B&H Publishing Group has put together "Bible Navigator X" for the Xbox 360. Unlike the Gideons, they're not giving it out for free. It'll run you 400 points. Yeah? Well, the God I believe in isn't short of Microsoft Points, mister ...

According to Media Bistro, Aaron Linne, B&H's executive director of digital marketing, said:

The Xbox isn't just secular entertainment anymore. We can use technology that other people developed to study Scriptures through a new medium. Some people are just more comfortable with a controller in their hands than a book.

The version used is the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I'm not sure how that one differs, but then, I was raised in a part of the country where there literally are bumper stickers that say "If It's Not King James, It's Not Real Bible." So if you drive that truck I saw on I-40 in Burke County, this probably won't appeal to you.

Who's reviewing this? Totilo talked about "XBLA Chasers" and this qualifies, so I volunteer him!

The Bible on Your Xbox [Media Bistro via Destructoid]

InspiredMedia d/b/a Left Behind Games Inc., worked out the pilot release of its titles in 100 Walmarts in the Houston and Dallas areas. The sales will test the games' viability in additional Walmart locations.

In a news release, Inspired Media sees Texas as fertile ground for its products, noting that the Lone Star State is home to more than 23,000 churches and an evangelical Protestant population of 5 million.

Inspired Media produced 2006's Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a real-time strategy game in which the player attempts to pray opposing forces into submission after all faithful souls leave the Earth during the Rapture, and the world reforms under a secularist order that loves, among other things, rock n' roll. It was followed by Left Behind: Tribulation Forces for PC in 2007. Eternal Forces racked up a Metacritic score of 38.

Christian Games Hit Texas Wal-Marts [Game Politics]

Don't even bother telling me "You just don't get it, it's art!" because I've already accepted that as a foregone conclusion. Still, even a blind person can appreciate art in some way... because not all art is visual. Just so, I'm out to appreciate FATALE for what it is, even if I'm not entirely clear on what I'm dealing with.

Spoiler Warning: The nature of this game makes it impossible to talk about it without marring the experience the developer wants you to have.

What Is It?
FATALE is a 3D adventure game where players take the role of John the Baptist first during his final hours before an unceremonious beheading and then as his ghost in the courtyard above where he died. The text within the game and most of the inspiration for its visual come from Oscar Wilde's play, Salome.

What We Saw
I played all three levels of the game on a copy I purchased for myself.

How Far Along Is It?
It's out now.

What Needs Improvement?
Make It Easier To Review The Controls: The control scheme changes between the three levels of the game and it's not easy to review them or to puzzle them out on your own. The game comes with Read Me file you could of course access while playing the game, or you can pause and navigate through a menu to look up the controls. But it'd be a lot more helpful and a lot less jarring to just press a single button have the controls for that level appear on screen in front of you.

What The Hell Are The Amp And The Guitar Doing There? Seriously, what gives with the anachronistic props? Don't knock me out of the time period just for shits and giggles.

What Should Stay The Same?
It's Very, Very Pretty: I've never seen such a gorgeous indie game. The subtle motions of Salome's veils and the dramatic colors on the face of her murderous mother are but two examples of the game's striking art style that comes back to haunt you even after you've completed the game.

Well-Used Music: There's only one song in the whole game and the developer gets some excellent mileage out of it.

Thought-Provoking: Maybe I'm wrong about art (and my high school art teacher will likely attest to this), but I always thought it was there to make you think. Maybe it upsets you with something alarming or violent, maybe it captivates you with something pretty and complex. Either way, I really felt like FATALE was making me think — not just about the source material and how it was worked into the game, but about abstract concepts like time and remorse. Pretentious, sure. But way better than being bored or disgusted.

Final Thoughts
I'm not sure if can explain exactly what went on while playing FATALE, but I am sure that I enjoyed it even during alarming moments like where I got my head chopped off. With a little effort and an open mind, you probably will enjoy it as well — thought I don't know if that holds true for Bible purists who think Oscar Wilde was off his rocker.

