Journey of Jesus Punches Out Diablo

[Andy Chalk]

Journey of Jesus Punches Out Diablo

Jesus has had enough of Diablo's crap, so he's going to Facebook to clean house.

Today, May 15, is the day that the long-awaited Diablo 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Diablo-III-Standard-Edition-Pc/dp/B00178630A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337113887&sr=8-1] was finally unleashed upon the world. And that's why today is also the day that Lightside Games has chosen to debut Journey of Jesus: The Calling, a game that lets players "walk in the Messiah's steps, in an authentic experience of Israel set in Christ's time." Players will travel with Jesus through the Gospels, earning an education about the history and politics of the Holy Land along the way.

Now, it's true that we don't normally cover Facebook game announcements here at The Escapist and especially not those with such a tightly-focused target audience, but Journey of Jesus is special. Why? Because the Journey of Jesus Facebook page currently boasts an image of Jesus standing over the prone form of a boxer-clad Diablo, fist raised in the air Rocky-style, under the headline, "Spiritual Videogame World Championship: Jesus K.O. El Diablo."

I'm not making any of this up, and neither is Lightside Games [http://lightsidegames.com/], which has already released a similarly-themed game on Facebook called Journey of Moses. And while Journey of Jesus won't actually feature the Son of God punching the stupid out of the Lord of Terror, the developers say they do think the game will "open conversations about faith."

Regardless of whether or not there's actually a Thrown-Down in the Holy Town [think Thrilla in Manila, but with less inspirational characters], using a game like Diablo 3 to promote a decidedly religious game like Journey of Jesus is still a fascinating and potentially controversial marketing move. Lightside even plays it a little bit on the coy side, suggesting that the timing of the Journey of Jesus announcement is entirely coincidental.

"Interestingly, also launching today: Diablo 3, the newest installment of a game series built around battles with demonic creatures, which debuted in 1996 with the tagline, 'All Hell breaks loose'," the studio said in a press release.

"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Lightside CEO Brent Dusing added. I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean.

Journey of Jesus: The Callling is live now on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/JourneyOfJesus].

Source: Games.com [http://blog.games.com/2012/05/15/religious-facebook-game-aims-to-k-o-diablo-iii/]



Permalink

 

[TheLazyGeek]

the developers say they do think the game will "open conversations about faith."

Well, my faith in Blizzard is no more...

 

[Azuaron]

"Interestingly, also launching today: Diablo 3, the newest installment of a game series built around battles with demonic creatures, which debuted in 1996 with the tagline, 'All Hell breaks loose'," the studio said in a press release.

"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Lightside CEO Brent Dusing added. I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean.

I'm a little confused... so, in Diablo, you fight demons, eventually descending to Hell and fighting Diablo himself to save the world.

Dusing seems to be trying to imply that playing Diablo will make you a Satanist or something. But if you take his statement, "you are what you eat," to its logical metaphoric conclusion (the role you take in games becomes the role you take in life), everyone who plays Diablo III will become a crusader against (legitimate!) evil.

 

[Aeshi]

Indie developer is stuck up & cool-to-bash game is bashed by people trying to be cool. Nothing new to see here

 

[UnderGlass]

Indie developer is stuck up & cool-to-bash game is bashed by people trying to be cool. Nothing new to see here

It's cool to bash Diablo? I thought Diablo was pretty much universally loved by the gaming community.

Yeah I've been seeing this argument a lot recently too. I've not really been following the zeitgeist on this but it's like people can't have legitimate objections to a game without someone accusing them of being a hipster. I don't hate Blizzard but I have been uneasy about the direction of D3 for awhile now.

I mean, pfft I hated Diablo 3 before anyone else even heard about it! *crouches behind flame shield*

 

[Pariahwulfen]

Indie developer is stuck up & cool-to-bash game is bashed by people trying to be cool. Nothing new to see here

It's cool to bash Diablo? I thought Diablo was pretty much universally loved by the gaming community.

There at least was some bashing about the real money auction house. Also, the server problems at launch were bad enough that I gave up after 1.5 hours and went to bed, which could lead to bashing if said problem was widespread.

 

[RJ 17]

"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Lightside CEO Brent Dusing added. I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean.

Sooooooooo if I play Diablo 3 I'll be a demonic incarnation of Terror with untold powers of destruction and chaos at my command? While if I play Journey of Jesus I'll turn into Jesus and all his Ted Nugent-look-alike glory?

 

[Sixcess]

They'd win more converts, or at least not get mocked so much, if they made a real game. Given the number of games that involve killing large numbers of demons why not make one of their own?

Dante's Inferno (the game, not the poem) would have been much more awesome if it had been Jesus, kicking ass in Hell, preferably with a shotgun.

Or just buy up the rights to Painkiller, with its "Heaven's got a Hitman" tagline.

 

[JenSeven]

Okay... Now typing on a new keyboard...
I broke the last one while reading through this article and bashing my head against the table. I forgot my keyboard was between my desk and my head...

