I posted a while back about the game The Binding of Isaac, a game made by the creators of Super Meat Boy that many find offensive religiously. I would say that the controversy is mostly because it appears to set out to be quite offensive. Either way, I thought it would be interesting to see what Nintendo would make of this game, as recently they’ve allowed all manner of M-rated games on their systems but can sometimes still be rather touchy.
Well, thanks to a few tweets, we’ve learned the fate of the game in relation to Nintendo:
Attention: After a long internal debate Nintendo has decided NOT to allow the Binding of Isaac on the 3ds. 🙁
As many assumed the reasons were due to the games “questionable religious content”. Thank GOD Steam exists!
Steam of course being the PC program where you can download any manner of game. They have no content filters, and The Binding of Isaac went up for sale there first. When questioned if it actually had more to do with the ESRB ‘Suggestive themes, suggested child nudity and gore.’, this was the response:
no actually they were fine with the M rating and that content.. somehow.
So Nintendo does still have limits, and does keep a tight reign on what is allowed on its digital services. Now I understand the arguments behind free speech versus closed systems and all the rest of it, but having played a bit of the game for myself on my PC, I can’t really say I’m disappointed in Nintendos decision.
