dellite
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Jul 26, 2005, 5:59 AM
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Left Behind Video Games - Christian Video Games Discussed
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Continually growing, the video game market is crying out for some family friendly attention, thus it's no surprise that a growing market segment demanding Christian video games deserves attention. The fourth annual Christian Game Developers Conference hands out awards for the best Christian games of the year and looks to "equip game developers to glorify God."
Sector insiders suggest that like the Christian music market, the religious gaming market has strong potential. Unfortunately the market has been plagued with sub-par investment which has translated into less than average games.
N'Lightning Software CEO Ralph Bagley believes half of the video game crowd is Christian. His company was the first of about 100 Christian game developers to invest in the creation of PC games. Its first title, "Catechumen," cost $830,000 to develop and has sold about 80,000 copies worldwide since its 2001 release, according to the company. The second game, "Ominous Horizons," cost $1 million to create and has sold more than 50,000 copies, it said.
Go Play Research video game analyst Billy Pidgeon said "socially conservative Christians may not want their children to play games at all. . . . On the other hand, when kids are asking to play video games, Christian parents may find these games an acceptable way to promote their values, while keeping their children entertained."
There are several factors in motion that should grow the Christian games market this year and beyond. Crave Entertainment, a traditional value-priced game publisher with titles like "World Championship Poker," in November will ship "The Bible Game" for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance for $20.
Christian games traditionally have been the domain of the PC, which allows many developers to sell games online to their target audience. But with the first console game coming out, the industry will be reaching the mass-market audience that shops at Wal-Mart.
"The Bible Game" is a trivia game with 1,500 Old Testament questions on the PS2 and an action-adventure game that blends questions from the Old and New Testament into the gameplay on GBA.
Another major factor is the unveiling of the first PC release from Left Behind Games, which will translate content from a 13-volume book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins that has sold more than 63 million copies.
"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is a real-time strategy game set in New York during the End of Days, which will allow gamers to choose between the angelic Tribulation Forces and the demonic Global Community Peacekeepers in a multiplayer online mode. The game is set to ship before Easter. Will the books translate into video game success?
"If only 10% of the readership buys our game, it will be a top hit, selling more than 1 million units," Lyndon said.
"'Left Behind' will not likely convert gamers to Christianity, but will need to convert Christians (the books' fan base) to video gaming," Pidgeon said.
Christian Game Developers Conference founder Tim Emmerich of GraceWorks Interactive believes that the PC platform is ripe for Christian games, just as educational games continue to succeed on the PC. Big Idea has been able to combine children's games that teach Christian values with its "VeggieTales" PC games, which have sold more than 750,000 units in the U.S. since October 2002, the NPD Group said.
Bagley helped found the Christian Game Developers Foundation, a
nonprofit organization that promotes Christian games and has raised
enough money to start developing two next-generation games for Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3 within the next 12 months. Bagley said the first game
could hit retail as early as fall 2007.
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