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The Damned
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So, after a lot of debating inside Nintendo, they've decided to refuse to sell Binding of Isaac on the eShop, because of:

"questionable religious content."

The IGN article goes into a little more depth, and they have a trailer posted for the game, which is currently available on Steam.

I had only heard about the game before this, but had never seen any footage or screenshots of it. After watching the trailer, all I can say is I'm glad Nintendo turned it down. As a christian, I do find the premise to be offensive, but even putting my beliefs aside it's a pretty sick premise for a game.

Some people have asked "why can't we, as the consumer, be allowed to decide what we want to buy?"

It's Nintendo's eShop, and therefore it's up to them to decide what to sell and what not to sell. I respect their decision to turn something down for having what they believe to be of questionable morality. Regardless of whether you agree with their decision or not, it's notable that they have the integrity in this day and age to reject a game based on content, when most publishers are money hungry pigs who will sell anything that could make a buck. My respect for Nintendo has gone up because of this.

Others have asked: "Games like Resident evil, which are much more violent, are fine, and Zelda has religious influences!"

Yes, but there's a difference between 'Zombies and mutants attacking you!', 'A goddess people worship to keep them safe from demons,' and 'A MOTHER TRYING TO KILL HER SON.' The game is messed, I have no desire to ever play it, and I'm relieved that Nintendo has some ounce of integrity left to turn it down.

In the end, any arguments against Nintendo are pointless: if you're posting on the internet, you probably have a computer, and it isn't hard to get steam.

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Not only what you guys have been saying but, this game has never been rated by the ESRB. On Steam, it didn't need a rating to go up there. Even if Nintendo really wanted the game on their platform, it would've needed an ESRB rating and can any of you(that know what they're talking about) tell me this game would've gotten an M over an AO? I highly doubt Sony or Microsoft would've passed this onto their platforms either, yet people are decrying Nintendo for this decision. I think Nintendo should've cited the lack of an ESRB rating rather than religious material for their decision but what's done is done.

Apparently the game itself wasn't all that great anyway.

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They didn't reject the game because of "integrity". They rejected it because they knew the chances of Christians whining about the game's content was too high to take the risk. And the game was awesome. It's really short, yet I've spent probably 40 or so hours playing through it again and again. That's a great bargain for the $5 I paid for it.

The soundtrack is awesome, the gameplay was fun and challenging, and it's a shame that the game's premise, loosely based on a story from the Bible; coupled with the Mom in the game being uber-fundamental Christian is enough to possibly offend too many people when games with much more extreme content are fine as long as they don't mention a contemporary religion. People like ocre jump on the bandwagon of hating it yet have never played it. Really, it's an awesome game not because of the possible blasphemy, but because the game is automatically generating just about everything.

It'd still be an awesome (albeit diluted) game if the offending content was removed or changed. The core of the game is still the mechanics and possibilities. It's not a commentary on religion or belief. It's a commentary on dangers of taking beliefs too far. If you're too offended by it, then don't buy it. It's just a shame that people taking a game too seriously is stopping it from being released.

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People like ocre jump on the bandwagon of hating it yet have never played it.

Huh. I don't remember typing that I hated the game. I was actually interested in the game hitting the eShop.

The 'lack of an ESRB rating' reason I stated before is enough for me to understand why Nintendo didn't put it on their store.

Oh, and I bought Manhunt 2 on Wii and would've much rather had the uncensored version, thank you. I know the issue here is religion, rather than violence, but I applaud Nintendo for skirting that issue, rather than opening the door for moronic talking heads to take aim at them.

And hey, at least it's on Steam.

Edited by ocre
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My biggest beef with the trailer for the game (haven't played the game) is that the mother is obviously suffering from severe mental problems, probably schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations.

I get that the game is loosely inspired by a story from the bible, but the implication that a perfectly healthy (if isolated) person who watches too much of one type of programming will make that person do things that are ethically, morally, and legally wrong is annoying. That same implication always gets gamers like us up in arms whenever people decide to point the finger at our chosen medium.

That said, if the content for the game itself is aimed at a much older audience, it seems like Nintendo is follow their set general patterns by not releasing this. Better explanations would have been nice, though.

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Sorry, didn't mean to lump you in with the haters.

I still think your statement is wrong. Currently an 85 on metacritic with great reviews from professional critics as well.

Not a prob. I'll concede I probably should've said that reception to the game(gameplay depth in particular) seems a bit mixed. I believe you that the gameplay is good enough and I definitely agree the music sounds really great. Again, I was interested in this game hitting eShop and I really think I would've enjoyed it, personally. I like Zelda 1-esque dungeon crawling and I own Super Smash TV on SNES.

