Game Wave: Canada's Christian Game Console That Tried to Turn Christians into Gamers

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Game Wave: Canada's Christian Game Console That Tried to Turn Christians into Gamers.

Just under 100 dollars, four remote-control-like controllers, no action like in Half-Life or Oblivion - but instead Bible quizzes and a party game with talking vegetable figures. That was how, in 2005, the ambitious attempt of the Canadian company Zapit looked to reach Christian households in Canada and the US with the Game Wave Family Entertainment System. The calculation was unusual but strategically thought out: at a time when a lawyer would have liked to ban games like Grand Theft Auto because they allegedly turned young people into violent offenders, a console was supposed to come along that got by without blood, bombs, and boss enemies.

The GameStar magazine has now dug up the curious chapter once again - and the story reads like a well-intentioned reach for the wrong shelf.

A Console That Looks Like a DVD Player

At first glance at the Game Wave, it wasn't always clear that it was even about gaming: the device looked more like a DVD player than a classic game console. Four controller-like remotes were included, with which up to four players competed against each other in trivia quizzes and party games. For just under 100 US dollars, the system went on sale in Canada and the US in 2005 - including the quiz game 4 Degrees: The Arc of Trivia.

The Target Audience: Conservative, Christian Households

Zapit quickly recognized a market gap that lay off the beaten path of the usual Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft routes: conservative, Christian families who couldn't do anything with titles like Half-Life or Oblivion. Instead of brutal action, friendly competition and a pious message were to be at the center. In 2006, Zapit therefore followed up with the Bible Edition of 4 Degrees: The Arc of Trivia - in which players competed against each other to prove their Bible knowledge.

From the Bible to the Vegetable Mario Party

That got a foot in the door, but the cash register stayed silent. They needed something that screamed "game" more than a board game from the 80s. So they oriented themselves toward the market leader for family friendliness - and copied Nintendo's Mario Party. For the clone, Zapit teamed up with the animated series VeggieTales, in which the vegetable men Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber conveyed Christian values to children. VeggieTales was a hit and was even dubbed for the German market - so the move was quite clever. The result was VeggieTales: Veg-Out! Family Tournament, in which up to four people competed against each other in a series of minigames.

Live Tour, Sweepstakes, and the End

In 2008, Zapit even became a partner of the VeggieTales live tour with the catchy name God Made You Special Live! During the event, families could play Veg-Out on site and win a Game Wave - a pretty direct bridge between TV show and console. A handful of other games followed, including Gemz, which was based on the casual classic Bejeweled. But the conservative purchasing power evidently wasn't enough to compete against the big players of the industry. In 2009, production of the Game Wave was discontinued, and Zapit closed up shop.

How VeggieTales Lived On on Mobile

Those who had hoped for more VeggieTales games were at least served on mobile devices until 2015 - with titles like the learning game Scribble My VeggieTales Story and the Christmas adventure It's a Very Merry Larry Christmas, in which children accompany a cucumber through the holidays. The Game Wave itself is today primarily a curious footnote in gaming history - an attempt that was well-intentioned but didn't catch fire in the market.