When it launches later this month the website will feature the entire line of post-apocalyptic Left Behind Games titles will be featured on the site as well as hundreds of other family-friendly games, according to Inspired Media Entertainment.

"The company's goal is to establish an affiliate network with at least one percent of the churches — just 3,000 — that would produce an average sales of 50 games per church a year within three years," said Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon. "This alone would generate supplemental revenue of $3 million a year, but more importantly, will provide parents with a healthy alternative for their children."

Lyndon says that a portion of the profits from the site would be given to the churches as an incentive for them to encourage their congregations to go to the Inspired Media online store. So think of it as a sort of holy pyramid scheme.

Left Behind Games hopes to establish an affiliate network with at least 3,000 churches nationwide, with hopes that they would sell on average 50 games per a church a year. That would end up pulling in about $3 million a year, Lyndon says.

"In contrast to almost all other PC games, Inspired Media games encourage positive decisions and actions," Lyndon said. "Rather than the usual 'winning' by using weapons and killing the enemy, players are rewarded when their characters use the power of influence to bring about good rather than destruction."

I guess all of that heathen killing in the original Left Behind game doesn't count.

Eventually, Lyndon hopes to get his games placed in prisons for rehabilitative purposes.

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!]

I am not a Hindu scholar by any stretch. But a quick check reveals that Hanuman is one of the more important figures in Hinduism and the Ramayana, an Indian epic poem. So, putting him into a video game - worse yet, a video game in which he can be manipulated - was bound to rankle someone as trivializing sacred figures and concepts.

It turns out that someone happens to be the U.S. based leader of the U.S.-based Universal Society of Hinduism. He wants Sony, the game's publisher (it's for the PS2) to pull the title. So, take it away, Rajan Zed:

[Zed argued that] controlling and manipulating Lord Hanuman with a joystick/ button/keyboard/mouse was denigration. Lord Hanuman was not meant to be reduced to just a "character" in a video game to solidify company/products base in the growing economy of India.

Rajan Zed further said that as a PlayStation2 video game, Lord Hanuman would be in the company of America's 10 Most Wanted, Bad Boys, Barbie, Britney's Dance Beat, First Kiss Stories, Guitar Freaks, Jackass, Killer7, Looney Tunes, Mafia, Mercenaries, Midnight Club, Mister Mosquito, Nicktoons, Psychonauts, Scooby Doo, Truckers, etc.

Oh no, not - gasp - NICKTOONS!!!!

A better response may have been to just kill this thing with silence. GamePolitics points out that the Indian gaming site Tech2 gave Hanuman (the game, not the deity) a terrible review. Similarly, Gaming Indians is circumspect about the controversy.

Yes, Hanuman: Boy Warrior should be withdrawn by Sony. Not for religious reasons however, but simply because the game is just so bad. Ever since this game came out, I'm sure we've all been waiting for some Hindu fundamentalist to show up and make video games the enemy. But it's quite funny that no one in India has really cared... while someone in America has taken up the charge...

Hindus Protest PS2 Game Released in India [GamePolitics]

Writing for the Jewish newspaper/website Forward, Kelber says that WaW's in-your-face moral choices (which you get quite often in the Soviet missions) do more than just give you a break from the "kill everyone in sight" routine. They help you explore the morality of war, they help make war a more "visceral experience" for Jews. And they help cure a man of his fear of Nazis.

How so? Kelber explains:

The surprising benefit of the game was that throughout my entire life, since sneaking into the synagogue library with David Yagobian and paging through a book of Nazi medical experiments, I have had nightmares about Nazis. Jewish summer camp didn't help. In games like "Call of Duty," you get unlimited lives; you keep playing the game until you are victorious. It's a safe place. When your character dies, you may have to go back to a checkpoint, but this is simply inconvenient, never tragic or final. You will always have another chance to kill your demons.

One morning, I woke up extremely aware that I had just had a Nazi dream. No surprise, given that I wrote this review and played the game late into the night. But I was shocked that it did not scare me as it would have done in the past: The back of my neck was dry. The game had subconsciously flipped a switch. Although clearly there are still very real threats to Jews around the world, the feeling that Nazis were a threat to my existence was created by teachers and rabbis, rightly making sure that I knew my history. In truth, that specific anxiety was not real, but virtual. And I could vanquish it virtually, as well.

