Red Dead Redemption’s Headline Fodder: Nun Murder

It doesn’t have the same twisted ring as “hooker punching,” but if there’s anything the (insert scarequotes here) mainstream media will latch onto with Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, it’s got to be hogtying and murdering nuns. Are we provoking the whole thing by writing about it? Absolutely!

A video posted to LiveLeak shows protagonist John Marston throwing a lasso around a member of the sisterhood, tying her up, throwing her onto a horse and dropping her off on some train tracks, where she’s flattened by an incoming locomotive. Doing so unlocks the “Dastardly” achievement, which according to Xbox360Achievements can be earned with any hogtied woman, not just nuns. Still you can see the headlines now: Game Lets Players Score By Killing Nuns. And because there’s actually Gamerscore involved, any often-antiquated references to points in video games by clueless pundits wouldn’t be untrue.

This has to be a deliberate wink by Rockstar, whose Grand Theft Auto series famously lets players regain health by sleeping with prostitutes, then regain money by killing the women. A nun is basically the opposite of a prostitute, so the message from Rockstar seems clear: Nothing is too shocking or too sacred. [LiveLeak via True/Slant]