Religion Once Again Embraces The Wii

When we're not munching on game cakes here at Kotaku Tower, we're always keeping up on the latest Christian-Nintendian cross-promotions. This billboard teases and upcoming sermon chock full of information on the Wii: "What Is Important." Not since WWJD has there been an acronym more powerful for getting those kids to stop having sex and start having some fish on Fridays.

Wii, cultural phenomenon, invades church [N-sider via GoNintendo]

Easter might be drawing to close, but our memories of Donkey Kong Jesus live on! Here are some more gaming related Last Suppers. The above one is called The Last Supper and features Hollywood thespian and GTA: San Andreas and Kingdom Hearts II voice actor James Woods. According to artist Brandon Bird:

This was a commission for Rich Kyanka, back when I did commissions. We are both well aware that James Woods did not play Robocop.

Church Uses Mii Christ for Easter Outreach

Never let anyone tell you that San Francisco isn't the heart of the gaming world. Where else would you find a church using Mii to promote an upcoming Easter service. Mission Bay Community Church in San Fran sent this clever picture out to parishioners earlier this week. So great.

Mission Bay Community Church

A Donkey Kong Jesus Fit For Christina Aguilera Spawn

I do think going forward there is very much a place for the hardcore gamers on the Wii and there's a big opportunity for publishers to take advantage of that because we've seen the success of Resident Evil on Nintendo platforms... But I do also believe that a lot of Western publishers are only looking at the Wii for casual and family gaming, and I think that's a mistake — I think there's a lot more opportunity there on the Wii. The Wii isn't just about Wii Tennis and Mario & Sonic; it's about so much more. The Wii as a platform has way much more to offer than [Wii Tennis and Mario & Sonic], and hardcore gamers traditionally love Nintendo as well. There's no reason why they should be excluded or excommunicated from the Nintendo world.

Christian Animal Racing HELL

Buy the FUN game that the big game companies would not ever make.

The Zoo Race [Official Site via Dtoid]

Spector Wanted to Make the Golden Compass Game

In a sort-of-aside to a gush about The Golden Compass movie and novel, Warren Spector mentions that he wanted to make the game based on the novels "long before the film came out."

It's just an aside, but it raises some interesting issues, ones I'm not totally prepared to go on and on about, so I'll make this short. I requested a copy of the game because I'm hoping to play through it to see how the game makers dealt with the touchy subject of religion that is very much central to the entire His Dark Materials trilogy. In fact I read the trilogy over the first week of my vacation in Australia, just for that reason. But things were crazy in December and I haven't had a chance to crack the game open. Hopefully, I'll be doing that soonish.

What intrigues me is how exactly Warren Spector would have worked with the subject matter. Judging by his enthusiasm for the trilogy and his obvious knowledge of it, I suspect it could have resulted in a deeply evocative game, the sort of title that may have touched on the issues brought up in the series and, much more importantly, made gamers think about something that makes them quite uneasy. It's really a shame he didn't follow through on his desire... or wasn't allowed to.

The Man Who Hates the World, Part 2 [Warren Spector's Blog]

Church of England *Finally* Forgives Sony

Despite his frequent misstatements and apparent ignorance on the subject, despite including gay porn in a legal filing, despite his legal harassment of numerous publications, lawyers, judges and anyone else who seems to disagree with him, Jack Thompson manages to get himself on television again this morning as an "expert."

During his appearance on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Thompson discussed the evils of churches using Halo 3 to minister to a youth audience. And of course he couldn't help but get some facts wrong.

Hit the jump to watch the video and read the relevant Jack quotes, which I've dissected. It does do my heart good to see that he wasn't nearly as over the top this time around as the last time we watched him. Maybe he decided to be a little more careful now that he knows we're checking out what he's saying instead of just accepting his statements as 100 percent truth. Too bad TV talk shows haven't learned to do the same thing.

Master Chief Goes To Church