A few days ago a customer came into the store and, browsing through the XBox section, he had an urgent question.
“They made a game out of the da Vinci Code?” he asked.
“Companies will make games out of anything these days.”
He took the game from the shelf, scrutinized it closely, and frowned. “Aren’t you worried about protesters?”
“Protesters?” I said.
He nodded. “The da Vinci Code is offensive to Christians. People are protesting the film, you know.”
I took a deep breath, hoped I didn’t sigh loud enough to for him to notice, as I launched into a lecture. “The reason people are protesting the da Vinci Code is because of the ideas in it, that perhaps what Christianity teaches about Jesus might not be true. But the problem with the protesters is that the ideas in the da Vinci Code aren’t new, and it’s the people who are ignorant of Christianity and its history that are the ones most moved to protest the film, just as they were the ones to protest The Last Temptation of Christ fifteen years ago.”
He looked at me blankly. “But are people protesting the game?”
“I don’t think anyone knows there’s a da Vinci Code game, sorry.” Clearly what I’d said had gone over his head.
He didn’t buy the game, though to judge by his question I somehow doubt it was the game for him. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve sold a single copy since the game released a few weeks ago.
As I said, companies will make video games out of anything these days.