Just when you thought you'd heard and seen everything you think you can about a game/genre, along comes something that casts it in an entirely new light.

Shoot 'Em Ups Come of Age [Forward, via MTV]

Muxlim Pal is a rather Habbo Hotel-like shared world open to all Muxlim members. Although superficially just a shared virtual space, Muxlim Pal does look as though it has at least nominal game elements as each avatar has "happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality" ratings that can change according to what the user does in the virtual space.

"We are not a religious site, we are a site that is focused on the lifestyle," said Muxlim.com founder Mohamed El-Fatatry, "From what we have seen from our market research is that most Muslims have a lifestyle that is not so different from everybody else. They all share the core values which are from Islam then beyond that they actually have made identities, they have many interests."

Virtual world for Muslims debuts [BBC]

It's intended to help parents decide what to/not to buy their kids. You will enjoy this list. While some choices - GTAIV, Manhunt 2 and Condemned 2 - are to be expected, others aren't. Or are, but weren't expected for the reasons The Timothy Plan (who are sounding more like a prog rock band each time I type that) list.

Take Army of Two. It's a violent game, sure, and they say that, but The Timothy Plan also have a black mark next to its name for..."homosexual encounters", based on the fact there are "somewhat homo-erotic undertones between the two main characters". And that's a bad thing? I thought it was the only thing that saved the game, in a Transporter-oil-wrestling kinda way.

Metal Gear Solid 4's sexual warnings are equally good-timey, warning "Some of the game's women are wearing sexually revealing clothing and romances are implied". Fortunately Snake's romances weren't explicit, or we'd be looking at a Timothy Plan boycott of Konami's big-seller.

You'll find the full list below.

The Timothy Plan VideoGame Guide [The Timothy Plan, via GamePolitics]

“Our customers have been begging us to create console games,” Digital Praise CEO Tom Bean told MTV Multiplayer, "We’d like to be able to go there but we’ll see.”

The company has been putting a lot of time and energy into expansion packs for the game - including some Stryper tracks out in 2009 - but Bean indicated that a move to multi-instrumental gameplay was being considered.

“That’s definitely been part of our discussions," he said, "[...] if it’s compelling then we’ll consider our next steps in that direction.”

Whatever happens with Digital Praise's plans, there is still no credible Christian or Religious DLC for the two main music franchises. Surely Mad Catz could bang out a church organ or a Tibetan Buddhist singing bowl controller for Rock Band? Talk about missed opportunities...

Christian ‘Guitar Hero’ Game Maker Says Demand Is High, Hints At Full Band Game [MTV Multiplayer]

A co-worker just explained this game to me. Apparently the player gets to create a life form and watch it evolve from a single-cell organism, basically, into some sort of creature. The idea, apparently, is to see if there is some sort of divine intervention that has a hand in the creature’s evolution. So, not only does the music offend Muslims, the concept of the game offends creationists.

...yeah. She might be talking about Spore there.

Now you might say, "But that's just a tiny blog no one reads!", but it's a little blog that shows up when I type 'LittleBigPlanet' in Google News, so somebody out there thinks it's important, and now a number of somebodies out there think LittleBigPlanet is about evolution. Lovely.

PlayStation 3 game offends Muslims, creationists [Republican American Blogs]

Well, no, actually. To interrupt your scheduled grumblings about know-nothing moral guardians and anti-games cliches I bring news that several figures from Church of England groups and charities met at a round table chat organised by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and came to the conclusion that this gaming lark might actually have something positive to contribute to society.

Mike Royal, national director of the Lighthouse Group said that games can encourage children to talk about 'boundaries' and what behavior is good and acceptable, not only in gaming but other aspects of their lives.

Up next - Jack Thompson "really getting in to Tales of Vesperia".

