Christian video games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christian video games were first made in the late 1980s for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) by Wisdom Tree and now are made by many different developers.[1] Most of these developers meet yearly at the "Christian Games Developers Conference"[2] and build support through the Christian Game Developers Foundation[3].
Contents |
[edit] History
Starting in the late 1980s the unlicensed game developer Color Dreams using the name of Wisdom Tree, developed the first Christian video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, called Bible Adventures.[4] It featured Bible accounts such as Noah's Ark, Baby Moses, and David and Goliath. It was released in 1991 to Christian bookstores.
Other Christian games released for the NES by Wisdom Tree include Exodus, King of Kings, Bible Buffet, and Spiritual Warfare. Many of these games were also released on the Sega Genesis console or Game Boy handheld systems.
The only Christian game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Super Noah's Ark 3D, which is based on the Wolfenstein 3D engine and featured the player trying to calm animals on his ark by pelting them with sleep-inducing fruit. The cartridge, being the only one of its kind, featured a system where you'd have to insert a licensed Nintendo game on the top of the original cartridge. This was so the game could break the lock on the system so you could play the game.
During the 2000s, Christian games re-emerged onto the scene with several titles.
Heaven Bound is a Christian-themed game that was released on the PC. Catechumen and Ominous Horizons, Christian First-person shooters, sold over 500,000 copies together.
Christian education-oriented software began to appear in the late 90's, and took off in the 2000s with the assistance of Sunday Software Inc. a specialized distributor geared towards working with churches, and other companies, including, Sonsoft, Discovery House Publishers, Tyndale, Kids New Media, and GraceWorks Interactive (among those not already mentioned in this article). Interactive Bible stories, Bible games, and "first person" 3d games about Bible content were created mainly for use in Sunday Schools and fellowship settings. Popular title included, Bongo Loves the Bible, Galilee Flyer, Awesome Bible Stories, Cal & Marty's Scripture Memory Game, and The Ten Commandments CDs.
Inkvisitor is a Christian-themed PC game that takes the player through the chaotic times of Inquisition.
Crave Entertainment released the first games based on the Bible for Playstation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance, The Bible Game. They have also recently released the first Veggietales video games for the Playstation 2 and Game Boy Advance.
Breakthrough Gaming is also one of the only Christian video game companies that have released multiple games using original characters, such as ZJ the Ball, Zippy the Circle, Forgiveness: The First Chapter, and Nik & Kit.
Many Christian game developers have come together to form the Association Of Christian Entertainment
[edit] Firsts
- Heavenly Harmony is the first Christian karaoke game with real-time feedback of a players vocal performance.
- Music Machine is the first Christian-themed video game.
- Bible Adventures is the first Christian-themed video game for the NES
- Super 3D Noah's Ark is the first Christian First-Person Shooter.
- Good Sam the Samaritan CD is the first lesson-like interactive Bible software made for children.
- Left Behind: Eternal Forces is the first Christian Real-Time Strategy Game.
- Forgiveness: The First Chapter is the first Christian Turn-Based RPG.
- Dance Praise is the first Christian rhythm game.
- Breakthrough Gaming Presents: Axel is the first Christian game to use a dance pad as a controller, but it isn't a rhythm game.
- The Bible Game is the first Christian Playstation 2 Game & the first Christian Xbox game.
- Christian Game Developers Conference is the first conference designed specifically for computer, video, card, paper, board, and comic book authors that are Christian. The first CGDC was held in July of 2002 and they have been held annually ever since.
[edit] Games
- Adventures in Odyssey: The Great Escape
- Adventures in Odyssey: The Sword of the Spirit
- Adventures in Odyssey: Treasure of the Incas
- The Bibleman Video Game Adventure
- The Axys Adventures: Truth Seeker Battle Against the Lies
- Bible Adventures
- Bible Buffet
- Bible Builder
- Bible Champions Volume I
- Bible Champions Volume II
- Bible Dave
- Bible Grand Slam Deluxe
- Bible Touchdown
- Bible Wonders
- Breakthrough Gaming Bounce
- Breakthrough Gaming Match
- Breakthrough Gaming Presents: Axel
- Breakthrough Gaming Presents: Tina's Pinball Game
- Bongo Loves the Bible
- Buzby Breakin' All the Rules
- Camping The Bug-A-Boo Way
- Captain Bible in Dome of Darkness
- Captain Saint
- Catechumen
- Charlie Church Mouse: Bible Adventures Early Elementary
- Charlie Church Mouse: Bible Adventures Preschool
- Conflict in Jerusalem
- Dance Praise
- Deliverance: Moses in the Pharaoh's Courts
- Eternal War: Shadows of Light
- Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land
- Flo Return of the Water Beetles
- Fluffy & God's Amazing Christmas Adventure
- Forgiveness: The First Chapter
- Forgiveness: The Second Chapter
- Galilee Flyer
- Gil's Bible Jumble
- Godspeed 3D
- Heavenly Harmony (Christian Karaoke and Vocal Performance Game)
- Heaven Bound
- Heaven Quest
- Inkvisitor
- Interactive Parables
- Isles of Derek: The Sequel to Nacah
- Jonah - A VeggieTales Game
- Joshua & the Battle of Jericho (Joshua and the Battle of Jericho)
- King James Bible (KJV Bible)
- King of Kings
- Left Behind: Eternal Forces
- Left Behind: Tribulation Forces
- Light Rangers: Mending the Maniac Madness
- Minnesota Cuke and the Coconut Apes
- Music Machine
- Nacah
- Noah's Ark
- Noah's Ark (Konami version)
- Nik & Kit
- Ominous Horizons: A Paladin's Calling
- Onesimus; A Quest for Freedom [1] (a total conversion game from Jill of the Jungle 3)
- The Mystery of Veggie Island
- The Rebel Planet
- Rev 7 (Revelation 7)
- Saints of Virtue
- Scripture Solitaire
- Spiritual Warfare
- Solomon Says
- Sunday Funday (conversion of the game Menace Beach)
- Super 3D Noah's Ark (a total conversion game from the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D)
- The Bible Game
- Timothy & Titus: Saints, Martyrs, Heroes
- Tribulation Knights
- Truthware
- Veggie Carnival
- VeggieTales Creativity City
- VeggieTales: Dance, Dance, Dance
- Victory at Hebron
- XIBALBA
- Zippy the Circle
- ZJ the Ball
[edit] References
- ^ Rausch, Allen Left Behind: Eternal Forces (PC) Gamespy, April 7, 2006, Retrieved on Feb 25 2008
- ^ Coleman, Stephen, New Horizons, New Technology at '03 Christian GDC, IGN, July 14, 2003, Retrieved on Feb 25 2008
- ^ Davis, Matthew, Christians purge video game demons, BBC News, 24 May, 2005, Retrieved on 25 Feb 2008
- ^ Thompson, Justin, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: First Look IGN, March 14, 2003, Retrieved on Feb 25 2008
[edit] External links
- Association of Christian Entertainment
- Christian Game Developers Conference
- The Christian Video Game Blog
- Gamepraise
- Plain Games
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
