Catholic/Christian Bible games

Stephentlig

Does anyone here know if there are any such games for a console?

I've been looking and cant find any,

your help would be much appreciated

Pax Christi
Stephen

Overheal

Darksiders maybe.

jaykhunter

The only time I've seen such games were 'Bible Games', which where illegal games for the NES/Super NES and Phillips CD-i (consoles from the 90s). All except one were really awful games that your child wouldn't play (the controls are broken and is barely educational or entertaining). Christian games were made solely to exploit the parental concerns.

I haven't seen any for the modern consoles, but if I come across any I'll post it.

As an aside, if you want your child to be learning while playing computer games I'd recommend any Legend of Zelda game (Wii and DS) as they involve various logic puzzles; or the brilliant Professor Layton (DS) which has many different types of puzzles with a fun story binding them together. Scribblenauts (DS) focuses you on using your vocabulary to overcome obstacles. Obviously Brain Training et al are more obvious titles.

I'd also recommend Rock Band 1 or 2 (3 is coming this Christmas) as it has a lot of fantastic music and promotes rhythm and teamwork if you're playing in a band. There's Lego Rock Band for 'safer' songs The 'Lego' franchise are easy games that are best played together (co-operatively) that involve parodying movie franchises, platforming etc. Can't recommend it highly enough for parents.

Cunny-Funt

jaykhunter wrote: »

if you want your child to be learning while playing computer games I'd recommend any Legend of Zelda game (Wii and DS) as they involve various logic puzzles

If its religious games he's looking for I doubt he'll want that, logic is the devils work.


Heres an interesting article though

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/12/when-religion-and-games-intersectand-why-it-often-goes-badly.ars

Retr0gamer

Any of the shin megami tensei games.

Overheal

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

If its religious games he's looking for I doubt he'll want that, logic is the devils work.

No need for the God Bashing, thanks.

Seifer

Overheal wrote: »

No need for the God Bashing, thanks.

Where does it say mod under your name?

You think it's fine to post your smart-ass answer but don't like other posters doing the same?

If he wanted safe answers he could've asked in the christianity forum.

Stephentlig

Guys relax, I'm adult enough to shrug off that which doesnt interest me. I posted here with the assumption that the knowledge of gaming in here exceeds that in the Christianity forum.

Pax Christi
Stephen<3

Seifer

Stephentlig wrote: »

Guys relax, I'm adult enough to shrug off that which doesnt interest me. I posted here with the assumption that the knowledge of gaming in here exceeds that in the Christianity forum.

Pax Christi
Stephen<3

Yes but what your asking for doesn't really have anything to do with gaming. I don't know how familiar you are with gaming but a console game costs millions of euro to make so there is no way one that would appeal to such a tiny niche market would get made.

Google it and you'll probably find some flash games for the pc since they take a lot less time and effort to make.

Sasquatch76

I'm afraid the best you'll do Stephen is find some Christian board games. As Seifer says, it's too niche a market for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo etc to be interested.

Stephentlig

Seifer wrote: »

Yes but what your asking for doesn't really have anything to do with gaming. I don't know how familiar you are with gaming but a console game costs millions of euro to make so there is no way one that would appeal to such a tiny niche market would get made.

Google it and you'll probably find some flash games for the pc since they take a lot less time and effort to make.

I see what your saying Seifer, but taking into consideration the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world,( not to mention the other millions of denominational Christians ) I can hardly see how that is a tiny niche market.

thank you for the Google advice, I'll do my best to do some more research, thank you all for your replies.

Pax Christi
Stephen

Stephentlig

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

I'm afraid the best you'll do Stephen is find some Christian board games. As Seifer says, it's too niche a market for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo etc to be interested.

Yes I've looked for boardgames, but nothing beats a good console game wouldnt you agree?

thanks again
Pax Christi
Stephen

cynder

Not a computer game but we used to play 20 questions based on biblical characters or places. I remembr thinking of heaven after about 50 questions no one got it.

Seifer

Stephentlig wrote: »

I see what your saying Seifer, but taking into consideration the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world,( not to mention the other millions of denominational Christians ) I can hardly see how that is a tiny niche market.

Catholics aren't the market. Lots of Catholics are presumably happy to play normal games. The market you're part of is the hardcore Catholic where even your leisure time is structured around your religion. This is a tiny market.

