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Faith Fighter shut down over Islamic protest
Yesterday, the media suddenly and unexpectedly went temporarily insane following UK Metro's coverage of Faith Fighter, a year-old Flash title that pits various deities against one another in Immortal Kombat. The backlash to the title from religious leaders was about as feverish as you might expect -- in fact, following protests from the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the title's Italian developer Molleindustria pulled the game from its site.The page where the site was once hosted now holds a message from the game's developers, blaming the Metro UK article for dredging up controversy and inciting protests over a game that has been "played by millions of players on the Internet" and "been exhibited in several artistic venues around the world." Of course, as Molleindustria was quick to point out, its pulling of the game is merely a symbolic gesture -- it's pretty tough to completely remove things from the internet.[Via GamePolitics]
Year-old religious fighting game angering the religious
Metro.co.uk has dug up some religious outrage over an aging, online game called Faith Fighter. The Flash-based title, released in January 2008, allows players to control various deities battling for ... "intolerance" of one another. In the "censored" version of the game, Muhammad's face is covered by a black circle. The Metro piece gives voice to certain representatives of various religions who are offended by the game, which does pre-load with this (perhaps sarcastic) disclaimer:"This game is not intended to be offensive towards any religion in particular. Its aim is to push the gamers to reflect on how the religions and sacred representations are often instrumentally used to fuel or justify conflicts between nations and people ... If you feel that such a depiction [of Muhammad] would be offensive ... don't play the game at all."Interestingly, Adult Swim's Bible Fight is essentially based on the same concept and has been playable since May 2, 2007. Granted, that game only picks on Judeo-Christian icons. Still, if we were a religious group expressing outrage (hint, hint), we'd at least direct our disgust at a mega-corporation (see The Church of England vs. Sony), you know, uh, to recoup some damages. Seriously, how do you expect little old Molleindustria.org to respond to the Faith Fighter backlash? Our best guess: a sequel starring new challenger Haile Selassie I.[Via GamePolitics]
