Manchester Cathedral heads turning the other cheek after visits to the holy building skyrocket.
The Resistance: Fall of Man furore has seemingly come to an end today, with church leaders at Manchester Cathedral stating that they have forgiven Sony for using the inside of the building in its sci-fi shooter, reports the BBC.
The row started in June, when the Church of England discovered that Manchester Cathedral had been used as a location within the game. The church claimed that the electronics giant had not asked for permission to do so.
Bishop of Manchester Nigel McCulloch said at the time, "For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible." Later, the church also called for Resistance: Fall of Man to be pulled from the shortlist of the BAFTA Video Game Awards.
However, apparently all has now been forgiven. After the game failed to win a BAFTA award, the Dean of Manchester, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender, commented, "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."
The Reverend also noted that visits to Manchester Cathedral have shot up since the release of the game and the publicity the building has received as a result of the widely reported story.
I love how these kinds of topics bring out all the atheist bigots, Richard Dawkins-esque rabid anti-Christian loon types, who always are prowling Gamespot/GameFaq board then come out of hiding once in a while. What's worse about it is the fact that Resistance is essentially a generic, bland and unexciting launch title FPS and there's really no point in defending such mediocre garbage, often trumpeted by PS3 fanboys who don't know any better.
"The reverend would do well to remember that." That he would my friend. However, idiots such as these never actually TRY playing games before they B*tch and moan about what they may represent or what they supposedly teach little kids.
what so many fail to realize is that at the end of the day it is only a game... although a very good game arguably the best ... still only a game!! the Reverend would do well to remember that.
dude i can pretty much guarantee that if the world was in chaos like that soldiers wouldn't careless if they were in a Church shooting up the enemy
With all the battles that religion has caused over the years, having a fire fight in a church itself seems to be quite fitting. Only difference is that during the game, after you kill a few of them you don't try and convert the rest of the aliens.
Hmm. They were willing to forgive after the tourism increased... Catholicism motivated by money? Nah....
I hope you all realize that religion is man-made and spirituality is what really counts. Since it is man-made it is bound to have flaws. Please don't get the 2 confused since the media can't tell the difference.
you guys are stupid. Namely SchumiF1, ungodlyabyss, EddyG0RD0 actually and many more. Religion doesn't ruin lives. You people are quite ignorant. Sure many religion has a bad history, but you cant say that it has bad principles. (unless its an extremist religion) So no, religion doesn't ruin lives, the people that contort it and are selfish. No they didn't do it for money. If they did, than they wouldn't of said anything. Period.
Religion is always trying to make some money of something, this was ridiculous to begin with
was there a lesson to be learned here? the church **** about something they ought not, a monotonous cycle
i think its important to point out that this is The Church of england. Not Roman Catholicism. So whomever is talking about Catholic Priest molesting little children is a bit off the topic. Anyways, i agree with the bishop of Manchester (although not entirely with his beliefs). I mean when someone says something about Muslims for example, theres a big uproar. Now Christianity has had huge flack when it comes to their beliefs ( The Davinci code anyone?) and did you hear a peep out of them? No. So give them a break eh.
Ya its a game but just like every thing else in the world you must have permission to use this iconic symbol. So sony should stop being a jack a@# and just say there sorry get it over with and move on. Sony has always been this way though big mouthed with a thick head.
It isn't a sin to replicate a location electronically and Paul taught the Holy Spirit lives in our bodies http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206:19;&version=15; not the buildings we make. Considering a building sacred makes it an idol like a statue but bigger. God doesn't sit in The Manchester Cathedral like the temple built by King Solomon so that it deserves reverence and respect by proximity; Bowing toward the temple was really bowing toward God. It's sad when an innocent man is shot. But Resistance does not recreate regional crimes and Insomniac has not had an ad campaign to bother those hurting from such shootings with the thought of gunshots in Manchester. I can only deduce, when searching for the sincere motivation, that this Church's leaders* imagine themselves superior to men involved with videogames and so thinks Sony's impetuously rebelling by using their place-of-work as a setting. They'd have it treated like Mohammed, too worshipful to be rendered by an artist. Rogers's sufficiently delusional to maintain arrogance^ after Manchester Cathedral's demands for apology and punishment were ignored by Sony and BAFTA. *there may be exceptions among their ranks but the men reported on are of one pride. ^ "I think some important lessons have been learnt. So we do forgive Sony..."
-----------"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." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Wow. Talk about blowing things way out of proportion! This is not a form of disrespect to Manchesters victims of gun crime. This priests scapegoating of said victims to drill his point home is the true show of disrespect. Also, what makes him think he can tell people what standards they have to keep and how they should deal with any subject? This guy isn't as important as he thinks he is. Developers can do whatever they want. If you don't like it then don't buy their games.
I say Resistance 2 should have nothing but stages where you shoot people in British churches.