The only reason I haven't played BoI is because I don't really like playing games on my computer.

In other news, Metroid NES will be hitting the 3DS next month!

Edited by ocre
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So I decided to watch a few gameplay vids and read up on the plot for Binding of Isaac. I can see why it was denied, and it probably isn't just due to "questionable content". For sure the game is grotesque and morbid, but not only is the message of the game too oblique and up to interpretation, it would also probably make any normal person more than a bit uncomfortable.

That's probably not the biggest reason why Nintendo gave it the thumbs down however, as the game looks far, FAR too much like a derivative and poorly realized Zelda clone. Fair use and parody and all that, but honestly the game doesn't look like it adds any real artistic value to anything IMO, and I think Nintendo really just wanted to distance themselves from that.

Also I finished Resident Evil: Revelations earlier today and I've gotta say that I'm really impressed that Capcom managed to bring what definitely feels like a console experience to the 3DS. It felt pretty solid overall. Also adds a lot of context into the "lore" of the Resident Evil series. Pretty good stuff.

Now I'm not sure if I want to grab MGS3D or Tales of The Abyss before Kid Icarus...

Edited by Malaki-LEGEND.sys
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So I decided to watch a few gameplay vids and read up on the plot for Binding of Isaac. I can see why it was denied, and it probably isn't just due to "questionable content". For sure the game is grotesque and morbid, but not only is the message of the game too oblique and up to interpretation, it would also probably make any normal person more than a bit uncomfortable.

That's probably not the biggest reason why Nintendo gave it the thumbs down however, as the game looks far, FAR too much like a derivative and poorly realized Zelda clone. Fair use and parody and all that, but honestly the game doesn't look like it adds any real artistic value to anything IMO, and I think Nintendo really just wanted to distance themselves from that.

You're really over-thinking it. It has nothing to do with Zelda. :roll:

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as the game looks far, FAR too much like a derivative and poorly realized Zelda clone. Fair use and parody and all that, but honestly the game doesn't look like it adds any real artistic value to anything IMO, and I think Nintendo really just wanted to distance themselves from that.

uhm what

no

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This is a company that had Manhunt 2, Resident Evil 4, No More Heroes, and Madworld on the Wii. I highly doubt they're going to give this game a no just based on "questionable religious content"(although I personally think they could).

I'm sorry if I offended a game you like, but derivative Zelda clone is derivative Zelda clone. Doesn't matter if there are differences here and there, the foundation just screams it.

Plus I don't really think that there'd be a huge audience for that type of game outside of the platforms it's already on, and those people already bought the game.

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Well then please enlighten me, because most comments, reviews, and Let's Plays I've seen over the past hour lead me to believe otherwise.

moreover even if you were right which you're not nintendo would not decide not to sell it for that. that's like saying they shouldn't put sonic on virtual console because it competes with mario

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Well from what I'm reading none of you guys have played binding of Issac (I mean no offense from this, it just sounds like I could help here.)

I've beat Binding of Issac a few times, every time you start it you are suppose to beat it in one go (it takes about 30 min to an hour and will extend to another level after beating it the first time)

Honestly, while I would like to have binding of issac on the 3ds, I can't fault Nintendo for not allowing it. Mainly due to the setting and how dark it can be (you can find guys being hanged from the ceiling). Especially the floor titled "The womb" (That is one messed up place). There are a ton of references to internet tropes,religious books , and video games (1-up, shoop da woop, dead sea scrolls, even My Little Pony)

As for appearing to be like Zelda, I got the same feeling when I was looking at the videos and gameplay from steam. When I was playing, I noticed that some of the enemies draw heavily from zelda enemies, but the overall feel of it issac very different. Zelda has that gigantic feeling of exploration, to search every nook and cranny to improve yourself for upcoming challenges.

Issac has just the opposite feel, in fact I would say that the gameplay of Issac is the anti thesis to Zelda gameplay. Every moment you are just trying to get out, trying to survive, yet you are forced to go deeper into the cave. Instead of looking for the next challenge, you fear what you could be facing. Everything is random in this game, everything. Layout, the bosses, the powerup's, and the items, some of which give negative effects, which you find out after you used it. Sometimes after a boss, you can make pacts with the devil to increase your powers at the cost of your max health. (Which sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't, it all depended on how much max health I had and previous powers I acquired) Just to add to the fear of losing there is perma-death makes it a very intense game.

Hopefully you guys can get some sort of useful information out of my random jibberish.

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