I miss Donkey Kong

I love video games. I love them so much I refuse to play them. I know if I were to get a Playstation 2 or X-Box and buy a copy of the latest John Madden football game, you could turn out the light, turn off the phone, and come back to see me in a month. I’d never get anything done, flunk out of school, and probably develop tendonitis in my wrists from pushing those buttons with my thumbs.

So I definitely see the appeal. And the media is coming around, finally noticing the huge sales games like “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and “Halo 2” generate. (Of course, that’s also served up with a spoonful of “Oh my God, look how violent these games are! The children!”) Video games are a fascinating form of entertainment that is growing and evolving every week.

But maybe video games based on “The Passion of the Christ” and the JFK assassination is taking things a bit too far. At the risk of climbing on a moral high horse…

There’s an article in the Washington Post today about a game called “JFK Reloaded,” in which players – for an entry fee of $10 – can attempt to re-enact Lee Harvey Oswald’s shooting of John F. Kennedy. Whoever re-creates creating the exact shot, angle, timing, etc. of the assassination will win a grand prize of $100,000.

I’m out. I could never even save the princess in “Super Mario Bros.”

But even better is a game based on Mel Gibson’s biblical whip-fest. I discovered this one via Andrew Sullivan’s blog. Unfortunately, there's no mention of what the game will actually entail. I have a feeling the game won’t allow you to flay Jesus with whips and tear his flesh with nails and broken glass, as seen in Gibson’s film. But those video game guys are clever. Who knows what they'll come up with next?