PS3 vs. The Church of England

Written by Joe Martin

June 11, 2007 | 14:09

Tags: #cathedral #christian #church #court #crime #england #fall #jesus #law #legal #manchester #ps3 #religion #resistance #sue

Companies: #sony

Sony can apparently do no right lately (Ed - lately?), causing controversy left, right and centre whether justified or not.

Still, Sony is a giant of the industry and has admirably weathered the storm in each and every case, though this time it may have finally met its match as The Church of England opposes the PS3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man.

The dispute between The Church and Sony has arisen over an in-game battle which takes place in the nave of Manchester Cathedral. The Church claims that Sony has used the location without asking for permission and are furious that the house of God would be used as a backdrop for such a violent scene.

"For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible." Said The Bishop of Manchester, Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch.

Sony has yet to respond to the Church, who are now demanding that the game be pulled from shelves, that a public apology be made and that a 'large donation' be given. All Sony has said on the matter is the following, reasserting that the game is actually fiction:

"Resistance: Fall of Man is a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality. The game is set in an alternate and mythical version of Europe in the 1950s, in which the enemy are strange looking alien invaders seeking to destroy humanity.

Whilst 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 better understand their concerns in more detail."


It's an interesting situation, and opinion is divided on who's right in this escalating battle. There are a massive number of games with churches in after all, so is The Church of England simply using this as a chance to oppose violence in the media due to the perceived wave of negativity towards Sony in Europe? Can Sony really be faulted for using the location in a game which is obviously fictional?

Is Sony right to use free speech in this way? Is violence in the media too widespread? If God was one of us, which console would he favour? Let us know your answers in the forums.
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