Unabashed blatant occult and witchcraft themes in video game

[Kknight]

I'm not sure if this belongs here since it's not a news story, but it is a "last days" kind of thing. If it needs to be moved to Christian Chat or somewhere else though, feel free.

My wife and I both enjoy video games. We have a Nintendo Wii and a Nintendo DS and stick with the "family friendly" franchises and games (Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, LEGO Star Wars, Brain Age, etc, etc.) I grew up with Nintendo and Super Nintendo and have always been a fan of their clean, fun franchises...owning every Nintendo system since.

Anyway, we bought "Trauma Center: New Blood" for the Wii after doing our research, reading reviews, etc. It is a "doctor/surgery sim" that looked and sounded fun and that has a cooperation mode so that my wife and I can play together...

We sat down last night after the kids went to bed (thank goodness) to really play it for the first time since we bought it a month or so ago. We were having a good time, really enjoying it...until about the fourth surgery in. All of a sudden, the story dialogue indicates that the main surgeon in the game is a practicing witch and through "meditation and focus," he is able to use a "healing touch" by tracing a pentagram on the chest of his patient! Also, the other surgeon in the game has come to this remote hospital in Alaska to learn this same "ability."

My wife and I were in complete shock. We read over the back of the box again, read the reasons for the "T" rating (essentially the video game equivalent of "PG,") read through the instruction manual, and re-read the (several) reviews that had led us to believe that this would be an enjoyable "family friendly" game. NOWHERE did any of this material mention ANYTHING about witchcraft or the occult...but after doing some deeper searching (by specifically searching for "Trauma Center wii pentagram" on google) we found that it is a pervasive theme throughout the game! Has this really become so commonplace and acceptable that nobody sees reason to mention it in a review or anywhere else?

Needless to say, I'm taking it straight back to the store and trading it in today. I won't be able to get a full refund since it is opened, but I can at least get about half our money back.

[god is my protector]

my friends were obsessed with a game called jericho recently... i didnt get it, the graphics sucked, and the gameplay was so repiticious that i would have found it borring had i played... the game is about a us govt. group of psychics and preists sent to a town that sprang up overnight and it is supposed to be the gathering of demons and such... that was pretty much the only thing they liked after i repeatedly asked why they liked the game regarding the crappy graphics and such... its on the ps3

[Rich Indeed]

Kknight -

I think I would contact the manufacturer of the game and ask for a refund of the full price, including tax. It isn't right for them to have witchcraft as a theme in the game like that, and not warn people about it!

[WCG777]

I havent played the game jericho and dont plan to but the horror survival games have really taken off since game like resident evil and silent hill

[Sister-N-Christ]

Yikes! This seems to be something they try to beat over our kids' heads anymore. Even Disney has that new wizards show on. I have always been very clear with my kids that we will not watch Twitches, Harry Potter or anything that glorifies witchcraft and backed it up with Bible verses. We can't always protect them from everything, because it sometimes pops up in unexpected places, but we can use those situations as a learning experience.

Thanks for posting about this game. I'll make sure my girls don't buy it.

[Kknight]

Kknight -

I think I would contact the manufacturer of the game and ask for a refund of the full price, including tax. It isn't right for them to have witchcraft as a theme in the game like that, and not warn people about it!

Hmmm...that's a good idea that I didn't think of. Unfortunately, I've already traded it in, but thanks for the advice!

[Kknight]

Yikes! This seems to be something they try to beat over our kids' heads anymore. Even Disney has that new wizards show on. I have always been very clear with my kids that we will not watch Twitches, Harry Potter or anything that glorifies witchcraft and backed it up with Bible verses. We can't always protect them from everything, because it sometimes pops up in unexpected places, but we can use those situations as a learning experience.

Thanks for posting about this game. I'll make sure my girls don't buy it.

It's sad that even Disney has to be censored anymore, isn't it? "That's so Raven" is another one that we don't let our boys watch on Disney. They mostly watch the old cartoons like "Duck Tales," "Rescue Rangers," and "Tailspin." We closely monitor almost every other show on Disney. We've got Nickelodeon blocked completely. Sad state of affairs.

[Marie_M]

I would suggest before buying video games to Wikipedia them to get a better idea about content.

The Wikipedia entry for Trauma Center: New Blood talks about the Healing Touch and links to the first Trauma Center game (New Blood is the third in a series). On the page for the first one, it says this:

The Healing Touch is an ability that, according to the ancient Greeks, descended from Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. It allows a surgeon to focus his concentration to superhuman levels in order to move extremely quickly and precisely for a limited amount of time. In the surgeon's mind, this appears to slow time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_Center:_Under_the_Knife#The_Healing_Touch

This would have given you a good indication beforehand that the game had occult elements. Unfortunately, the ratings system is flawed and never gives you a full indication of the game content.

Hope this idea helps! :)

[Kknight]

I would suggest before buying video games to Wikipedia them to get a better idea about content.

The Wikipedia entry for Trauma Center: New Blood talks about the Healing Touch and links to the first Trauma Center game (New Blood is the third in a series). On the page for the first one, it says this:

The Healing Touch is an ability that, according to the ancient Greeks, descended from Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. It allows a surgeon to focus his concentration to superhuman levels in order to move extremely quickly and precisely for a limited amount of time. In the surgeon's mind, this appears to slow time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_Center:_Under_the_Knife#The_Healing_Touch

This would have given you a good indication beforehand that the game had occult elements. Unfortunately, the ratings system is flawed and never gives you a full indication of the game content.

Hope this idea helps! :)

Thanks for the advice Marie. I never go just off the ratings and I always read several reviews before buying a game...but I had never thought of looking on Wikipedia for game reviews.

Thanks!

[LoveforChrist]

We just stick to old school PacMan. I don't know what the kids can watch anymore. Everything seems to have a little bit of witchcraft in it. But we knew the spiritual war is going to get harder and take a step up to get our children.