location in Warr Acres, Oklahoma this month are religion, belief, and Tron. More »
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Heading north on Interstate 5 toward Newberg, Ore. last week, I wasn't sure what exactly I'd encounter at Christian Game Developers Conference 2011. Would it have a show floor? Would they be showcasing new games? Would there be a Kinect-enabled Bible study game with 1:1 praying-hands control? Is a third sequel to the Left Behind series this community's Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and would we finally see a trailer for it? More »
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Aristotle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, plainly states that the aim, end, or goal of a thing is its good. Each thing is directed toward some greater good, and we, as people must seek to understand what that good is. The efforts of the Nicomachean Ethics are to understand the good and attain it, not for an individual alone, but for a whole people or state. More »
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The attempt to include overt references to Judeo-Christian figures in the classic role-playing game Xenogears caused a few translators to quit — they feared a violent backlash — and prompted a change in the name of the game's final boss, according to one of the people who brought the game to America. More »
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Left Behind Games, publisher of the notorious Rapture romp Left Behind 3: Liberals Get Shot Rise of the Antichrist, has opened a free video game program under the auspices of providing a product sample to investors - even potential investors. "Potential investors," means pretty much anyone, so now's your chance! More »
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Few video games deal with the touchy subject of religion seriously. When they do, they often deal with the more fantastical outlying bits of different faith systems, like last year's Dante's Inferno, or the upcoming El Shaddai: Rise of the Metatron. Rarely do we see games that hunker down and deal with real questions of faith and the questions that surround faith. More »
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Despite its resemblance to Scientology, Unitology - Dead Space's fictitious religion - isn't a parody of the controversial church, the game's creative director told MTV Multiplayer. "I think people get that because the name is very similar," he said. More »
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Pope Benedict XVI warned against "excessive exposure to the virtual world" in a statement released by the Vatican today. And he advised people to avoid giving "in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public persona for oneself." More »
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Why is Bishop Paul Ojeda preaching in front of a giant Wii Remote and some of those tall mushrooms from Super Mario Brothers? More »
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December 31 is the eve of Japan's biggest holiday, New Year's. Why not celebrate it with a beautiful anime girl? More »
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An industry body in the Middle East has gone and done something fascinating: they've launched a ratings system for games based not on a nation's classification laws, but on the tenets of the Islamic faith. More »
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A typical game controller might have buttons with shapes or letters, but a controller suited for The Man Upstairs has way more: revolution, flood, epidemic — you name it. More »
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Left Behind Games, maker of Christian-themed video games of ... well, dubious quality, reports that it sold $210,000 worth of product over the past six months. More »
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Video games may nor may not be dangerous, they may or may not be art, but I don't think I've ever stood back and wondered whether they were permissible under Islam. More »
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Divorce has not yet been introduced in The Republic of Malta. Politicians and pundits have been debating the issue. A billboards has popped up protesting the divorce — and trying to sell video games. More »
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It is hardly a surprise that the cover of NCAA Football 11, out July 13, does not feature Tim Tebow with the Scriptures written on his eyeblack tape. That's not to say EA Sports has never allowed similar things before. More »
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As seen on Boing Boing. More »
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There is widespread support amongst both Australian voters and politicians for the introduction of an adults-only rating for video games. Oh, and Catholic bishops, too! More »
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The giant life-sized Gundam statue is once again being erected and will officially open on July 24. So last week something important happened. More »
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Exactly how many bullets can kill a person? How many apples can one man carry? In real life, the answers vary. In a video game, real life must be explained in numbers. That includes religion: how it spreads, who believes. More »
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Traditionally, historically, video games and religion don't mix. More »
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Where once they shuffled, now they run. Initially born of forbidden voodoo rituals or the sign of a religious apocalypse, for the past decade zombies have slowly metamorphosed into the by-products of something else entirely. More »
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Whether it be action title Bayonetta, fighting game Guilty Gear or role-playing game Rune Factory, habit-wearing characters have made appearances in video games. Many Japanese games simply use nun accoutrements. But why? More »
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This week's new batch of downloadable tracks for Rock Band all have one thing in common. Did you catch it? The post-Easter releases from bands like Anberlin, Hawk Nelson and Skillet all fall under the "Christian rock" label. More »
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The makers of the Left Behind series of religious video games says Walmart is expanding the Christian game test-market it opened last year in Texas, with an eye toward distributing such games nationally. More »
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We're running a religion theme week here on Kotaku. And it would wrong - no, it would be a sin - if we went those seven days without once mentioning Afterlife, a 1996 strategy game by Lucasarts. More »
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In the early 90's Nintendo was famous for removing religious iconography and references from video games for North American release. Have times changed, or is religion still a taboo subject in the video game industry? More »
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I've no idea why, but it seems no accident that the week before Easter I went back to start over the original Assassin's Creed, the only game I've ever played that is set in the Holy Land. More »
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You just can't make stuff up like this... or could you? [Thanks Michael] More »
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The company behind controversial end-of-days simulator Left Behind and the developer of Christian rock Guitar Hero knock-off Guitar Praise have merged, forming one giant powerhouse of Christian game development. More »
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Unsurprisingly, many game developers and publishers would rather stick a fork in a live power outlet than discuss religion in games, much less write it into a game with a role more complex than archetypal good-vs.-evil belief sets. More »
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If four-hour gaming sessions of killing, stealing, coveting thy neighbor's ox or donkey, and breaking every other Commandment leaves you feeling distant from the Lord, a Bible application is coming to Xbox Live's Indie Games channel. More »
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Christian-themed PC games like Left Behind and the Charlie Church Mouse series are now available in - where else - Walmarts in - where else - Texas thanks to an agreement between the retailer and publisher Inspired Media Entertainment. More »
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Tale of Tales isn't the kind of indie dev to over-explain their artistic creations and I'm not the kind of person who reads the Bible. This combination creates the weirdest gaming experience ever. More »
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