Wednesday, 09 December 2009

  • Left Behind Games Developing New Titles for the Wii and Xbox 360

    An outreach tool Christians have neglected to develop is the video game. Sure there are Christian versions of already popular games, like Guitar Praise and Dance Praise, alternatives to Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, respectively, but few recently released Christian video games have come from new inspiration.

    One Christian PC game developer, Left Behind Games Inc., who created the combat-style game Left Behind: Eternal Forces, has signed a contract to begin developing a new title for the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360. Now known as Inspired Media Entertainment, the company is planning to release a console version of its little known PC children's game Charlie Church Mouse Bible Adventures in partnership with LifeLine Studios.

    “Our strategy is to follow Nintendo’s example by including up to 18 story animations and mini-games,” said Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, in a statement earlier this week. He also explained that the company plans to transition its focus from PC games to console games.

    While the game is for very young children, it is certainly a move in the right direction for Christian video games, setting an example for other Christian game developers that seek to create new titles rather than making Christian versions of popular titles.

    This isn't the first development in new Christian content for console game players. Earlier this year, we discussed Bible Navigator X, a version of the Bible for the Xbox 360 created by Lifeway Christian Resources. While not an actual game, the application gives gamers the chance to experience the Bible in a format that is comfortable for them.

    These are both small steps toward creating solid Christian game titles, and hopefully more positive developments are in store for the future of Christian gaming.

    Do you think Christian video games will be a good outreach tool in the future, if developed properly? Do you think there is a market for them? What do you think about Christian video games that are just new versions of already popular games?

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Comments (14)

  • strictlyskinny@xanga

    video games are so fun because they're not all about learning

    I think its good for younger kids
    but personally, I don't want a cup of jesus with my resident evil
  • aznspartan94@xanga

    Is Jesus going to use "holy smite" and "banish" on demons and Pharisees? No? Then most gamers won't even give it a second glance.
  • MagisterTom@xanga

    We can't copy the secular world and replace it with ours. I won't buy a Jesus/Reeses shirt, nor will I buy a Christian Guitar Hero. Well, unless it was well done, not tacky, and had good music.

    My understanding is Left Behind game included the newly converted, but not before the rapture, Christians going around killing the non-believers. And I have major issue with that if it is the case.

    And, if we can't do a good job at making something like this, don't do it at all. Or, as C.S. Lewis put it,

    “‘Great works’ (of art) and ‘good works’ (of charity) had better also be good work. Let choirs
    sing well or not all.     Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of Business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this ‘culture’ and all this ‘religion’ (horrid words both) are  essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities.” - C. S. Lewis
  • Theophilus166@xanga

    According to wikipedia's "Eternal Forces" entry, in that game apparently characters shouted "Praise The Lord" when non-Christians were killed.   Just like Jesus would want it.
  • TheGreatBout@xanga

    I don't think there is much of a market for these games honestly. Though, those trying to share the gospel aren't looking to make profit hopefully.

    Copy cat games are silly to me but I suppose they can be blessings to some people. It all depends upon the game and how it affects the Church and the individual playing the game.

  • too_pretty_to_die@xanga

    @Theophilus166@xanga - 

    "According to wikipedia's "Eternal Forces"
    entry, in that game apparently characters shouted "Praise The Lord"
    when non-Christians were killed."

    well, they can't let the Muslim extremists have all the infidel-slaughtering fun, now can they? ;)
  • jmallory@xanga

    When I think of Christian video games, I think, "Boring!" I believe there are ways they can make them cool though... but it would take lots of strategy and graphic violence. 
  • lyrical_musing@xanga

    Epic fail. On all fronts.
  • TheSutraDude@xanga

    Here's the thing. Let's make Christian games, Jewish games, Hindu games, Buddhist games, Muslim games, etc. Then all the religion world's children can lock themselves in their rooms and never have to interact with one another. Each religious group can make a Gears of War wherein kids can battle monsters of all other religions and even other sects of their own religion. Think of the politics of such games. This would make for some real animosity online and kids could grow up learning to be intolerant and ignorant of other beliefs, never realizing how those other beliefs are eerily like their own. Oh but wait. That would be too much like real life and games are supposed to be fantasy.
  • TrumvilleOrbison@xanga
    this is absolutely horrid. unfortunately, we all knew it was only a matter of time, right?

    @lyrical_musing@xanga - yeah, but YOU win.
  • Todd

    ugh... as if the books weren't bad enough!
  • momzmybiz@xanga

    Great concept! I think that it will take a while to catch on. We always gravitate to that which is familiar to us.

  • NightCometh@xanga

    While not an actual game, the application gives gamers the chance
    to experience the Bible in a format that is comfortable for them.


    Comfortable.

  • jinxmchue

    @Theophilus166@xanga - "According to wikipedia's "Eternal Forces"
    entry, in that game apparently characters shouted "Praise The Lord"
    when non-Christians were killed."

    No, they actually don't.  Max Blumenthal, whether knowingly or not, was spreading a complete and utter lie about the game.  There is no "convert or kill"-style violence in the game, there are no goals to kill non-Christians, and Christian characters in the game do not shout "Praise the Lord!" as a result of killing.

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