"Welcome to our Politically Correct world where everyone is offend by everything. A world where: If you smile at a women she better be doing something funny... If you state your opinion everyone around you better agree or there will be consiquences... If you offer a kind word such as, god bless you, when someone sneezes you better hope they are a Christian or be prepared to get dirty looks or even get yelled at... If you say anything that can be twisted, no matter how far of a stretch it takes, into an inappropriate comment, no matter how innocent it was when it left your lips, you better be prepared to defend yourself... And yes, if you make a game about anything, that includes the use of real places or things, you better be prepared to listen to the incessant whining of the individuals or groups that it offends. When did this world, become a place of thin skinned, overly righteous, crybabies? If you truely believe in your religion then things like this shouldn't even effect you. Oh and as far as asking permission, last I heard you do not have to ask permission to use a likeness or recreation of any public place. Do you think Bizarre asked permission to recreate all of the buildings, monuments and famous places, in Project Gotham Racing? Lastly, if this were a game that portrayed people walking through the church making donations and praying, do you think anyone from the church would have asked why they were not approached and asked permission to use a photo-realistic recreation of the church in a game? For the slow, the answer to both questions is, no. People need to stop being so self-important, paranoid and thin skinned." AMEN....AMEN...AMEN....AMEN!!!!!! You hit the head on the damn nail! pass the collection plate! I'm with ya! Jeezzz...I"m tired of it too.....
DAM PREISTS, THEY PISSED ME OFF!!!! about that game, IT'S JUST A GAME PEOPLE!!!! and a great geme at that..... GET A LIFE!!!!
Manchester Cathedral are a bunch of worthless bastards. Do you think you'd ask permission to use the coliseum in a game about ancient Rome? Or the White House in a game about defending the US from attack? No. That'd be stupid as ****. Exactly like what's happening here.
My Quote from last time....................(LittleYoshi) (me) AGAIN!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!! OMG!!!!!! Man, I'm getting tried of hearing this......... It's just a game......relax people! I'm almost glad the Chimeras attack the church now........ If GOD didn't like it wouldn't GOD destroy the game by now.......LOL tigerfan1993: (quote) "Since when did preists play games?" THAT ARE RATED M. ..................They still pulled Resisdent from the shortlist of the BAFTA Video Game Awards.
Welcome to our Politically Correct world where everyone is offend by everything. A world where: If you smile at a women she better be doing something funny... If you state your opinion everyone around you better agree or there will be consiquences... If you offer a kind word such as, god bless you, when someone sneezes you better hope they are a Christian or be prepared to get dirty looks or even get yelled at... If you say anything that can be twisted, no matter how far of a stretch it takes, into an inappropriate comment, no matter how innocent it was when it left your lips, you better be prepared to defend yourself... And yes, if you make a game about anything, that includes the use of real places or things, you better be prepared to listen to the incessant whining of the individuals or groups that it offends. When did this world, become a place of thin skinned, overly righteous, crybabies? If you truely believe in your religion then things like this shouldn't even effect you. Oh and as far as asking permission, last I heard you do not have to ask permission to use a likeness or recreation of any public place. Do you think Bizarre asked permission to recreate all of the buildings, monuments and famous places, in Project Gotham Racing? Lastly, if this were a game that portrayed people walking through the church making donations and praying, do you think anyone from the church would have asked why they were not approached and asked permission to use a photo-realistic recreation of the church in a game? For the slow, the answer to both questions is, no. People need to stop being so self-important, paranoid and thin skinned.
sergsky said "If you are a Christian jihadist skip it too" Jihad is the defence of Islam........... also i think having it in a church adds to the war attmosphere heard of blitzkrieg? (i bet i spelt that wrong)
... ... .... .... Is it just me, or this like insanely childish...? (I mean not to say that this wasn't like a little fight between two spoiled brats from day one, but seriously!) I mean, it seems to me that the church is actually giving this "apology" -because- Resistance lost, like they are saying "You lost (we won!)--we're so- "sorry." " Honestly though, I'm just glad this whole freaking cat-fight is finally said and done. Unless, the church takes back their apology because SONY never confesses that they were bad like they wanted [oh, the HORROR of it all]
Hmmmm A game where in you hunted down and kill child molesters sounds like fun to me.... but the Catholic Church might have a problem with the bosses in the game...... yeah.
Movies don't ask for permission when they desecrate buildings. Oh well. Glad to see this hubbub has finally ended.
Sony indeed should have ask for permission, especially when there are many fanatics in ALL religions that feel immediately offended. I don't see anything wrong with this post. Why are some people complaining? If you think this is not news worthy just skip it. If you are a Christian jihadist skip it too.
MrHanson6, you're right. Gamespot is posting nothing but biased facts. It's all a conspiracy to make you, MrHanson6, feel like a victim.
GAMESPOT! WHY DID YOU PUT THIS ARTICLE! YOU ALWAYS GIVE PS3 GAMES LOW RATINGS AND U TRY TO TELL PEOPLE THAT PS3 IS THE WORST CONSOLE!
It's good that the church did the "Christian" thing and have dropped the complaint. I read into this article that "publicity the building has received" probably means more donations and profit for them. Maybe I'm just pessimistic, but I believe this is what made them change their mind.
sony shud be glad if not sorry. if they had replaced the church level with a mosque level then a number jihads wud take place with news of "insomniac studios" in flames the following day of the games release.
Wow, just wow. Gamespots hypocrocy just is astounding. Really, is this news worthy? Articles like this just are flame bait, especially for people of faith. Gamespot purposely posts these articles to draw a lot of anti-christian posts and they like to make the church sound like a bunch of religious nuts. I can't believe some of the hateful messages that are posted in these forums without moderation. If I was to say something as negative about someone elses religion I would probably get banned immediately. Just be glad it was a Christian Church that was offended. At least there aren't people dancing in the streets with AK47s chanting "Death to Insomniac!" like some other religion that I know. The church has a right to be offended. The church is a sacred place for many people, and having a bloody shootout in it may upset a lot of people, so get off of the "all christians are stupid" bandwagon. As a christian, I'm not offended by RFOM using a church in the game, but I am with a lot of these posts that don't seem to get moderated.
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