Really all they did was say sorry and we wont be using your church in anythign anytime soon if we do we will be sure to pay you with a contract to say if you say anything we will get our money back + 10%.

@ ZombieHunter
""those fools won’t be happy until everyone is on their knees in church begging for forgiveness from the magical invisible sky wizard""

I LoL'ed irl.

@Clyde Wyman

How exactly did Sony "give up"? All they've done is apologize for unintended offense, and promise to avoid doing the exact same thing that caused offense in the future.

That is the best headline EVER.

Manchester Cathedral should be burned to the ground.

They want to be intolerant? *I'LL* show them intolerance!

Next time aliens attack we'll try and avoid hiding in a church so we don't desecrate it. We'll be sure to leave a note to the aliens so they don't blow it up too. I'm sure they'd understand.

Terminator44 said:
"You know, it’s funny, I recall Battlefield 2 getting in some trouble by including a mosque in one of its maps. The arguments the CoE puts up here are pretty much the same as the ones against the mosque’s inclusions. And it’s not just them,either. The mayors of Juarez and Las Vegas spoke out against GRAW 2 and R6:Vegas, respectively for the inclusion of their home cities in a game *gasp*. Heaven forbid games depict their environments in a realistic manner (Manchester with its Cathedral, a Middle Eastern environment with a mosque). No, its only generic urban environments for you, beacause we said so.

Why can’t these pompous religous and political types accept that games are not “kids’ stuff” anymore? It’s completely riduculous."

First people complained about video games using fictional locations, so companies make games using real-world locations. Then they do it, and catch flak for that. They just can't win...

"We still fear that the next buildings to be cloned for virtual desecration could be a mosque, synagogue, temple or other church"

last time i checked, this has already happened

So if Sony cannot reference Christianity for fear of reprimand, does that mean that all of their games will represent an Aetheistic future?

Soldier 1: Man we've been killing a lot of these aliens. I'd almost feel conflicted about that if there were a set of moral guidlines handed down by a higher-power.

Soldier 2: Shaaa..right. Are you trying to get us sued?

I'm annoyed with this. I'm glad Sony didn't pay to bend over for them. I'm still surprised Sony is taking the fall for it, when Insomniac made it, I guess they really want to keep Insomniac with them.

Now, I rather see a group of coders use XNA to recreate this church with guns ablazing and see how much the church bitches over it.

Lots of harsh statements coming up here. Remember, the real reason they were upset wasn't because the cathedral was used or that it was shown to be damaged; that was just their stance to be all legal about it. Their complaint, and quite a legitimate one really, was that Resistance allows you to fire guns and kill things in a virtual recreation of a real-world place of worship in a location suffering from gun crime.

Sony's statement is really rather nice in my opinion. "Yeah, sorry, that might have been a little close to the knuckle. We promise we'll never again do that exact same thing."

There are plenty of parties to be upset with in this instance.

Organized religion, but not so much because they are upset with a gun fight in their place of worship, but more because of the double standard that is held with regards to movies vs games. I've seen countless firefights held in places of worship in movies. Maybe the guys over at Manchester Cathedral are a little more touchy about it, who knows.

People who are unable to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction. The people who cannot distinguish between the two are the ones most likely to end up in the clock tower raining death on people, you know why? Everyone else can tell the difference between playing a game and going on a killing spree! I list this separately because while organized religion is prone to bouts of lack of differentiation, they're hardly the only people with their heads up their asses.

Sony comes in at third, mainly because they're spineless. This is reminiscent of Doug Lowenstein's rant when he left the ESA about how the ESA was willing to defend a publisher's content and creativity, but that the publishers need to show some backbone and stand up for their own damn products.

The game industry is on the verge of collapse, much like the problematic eras of the media that came before it. We are being tested with fire and steel, and we can only hope that when this is over, we will be all the better for it.

You know, it's funny, I recall Battlefield 2 getting in some trouble by including a mosque in one of its maps. The arguments the CoE puts up here are pretty much the same as the ones against the mosque's inclusions. And it's not just them,either. The mayors of Juarez and Las Vegas spoke out against GRAW 2 and R6:Vegas, respectively for the inclusion of their home cities in a game *gasp*. Heaven forbid games depict their environments in a realistic manner (Manchester with its Cathedral, a Middle Eastern environment with a mosque). No, its only generic urban environments for you, beacause we said so.

Why can't these pompous religous and political types accept that games are not "kids' stuff" anymore? It's completely riduculous.

Ctrl+Alt+Del has a great storyline up right now that basically runs along the same lines as this little story. I love the bit at the end of the most recent comic.

Guys, all they did was apologize. As of yet, they still have not removed the game from shelves and such.

I think Sony should have never apologized...If church officals can't distinguish fiction from non-fiction than they're just stupid end of story. IMHO if someone is going to protest a game or movie for having a holy structure or building in it they should have done that a long time ago when movies we first filmed and when games we first getting more mainstream since thats been ages/centuries ago i think that they need to keep their mouths shut for now and in the future...

You know what's going to happen from now on? Video game designers are going to have every church in every game completely decimated as part of the story so it can no longer be 'virtually desecrated' by the likes of fictional aliens or soldiers. That oughta make those idiots happy.

Honestly though, I think we really need to remove the politics from religion and the Religion from politics. The only thing making that building 'sacred' is some religious history. Take a look in your history books, kids, and you'll find that churches often have more to do with war and suffering than salvation just about every time.

I'm sorry to offend all the religious types out there and on here, but, seriously, F*** the stupid church. The only worth it has is as a historical artifact and the people who run it obviously don't have the values they preach. Demanding charity and attempting to blackmail? I don't think you can get any more covetous and greedy than that.

As long as this is as far as Sony goes I don't have a problem with it. It's not like an apology costs them anything.

Sony, you are stupid.

"We still fear that the next buildings to be cloned for virtual desecration could be a mosque, synagogue, temple or other church."

=O_o=

Virtual desecration? I can't express just how out-of-their-minds that statement is. It isn't desecration to make a popsicle-stick mock-up of the church and smash it; desecration is doing things to the actual holy place. This isn't even close.

I knew that clergy could be technophobic, but this is ridiculous.

knowing the church the will try to get the game banned. Damn you sony why can't you just say no.

"In an attempt to clean up the [video game] 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."

After the priests added the following to the book of Leviticus:
Leviticus 1:18 "And the Lord said "Thou shalt not make fiction, it is an abomination."
they were publicly reprimanded by God for adding text to the bible.

In all seriousness, they will have absolutely NO success in the future. The only reason they "won" is so Sony doesn't have to hear their whining anymore.

Way to wuss out Sony.


Now just how many movies have showcased churches, synagogues, temples, etc in a violent manner? Yeah, a lot.