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13 Jun 2007
The Church of England has demanded an apology from Sony for using a recreation of Manchester Cathedral in its first-person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man.
Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, said: "For a global manufacturer to recreate one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible."
According to the BBC, church leaders met on Monday to draft a letter and discuss what other action to take.
McCulloch said that the letter would demand an apology for using the cathedral. It would also ask for withdrawal of the game, or modification of the section of the game to remove the cathedral interior.
The letter would ask Sony to make a substantial donation to the church from the game's profits, and to come out in public support of other groups in Manchester fighting against gun crime.
"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is aware of the concerns expressed by the Bishop of Manchester and the Cathedral authorities about the use of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man, and we naturally take their concerns very seriously," said the company in a statement.
"Resistance: Fall of Man is a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality. The game is set in an alternative and mythical version of Europe in the 1950s, in which the enemy are strange looking alien invaders seeking to destroy humanity.
"While we believe that we have sought and received all permissions necessary for the creation of the game, we will be contacting the Cathedral authorities in order to understand their concerns in more detail."
A Sony spokesman confirmed that the company is in talks with the cathedral authorities. "We have spoken to the Manchester Cathedral authorities and will be dealing directly with them from now on," he said.
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Do you agree?
Hypocrits, priorities
All well and good, but the church has failed to apologize for covering up for paedophiles in Farnborough and elsewhere.
Posted by: Gordon. 13 Jun 2007
noobs
damn church noobs sit your butt down before you get pwned! I hope you guyz get owned because it shouldnt matter the setting if you believe killing even on a game is bad i understand that but what difference does it make if its a church or a jungle if that is your view? If its just because its a church then i say sit down and stop forcing your beliefs on to others, you dont have to play so stfu
Posted by: spyda 13 Jun 2007
No basis for apology
If anyone wants to complain, here's the contact address for Manchester Cathedral: manchesterdbf@manchester.anglican.org I suggest you remember, this is a church. Be polite but firm. Here's mine: "I just read of your attack on a video game... Let me emphasize the word "GAME". I have to say this is the most ridiculous waste of time I've ever seen. You have no more control over what programmers put into a game than you would over what a novelist uses as a scene in a book. To imply that video game players are incapable of telling the difference between fantasy and reality, particularly when that fantasy involves defending the planet from wicked aliens, is quite beyond the pale. The game "Resistance: Fall of Man" has absolutely nothing to do with disrespecting the church in general or Manchester Cathedral in particular. It does nothing to encourage people to bring guns to church, which is the main implication of your complaint. All in all all your complaint is doing is making the church look even more clueless to the youth of the world and make them less inclined to take part in church services. I encourage you to drop the matter before it ends up making you look even more silly than it does now. Issue a nice apology along the lines of "We're sorry we implied that gamers can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality when in fact it was our own perception that was clouded." and let the matter drop."
Posted by: jordanlund 13 Jun 2007