But anyway...

What the hell is wrong with these people?
Are they that starved for attention?

Most of the world already sees American Christians as a bunch of retarded inbred rednecks, are these people out to try and prove that?

Can somebody please explain this to me because I'm really trying to understand this and I can't seem to be able to wrap my head around the staggering amount of stupidity and willingness to deny reality.
I already thought the height of this nonsense was trying to outlaw evolution from schools, and trying to get "intelligent design" as a valid replacement...

 

[PrototypeC]

Yeah, ninja'd, but I was going to say something similar.

The point of Diablo is to become more powerful (one could say, more faithful and ready to face hell's wrath), get more and more potent equipment (remember that whole "armour of God" bit, where it talks about arming yourself with faith? Kind of like that, but more literal), and slay demons and demonkind with fire and sword. The story is... not great, but that's not why we play games like that.

Christians believe that demons aren't the abstract concepts of man's weaknesses like everyone else, they believe that there are physical beings (probably red, scaly, and breathing fire because as Disney teaches, evil is ugly) with the intent to destroy them. Why, then, would this company try to deny their existence in any form of media?

It's like Demon Hunter, one of my favourite bands... they're hard rock and almost heavy metal, and their symbol is a demon's skull, but what most don't notice is that it's a skull, with a hole in it. Thus, a dead demon. Their lyrics have a Christian bent and they even named one album "Storm the Gates of Hell".

 

[GonzoGamer]

Is there some sort of peripheral I haven't heard of? When did we start eating games?

 

[Worgen]

Even though blizzard cant write their way out of a wet paper bag, diablo is still the more interesting fictional character.

 

[Porygon-2000]

Okay... Now typing on a new keyboard...
I broke the last one while reading through this article and bashing my head against the table. I forgot my keyboard was between my desk and my head...

But anyway...

What the hell is wrong with these people?
Are they that starved for attention?

Most of the world already sees American Christians as a bunch of retarded inbred rednecks, are these people out to try and prove that?

Can somebody please explain this to me because I'm really trying to understand this and I can't seem to be able to wrap my head around the staggering amount of stupidity and willingness to deny reality.
I already thought the height of this nonsense was trying to outlaw evolution from schools, and trying to get "intelligent design" as a valid replacement...

I fail to see the relevance of that statement, to the article to which you are replying. Really, this is just a Facebook game, poking some fun at Diablo 3, in a non serious way.
It may be worth a shot to read the article in its entirety first.

 

[The Random One]

"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Lightside CEO Brent Dusing added. I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean.

I was going to say it means Journey of Jesus players are boring while Diablo III players are interesting and thrilling, but then I remembered what Diablo III actually looks like. Another joke lost.

 

[teh_Canape]

Yeah, ninja'd, but I was going to say something similar.

The point of Diablo is to become more powerful (one could say, more faithful and ready to face hell's wrath), get more and more potent equipment (remember that whole "armour of God" bit, where it talks about arming yourself with faith? Kind of like that, but more literal), and slay demons and demonkind with fire and sword. The story is... not great, but that's not why we play games like that.

Christians believe that demons aren't the abstract concepts of man's weaknesses like everyone else, they believe that there are physical beings (probably red, scaly, and breathing fire because as Disney teaches, evil is ugly) with the intent to destroy them. Why, then, would this company try to deny their existence in any form of media?

It's like Demon Hunter, one of my favourite bands... they're hard rock and almost heavy metal, and their symbol is a demon's skull, but what most don't notice is that it's a skull, with a hole in it. Thus, a dead demon. Their lyrics have a Christian bent and they even named one album "Storm the Gates of Hell".

boy have I seen this before
it particularly made me slam my face against a wall when they said that about Doom
I mean, come on, in Doom you face demons, kill possessed humans, destroy lost souls, go to Hell itself and kill the Icon of Sin
Doom is as christian as it gets, for fuck's sake

hell, even the ad for the Jaguar version of Doom had a priest telling you that in the game you kill demons from hell

 

[Doclector]

"Interestingly, also launching today: Diablo 3, the newest installment of a game series built around battles with demonic creatures, which debuted in 1996 with the tagline, 'All Hell breaks loose'," the studio said in a press release.

"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Lightside CEO Brent Dusing added. I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean.

I'm a little confused... so, in Diablo, you fight demons, eventually descending to Hell and fighting Diablo himself to save the world.

Dusing seems to be trying to imply that playing Diablo will make you a Satanist or something. But if you take his statement, "you are what you eat," to its logical metaphoric conclusion (the role you take in games becomes the role you take in life), everyone who plays Diablo III will become a crusader against (legitimate!) evil.

Exactly what I thought. It's like all those people saying DOOM was satanic, it instantly shows they don't have a clue about the game because you actually fight satanic beings in the games in question.

 

[Orange Lazarus]

Is there some sort of peripheral I haven't heard of? When did we start eating games?

I wanted to reply with some sort of 'game disc = eucharist' comparison, but it's just not coming to me.