Computer And Video Games Are Good for us!! [Yet Another Review Site]

And while Christian targeted games are nothing new — see Left Behind: Eternal Forces, Bible Adventures and Catechumen — there are some genres that escape its influence. The sandbox style crime spree, for example, popularized by Grand Theft Auto.

MTV Multiplayer asked the CEO of Digital Praise Tom Bean just how feasible a project that might be.

"It comes down to what kind of things do you want to do in that world," Bean says, noting that the developer has designs on such a thing, "But creating those kinds of games is not inexpensive." We say go for it, Tom, but lets do this Crusades-style. Keep it fun.

‘Guitar Praise’ Developer Ponders Christian ‘Grand Theft Auto’ [MTV Multiplayer]

Answer: Not reeeeally. God's more considered with you making a huge waste of the time He gave you on Earth.

The Q&A from the Synod:

Q: I'm very sure that killing/suicide stealing and anything like that is not accounted as an actual sin if it's only in video games. But I'm still not very sure, when I play video games, I'm not murdering at heart because I would never try to take the life of any living thing. And whatever is a video game can't die because it's not alive in the first place, video games are a false alternate reality...

A: As normally defined, taking the life of another in video games (as in acting or in any other fantasy situation) is not a sin against God's prohibition to murder. If, however, what is done in the video game is an expression of hatred or callous disregard for human life, then the heart and motives are wrong, and then it is sin in God's eyes...

For the record, however, obsession with video games can involve other departures from God's will... Typically, this can involve a colossal misuse of valuable time and also end up diverting time and attention from more useful and valuable pursuits that better glorify God and serve our neighbor...

If virtual kills were indeed a sin, even exchanged at a rate of 100:1, we'd all be about six levels below Ted Bundy in hell. And virtual suicide, oh come on. That said, I am absolutely certain that what I did in Call of Juarez is a sin — using Reverend Ray, whippin' out the Bible to read some scripture and baffle my fellow man, and then shooting him in the face. It was also fun as hell, too.

Aside, I have a friend with this theory on the afterlife. When you die, your soul is placed in a phone booth, into which is poured all of the beer you wasted in your life. This includes kegs you bought for a party that were never finished. If the level does not rise above your nose, you go to heaven. If I tell this to 10 people, maybe three have to think about it. The other seven all swiftly and confidently say, "Oh, I'm good."

Is Killing in Video Games a Sin? [GamePolitics]

MTV Multiplayer has taken delivery of Guitar Praise: Solid Rock — the Christian Rock-themed Guitar Hero knock-off — and performed a solemn unboxing ceremony.

The box itself makes some pretty bold claims of UNPARALLELED GAMEPLAY, informing would-be players that they can SHRED the riffs, THUMP the bass and BLAST that solid Christian Rock.

Inside, there is the game CD (it's a PC game) and the aforementioned guitar - it looks like a hybrid of the GH and Rock Band controller. The strum bar looks like it is covered with that fake plastic chrome effect which wears down to nothing upon contact with sweaty hands.

It's otherwise impossible to judge build quality or features but it seems to include a tilt-switch. The packaging proclaims that you can 'tilt the guitar to activate spinner bonuses to achieve maximum points".

Where do they get these crazy ideas!?!?

It is maybe a little unfair to poke fun at Guitar Praise for lack of originality - after all, if Guitar Hero or Rock Band acknowledged the CR niche then it arguably wouldn't have to exist. Although you could say the same about other genres of music too - if Harmonix don't start listening to me soon I may have to go in to production with Japanese All-Girl Noisecore Band Revolution Hero.

Hallelujah: ‘Guitar Praise’ Unboxed, With Screenshots[MTV Multiplayer]

An Apology

I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.

It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.

I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest.

Sincerely,
- Sigvatr

In Retrospect

As a game player, game designer and as a person with an admitedly bizarre sense of humor, I believe this game's messages could only be interpretted as it was intended by dedicated gamers and people who share my tendency to find humor where you would least expect it. I at no point stated my intentions for the game either personally or in the game itself in a way which the population at large could probably understand, so I will admit that my biggest mistake was an inability to make clear what I was trying to convey through the game to people who had no interest in experiencing it themselves.