Secondly you haven't even described what you would do in such a game. Go around hugging people? Converting heathens? Those aren't things that the vast, vast majority of people are going to find fun. Any Christian game that gets made is essentially just going to be digital propaganda, not a true game.

Retr0gamer

There's definitely some hardcore christian indie games out there. I can't point you in the direction since I wouldn't know but there were articles about it in Games TM every so often.

Stephentlig

Catholics aren't the market. Lots of Catholics are presumably happy to play normal games. The market you're part of is the hardcore Catholic where even your leisure time is structured around your religion. This is a tiny market.

Yes but most Catholics I know who arent hardcore would play the normal games as well as the religious ones, therefore I still cannot see your point that its a tiny niche market, however I do understand the bulk of the message you are trying to get across and your desire to help me.

Secondly you haven't even described what you would do in such a game. Go around hugging people? Converting heathens? Those aren't things that the vast, vast majority of people are going to find fun. Any Christian game that gets made is essentially just going to be digital propaganda, not a true game.

Not neccesarily, in my opinion a great game would be something like the Acts of the apostles, in which a person could pick a Character such as Saint Paul or Saint Peter, and would play out the whole Acts of the apostles, although one would have to sit and be more creative and specific about it.

Of course it would be aimed at one market ''Catholic/Christian'' and I do see that someones lack of interest in such a game who isnt of that religion would be there, but considering my point above I feel confident that all the big companys wouldnt fail in the area of making money on such a game if marketed properly.

Pax Christi
Stephen

Stephentlig

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's definitely some hardcore christian indie games out there. I can't point you in the direction since I wouldn't know but there were articles about it in Games TM every so often.

Hi, thanks for the reply, is Games tm a magazine or an online blog or something like that?

Seifer

Stephentlig wrote: »

Yes but most Catholics I know who arent hardcore would play the normal games as well as the religious ones,

What religious ones?

Stephentlig wrote: »

therefore I still cannot see your point that its a tiny niche market, however I do understand the bulk of the message you are trying to get across and your desire to help me.

I'm not surprised you can't see my point but well done on reading between the lines.

Stephentlig wrote: »

Not neccesarily, in my opinion a great game would be something like the Acts of the apostles, in which a person could pick a Character such as Saint Paul or Saint Peter, and would play out the whole Acts of the apostles, although one would have to sit and be more creative and specific about it.

The problem with this is that the game designers would have to prevent the player from doing so many things so as to prevent them committing sacrilegious acts that you would essentially be left with an interactive story book.

Stephentlig wrote: »

Of course it would be aimed at one market ''Catholic/Christian'' and I do see that someones lack of interest in such a game who isnt of that religion would be there, but considering my point above I feel confident that all the big companys wouldnt fail in the area of making money on such a game if marketed properly.

Drop Microsoft an email so.

Stephentlig

What religious ones?

Exactly Seifer, ''what religious ones'' indeed, which is why when proposed with a religious game they wouldnt say no to buying it.

The problem with this is that the game designers would have to prevent the player from doing so many things so as to prevent them committing sacrilegious acts that you would essentially be left with an interactive story book.

Not really, if it was carefully thought out, such problematic areas could be avoided as long as they had theologians involved in the creativity of it.

Drop Microsoft an email so.

address?

Pax Christi
Stephen

jaykhunter

I came across a blog about banned games but they were flash-style games that focused on intolerance of other religions

How about games where the protagonist is a good moral person that treats others with respect and helps everyone for the greater good?

Seifer

Stephentlig wrote: »

Exactly Seifer, ''what religious ones'' indeed, which is why when proposed with a religious game they wouldnt say no to buying it.

Well I suppose if the Catholic church directed their flock to buy it then they would be obliged.
However in the real world, a product is made because there is a desire for it. Creating a product and convincing people they want it is a much more difficult proposition (Apple do it pretty well though).
I would guess that you're not the first person to think of this, I would even boldly stipulate that there has been market research done into the area. Considering there have been hurling games released for consoles, what does that tell you about the size of the potential market for a Christian game?

dloob

Wasn't there that "Left Behind" series of games?
They were proably the biggest in recent times.
Although I don't think that rapture stuff is catholic is it?

