Gaming the System
C ran into what appears to ba a pretty good video game hoax by way of the Anchoress. Now C is not into video games at all, but this one caught her attention. It is called Mass We Pray, and it appears to lampoon the kitchier aspects of Christian video gaming, Catholicism, the WII system and gullible video game geeks.
A cross-chaplet (or an attempt at a rosary?) and kneeler controller!
Of course, anyone who has spent more than a Sunday in a Catholic church will recognize the problems with the "game." The kids cross themselves left-handed. They include "taking collection" and "conducting the choir" as a "sacrament and holy ritual." And of course the mixing of Protestant and Catholic motifs is a dead giveaway.
I would include in an expansion pack:
- the cantor's microphone and "too-high arrangement" level
- the deluxe K of C spaghetti dinner sauce ladle controller
- feedback-prone squealing hearing aid (try to guess which parishoner has it)
We Pray, Protestant Edition would include:
- Crockpot controller for the covered dish supper level
- Stay awake until the end of the sermon challenge
- "Race to the front" altar call level
And, to cover all markets, the game should be available in English, Spanish, French and Tongues.
This sort of reminds me of the "Jesus is a Friend of Mine"/Sonseed meme perpetuated by the dougsploitation blog -- without the innuendo.
A cross-chaplet (or an attempt at a rosary?) and kneeler controller!
Of course, anyone who has spent more than a Sunday in a Catholic church will recognize the problems with the "game." The kids cross themselves left-handed. They include "taking collection" and "conducting the choir" as a "sacrament and holy ritual." And of course the mixing of Protestant and Catholic motifs is a dead giveaway.
I would include in an expansion pack:
- the cantor's microphone and "too-high arrangement" level
- the deluxe K of C spaghetti dinner sauce ladle controller
- feedback-prone squealing hearing aid (try to guess which parishoner has it)
We Pray, Protestant Edition would include:
- Crockpot controller for the covered dish supper level
- Stay awake until the end of the sermon challenge
- "Race to the front" altar call level
And, to cover all markets, the game should be available in English, Spanish, French and Tongues.
This sort of reminds me of the "Jesus is a Friend of Mine"/Sonseed meme perpetuated by the dougsploitation blog -- without the innuendo.
Labels: beyond belief, pop culture, tales from the web
posted by DMinor | 7:25 PM
5 Comments:
Well, D, it's 11:20 a.m. on Nov.20, the first day of preorder. I just went to www.masswepray.com and clicked the preorder button. It sent me to the cover page for the Dante's Inferno game.
Soooo...can we assume this little gem was just a viral for Dante? I am amused!
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This comment has been removed by the author.
Omigawsh! The HuffPo actually picked up the story!!
Also, here's an article from The Escapist, which actually explains what I was sloppily trying to describe using correct terminology.
Hm.
It appears that EA, the company producing Inferno (now there's an image!) has employed similar tactics before in promoting it.
Read here,
here,
here,
and here.
No points for originality there. I wasn't offended by MWP, and have remarked elsewhere that I didn't sense any malicious intent in it, but I may revise that opinion if the promotion campaign ends up being a series of stunts on the theme of "Hey, let's see how we can poke fun at Christians today!"
Though video games aren't my cup of tea, I've seen the Inferno trailer and it actually looks like something that could hold my interest. It could be a great game idea if it were true to the poem and executed with a bit of literary flair. I hope they're not squandering all their artistry on tacky publicity stunts.
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