Games blasted for "satanic" themes
Dragon Age! Nocturne! Guitar Hero?
"Philadelphia's family newspaper", The Bulletin, has issued a warning about "the rise in the number of satanically-themed video games that target God and Christianity, invite players to make pacts with the devil, and elevate Satan to hero status".
The paper interviews Lance Christian, a 32-year-old Christian and "avid gamer" who feels that the devil's influence over the videogame medium "has been going on for the last 10 years, but especially in the most recent games".
"I feel that the devil has a new tool to work with in this age of technology, and the majority of adults in a position of responsibility are left in the dark," Christian said.
His list of the most satanic titles includes some older games - Deception: Invitation to Darkness for the PSone, Nocturne and Shadow Hears on PS2 - but also last year's Dragon Age: Origins.
"The game revolves around the story of God going mad and cursing the world," runs the Bulletin's précis of the BioWare fantasy epic. "A witch attacks believers and players can 'have sex' with her in a pagan act called 'blood magic' so she can 'give birth to a god'. Another scenario allows players to have sex with a demon in exchange for a boy's soul." Spoilers.
Other satanic games listed by Christian are Dante's Inferno (something literature students might find ironic), Devil Summoner, Bayonetta, Darksiders and Guitar Hero (what?).
The article also has a pop at American ratings board the ESRB for not classifying games for their religious imagery alongside sex, violence and language. "We checked these summaries and although they proved helpful, few mentioned the overt satanic content of the games," wrote the author.
The devil has all the best tunes, they say. Maybe he's expanding his media portfolio.