Sony bows to Church of England
p2pnet news | games:- Sony’s Resistance: Fall of Man, exclusive to the PS3 and developed by Insomniac Games, “follows in the footsteps of Sgt. Nathan Hale as he and the human resistance forces attempt to drive a mysterious alien invasion out of Britain,” says the Wikipedia.
It includes a violent shootout between a US soldier and the bad guys in a building looking more than a little like the Church of England’s famous Manchester Cathedral, seriously upsetting church leaders.
Sony subsequenlty apologised publicly and “unreservedly,” but with reservations, ignoring Cof E demands that it withdraw the game altogether, says the Manchester Evening News.
Following a meeting with the church, “Sony has admitted offending the cathedral congregation and the wider community in a letter sent to the M.E.N.,” says the story.
“It has also placed an advert in today’s paper to express regret.”
Says the letter:
It is clear to us that the connection between the congregation and the Cathedral is a deeply personal and spiritual one. As a result, it is also clear that we have offended some of the congregation by using the cathedral in our science fiction game.
It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game, and we would like to apologise unreservedly to them for causing that offence, and to all parts of the community who we might also have offended.
Furthermore, we will ensure that Manchester Cathedral is never used as a setting in any future Sony Computer Entertainment video game.
“In an attempt to clean up the computer industry, the cathedral has released a set of ’sacred digital guidelines’ aimed at manufacturers and retailers, and has urged firms to avoid making violent games,.” says the MEN.
According to Times Online, the digital code of conduct reads:
1. Respect our sacred spaces as places of prayer, worship, peace, learning and heritage.
2. Do not assume that sacred space interiors are copyright free.
3. Get permission from the faith leaders who are responsible for the building interiors you want to clone.
4. Support the work of those engaged in resisting the culture of gun crime and those involved in promoting the work of conflict resolution.
The Dean of Manchester, the Very Rev Rogers Govender, “called on all computer games manufacturers, not just Sony, to sign up to the new guidelines,” says the story.
Meanwhile, the cathedral, “turned back the clock to show Sony how children can have fun without sitting at a game console,” says another Manchester Evening News item, adding:
“There was not a PlayStation in sight when hundreds of children attended the two-day Hands On History event to experience stone-carved lettering, wood turning, brass rubbing and embroidery.”
Also See:
Manchester Evening News – Sony says ’sorry’, July 6, 2007
Times Online – Manchester Cathedral says Sony apology not enough and issues new digital rules, July 6, 2007
Manchester Evening News – Cathedral fun without Sony, July 9, 2007
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July 9th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Fowl! This is another reason to boycott Sony. Talk is cheap – “We’re sorry – it will never happen again.” And their sales boosted on this item because of the controversy.
July 10th, 2007 at 6:08 am
sk8rpro, for me its another reason to boycott churches (but not necessarily religions), CoE obviously have never played the game and had no clue what was really going on in there. I haven’t seen any churches protest when a church was completely demolished in War of the Worlds by Spielberg,.. neither when similar things happened in other movies.
July 10th, 2007 at 8:07 am
“Sacred digital guidelines”…..Pretentious assholes.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Totaly idiotic wank, churches feature prominently in a great many games, especialy those in historical settings such as world war scenarios. They have for years, and will continue to do so. Copyrighted sacred interior space? Thats bloody hilarious!
The whole copywrite system needs to be re-defined at the very least. It has become a tool for censorship and a legal force to stifle creativity and inovation. This is completely counter to its origonal mandate, a corporate perversion of our civil rights that MUST be fought.
That the CofE is jumping on this bandwaggon suprises me not a jot.
To those from Manchester Cathedral dioses who have been offended there is a very, very simple solution, they don’t play Resistance. If they feel strongly enough they could boycott the playstation line, or even all Sony products rather than whine about their mythical ‘copyright’.
That Sony are caving to them of course is the biggest joke in this news story. One of the big four media companies who have been trying to change the definition of copyright in the public mind has had the tables of their own spin turned on them, used against them.
October 11th, 2007 at 7:38 am
I have written this up on my blog: http://www.bruceongames.com/2007/10/11/the-church-of-england/
The Church of England is a business that is in terminal decline. People prefer other brands of superstition and now the government has mass media it no longer needs the church to keep the populace under control.
So when Sony used the interior of Manchester Cathedral in their game Resistance: Fall of Man you would have thought that the Church of England would be happy. For once the inside of one of their buildings would be seen by a large audience………..contd……..