Los Angeles Blog

...oh my God, they're SERIOUS.

Ummm...'Play Dante's Inferno and go to Hell'? Isn't that the whole *point* of the game? Duuuh. ;-) Do The Research, religious nutters!

The people protesting obviously haven't read the Divine Comedy, which is the basis of the game. The poem is an allegory describing the Christian afterlife as it was understood in the Middle Ages. It is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. He didn't want people to go to hell and neither do the makers of the game. I guess some people will protest anything.

These people need to READ their bibles and GET A LIFE, seriously....

And, you wonder "we Christians" get a bad reputation. EA the Anti-Christ? Man, what Kool-Aid have they been drinking???

I feel sorry for the lot of them.

creative advertising from EA. But I still fucking hate them for ruining every game ever.

why would you want to go to heaven and spend eternity with these tools?

his high score is in heaven, so he has sent the most people to heaven? murderer

can't believe no one posted the trailer in here: "http://www.dantesinferno.com/home.action"

Obvious marketing is obvious.

Same rehashed story from the hundreds of games before it. Do you save a princess, too?

The "religious nutbag" viral campaign didn't work for Hellgate and it won't work for this load of spunk.

Are any of these people actually aware that Dante's Inferno is a poem, and spawned at least one film? You don't see these people protesting against the Library, or the studio that produced it. These people are just blowhards, and first-class morons.

To Doom 3 guy, You've got it backwards. Dante's Inferno has been around before John Carmack's parents were even a gleam in his to be grandparents eyes. Even Doom did this story before Doom 3. You do have a good point though, regardless of what game, or overall story they are following this basic idea has been done before, the people that are protesting this really are not smart, by any means.

If they are going to protest this, then they should be protesting classic literature in general, not the video game, since the game is only a product of an old story.

@JB: Agreed.

Even the "We are SAVED" site is a PR stunt. None of these protesters are legit. Like they say, any PR is good PR.

the cheat code on the sign is from satan the hedgehog

thank you, now i know this game too and i can check if i wanna buy it...good advertising keep going

Those idiots just handed the game publicity. Publicity = people learning about the game. People learning about a game as interesting as this seems = MORE BUYERS. More buyers = Protester fail.

i guess EA want this ad to go viral...a pretty good plan with the recent rise in protests around the country

i still won't play any game by EA. not until they remove their stupid "copyright protection"

Absolutely hilarious! These people need to invest their engergy into something else. They are chlidren going hungry in out own country and they are standing in front of a video game conference. What a joke!

But it's a game? It's entertainment. Are we not allowed to have fun anymore? WTF!? Are they really being serious?

Once again the christian cultists are trying to force their ideals on everyone else. If they don't want to play, then by all means, don't. But alot of people WANT to play it. Christians and non-christians alike. They have every right to protest it and speak their minds...as much as I feel like they're wasting their time, and should be protesting something more useful...it's still their right. And it's mine, to dissagree with it. That aside, in the end...it's still just a GAME.

If these religious nuts are in the game - I'll buy it!!!

Well my minds made up...I'm getting the game.

Why must people be soooo...out there? Possibly for our enjoyment?

Viral marketing is viral.

When I saw them at the show, I was sure it was just a funny promotion, as did the majority of other people walking in. I'm still not convinced that this is all not just really good execution of a PR plan. Well done EA!

so these are all a bunch of jack thompson wannabes

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Jack-Thompson-Thinks-I-m-On-Drugs-14996.html

heaven and hell are just words. they seem to all be retarded because as many have mentioned there is probably eight thousand percent more refernce to "satan" and "demons" and all that "evil" jazz in literature, then there ever will be video games. they should read some of the books ive been reading (and thourouly enjoying) and yet i have never, EVER, once seen someone protest about a book with such material.

Dude God is retarded!

It's a viral marketing hoax, folks. They've fished in the media, tho -- yesterday Nick Roman of KPCC reported on this, but in a tone that made you wonder whether or not he suspected the whole thing was a put-on.

wow! i cant believe these people are serious about this.i bet you half of these people have not even read the book and the ones who did probably didnt understand it. What lame shit.

Lol, really? Its a game deal with it, playing a game wont condemn your soul. But the game will send you to hell. Oh snap!. Bust seriously, deal with it..... A)freedom of speech for the win
b)Protesters l2 deal with stuff only you guys care, people who want to play will
c) wouldn't they protest other games like Resident Evil or something else? not one that has you adventure through hell and chances are kill demons? Just throwing that out there, the book wasn't about raising an army of demons to fight against god. Not inferno at least.

This is obviously a publicity stunt by EA, a viral marketing ploy, and laweekly fell for it.

FAKE.

it is really sad when people do not understand the meaning of literature or games or any kind of storytelling because of their fuckheaded pigheaded dumb stupid asinine dogmas that they blatantly refuse to consider from even the most slightly different angle:
No.1 Dante's Inferno is largely a personal attack on the papacy and church corruption written by a victim and a reformist in exile (read the fucking book and get some background, asshole protesters)
No.2 It is a part of a large philosophical design and DOES NOT depend on the Bible alone or the christian dogma, in fact, there is just as much classical and medieval folk tradition as there is christianity. The book symbolizes the world and the mind, NOT the bible drilled into you. The point is that the corrupt popes (of whom there are tons in Inferno), priests, etc are punished for their hypocrisy just as much as other sinners are punished for being morally decrepit idiots, just like the protesters in question.
No.3 Dante himself (in Inferno and subsequent volumes) goes through a transformation and spiritual journey that has to begin in Hell - he has to witness suffering and corruption first before he could understand the heavenly spheres.
No. 4 If you are familiar with the harrowing of hell, the game is probably closer to that than fighting against god.
The list, jumbled as it is, as you might have guessed, could go on because it just blows my mind how stupid these protesters are. but i just wanted to say that these motherfuckers protesters need to fucking learn something and understand something before they protest. READ THE BOOK, DO SOME RESEARCH, CLEAR YOUR STUPID ASS MIND AND ENJOY THE GAME!!!!!!

I've never liked those games, But after reading those signs, i'm tempted to buy it.

damnit people, it's a marketing stunt, they're not real protestors. It's called viral marketing.

God is homosexual.

Fake or not, this still stands:

http://pixdaus.com/pics/MhYn8Km5i2Zb.jpg

Narrow-minded bigots that put 99.99+% of all mankind in hellfire and yell how right they are and how wrong everybody else is ! I am GLAD I am NOT a member (slave?) of any "One, True Church".

I mean LA Weekly.

If EA is the Antichrist, then the Antichrist knows a great deal about making awesome hockey games! Keep on doing what you're doing, Antichrist!