THE Church of England today asked entertainment giant Sony to apologise and contribute a large donation for featuring a prominent British cathedral in a violent video game.

Church officials had earlier accused Sony of using the historic interior of Manchester Cathedral, where memorials for gun crime victims have been held, as the backdrop for parts of the new Playstation 3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man without permission.
David Marshall, the cathedral's spokesman, said the church had received many emails supporting its stance and added that officials were set to meet tomorrow to discuss further action against Sony.
During that meeting, they will decide on the details of a letter to be written to Sony with four demands, including a demand for an apology and a substantial donation from the game's profits as Sony did not pay a commercial fee to use the cathedral as a backdrop, and because of the game's inappropriate nature.
The other two demands were the withdrawal of the game entirely, or modifying the section with the cathedral's interior.
The church also wants Sony to support other groups in Manchester trying to reduce gun crime in Britain's third city.
"It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem," Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester, told BBC television yesterday.
"For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.
"We know the reality of gun crime and the devastating effects it can have on the lives - it is not a trivial matter," he said.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said it "is aware of the concerns expressed by the Bishop of Manchester and we naturally take the concerns very seriously".
Sony said that it had "sought and received all permissions necessary for the creation of the game", but will contact the cathedral authorities tomorrow "to understand their concerns in more detail".
The company also said the game amounts to science fiction where the targets are aliens rather than humans.
The game, which has sold more than one million copies, features a bloody virtual shoot-out between rival fighters that leaves hundreds dead.
Its website said Resistance: Fall of Man takes place in an alternative 20th century in which it is 1951 and World War II never happened. However, humanity is threatened by brutal invaders, the Chimera.
It features "an impressive arsenal and vigorous action as your character fights the horrific and technologically superior enemy", said the website.
The game "offers both a compelling combat experience and a chilling vision of Europe", the website said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...7-1702,00.html

I really don't think they should be able to collect for this, it's just a location. AFAIK a location isn't intellectual property. Imagine all the game developers that would've had to pay dividends for featuring real-life locations in their games if every place could get money for its use in a video game.

Well with everybody else sueing game companies I cannot say that I'm surprised.

Originally Posted by major liability

I really don't think they should be able to collect for this, it's just a location. AFAIK a location isn't intellectual property. Imagine all the game developers that would've had to pay dividends for featuring real-life locations in their games if every place could get money for its use in a video game.

I think that if the information they used is in the public domain then the church shouldnt be allowed to collect.

i think this has to be some of the dumbest reporting i have seen on the news....


link manchesters gun crime levels with an alt-history video game! ridiculous!

shooting aliens in a bombed out church does not equal more gun crime....no matter what Jack Thompson or the Church of England think

i can think of numurous games where churches have been used, movies as well, for war purposes. the only difference here is that it's an actual real life church. Mosques are open do abuse in games....so why not?


in saying that, the church will get an apology, and a pay out...but i will be extremely surprised if sony pulls their flagship PS3 game from the shelves

One issue that I heard makes sense and I think Sony should pull the game.

For my American brethren... how would you feel if Sony had taken this exact same game but instead of the shooting being in the church in Manchester lets say they used Columbine High School as the backdrop? Insensitive right? Or for our Aussie brothers and sisters, what about the shootout with the aliens takes place in Port Arthur?

Manchester's victims of gun crime are often laid to rest with services held in that church. It is supposed to be a place of healing and comfort for those who lost someone, a friend, a son, a husband... but instead Sony uses it as the backdrop for a game about killing.

Should Sony not make the game, ****, I could care less but to use a REAL church from a community that has suffered from so much violence is irresponsible and insensitive. This isn't free speech and its not about our children being desensitized to violence (that rant will come shortly)... this is about being human and giving a damn about more than just turning a profit at any price.

They probably picked it because it looks cool and it's a recognizable landmark, not because they want extra dough. I fail to see how that can make them any extra money, actually.

Also, I think there is already a Columbine shooter out, in the form of DooM levels created by the shooters. I've been wanting to make a Counter-Strike map of my high school since I first played that game, but in this day and age they'd be like "OMG TERRORISM!!!" even though it's an innocent video game. Just imagine the gameplay - long corridors with no cover, and classrooms with lots of hiding spots. Would be a lot of fun IMO.

LONDON — The Church of England on Wednesday urged the people of Japan to join its campaign against a violent Sony Corp. computer game that allegedly uses a British cathedral as a backdrop.
"For a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral, with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly irresponsible," the dean of Manchester Cathedral, the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, said at a news conference.
In Tokyo, Sony's video game unit said Wednesday it had begun talks with the Church of England over its complaint that Manchester cathedral in northwest England had been used in the shooting game for Sony's new PlayStation 3 console.
Govender denied that. He said the Church of England had sent a letter to Sony on Monday outlining its concerns and making several demands, but had yet to receive a formal response.
"We believe a silent response on the issue is not acceptable behavior," Govender said.

Oh sorry,Protestants.
I'm not protestant and have no duty to support you.
And this news made me laugh,nice british joke.

"Today I want to appeal directly to the people of Japan to help us put pressure on Sony to respond. So I speak directly to those citizens who share our concerns."

by Tony Blair
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...48378686_x.htm
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
Ah,Mr Blair・・・・
Resistance is still on sell.Your direct speak seemed nothing.

They should have created a fictitious church.
Right, this is like making a shooter that takes place in Columbine. It's the same deal. Also on that matter, I don't think games should include real world Mosques either. Only fair that way.
It's one thing to make a location "similar to" or "based on" something but to make it the actual THING itself is going a bit far.