Hindus Upset Over Asura's Wrath

SinisterDeath

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Tanis said:
O, go bonk yourself Zed.

This coming from a society with a caste system, forced arranged marriages, and has folks bathing in a river so polluted it makes the sewage pipes near Fox News look like they've been run through a Brita Filter.

It's not like AW was making fun of Hinduism/Indians (SEE: The Simpson's) or abusing & twisting some of the iconography (SEE: Nazi's).

Zed needs to get his panties out of their bunch and chill.
Uh, you know its the year 2012 right? Its no longer 1940? nor 1969, let alone 1987.... Things change, and you know, cultures evolve. You think 'your' culture 150+ years ago was any 'different'? You know 'serfs' was just another name for slave....
 

theultimateend

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Eric the Orange said:
I'm not particularly religious, so I always find it odd that some people who are get so easily offended about it. By this I mean that there are things that I hold in high regard but I don't really care if other people dislike them or disrespect them. But it seems that people are especially touchy when it come to matters of belief.
Yeah.

So that's the thing. All the things I truly cherish I have full confidence in, this means I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest if someone else mocked them.

I've always thought that insecurity in ones faith suggests some wavering.

But maybe I'm wrong.

All my favorite things are real people or things involving nature...so I suppose It's just easier for me?
 

rob_simple

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Aug 8, 2010
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Because of course, I remember all those riots in Greece when they brought out God of War.

If I was a Hindu I'd be thrilled to see my gods being this cool.
 

SinisterDeath

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Just to toss this in.
You know what bothered me?
Zeus in Immortals looked like someone from the Twilight Cast, had a baby with the 'kid' from 3rd rock from the sun. [http://epguides.com/3rdRockFromtheSun/cast.jpg]
 

Sylveria

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SinisterDeath said:
Tanis said:
O, go bonk yourself Zed.

This coming from a society with a caste system, forced arranged marriages, and has folks bathing in a river so polluted it makes the sewage pipes near Fox News look like they've been run through a Brita Filter.

It's not like AW was making fun of Hinduism/Indians (SEE: The Simpson's) or abusing & twisting some of the iconography (SEE: Nazi's).

Zed needs to get his panties out of their bunch and chill.
Uh, you know its the year 2012 right? Its no longer 1940? nor 1969, let alone 1987.... Things change, and you know, cultures evolve. You think 'your' culture 150+ years ago was any 'different'? You know 'serfs' was just another name for slave....
Yep, it is 2012.. and those aspects of the Indian culture still exist. They may not be as dominant as they were before the western influence started to grow to the point where it is now and will continue to change, but they are very much still present.
 

DailonCmann

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Andy Chalk said:
Hindus Upset Over Asura's Wrath


The Universal Society of Hinduism is "upset" about Asura's Wrath, saying the game trivializes the symbols and concepts of the Hindu religion.

I don't know much about Hinduism or Asura's Wrath, but a quick glance at Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura%27s_Wrath] tells me that the game "takes elements from Hindu mythology and blends them with science fiction." I guess that would explain why Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, is none too happy with the game. In a press release, Zed said that "such trivializing and reimagining of highly revered symbols and concepts of Hinduism was not okay as it is upsetting for the devotees."

Durga, the murdered wife of Asura in Asura's Wrath, is actually a major Hindu deity who destroyed the buffalo-demon Mahisasura, a well-known asura - a power-seeking deity mostly living in ancient South India, again according to Wiki [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura], sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. Zed acknowledged that freedom of expression is "important" but added that faith is sacred, and game developers should be more sensitive when dealing with such matters. If developers cannot "accurately and authentically deliver religious imagery and symbolism," he said, then they should not "unnecessarily poke into religion."

"No faith, large or small, should be plundered," Zed said. Refreshingly, he did not threaten an international boycott of Capcom, Sony, Microsoft or anyone else; instead, he said that he or other Hindu scholars "would gladly provide genuine seekers from [the] videogames industry the resources they needed for their study and research regarding Hinduism."

