@mnzy: I hate to blow your mind duder, but Fox News (and other outlets) routinely trot out video games as the evil villain of society.

Nintendo has some weird filtering going on if it won't let this game on, but will allow other games with "questionable religious content" on their platforms...why bother even putting M games on Nintendo systems then? Hell, Eternal Darkness has so many demonic allusions and they still put that out.

It's sooo disappointing - especially that The Binding of Isaac would work PERFECTLY on a handheld. Maybe Vita, then?

Binding is an awesome game. But I wasn't surprised to hear this. Nintendo is all about maintaining it's family friendly image and it's games like this that parents groups can point to as not being family friendly. I understand that it makes no sense. It's just a PR job. That's all.

Vita version, maybe? I agree that it's a good portable fit. And, come on, that game was something like a two week project. It must have more than paid for itself, even with all the extra content and patching they did to it after the fact (it was pretty rough when it came out).

Still, not surprised about Nintendo, really. It's pretty edgy, political stuff, and we're talking about the company that had crosses removed from churches in games in case it was somehow offensive. It's a bit disappointing, in that I don't see a movie theatre chain doing the same thing, but eh, they're well within their rights, and the game is already out and readily available.

Too bad that Nintendo often puts out junky shovelware games though draws the lines at better games like this that could get people buying more things on Nintendo platforms.

No good ever comes from religion. Let's get rid of it already.

Considering it portrays Christians as child-murdering psychopaths, it's not super surprising their doing this. 

Consistant Nintendo is consistant, to borrow that meme..I mean this is the company that took crosses out of Castlevania and off hospitals in Earthbound.

@HadesTimes said:

Nintendo is all about maintaining it's family friendly image and it's games like this that parents groups can point to as not being family friendly.

If that's the case then explain games like Manhunt 2 and Resident Evil 4 being released on the Wii, they're both MUCH more objectionable. It just seems that there's a ridiculous double-standard when it comes to religious material and for some reason Nintendo has decided to cave on the matter before it's even received a single complaint.

Man, this friggin' sucks. I would've loved a portable version of BoI with proper controls. Let's hope Sony isn't so damn touchy.

@believer258 said:

Not really. In the Bible story, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. At the last minute, an angel comes and tells Abraham to stop, that it was clear that Abraham feared God. There was a ram nearby and Isaac sacrificed it instead.

Meanwhile, I always thought the name of this game was The BLinding of Isaac and not the Binding.

Yes, and that parallels pretty close to Isaac's Mom in the game being told by "God" to kill Isaac. It's said she's mentally ill and hearing voices, but to people who truly believe that God can speak to people, you can see how calling their belief a mental illness might make them upset. The actual fact of the voices actually being God or some mental disorder isn't the point. People will hear what they want to hear and then get mad at Nintendo either way. Nintendo is just covering their asses rather than censor the shit out of the game-- which the creator probably doesn't want anyhow.

In any case, Nintendo has always had the strictest policy about anything related to religion in the US removing any references to god from tons of games since as far back as the NES and SNES era). It totally fits their M.O. to do something like this based on just the fact that it uses religious names for all the "characters" (as much as anything is a character in this game).

So we shouldn't be expecting the release of Bible Games 5 for Wiiware?

@Rayeth said:

@believer258 said:

Not really. In the Bible story, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. At the last minute, an angel comes and tells Abraham to stop, that it was clear that Abraham feared God. There was a ram nearby and Isaac sacrificed it instead.

Meanwhile, I always thought the name of this game was The BLinding of Isaac and not the Binding.

Yes, and that parallels pretty close to Isaac's Mom in the game being told by "God" to kill Isaac.

I know the plot. In the Bible, though, God tells Abraham to stop. Isaac's mom doesn't nor is ever told to, at least not as far as I know. It's just a jumping off point, a retelling of the story with a similar beginning (and different intentions)

... you're fucking kidding, right

religious reasons? what the hell, nintendo

I once drew an inverted cross in MyNotebook.

@r_eye said:

SO Resident Evil is OK, but not this game?

I don't get your logic. There's no religious references in RE4 (not counting Los Illumandos) and you only kill monsters, not humans. Still, Nintendo are a bunch of pussies that need to stop living in the 1980s.

I would kill to see Isaac on a handheld, it lends itself perfectly to that format.

@fox01313 said:

Too bad that Nintendo often puts out junky shovelware games though draws the lines at better games like this that could get people buying more things on Nintendo platforms.

just so you know, the "junky shovelware" comes from 3rd parties who wanna make a quick buck without much effort

@TheClap said:

It has an anti religious message? I'll go buy a copy on steam for everyone I know.

To be fair, the "plot" of this game is paper thin to almost non-existant. All you need to know is that it is an adventure game/"Rogue-like" hybrid. This anti-Christian controversy is a bit over-played from the content found in the actual game.

@Rayeth said:

@believer258 said:

Not really. In the Bible story, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. At the last minute, an angel comes and tells Abraham to stop, that it was clear that Abraham feared God. There was a ram nearby and Isaac sacrificed it instead.

