- God in the Console - MSNBC posted an article in August of 2003, and my thoughts on the article
- PlayStations of the Cross - The NY Times posted an article (that's now in the paid archives, unfortunately). As the subject fascinates me, I had to post about it again.
God Games Seek Souls, Not Profit focuses on basically repeating a lot of what the prior two articles I've linked have said, just with some updates. There's discussion of the Christian Game Developers Foundation, which is pretty awesome. It feels like a nice evolution in terms of how these articles go. It didn't bring as much to the table as the prior articles I've linked, but it was still an interesting read, especially as it sheds more light on how much Christian game development is moving forward. It's nice to see more people embracing video games as another valid form of entertainment, and realizing that they can use gaming as a tool to reach people without being so Bible-thumping about it. Christian pop and rock and such has taken off and gone mainstream even (like Switchfoot) so it's nice to gaming moving that way too.
Christians Code Heavenly Games focuses really on just longer descriptions of known Christian games in development. One in particular that intrigues me:
Digital Praise demonstrated Dance Praise, an arcade game in the mold of Dance Dance Revolution, in which players follow onscreen instructions and stomp on a dance pad to the beat of music. The game will feature songs from 30 of the leading Christian music artists, according to Bill Bean, Digital Praise's vice president of marketing and sales.As a DDR fan and a Christian, that amuses me to no end.
As an aside, I'll admit to feeling a tinge of guilt in proclaiming myself to be Christian, as I know I've not exactly been strong in my faith lately, but hey. We all have our trials, right? I still hold my faith, which is the most important part. It's still there.
Overall, of all of the four articles I've now linked, I still feel like the God in the Console article presented the most interesting read. If I had to suggest one to read, that'd be it. The NY Times article was similar in content, but weaker overall, and these two Wired articles, while interesting, don't engage me as much as the MSNBC one did. However, they're still noteworthy.
There isn't much else I can say about my thoughts overall on the intersection of my faith and my favorite hobby, at least that I haven't already said in a prior blog post, so I'll wrap this up now.
- Mood:
intrigued - Music:"Somebody's Watching" by tobyMac (seemed fitting)
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brianarn- Brian
- RandomThink.net
Comments
Soo...I'm kind of sceptical on this whole gaming thing (did you ever see that Simpsons where the Flanders have this game where you have to shoot heathens to turn them into saints? =p) but I guess I'll wait for the industry to grow a little, and criticize it later =p
I'll also agree that a lot of Christian adaptations of secular items, like music, can be pretty bad. One particular industry that I'd say is getting right though, would actually be the music. The past 4-6 years have seen some amazing growth of talent in Christian pop/rock/rap, to the point where it's on the level of commercially produced secular music.
I know that considering today's musical climate that may not be saying much -- I mean, there's a lot of pop that's crap -- but there's some really talented people out there who are singing in popular styles, but with a Christian message behind it, even if the message is so light that it's nearly non-existant.
A particular example that I like is KJ-52. He's a rapper that sounds quite a bit like Eminem (not intentionally), but his song messages are a lot more positive overall, even if some of his songs are very dark at times. I like the sound that both he and Eminem have, but I much prefer to listen to KJ-52 simply because I'm getting a better overall message. It's really good stuff.
I'm sure that the first few rounds of Christian gaming are going to be incredibly lame. However, I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm intrigued to see what they can do without being too blunt about the message while still producing something fun to play.
There are only one or two FPS I play, because I don't like many of them. I enjoy my violence at a distance, if at all possible. I prefer strategy, platformers, or role-playing games myself.
You know, in the D&D game I am playing a character who is likely to become a saint. I think a role-playing game where people can see the effects of their choices immediately could be a valuable learning tool for personal interaction, if they can take the denominational parts out of it.