Unbelievable

As usual, the obligatory link: "Convert or Die" game divides Christians

Honestly, didn't that read like satire? To the best of my knowledge, though, it isn't... I mean, the by line is for a Chronicle staff writer with a link to said writer's SFChronicle e-mail address, so unless someone's playing an April Fools joke in December, we'll have to assume this is genuine. That being said, a bit on the content, if I may...

What, exactly, does gunning down unbelievers have to do with the Left Behind series? Yes, I understand that the game is supposed to be somehow inspired by the series, but I fail to see where the inspiration comes in here. From the description, it seems much more like it happened to borrow the setting from the novels, and then wandered off on its merry way.

Of course, having read the novels, I can't say I ever thought, "Hey, this would make a great video game!", so from that angle, I suppose I can't fault the publisher for having to come up with something with play value, if for no other reason than to capitalize on the series name recognition. It's not really unlike the fact that certain game series still sell very well even though their hayday storytelling-wise is long past.

As to the "they should pull it from their shelves" aspect, the only way it differs from any other game where it's possible to gun folks down is that the protesters and the writer can work in the religious angle. And the gratuitous Grand Theft Auto reference, simply a requirement these days when writing about violent video games.

Overall, if the writer is being serious, not satirical, it's a weak article about a weak game, and it'll probably drive sales up instead of the hoped-for downturn.

On a side note, having gone to the official website for the game, which I won't bother linking to, I do have one question: What's with the gratuitous hourglass in the slideshow?