PlayStation and Religion? Nonsense!

by Brett Smith

Has religious imagery in PlayStation games increased with the advent of the PlayStation? Of course! After all, you can't very well have PlayStation games proliferate without the release of the PlayStation, let alone the religious imagery within them. That said, I believe Darien was attempting to imply a causal relationship -- that the PlayStation has somehow encouraged religious imagery to enter into video games. This, at best, is a bunch of silly hooey nonsense.

There's nothing particular about the PlayStation which advocates its developers using religious imagery within their games. Sony does not appear to have any substantial religious convictions (as a whole company), nor do they offer lesser licensing fees to those creators who use such imagery in their games. Compact disc writers are not equipped with algorithms to compress religious images, nor is the PlayStation hardware optimized to render religious imagery. No, the PlayStation is certainly not the cause of the increase of religious imagery in its games.

As video games become more popular, and more technologically advanced, however, their breadth as an art form is also increasing. Hence, they can effectively portray and consider more aspects of human life. Religion is one such aspect. It is only natural extension that video games would eventually come to such discussion.

The PlayStation, aside from simply being a game console upon which the games are played, has no role in this. Again, there is nothing about it which makes it more apt to have games with religious imagery. The fact that games containing this imagery have only appeared on PlayStation is mere coincidence. There is no reason why a game for the Nintendo 64 or Dreamcast would be unable to do the same. It's just chance: developers who use religious imagery in their games have, for whatever technical and practical reasons, have chosen the PlayStation as their development platform.

The increasing prevalence of religious imagery -- and other depictions of the human experience -- within video games is simply a natural extension of their increasing use and consideration as an art form. There is no external factor, such as hardware, which plays into this equation.