Recently, we brought you word that the Church of England had a bee in its bonnet over Sony's rampant and gleeful promotion of their PlayStation 3 flagship title Resistance: Fall of Man. The game, it seems, depicts scenes of violence and adult situations within what appears to be Manchester Cathedral, and as the English Reformation explicitly forbade video games from promoting violence on hallowed ground, officials connected to the cathedral publicly lambasted Sony. Shortly afterwards, Tony "Yes, I dress myself, why?" Blair jumped into the middle of the fiasco and declared that entertainment companies must be held entirely responsible for their products and that the Church's plans to sue Sony were entirely justifed, and not at all the latest utterly insane demand from a sect based almost completely on insane demands.
With the primary religious and political bodies of the UK squarely against their digital blasphemy, Sony had no choice but to apologize. You'd think this would be the point where the post would end and you could go on with your life, right? Unfortunately, everything gets all wacky and British from here on out. Hit the jump for more, and don't forget to hug your Constitution.
The following quote is the apology Sony prepared for the Church of England in response to the furor over Resistance:
Please understand that Resistance: Fall of Man is a work of science fiction…
We do not accept that there is any connection between contemporary issues of 21st century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950’s Britain is under attack by aliens…
It was not our intention to cause offence by using a representation of Manchester Cathedral in chapter 8 of the work. If we have done so we sincerely apologise.
In conclusion we note that you are consulting lawyers. We confirm that it is our policy to seek all necessary permissions for our products and services, and we believe with this particular work we have done so.
Honestly, we're rather impressed with Sony here. They are a company whose entire corporate culture is based upon insane egomania and pissing contests with anyone willing to whip it out in front of Kaz Hirai, so to apologize publicly, even if half of their apology functionally said "you're all jerks, shut up", is a very mature step from a group mostly recently known for slicing open a goat and eating its entrails.
The Church of England, however, doesn't seem to feel the same way. Here's their rebuttal:
We acknowledge the admission by Sony that the building in the game is Manchester Cathedral. We thank Sony for the apology they have made.
However, we do not move from the position that we are against violence and especially the gun violence seen in this portrayal of the Cathedral.
We are pleased that Sony wish to come and meet with us in Manchester as today we offered them such an invitation.
In the meeting with Sony we will discuss our outstanding demands, how this game came to be produced and where the images of the Cathedral came from.
I can only assume that "discuss our outstanding demands" translates into American as "hold out our ruddy hands and wait for Sony to hand us bags of cash". Disturbingly, Sony has no recourse to this church (and Parliament) supported extortion, and as much as I've decried Sony's actions in the past, I almost feel bad for them here. Who could have guessed that the only entity capable of making Sony the object of pity would be a church founded on Henry VIII's desire to bang more chicks than Pope Clement VII would allow?
Does anyone have a money figure for all the games that have 9mm and AK's and Grenades. Dont get me started on GTA they would be paying out the A$$
somebody call Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens and get them on sony's side, lmao
Anyhow, dear Anglican Church: Get over yourselves. It's fiction. I guess we should ban any work of art that depicts attacks on or around well known places?
As somebody else said, somebody call Richard Dawkins.
Good on Sony. They shouldn't be pandering to these religious nitwits. They made an issue out of a nonissue and do not deserve any kind of recompense or validation.
Fucking church. Fucking organized religion.
Also, Nex, I'm positive that the same thing would happen here, if they used a notable American church. If we had any. As for me, I'd be stoked if they blew up my house in a video game. Hoo-ah.
Hail Satan.
I completely agree with you, except the hail satan part. Lol.
In earlier reports, the Church has DEMANDED a "substantial Donation" from Sony over this whole issue, in addition to pulling and editing the game. you can read up everything one Resitance fall of man's Wiki entry; including links to the actual articles...
@BuckF1tches
Well in addition to what John said, Sony is the publisher of this particular game, and as publisher they are seen as being partially responcible for the content
and sony fights it to court and they loose the case, allot of gaming companies will be held responsible for using building content without permission of them.
btw, is this the only game that has used the Church of England 3D building used for a game? and how did they ever find out? shouldnt Holy people NOT be playing Sony (The Devil) games?
am i in illusion? or does it sound that church is tainted?
They cited the fact that you kill people in the church as being the main reason for this (money-grab) outcry, right? Well as far as violence goes the church is going to be ahead of the video game industry for quite some time yet. Even if it isn't the real church. (So, shouldn't they be getting sued by Catholicism?)
If I was Sony, I would add a chimney on the back of the building that no player following the story would see, and that was on the outside only so you couldn't see it from the inside, then keep releasing the game saying it just LOOKS like the Church, but in reality its different. Or make it have a trap door that leads to an underground tunnel. BAM. Different floor design, different building.
So far, i don't see how Sony could loose... so far from what i'm hearing about copyright laws in england, the church has no case. The copyright of the church itself expired a few hundred years ago, and it sounds like there is a clause which states something like that any work of art or architecture that's on perminent display to the public is fair game, and i think the cathedral falls under that. although, some are saying something about a case of defamation against the church, but i don't think the game content does anything to really defame the church...
One thing though that's being questioned is how exactly Sony got the reference materials, seeing as you are not allowed to take photos of the interior of the building... however, the church would actually have to prove that sony took pictures without permission, which they can't unless sony openly admits it... ofcourse, considering you can find images of the interior of the church through google, and, if there is no rule against drawing while inside the church, insomiac could have sent an artist there to draw down details of the church... hell their may even be online sources that give the dimensions of the church... not to mention if someone did try to take pictures, certainly someone would have stopped him and kicked him out... really, the church can't really prove they took photos; their words against Sony's words, can't win a case on that.
@slayer404
"(So, shouldn't they be getting sued by Catholicism?)"
actually, if i'm not mistaken, the curch of england is protestant
@TheRob91
Y'know, one thing that got me thinking in the church's reply was this line
"We acknowledge the admission by Sony that the building in the game is Manchester Cathedral."
i can't help but think the reason they through that in there was like to say "Ah-ha we got you; you admitting that it IS the Manchester Cathedral in the game gives a case, you can not just say it is some random cathdral now!" ofcourse, i still don't think the church has a case for the reason i stated before, but meh...
The church may own the building, but from what it sounds like, the building has no copyright protection from such creations.