Fame at Last

It gives me a certain satisfaction to be able to announce—a mere day after I learned of this event—that one of my great literary heroes (these tend always to be very obscure) is about to achieve, after a wait of nearly 700 years, genuine fame and well-deserved celebrity beginning on February 9, 2010. Dante’s Inferno is now at last available as a video game, the author of the work himself featured as its action hero—triumphant, tall, grim, muscular, in shiny armor, his weapon an awesome scythe. Dante comes to us by the grace of Electronic Arts Inc. EA, as the company styles itself, had revenues in 2009 of $4.2 billion, thus qualifying it as hefty enough to present DA (as Dante would no doubt style himself these days) to the youth of our day. EA’s slogan for the game is “Go to Hell - Send sinners to hell, torment and punish them.” In the graphic the Os in “Go to” have a little cross inside them by way of a hat tip to Christianity. Very tastefully done, I must say. You can tell from every detail of the art, the audio, the action, the rollout, and the promotion that the EA team charged with this challenging assignment has left nothing to chance. By all means pre-order your copies now lest you be denied entrance to Hell when the cherished day arrives. With the product secured, you will be able to enjoy the triumphant Television Debut of Inferno by EA in a state of relaxation as the event is announced with trumpets to the mundane earthly scene by ads during the upcoming Superbowl.