In a response to the "manufactured controversy" that surrounded the year-old game earlier this week, a new, improved version of Faith Fighter has been made available on Molleindustria's website.

Faith Fighter 2 is the sequel of the infamous game that outraged over 1.3 billions of muslims from 57 countries. The scandal resulted in a ban from all the internets!

We regretted the use of irony and violence and this time we want to offer you a positive, nonviolent educational game that teaches the universal values of tolerance and respect. This is a very simple game that can be played by children of all ages, religious leaders and even journalists!

They're right, Faith Fighter 2 is far simpler than its predecessor. Though don't take it too easy, because the stakes are much higher this time, and if you lose, well...

[Faith Fighter 2]

The Italian group of artists and programmers removed the 2D fighter from its web site today, following an official statement from the Organization of Islamic Conference, according to Molleindustria, and a "successfully manufactured [...] controversy" from news outlet Metro UK.

"Faith Fighter depicted in a mildly politically incorrect way all the major religions as a response to the one-way islamophobic satire of the Danish Mohammad cartoons," reads a statement from Molleindustria. "If a [sic] established organization didn't understand the irony and the message of the game and is claiming it is inciting intolerance, we simply failed."

Molleindustria says that Faith Fighter, which was released online over a year ago but was apparently recently noticed by concerned religious groups or late-to-the-party Metro editorial staff, only received two formal complaints from "two catholic players" prior to this week.

"This has happened before with games as Super Columbine Massacre RPG, Virtual Jihadi and our Operation: Pedopriest, works that attracted heavy criticism based on false assumptions spread by mass media," reads the statement.

Molleindustria calls the removal of Faith Fighter a "symbolic act," as the game is available via other sources, including popular Flash game web site Newgrounds.com.

Faith Fighter Statement [Molleindustria - thanks, Cory!]

But not right away, as the Metro UK reveals that religious types of all faiths (or at least three people) are fuming over the web game. While Molleindustria says on its web site that Faith Fighter is "not intended to be offensive to any religion in particular," but instead to "push gamers to reflect on how the religions and sacred representations are often instrumentally used to fuel or justify conflicts between nations and people" others strong disagree.

"This game is going out of its way to upset people and I think it should be taken off the internet," said Douglas Miller, pastor of the Link Church in Birmingham, according to Metro's report.

On other fronts, spokespeople for Federation of Muslim Organizations say that "Having images depicting Muhammad in this way is also very offensive to our faith." This is well-known to the folks at Molleindustria, who offer a censored version of the game that obscures Muhammed's face.

Molleindustria may have gone to some lengths to prevent the riling up of certain religious groups, but the tagline "Religious hate has never been so much fun" might just undermine that.

I'd suggest that if you're offended by the content of Faith Fighter, some of Molleindustria's other games may be worth your time, including Operation: Pedopriest, Orgasm Simulator and Queerland. That's the kind of fun everyone can agree on.

Calls to ban online game of Holy hatred [Metro UK via GamePolitics]
Faith Fighter Will Test Your Skills, Religious Tolerance [Kotaku]