It almost seemed ages ago that I last wrote about Sanctuary. I have to confess, I was quite busy and, to put it frankly, I lost sight of it. Now I had some time to check on it to see if these all new webisodes are worth my time. The first four webisodes are available for free viewing at the usual sites, namely YouTube, Google Video, and similar sites.
I always loved mythology, especially ancient Greek legends. Norse and Egyptian mythology are quite interesting too and I always tried to deepen my knowledge about these legends. I’m not a specialist but I know the most important characters because I like to read and those stories seemed quite interesting back then. I was intrigued because they seemed very similar and still so different. Nowadays, I don’t read that much books concerning or involving mythology. Instead, I play games who are based on myths or I watch TV shows where the ancient stories are deeply involved in the plot, like Stargate, for instance.
Of course, I soon realized that there are some trade-offs, especially with games. You like to know something about mythology? Don’t trust in games to convey the legendary deeds of ancient gods. Why not? The Seattle Times has the answer. In this short editorial the author makes one important point: Games aren’t the most reliable sources for information on mythology. That said, I have to admit that they did a much better job with Stargate and Stargate SG-1. The recently played God of War II is pretty impressive either, but it doesn’t treat the Greek mythology with much regard for accuracy.
Anyway, there are plenty of games and TV shows based on different mythologies. As long as the creators can meld all the fragments into an interesting and believable piece of entertainment, who cares? Alas, who is looking for an educational value in our entertainment world? All one can hope to achieve is to arouse interest in the consumers so that they get themselves immersed. The good old books will surely be around for some time to come, I guess.
Seems like the Church of England doesn’t take fictitious depictions of its “property” lightly. With Resistance: Fall of Man Sony has released one of the better launch titles of the PS3. Now the Bishop of Manchester complained that Sony’s decision to recreate one of the great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality just to encourage people to have gun battles in this building is “beyond belief and highly irresponsible”. Head over to Ars Technica to see what this is all about.
Sony claimed in a prepared statement that they believed they had sought all the necessary permissions for the inclusion of the cathedral in the game and also noted that the title is “a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality.” This response isn’t sitting well with the Church of England’s employees in Manchester, who believe they are facing a very real gun problem and feel that the use of their holy space for such a violent scene in the gaming undercuts their work with the community.
The last time I wrote about the Church meddling with fictitious content a Vatican official called for a boycott of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. What I don’t get is that they really go ahead with something like this. What’s the problem? Neither book nor game claimed to depict the truth. I always believed in freedom of expression but it seems like that doesn’t work anymore. Whatever you say or write you should be prepared to get sued. That’s ridiculous. Hard working people who believe in honesty should support Evil Spock’s attempt of world domination. He may be able to set some things right.