What brought me to create this game in the first place was my frusteration at the lack of distinction in our society between Muslims in general and bad people who are Muslims. I have never been able to rationally equate Islam or its followers with violence and the infliction of suffering and I believe that people who do think these things is where the limelight should be shining at this point in history.

Muslims around the world are suffering because others want them to feel bad about themselves, and those others do not want to listen to Muslims when they try to defend themselves. If any good is going to come to light because of this international scandal that I have caused, then I hope it is that people will begin to listen to Muslims because there is a lot they have to say at this point. They are not doing anything wrong, we are simply not listening to them, and because of this they are suffering.

The media only listens to the shocking and offensive Muslims and then conveys the story to people in such a way that those Muslims become definitive of the religion in general. If you are going to start listening to what genuine Muslims have to say, then you are going to need to open up to them when you see them in the store, on the bus or at work, because that is where you will find eachother. Genuine Muslims don't come out of the TV set or the newspaper, only exciting and infuriating news stories.

That is my two cents.

Rather than a blistering attack on Spore's neo-Darwinist pro-evolution agenda and pollution of our children's precious bodily fluids — a post to the site today revealed it was in fact an incredibly elaborate Rickroll.

In a post entitled "Understand my beliefs please" the creator of the site laid out a scripture-heavy exegesis culminating in the following nugget of pure genius.

But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood. “21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”

Poe's law, if you were wondering, states that "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing"

Kudos to you, sir or madam, although far from pouring oil on troubled waters you may only have inflamed further religious argument - the existence of that Rick Astley video being the best argument for Atheism Richard Dawkins never had.

Understand my beliefs please [Antispore.com via Dagbladet.no]

You kill hundreds of faceless men and women, some with suicide bomb vests, some unarmed, as you work your way up to "bosses" like Osama bin Laden and, ultimately, Allah. It's packed with tasteless stereotypes and unapologetic detached violence.

It's unwaveringly offensive by design — it's given the tagline "the game of modern religious genocide" — so it should come as no surprise that people are voicing their displeasure with the game. According to UK publication Telegraph, British Muslim organizations are up in arms over the shooter.

“Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive,” said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization.

Muslim Massacre, created by Something Awful forum goon Eric "Sigvatr" Vaughn, has been publicly available for a while now, but people are now starting to give it some attention.

We've played the game and found it to be a rather straightforward shooter, with a surprisingly well crafted visual style and retro 8-bit musical nods. It has allusions to 80s shooters like Contra and Ikari Warriors and is stupidly "patriotic" in its execution. It doesn't play particularly well, nor is it a bad game.

Muslim Massacre is, according to its creator "fun to play" but "The Muslims represented in the game aren't meant to be based on actual Muslims."

As for an after-the-fact artist's statement, Vaughn is quoted as posting on the SA forums that “If I was to try and come up with a meaning for the game at this moment, it would probably be something along the lines of metaphorically destroying the stereotypical depiction of a Muslim.”

'Muslim Massacre' video game condemned for glamorising slaughter of Arabs [Telegraph]
Muslim Massacre [Official Site]

The site purports to be a protest against Spore and its 'attack on Christian values' and consists of several Creature Creator movies of Penis Monsters and other Spore grotesques, alongside posts about what the author claims is the game's pro-evolutionary agenda and corrupting influence on children.

Oh, and the fact that Will Wright is Evil.

Our first thought was "Ha! A clever satire on religious censorship and the intelligent design debate!" quickly followed by, "hang on, it's quite deadpan for satire, isn't it?"

I initially thought it might be some kind of quite funny, reverse-psychology marketing campaign.. but then I got to the bit about the Episcopalian Church being a 'perverted church' that endorses homosexuality and it seemed.. less funny.

The irony is that Spore is only nominally 'about' Evolution. If anything you as a player are an Intelligent Designer. Do you see? It is teaching the controversy!

Anti Spore -Resisting EA’s War on Creationism [Thanks to Scott Owens for the tip]