Wednesday 24-Oct-2007 12:54 PM "We do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong," says Church in regards to Resistance: Fall of Man
Church leaders at Manchester Cathedral have "forgiven" Sony for not asking permission to use images of the building in Resistance: Fall of Man, reports the BBC.
The Dean of Manchester Cathedral, Reverend Rogers Govender said: "I think some important lessons have been learnt. So we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong.
"In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made.
"In so many ways Sony have failed to live up to these standards by disrespecting people of faith and the victims of gun crime here in Manchester." For the record we think it's a bit ludicrous to suggest that a game about spaceman jumping around shooting aliens disrespects people of faith and the victims of gun crime. Come on...
He also added that since the row the cathedral had seen an increase in visits from young people and tourists...
The Cathedral is a public place, I don't think they have any right to prevent people from making things based on it.
And to be honest this article makes it sound like the Church realized this and are secretly apologizing to Sony without actually saying "sorry". And what took them so long to forgive anyway, isn't the Catholic religion all about forgiving others and such.
And finally "He also added that since the row the cathedral had seen an increase in visits from young people and tourists..." So that means it actually boosted interest in the Cathedral. Perhaps they should be thanking Sony instead.
Sorry if it seems like I'm ranting on here. Perhaps you people can forgive me.
"...even though they think they have done nothing wrong." What? Of course they think that, because they didn't do anything wrong. It's aliens for Christ sake, not people, and even if it was people it shouldn't matter. It's a frigging work of fiction. Then again, these are people who have devoted their life to a certain work of fiction known as "God" so we're probably dealing with the people least able to distinguish reality from fiction.
I really hoped we'd heard the last of this Resistance/Church debacle, it just annoys me.
'to forgive those who trespass against you, to deliver us from evil'
...I paraphrase.
Sony, technically, are trespassing (virtually) in Manchester Cathedral, and by shooting aliens and saving the world, are in fact delivering mankind from evil.
So I should think they would be forgiven, when they followed the Christian forgiveness guidelines..
"Then again, these are people who have devoted their life to a certain work of fiction known as "God" so we're probably dealing with the people least able to distinguish reality from fiction.
Haha, slightly dodgy ground me thinks but I like your argument. Next we'll be getting complaints from the peace loving Chimeran race for depicting them as evil, man eating monsters....
The Church are hypocrites in my opinion, the only reason they've forgiven Sony is because they've benefited from them in the form of free publicity for Manchester Cathedral. Why else would they mention an increase in visitors?
As stupid as these accusations of disrespecting the victims of gun crime in Manchester are, it wasn't long back that sections of Hitman 2 were taken out because it depicted people being shot in a completly made up mosque.
I don't think there was reason to censor either of the games, but then why should it be different strokes for different....faiths
Sony were stupid for basing in a real church tbh. These religious folk though.. forgiving all over the place aye? They should take out their crosses and holy water to blap Sony up.
possibly because the mosque was made up and the church wasn't. But im glad this bull is over, being as the church is owned by the public, it should have been left to the public to decide who was right/wrong.
Ummm, i think the thing is that the church is not a public place (nor owned by the the public). The public are invited in but that doesn't gave any "rights", and IMO visitors should respect that.
Do you hear Chrysler suing Rockstar because Liberty City contains a building that looks just like the Chrylser Building, New York? No. Is Transport for London suing Flagship Studios because they've made a game which has Underground stations in it? Are the Houses of Parliament suing because (I'm sure) the House must be in there somewhere. Big Ben, St. Peters, etc. Everyone's suing right?
All privately owned buildings, some of which the public can access, put into a game.
I wonder if it was more the aliens that p**sed them off though, since if God created man in his own image what exactly are aliens - trial runs?
Why does everyone not just get overthemselves? FFS.
That's ridiculous. Not being disrespectful here, but the church folk do know how to kick up a fuss.
So much trouble and complaining over practically nothing, and it boosted the number of visits to the church, so what's the big deal.
Sony may have been in the wrong for not getting permission to begin with, but I can see now why they didn't even bother. The church would have disallowed it from the word go.
Rubbish really. Religion causes all war in my opinion, and the church folk don't seem to have a much better attitude.
Do you hear Chrysler suing Rockstar because Liberty City contains a building that looks just like the Chrylser Building, New York? No. Is Transport for London suing Flagship Studios because they've made a game which has Underground stations in it? Are the Houses of Parliament suing because (I'm sure) the House must be in there somewhere. Big Ben, St. Peters, etc. Everyone's suing right?
All privately owned buildings, some of which the public can access, put into a game.
I wonder if it was more the aliens that p**sed them off though, since if God created man in his own image what exactly are aliens - trial runs?
Why does everyone not just get overthemselves? FFS.
Ah, but it is the interior of the building used in Resistance though, rather than the exterior. Plus The church deals with the effects of violence in its community so it's more directly against what they stand for.
To use your examples, it'd be kind of like having a game featuring decent cars in the Chrysler Building, or decision-making that benefits the country in the Houses Of Parliament...
Personally, I'm just glad the church has finally forgiven Sony - it's a great weight off my mind...
Do you hear Chrysler suing Rockstar because Liberty City contains a building that looks just like the Chrylser Building, New York? No. Is Transport for London suing Flagship Studios because they've made a game which has Underground stations in it? Are the Houses of Parliament suing because (I'm sure) the House must be in there somewhere. Big Ben, St. Peters, etc. Everyone's suing right?
All privately owned buildings, some of which the public can access, put into a game.
I may be wrong, but didn't they claim that GTA4's Liberty City ISN'T New York, despite the fact it obviously is, because New York the city could say that they can't use it as a subject because of the crime aspect and the reputation it could get?
The church were right to object to Sony using a place of homage & worship to millions of Christians as a scenario for a section of a video game!
Whilst i'm not religious myself and i appreciate we do live in a generally secular society it was massively out of order to present a violence led level of a video game that is a place of peace & worship for the community. I'd love to see them even attempt the same thing in a local mosque...jihad & beheading threats would follow as with the recent newspaper cartoons (they are still in protected hiding ffs!), and they KNOW it'd happen as well!
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