Christian groups are lashing out at Electronic Arts over EA's viral marketing stunt for Dante's Inferno at E3 2009, which involved a fake religious protest where more than 20 people pretended to be Christians angered by the game. The fake protesters held up signs outside the LA Convention Centre that bore mottos like "Trade your PlayStation for a PrayStation".
While some publications fell for the ruse and reported the controversy that was building around the game, the truth was quickly uncovered and the event was exposed as a viral marketing stunt by the AP.
In an interesting turn of events though, Christian groups really are objecting to the game and the marketing campaign around it now, reports GamePolitics. Mainly though, it looks like people are objecting to the game for the same reason as we did in our hands-on preview of Dante's Inferno - that it just isn't very original and strays too far from the source material.
"It's been clear for a while now that the entertainment industry views Christians on the whole as priggish, thin-skinned fun-killers," said a spokesperson for Christian publication InsideCatholic. "Has anybody at EA actually read the Inferno?"
Others were more direct in their criticisms, with Catholic Video Gamers saying that Dante's Inferno looks to be little more than a God of War rip-off.
"Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if it's, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?"
What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know in the forums.
While some publications fell for the ruse and reported the controversy that was building around the game, the truth was quickly uncovered and the event was exposed as a viral marketing stunt by the AP.
In an interesting turn of events though, Christian groups really are objecting to the game and the marketing campaign around it now, reports GamePolitics. Mainly though, it looks like people are objecting to the game for the same reason as we did in our hands-on preview of Dante's Inferno - that it just isn't very original and strays too far from the source material.
"It's been clear for a while now that the entertainment industry views Christians on the whole as priggish, thin-skinned fun-killers," said a spokesperson for Christian publication InsideCatholic. "Has anybody at EA actually read the Inferno?"
Others were more direct in their criticisms, with Catholic Video Gamers saying that Dante's Inferno looks to be little more than a God of War rip-off.
"Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if it's, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?"
What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know in the forums.
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