I have been using Gamespot for some time now, and I consider it to be the most reliable source for gaming news on the internet. Despite this I have neglected the community side of things. Well I feel I am ready to thrust myself into the warm bosom of the Gamespot blogosphere.

Arecurring topic of discussion among me and my friends has been the largely agnostic approach taken by game developers. I am an atheist, but a number of my friends are Christian and one is Moslem, giving us a balanced prospectives to view this issue from. We have struggled to think of a single game that explores religion in any meaningful way. One example we did think of was 'The Church of Atom' in Fallout 3, we decided however that this I more of an attempt to poke fun atfanaticism than a serious critique of organized religion. In fact Medieval II: Total War, a game in which religion is a key gameplay mechanic seems to have attempted tosecularize it's self by not featuringMosques in the crusades campaign. Christian churches are featured, and can bedestroyed, but the Moslem places of worship resemble Mosques but do not bare the name. Iinterpret this as a clear attempt to negate any controversy that may be stirred up by allowing players to destroy Mosques (For some reason this would be more controversial that killing hundreds of retreating moslems after winning a battle).Beyond a few similar nods towards religion the video game industry is a godless entity.

Why is this? Myimmediate cynicalthought was to accuse the industry of money-grabbing. If a developer were to make a game that religious people would find offensive then that is going to alienate a large number of potential consumers. However this issue is not that clear cut. Plenty of M or 18 rated games are published. If the games industry really was this conservative every game released would be a T rated moviefranchise spinoff or would end in the letter 'Z' (Catz). Clearly the games industry isn't too afraid to shock, as it canultimatelycapitalize on controversy.

I feel it is unlikely that a game will evoke a reaction of the scale and ferocity that Salman Rushdie faced after his 'The Satanic Versus' was published; or at least not within the next ten years. I find this ultimately depressing, as it confirms my suspicions, and the suspicions of many others, that the video game industry is a puerile source of entertainment, rather than a credible art form. It took the film industry almost fifty years to come up with some really meaningful cinema, so maybe in ten or twenty years we will see a game that can break the hymen of high art. For now however I will have to get my kicks from games and get my culture from galleries.