Recently we covered Molleindustria's Operation Pedopriest, a game we suspected would cause controversy. And it has.

Molleindustria has removed the game from their website after a point of order in the Italian Parliament move to call the game "virtual pedo-pornography" under an Italian law that makes it illegal to depict sexual acts with children. Molleindustria offers more on this, with links to the laws in question. As they said in an email to us, who says that Italian government is slow and bureaucratic? The game itself is still available on Newgrounds.

Meanwhile, WCG friend Liz Losh has written an extensive review of the game. She calls the depiction of sex abuse in a game "rhetorically risky" in general, suggesting that "By representing this abuse so cartoonishly, digital artists may be missing an opportunity for a more persuasive critique." Given the Italian response, Liz's prediction may have been right. Has the government's repudiation of the game as child sex undermined its ability to perform social/religious critique? Or has it enhanced it?