It seems like the world is longing for the days of Pac-man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders.  These classic video games were among the first generation of video games back in the 1980s.  Three decades later it seems like video game manufacturers have run out of fictional characters and are stepping into hot water casting real characters in video games.

The news over the last few weeks has been full of one or another group protesting new video games.  Some of these include:

In the game Faith Fighter by the Italian company Molleindustria, the characters include Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad, Buddha, God and the Hindu god Ganesh.  The game description includes "Choose your belief and kick the shit out of your enemies."  While this game manages to offend a majority of the world's religions, criticism from the Muslim world has been the strongest.  The goal of Molleindustria is to "to investigate the persuasive potentials of the medium by subverting mainstream video gaming clichè (and possibly have fun in the process)" so they know that they are pushing the envelope.

While the iPhone is incredibly popular, it took a few blasts from opponents over several games this week.  Apple’s App Store briefly distributed the game Baby Shaker which showed a picture of a baby and played crying sounds. To make the baby stop crying you had to shake your iPhone really hard. At some point the baby would stop crying and two X’s were placed over the baby’s eyes — implying that the baby was dead.  What amazed people is that Apple has an approval process before iPhone apps can be sold on the App Store.  Apple rejected an application that used an iPhone as an icon but approved this - go figure?

While the Baby Shaker game attracted protests around the world, a second issue is coming out of the Pacific Island community.  They are offended by he iPhone Pocket God Games which shows grass-skirted people next to an Easter Island statue.  The player's can toss these people through the air, set them on fire or feed them to the sharks.

Fortunately for Apple, Sony has come to their side and created their own controversy which is pulling some of the attention away from Apple.  In this PlayStation 2 game, Hanuman: Boy Warrior, the players get to control Lord Hanuman who is a key figure in Hindu mythology.  Sony may have thought that since the game was developed in India all would be fine, but many Hindus say the game is offensive, and belittling of a deity that many Hindu believers revere and worship.

You can argue that some of these groups are overreacting and need to lighten up a bit.  However, at the same time you have to wonder when the world ran out of fictional characters.  Donkeys have never lined up to protest Donkey Kong.  Aliens have not come to Earth to protest Space Invaders.  The International Association of Ghosts has not filed protests against anybody.  Even if folks are overreacting - I long for a return to the days of fun, protest free and 100% fictional characters.