Meanwhile, I always thought the name of this game was The BLinding of Isaac and not the Binding.

Yes, and that parallels pretty close to Isaac's Mom in the game being told by "God" to kill Isaac.

I know the plot. In the Bible, though, God tells Abraham to stop. Isaac's mom doesn't nor is ever told to, at least not as far as I know. It's just a jumping off point, a retelling of the story with a similar beginning (and different intentions)

Censorship wins again! I will never understand why people find the concept of not buying things that offend them so hard to grasp.

Great, maybe he can now focus on porting it to C so it doesn't run like garbage.

I thought Japan loved pseudo-religious crap in their games?

(not knocking BoI)

Makes sense to me Nintendo doesn't like to go with controversy.

     I thought Nintendo stopoed doing this after the ESRB came into existence.

Nintendo is just making sure they keep their 'Family Friendly' appearance, and selling a few thousand copies of this game on 3DS is not worth the crazy headlines and stories that they KNOW will happen that will sour their brand in the eyes of some portion of the American consumers (an incredibly worrying portion if you ask me) that take the word of the Bible literally (mentals). Some several thousand dollars is simply not worth the sensationalist twaddle that would end up happening.

It's business. If I were a suit with the sole purpose in life to make money for a corporation then I would do the same and fire anyone in the company who would do different. On a moral standing, though, I find this a travesty, as free-expression, satire and a genuinely great game will be locked away from people who wish to buy it because OTHERS may be offended by it. So fucking what if you're offended. People's offence shouldn't deny others to expression/art. But that's the way it is :-D

so does this result in the realization that Nintendo, Disney and Wal-Mart are the real axis of evil?

@Elazul said:

@HadesTimes said:

Nintendo is all about maintaining it's family friendly image and it's games like this that parents groups can point to as not being family friendly.

If that's the case then explain games like Manhunt 2 and Resident Evil 4 being released on the Wii, they're both MUCH more objectionable. It just seems that there's a ridiculous double-standard when it comes to religious material and for some reason Nintendo has decided to cave on the matter before it's even received a single complaint.

Man, this friggin' sucks. I would've loved a portable version of BoI with proper controls. Let's hope Sony isn't so damn touchy.

Those games are MUCH more morally reprehensible. But morals take a back seat when a dusty old book is being subject to light satire! Religion is serious business, man.

lol at nintendo for bending to the will of morons (aka. religious people)

Well, I'm not surprised. It's Nintendo being Nintendo. Dumb, yes, but that's how they roll - most of the time.

@Scooper said:

Nintendo is just making sure they keep their 'Family Friendly' appearance, and selling a few thousand copies of this game on 3DS is not worth the crazy headlines and stories that they KNOW will happen that will sour their brand in the eyes of some portion of the American consumers (an incredibly worrying portion if you ask me) that take the word of the Bible literally (mentals). Some several thousand dollars is simply not worth the sensationalist twaddle that would end up happening.

It's mental for somebody to believe what the Bible says? That sure is compartmentalizing millions upon millions of people with varied belief systems and lifestyles.

I haven't checked out this game (even though I love Meat Boy) because it looks hideous and boring. The weird pseudo-religious junk in the game is nearly meaningless...I just thought it looked like a garbage game. Nothing I've seen or heard has convinced me otherwise.

@djaoni said:

All religious people need to be shot.

How are you any better then?

edit. Still a damn shame that this game isn't coming to 3DS - it could have been the one that made me purchase a 3DS.

I predict next weeks article in which a release date is announced putting it right after Xenoblade and the Last Story.

@MormonWarrior said:

@Scooper said:

Nintendo is just making sure they keep their 'Family Friendly' appearance, and selling a few thousand copies of this game on 3DS is not worth the crazy headlines and stories that they KNOW will happen that will sour their brand in the eyes of some portion of the American consumers (an incredibly worrying portion if you ask me) that take the word of the Bible literally (mentals). Some several thousand dollars is simply not worth the sensationalist twaddle that would end up happening.

It's mental for somebody to believe what the Bible says? That sure is compartmentalizing millions upon millions of people with varied belief systems and lifestyles.

I haven't checked out this game (even though I love Meat Boy) because it looks hideous and boring. The weird pseudo-religious junk in the game is nearly meaningless...I just thought it looked like a garbage game. Nothing I've seen or heard has convinced me otherwise.

Yup, that totally didn't come across as petty, vindictive or religiously motivated at all. Clearly you really think that this highly critically acclaimed game that you've never even played just sort of sucks for no discernible reason.

Not really surprising is it? I doubt it's only religious reasons though, there's a lot more in the game that Nintendo probably didn't like.

Also, seeing the comments, I'm disappointed that even Giant Bomb has its share of people who scapegoat 'stupid religious people'.

@MormonWarrior said:

@Scooper said:

Nintendo is just making sure they keep their 'Family Friendly' appearance, and selling a few thousand copies of this game on 3DS is not worth the crazy headlines and stories that they KNOW will happen that will sour their brand in the eyes of some portion of the American consumers (an incredibly worrying portion if you ask me) that take the word of the Bible literally (mentals). Some several thousand dollars is simply not worth the sensationalist twaddle that would end up happening.

