Church fury over "sick" PS3 game
Resistance: Fall of Man was a PS3 launch title in Europe
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Saturday, 09, Jun 2007 08:10
The Church of England says it is furious after discovering sections of Manchester Cathedral have been digitally recreated in a violent computer game on Sony's PlayStation 3.
According to the church, Sony has used the interior of the cathedral without permission in Resistance: Fall of Man, a bloody shooting game set in an alternate post-war timeline.
The church is insisting that the levels featuring the cathedral are removed from games on shelves; threatening legal action if their demand is not met.
Sony says the designers of Resistance: Fall of Man - one of the PS3's most popular games after having sold more than a million copies - sought permission where required.
But the Bishop of Manchester has branded the electronics giant as "highly irresponsible"; especially given the city's high gun crime rates.
"It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem," said Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch.
"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.
"Here in Manchester we do all we can to support communities through our parish clergy. We know the reality of gun crime and the devastating effects it can have on lives. It is not a trivial matter."
Sony spokesman David Wilson meanwhile insisted that the violent game was a form of escapist entertainment "not based on reality at all".
"It is game-created footage, it is not video or photography. It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction," he told the Times newspaper.