Over the weekend, the Church of England decried the popular PlayStation 3 game Resistance: Fall of Man as both “sick” and sacrilegious. The church is asking for an apology from Sony for the apparent use of the Manchester Cathedral in the game. They contend that it was used as a backdrop for a shootout with “hundreds of people killed inside the cathedral,” according to the AP.
The Rev. Rogers Govender, the dean of Manchester Cathedral, said: “This is an important issue. For many young people these games offer a different sort of reality and seeing guns in Manchester cathedral is not the sort of connection we want to make. Every year we invite hundreds of teenagers to come and see the cathedral and it is a shame to have Sony undermining our work.”
The bishop of Manchester, the Rt. Rev. Nigel McCulloch, said: “It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem. For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photorealistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.”
David Wilson, a Sony spokesman, told The London Times: “It is game-created footage, it is not video or photography. It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction. It is not based on reality at all. Throughout the whole process we have sought permission where necessary.”
