Dante's Inferno makes nannies everywhere furious
EA's 2010 video game adaptation of the epic poem is full of eye-popping acts and achievements, and we're starting to hear the first pings of Rockstar-esque controversy.
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Electronic Arts's certainly not afraid of controversy. In fact, the company seems to be embracing it with arms wide open.
At a recent "Naughty or Nice" event in New York, we had the opportunity to play Dante's Inferno hands-on. The Xbox 360 and PS3 video game, which recasts the epic Dante poem as a God of War-type journey through nesting levels of hell, is certainly wearing its M rating on its sleeve (Note: while the ESRB hasn't officially rated this game yet, it's pretty clear there's no other rating it would achieve). The producers brazenly showed the Lust level of the game, with some eye-popping (and incredibly disturbing) animations, including an enormous bare-breasted demon boss who births termite-like knife-handed demon-babies from her nipples.
Therefore, it's no surprise really that this news item emerged about one of Dante's Inferno's "achievements." The International Nanny Association is up in arms about an achievement called "Bad Nanny" that triggers when the game's protagonist kills unbaptized babies.
Having played the game, we're pretty sure the babies being referred to are in fact demon-creatures in baby form, but this still seems like a controversial and offensively described event to flaunt with GamerScore points. Shockingly, however, the nanny organization seems mostly upset because the achievement casts nannies in a bad light.
Is this as bad as Hot Coffee, or simply PR steam? Admittedly, this is a game set in hell--but is there such a thing as too much? Also, how exactly did the International Nanny Association get wind of God of Hell's--we mean, Dante's Inferno's--achievement lists, we wonder?
(Source: Game Politics via Joystiq)