5uspect

Aren't there "Left Behind" based games? I know I've read about a Bible based game coming out for the xbox.

Dantes Inferno has themes based around the Christian idea of Hell. As well as violence and murder and stuff.
Assassins Creed is based during the Crusades and has Da Vinci Code-esque religious themes as well as murdering and stuff.

It is totally a niche market. No publisher would ever put out a game where you play an apostle handing out loaves and fishes. Not only would it make for a terrible game that simply wouldn't sell but would potentially stir up the crazies. (Tho EA did go down that route with Dantes Inferno a bit with their fake protesters)

Retr0gamer

jaykhunter wrote: »

How about games where the protagonist is a good moral person that treats others with respect and helps everyone for the greater good?

Chibi Robo fits the bill. By the end of the game you've helped a load of toys get over their social issues and saved the marriage of the family you work for.

As for games tm, it's a games magazine. You probably won't be able to find the articles now unless they archived them online.

Coriolanus

You can play as the Crusader states of Antioch and Jerusalem in Total War Medieval 2: Kingdoms.

Mindkiller

This is the nearest possible thing I can think of

Not a Bible game though

Genghiz Cohen

I've heard of Bible Man, but it seems poorly made.

Link to PC Demo

Stephentlig

It is totally a niche market. No publisher would ever put out a game where you play an apostle handing out loaves and fishes. Not only would it make for a terrible game that simply wouldn't sell but would potentially stir up the crazies. (Tho EA did go down that route with Dantes Inferno a bit with their fake protesters)

but the thing is is that you'd have to read the Acts of the apostles to understand how one could turn it into a game, that would be action/fun and educational at the same time.

there are great parts of the Acts of the apostles that could suggest good gaming, but I'm not feeling in the creative mood at the moment.

and no Catholics dont accept the rapture stuff.

thanks everyone for the replies, its been interesting and informative at the same time and I'm continuing my research as it is.

Pax Christi
Stephen

Stephentlig

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

I've heard of Bible Man, but it seems poorly made.

Link to PC Demo

yeah it looks dire, but the ''the bible game'' after it is for the playstation looks good and I'm just waiting for the trailer to load to have a look.

Pax Christi
Stephen

Stephentlig

Seifer wrote: »

Well I suppose if the Catholic church directed their flock to buy it then they would be obliged.
However in the real world, a product is made because there is a desire for it. Creating a product and convincing people they want it is a much more difficult proposition (Apple do it pretty well though).
I would guess that you're not the first person to think of this, I would even boldly stipulate that there has been market research done into the area. Considering there have been hurling games released for consoles, what does that tell you about the size of the potential market for a Christian game?

you make several good points seifer, perhaps if they did a research questionarie first to see if people would be interested it could help see if there be a desire for such a game?

Seifer

Stephentlig wrote: »

you make several good points seifer, perhaps if they did a research questionarie first to see if people would be interested it could help see if there be a desire for such a game?

Seifer wrote:

I would even boldly stipulate that there has been market research done into the area.

Market research is essentially a questionnaire.

L31mr0d

Not really a console game, but you can play it in your browser. Noah is my personal favorite, he's got a wicked dive kick move and can call in a stampede of two of every kind of animal.

http://games.adultswim.com/bible-fight-action-online-game.html

Sasquatch76

To be fair, it's not just a question of "will the game sell", but also "who's going to put up the money to develop it".

Then you've to look at publishing, getting a licence from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo etc etc. It's not as simple as saying there are over one billion catholics in the world... how many of them would choose The Good Samaritan over Robot Ninja Bloodsucker 6? I'm afraid, not as many as you would like to think.

Stephentlig

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

To be fair, it's not just a question of "will the game sell", but also "who's going to put up the money to develop it".

Then you've to look at publishing, getting a licence from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo etc etc. It's not as simple as saying there are over one billion catholics in the world... how many of them would choose The Good Samaritan over Robot Ninja Bloodsucker 6? I'm afraid, not as many as you would like to think.

Yes I must admit the voice of Jesus is certainly a small one in the world, but we must not try to predict the idea that Catholics wouldnt choose it, but there is the question of throwing it out there to see what happened, but at the risk of losing millions would that be a good idea? probably not.

