All sarcasm aside I fail to see the big deal really. I know a lot of people don't like those books. The one I read was very average, though it was an interesting concept. I see no reason why this is any worse than say "Dante's Inferno" in the final equasion.
I do find it kind of disturbing that the retailers are selling a game about all out warfare involving everything from guns to supernatural powers and the miracle of faith as "good, clean, family fun". Let's be honest, these are war games. There isn't anything in the concept worse than "Age Of Empires" from what I've seen (don't actually own one) but still the sales line being attached to them seems a bit disturbing.
As far as a dual standard goes, I don't really have a problem with that for the moment, though as the times change so will my opinion as to what's appropriate. The current state of conflict is unlikely to last forever, it will be resolved eventually.
I would however mention that all things being equal there aren't enough Islamics in the US to warrent this kind of distribution (a very small group compared to Christians, and these games have a small distribution by those numbers as it is, I'm not sure if Wal*Mart could justify stocking even more niche products if it's already taking this long to consider justifying this).
What's more, above and beyond the current war there have been issues like when the book "The Satanic Verses" had it's author and publishers put under a death warrent. Not to mention that whole thing about images of Muhammad that lead to the "Draw Muhammad day" thing. Who the heck is going to want to create, produce, or stock this game? Islam is not unified and differant groups spent a lot of time fighting each other (such as Iran Vs. Iraq). Let's just say that even with a substantial market if someone came to me with an innocent program idea like "learn the Koran with Mohammad" like a sunday school game where Jesus teaches the bible or whatever, as things stand now I'd be pretty bloody reluctant to greenlight it even if massive sales were guaranteed for fear that some dude was going to try and kill me, retailers carrying the product, or blow up my company for daring to actually put Mohammad into a video game. Anonymous nerds doing stuff on the internet is one thing, but if these guys have a solid target that's something else entirely, and the death warrent for "Satanic Verses" makes it clear that if my name is on it, I could wind up in a similar position.
To be honest if we ever started to see Islamic software like that I'd find it a relief because it would be a sign that things are changing. I mean if we see Muslims not getting all upset over images of Mohammad or whatever, and actually producing them themselves for childen, that means the culture is changing and becoming more accepting, or at least tolerant enough to be dealt with more easily.
I know a lot of people can (and probably will) argue the points above, but that's my opinions. I'm not going to engage in a massive battle over it.
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At any rate, on a more cheery and upbeat note, I wonder if Kirk Cameron has outdone his steller live action performance in "The Horde"...
