As reported in an opinion piece here last week, Fallout 3, despite being schedule for release in India, got canceled. Sony obviously knew something about the game that Microsoft did not before deciding to release it there, and now we all know what that something is.

Cows.

Since Microsoft decided to pull the game before any actual contreversy was shown, CinemaBlend offered up this explanation:

In the Fallout games, survivors of the apocalypse use “brahmin” – two-headed cows mutated by radiation – as pack animals. In Hindu religion, cows are revered and it wouldn’t surprise me if the ability of players to shoot up herds of “brahmin” in Fallout 3 factored into the cancellation. The name of the radiated cows probably didn’t help matters, either, as the term originates in India. “Brahman” is the name of a breed of cattle from India and the name of a prominent concept in Hindu religion (“the primal source and ultimate goal of all beings”). “Brahmin” is also the term for “the class of educators, scholars and preachers in Brahminical Hinduism” according to Wikipedia…

Though that is speculation on CinemaBlend’s part, it seems good enough for Gaming Indians, and that is good enough for me. I highly suggest reading Abhijit Banerjee’s write up on the situation here, where he targets not only Microsoft, but also the people who would cause a ruckus over killing a virtual cow. I would have written more on this, but I think he took the words out of my mouth (and added much more).

(Apologies for the random Far Side comic, but I couldn’t help but think of it).

Popularity: unranked [?]