It's mental for somebody to believe what the Bible says? That sure is compartmentalizing millions upon millions of people with varied belief systems and lifestyles.

I'd say believing a talking snake tricked a man made out of dust into eating a fruit that contained knowledge to be LITERALLY what happened to be pretty mental, yes. If someone is offended by me saying that, I have no problem with that. Just because millions of Americans may find that offensive to their beliefs doesn't make it any less mental. There's people in Africa that believe there's a great God at the top of the mountain that poured the contents of a magic sack onto the Earth that brought upon all life. Now that is just as crazy as any others, but I don't mind if someone believes that. It's fair enough. It's when the unsubstantiated beliefs hinder free-expression from happening, that annoys me.

But I won't go into a religious debate because I prefer to eat this trifle.

The Binding of Isaac is fantastic, however, this is the most unsurprising news of the day.

@Scooper said:

@MormonWarrior said:

@Scooper said:

Nintendo is just making sure they keep their 'Family Friendly' appearance, and selling a few thousand copies of this game on 3DS is not worth the crazy headlines and stories that they KNOW will happen that will sour their brand in the eyes of some portion of the American consumers (an incredibly worrying portion if you ask me) that take the word of the Bible literally (mentals). Some several thousand dollars is simply not worth the sensationalist twaddle that would end up happening.

It's mental for somebody to believe what the Bible says? That sure is compartmentalizing millions upon millions of people with varied belief systems and lifestyles.

I'd say believing a talking snake tricked a man made out of dust into eating a fruit that contained knowledge to be LITERALLY what happened to be pretty mental, yes. If someone is offended by me saying that, I have no problem with that. Just because millions of Americans may find that offensive to their beliefs doesn't make it any less mental. There's people in Africa that believe there's a great God at the top of the mountain that poured the contents of a magic sack onto the Earth that brought upon all life. Now that is just as crazy as any others, but I don't mind if someone believes that. It's fair enough. It's when the unsubstantiated beliefs hinder free-expression from happening, that annoys me.

But I won't go into a religious debate because I prefer to eat this trifle.

Ooh, you have trifle? Can I have some?

Hmmm, I didn't know Nintendo screened games like this. Just goes to show they really are running a child oriented company. I haven't heard any back lash against BoI, so I don't know what their problem is. You can play resident evil, but don't question the good word!

@JakeLogan said:

Not surprising - disappointing but not unsurprising. Hell, go look back at the Ocarina of Time debacle.

To be fair, that fire temple music does sound a hell of a lot like Muslim prayer chanting.

This game is not rated. If it were to be rated, it would almost certainly receive an AO rating because of its content.

None of the console manufacturers allow AO games on their device. Not Nintendo, not Sony, not Microsoft. This isn't a "oh, kiddie old NIntendo" issue at all but that's obviously the most simplistic and knee-jerk reaction one can have, so I guess that's why so many people are going with it.

(Not you, Patrick. Just the majority of your commenters.)

lol there's barely any "religious themes". There's that little thing at the beginning I guess but you watch that one time. So lame Nintendo.

How is it that nintendo think Mad World and House of the Dead are cool but this is a no no? You used to be cool nintendo (like 20 years ago), what happened?

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@Scooper said:

But I won't go into a religious debate because I prefer to eat this trifle.

Ooh, you have trifle? Can I have some?

Look. It's all man-made stories imposed on peoples to gain power from...

Oh. Yeah, sure. Help yourself. I got too much anyway.

They cant just take out the intro? Thats probably whats causing the fuss.

Such a shame. Especially since Isaac has the best religious themes in any videogame ever. But hey, Nintendo is the company tha made Square change "holy" to "light" in the early Final Fantasy games, right?
 
FYI, Nintendo, I've played Isaac about ten times as long as I've played my 3ds, which was mistakenly purchased at launch. It's stuff like this that remind me how backwards you are. I think you finally lost me as a customer after 23 years.
 
edit: Also, Patrick, stop ignoring the guy who actually programmed the game, Florian Himsl. Binding of Isaac was primarily made by TWO people, not a solo project by Edmund McMillen, which you seem to keep implying.
 
@Springfart said:

whelp, no reason not to sell my 3DS anymore then.

Waaaaaaaaaaait, are they not publishing it or are they not letting anyone publish it? Because if it's the latter, than Nintendo still hasn't learned their lesson from the mid-90s....

@ThePhilatron said:

They cant just take out the intro? Thats probably whats causing the fuss.

I don't think it's just the intro, but there are a lot of other religious references in the game. A lot of the items are named from religious influences. And then you have a room where you go into and make a pact with the devil, with a pentagram symbol on the wall I believe. But yea, I can see why some religious activists can be against this game.

Well, I'm glad the comments stayed respectful and didn't just start hating on Reli-

Oh ok then, never mind.

hey im with nintendo on this one..... it's there service and they can do whatever the fuck they want with it....