Don’t go looking on Joystiq for the article Lucas refers to. It doesn’t exist. However, those seeking further information may find the following links useful.
Nintendo’s Censorship Policy
Zophar’s Domain examines the “religious controversy” over Wisdom Tree
RetroNintendo provides an interview with a Wisdom Tree employee

A friend of mine commented on Jay’s remark in the second panel. If they were legally making unlicensed Nintendo games, wouldn’t they be, by definition, not sticking it to the man? This is a question worth addressing, so if you’re interested in finding out what exactly Jay means by that, then read on.

While the games Wisdom Tree created may have technically been legal, it wasn’t as if Nintendo was pleased about this sort of thing. I’m sure you’re familiar with the measures Nintendo took to maintain tight control on the content of video games for the NES: assiduous quality/content screening, the lockout chip, the official Nintendo Seal of Quality, and so forth. Wisdom Tree got around this by legally reverse-engineering the NES system and building a way around the lockout chip into their games themselves [1].

You can bet Nintendo wasn’t happy about this. After all, for the North American releases of their games, they edited out not only violent and bloody content, but also religious references such as crosses. The impression I get from the research I’ve done on the subject is that Nintendo was trying to avoid religious controversy in their games entirely–maintain secular neutrality. An out-and-out religious game wouldn’t have gone over with them too well.

The consequences for breaking Nintendo’s censorship standards? First, if the game was developed illegally, Nintendo could sue. We’ve already been over how Wisdom Tree circumvented that. Second, the company would basically refuse to distribute to retailers who sold unlicensed games. How Wisdom Tree got around that threat is an interesting story. In essence, they courted the attention of Christian bookstores and retailers, who weren’t likely to carry video games in the first place. They put together promotional videotapes of gameplay and provided bookstores with cardboard displays. The marketing was very shrewd, entirely legal, yet frustrated Nintendo’s efforts to control religious content in their games.

So now you see how Wisdom Tree really was “sticking it to the man!” It’s really quite clever what they did from a legal and marketing perspective. It’s just a shame none of that innovation carried over to their gameplay.

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