I have come across this game on youtube though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuszZAyIbS4

WolfForager

Stephentlig wrote: »

Yes I must admit the voice of Jesus is certainly a small one in the world, but we must not try to predict the idea that Catholics wouldnt choose it, but there is the question of throwing it out there to see what happened, but at the risk of losing millions would that be a good idea? probably not.

I have come across this game on youtube though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuszZAyIbS4

If your trying to embed a video on boards use the tags

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

and put the video code in between em.

EDIT: That didn't come out at helpful at all, ah well. Sorry for wasting bandwidth :P

Mr E

The Angry Video Game Nerd did a review of some old bible games on the NES. Not for the faint of heart or easily offended (he isn't called angry for nothing). I'm not even going to post it here - he's pretty obnoxious ... look it up on youtube.

Calhoun

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

I've heard of Bible Man, but it seems poorly made.

Link to PC Demo

bible man beats people to death with his light saber?? could have just linked him to knights of the old republic, except it doesnt look like it wasn't made on a zero budget

ScumLord

There was a review of this one in PCFormat not so long ago Fatale It got an F for being "bonkers". I think it features nudity though.

wes

Well the Left Behind series of books, has some games based on it. You can find more information here:

http://www.leftbehindgames.com/

Thats the closest I can think of, and those game would be Evangelical Christian. So they might not be what your looking for.

Xyo

Dante's inferno played as a good guy? no?

johnny_ultimate

Zoo Race

This game is uber-religious, but it should come with a warning because the quality is so low. Download the demo (if it even works on your computer), it is laughably bad. The music (oh, the music!), the graphics, the gameplay, the sound design, the cutscenes - everything. tbh it is the only game that popped into my head when I read the thread title. A group of us enjoyed it on a satirical level (although we're about as non-religious as you can get), but if you're looking for a truly religious game its as close as you get.

I'd recommend everyone from atheist to Christian to Muslim to Scientologist to at least watch the opening cutscene though. Probably the biggest waste of pixels ever created.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfV2OzEHwg

Actually, not entirely. The Noah disco scenes in the game itself are even worse.

grizzly

Stephentlig wrote: »

Not neccesarily, in my opinion a great game would be something like the Acts of the apostles, in which a person could pick a Character such as Saint Paul or Saint Peter, and would play out the whole Acts of the apostles, although one would have to sit and be more creative and specific about it.

*Eric Cartman voice* Lame

ScumLord

Xyo wrote: »

Dante's inferno played as a good guy? no?

I was trying to think of the name of that one, it's another one that's supposed to have the odd bit of full frontal in it.

Optimalprimerib

There was noahs ark on the nes years back. Although the only link to religion was the name. And the levels used to flood with water.

Cunny-Funt

Stephentlig wrote: »

I see what your saying Seifer, but taking into consideration the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world,( not to mention the other millions of denominational Christians ) I can hardly see how that is a tiny niche market.

If you actually read the article I posted, you'd understand.


Your not really going to find anything of quality thats solely based on very specific bible teachings. You really need to look more at games out there that have religious back ground themes like some of the games retro mentioned.

Problem is the hard core religious people go crazy when their religion is mentioned in a game and its not exactly the way they want it. LBP got delayed simply cause a song had a few lyrics from the qur'an. As far as I remember the guy who sang the song was Muslim. Sony freaked out anyway and delayed the game and removed the lyrics.

Its just iffy territory for companies. Honestly people just don't want to have to deal with fundamentalist religious people.

Overheal wrote: »

No need for the God Bashing, thanks.

Hahahahahahaha! Actually I don't even need to address this, Seifer already put you in your place.

calex71

Sim city? Sim anything..... you essentially play god in those. Moral choice is all your's just like real life really.

Cunny-Funt

LOL good point man, we're talking about religious games and we never even thought of god games.

Black and white series etc!

ScumLord

calex71 wrote: »

Sim city? Sim anything..... you essentially play god in those. Moral choice is all your's just like real life really.

I wonder would those games be borderline sinning what with pretending to be god and false worship within the game.

5uspect

Aren't all video games a sin of some sort?

Skerries

this one definitely is

Stercus Accidit

jaykhunter wrote: »

How about games where the protagonist is a good moral person that treats others with respect and helps everyone for the greater good?

Isn't that like every rpg ever?