Hinduism is the oldest and third-largest of the world's major religions, with an estimated one billion adherents around the world. Asura's Wrath [http://www.amazon.com/Asuras-Wrath-Playstation-3/dp/B003O6HLOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331082930&sr=8-1] has a Metacritic score of 73, and is available now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


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When will they learn? Here in America, it's okay for major media outlets to make fun of any religion*.



*except Christianity.
 

Moonlight Butterfly

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I can think of a lot of games that call on Biblical mythology. Demons are practically a staple enemy these days.

I think this is a case of something being taken a little too seriously. Kudos to the guy for being constructive about it though rather than running straight to his local MP...
 

Et3rnalLegend64

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I see where they are coming from, but I call overreaction. Sure, they're messing around a bit.

Then again, see Okami. It took a bunch of Japanese mythology and said that most of it was really a wacky fun joke story. Susano-o was not a great warrior. He was a middle aged dude with a beer gut who told everyone that he was a great warrior.

Again, I see where they're coming from, but I wanna say "loosen up a bit."
 

Charli

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Religious fanatics gonna derp.
*dance harder*

Hinduism rarely gets much expose. Just friggin enjoy it you ungreatful assinine-
Watered down or not, at least a light covering of some of it makes it interesting. And why exactly is making your relgion interesting on the surface bad?

Overreactshunnnnns
 

lapan

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RaikuFA said:
So they're not upset that the game was bad?

Either way, don't tell them about Digital Devil Saga, they'll have a breakdown.
MAybe because it wasn't bad, i enjoyed it. It's only bad if you expected an action game.
 

Evilpigeon

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This is a bit of a silly thing to be upset about, creative license is harmless and religions shouldn't be able to put themselves on a pedestal where they aren't subject to the same criticism and adaptation as everything else is. Something doesn't become somehow special due to volume of belief.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Meh, their religion is as plunderable as the next one.

That said, the use of hindu stuff in Asura's Wrath was pretty damn retarded, so I can see why they might be a bit miffed about it.
 

Cogwheel

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Bit silly to get upset about this... but on the other hand, they're also being fairly reasonable. Not too angry, not calling for a ban or boycott, and even offering help if they want to get the inaccuracies straightened out in the future, which is a nice offer. In fact, I wish more developers received and made use of offers like that, considering how severely they tend to mess up religious and mythological details (not even as artistic license, which is at least partially the case here, but as a result of outright ignorance).

Hm. Now I'm curious as to what he/they would make of SMT, seeing as Atlus bothers to research these things. The main gripe does seem to be that they got some bits wrong, after all.

Still amazed that he could take it seriously for long enough to be offended, though.


NeutralDrow said:
Y'all are missing the important part.

Andy Chalk said:
Refreshingly, he did not threaten an international boycott of Capcom, Sony, Microsoft or anyone else; instead, he said that he or other Hindu scholars "would gladly provide genuine seekers from [the] videogames industry the resources they needed for their study and research regarding Hinduism."
I want someone to take them up on this offer.
I'm glad someone noticed this. They should take this offer to Atlus, ideally (though it may be redundant there, I don't know). But really, this is fantastic and I wish someone would take them up on this. Or that more people would offer it, for that matter.
 

Beeple

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NeutralDrow said:
Y'all are missing the important part.

Andy Chalk said:
Refreshingly, he did not threaten an international boycott of Capcom, Sony, Microsoft or anyone else; instead, he said that he or other Hindu scholars "would gladly provide genuine seekers from [the] videogames industry the resources they needed for their study and research regarding Hinduism."
I want someone to take them up on this offer.

Seriously, Hinduism is fascinating. I'd love to see a game made that gets the mythology right.
For the love of your deity of choice. This. 3000x this.

This one quote should be absolutely supported by everyone in this forum. He, a religous figure, rather than ranting and raving and declaring our medium the origin of all sin, wants to -support- the industry.

And the knee jerk response is 'This guy is getting his panties in a bunch'.

This guy is a freaking hero, I really hope that most people replying in this topic didn't actually read the post and just had a gut reaction to the headline. At least then I'd be able to maintain a little faith in this community >.>.

Pull yourselves together guys.