Resistance: Recall of Game? - Article
by Pat Fass , posted on 13 June 2007 / 1,346 Views
June 13th - Sony Corp has apparently landed in some hot water with the Church of England. The dean of the Manchester Cathedral, Rev. Rogers Govender, has issued a statement condemning some of the images featured in the PS3 launch title - Resistance: Fall of Man. Specifically, the use of the interior of the cathedral as a setting during some shooting segments, is the issue that has infuriated church officials and drawn remarks such as ‘sick’ and ‘sacrilegious’.
“For a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral, with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly irresponsible,” said Govender.
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also took notice of the situation and, in a weekly session, stated, "It is important that any of the companies who are engaged in promoting this type of goods have some sense of responsibility and also some sensitivity to the feelings of others."
Sony has responded by saying they had begun talks with the Church of England (a claim that Govender denies) and that they take the claim very seriously. Company spokeswoman Nanko Kato acknowledged the resemblance to the cathedral, but believes that the intention was to depict the general backdrop of an old church, not the Manchester Cathedral specifically.
Church officials are believed to be demanding the immediate recall of the game, an apology from Sony, and a 'substantial' donation to the church's education department.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19211967/
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yeah this is old, old, old news. Where have you been vgchartz? Keep the topics more up to speed with what is happening out here. Are you combing other forums for topic ideas? You must have better topics than what I'm seeing here.
What a punch of whiners, stop whining church guys it’s just a game it is not reality. Got it. It only in the TV (I can’t put it any more simpler). BTW how come you got hold of a PS3 and the game? unless you got hold of whoever having the PS3 and the game XD that is sick? XD
Call of duty 4 involves blowing up mosques and I don’t see any one whining like you did. Or maybe they will in the future (who cares), but for now, PEOPLE it’s a GAME nothing more. In reality we wont do that, will just shoot the guys from a distance XD
The Church of England basically gauranteed that the young adults will not be attending. There goes the next generation of English Anglicans.
""Well Resistance is selling well still my BB doesn't have any copy and 1.3 is great that means 1 to 3 attach ration for resistance to PS3s"
its funny,cause how sh!tty ps3 is selling..some people can justify, "oh they sold at a 1:3 attachment rate"
hanna montana for DS sold better than resistance.
what other sh!tty game can i say that sold better than resistance?"
I must suck at math, as 540k is now better than 1.3 million? Wow.
Yea.... mabbe Al Qaeda will start buying a whole lot of PS3 and resistance. Run into the Church, shouting "Die! You infidels!!".... Hahaha..... At the cost of PS3, Al Qaeda would be broke buying PS3 for their members. Its a win win situation. Al Qaeda goes broke, cant fund anymore terrorist activities, and PS3 sales figure skyrocket.....
Ok ok..... How many Sony Fanboys do we have? How many members does the Church of England have? Do we have a WAR? We shall crush the holy crusade!! lol!!! Hahaha...... Sorry... Just finish watching Kingdom of Heaven on BD. Great movie!!
@Thrillhouse
1) Almost certainly true.
2 + 3) Using a church setting is worlds different then recreating an actual church and enacting gun battles in them. Similarly, the use of religious iconography isn't what they are concerned about. Its solely based on the fact that they are using a replica of this building as the site for a violent gun battle, which could (in fact, some would assume it usually does) mean that the church both authorized and approves of the use (which it obviously doesn't).
Compare this to a movie: a movie, if it wanted to film in the church, would have to be approved by the church. If the church didn't approve of the message of the movie or the scene, they would probably not allow filming and the movie producers would have to find another church that would. At the same time, filmmakers are free to build their own church look-alike and decapitate babies with the crucifix if they want to. It's all in how they are making it. In this case, they were using the location in a manner inconsistent with the location's owners' wishes.
This news a bit late isn't it?
This has already been discussed to death in the forums.
Also, the game will never get recalled, because Insomniac will just release a patch that will edit the cathedral or something.
I was thinking about Eternal Darkness too, actually, but this is different... in Eternal Darkness, it's a hypothetical cathedral, which was being used as a medical sanctuary. There was some respect given to the edifice.
This is a depiction of an actual building, and it seems to me (although I haven't played Resistance, so PLEASE don't take me at my word) that the building was just a dump background, and not a higher-cause symbolism thing.
I'm not saying I agree with the church, but they aren't being as unreasonable as a lot of people are making it look.
This is a bad move on the Church's part.
1) Not a great deal, but More copies will sell to see what the big deal is (Night Trap anyone?)
2) Precedents have already been set
(One can argue that the game Eternal Darkness used a church setting in Europe during WWII where you shoot demons)
3) Religious symbols have been used in Japan for a number of years (The crucifix etc...) and getting angry about them then has not stopped anything.
These same symbols have been continually used throughout generations in game and have not so much gotten a scratch of ink.
If you go after one, you have to go after them all...
It is a losing case.
lol wow, who cares? I find this whole discussion laughable. Sure its retarded for the church to care so much, but you can see where they are coming from, and it wasnt very smart of sony to desecrate a church in a video game, but you can also see where they are coming from, this isnt making all the much publicity, so i doubt it will help the PS3 at all, actually it could hurt it even more. And guys seriously put intelligent thoughts into your conversations, not just church of england is done for, its not a software company things dont work the same way, and they had a legitimate reason.
Sony should try to drag this out as long as possible. They need a battlecry, and this just may be it.
Weezy stop trolling especially in a news item.
This is the first ive heard of the Church actually wanting the game recalled. Ive read many reports on this and this is the first ive heard of them actually wanting a donation and the withdrawal of the item from the game.
Tony Blair didnt get seriously involved in this, he merely (well, basically) commented on it in parliament after he was asked a question:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=25779
Did Tony Blair seriously get involved in this? I would find that surprising honestly... considering that he has better things to worry about.
'I don't think PM Tony Blair slamming the game in Parliament is going to help the game, nor is it the sort of publicity Sony are after...'
Don't worry, no-one here in england listens to Tony Blair anymore, he's leaving office anyway...hooray!
he's gone he's gone he's gone...
It's over, the Church of England is finished.
The church of england is doomed if they need to resort to this. Anyone actually verify that this is a real story rather than Sony PR? Because it seems to play right into their hands very nicely. This is how other games got big.
Shitty games outselling better ones is nothing new... so don't try to say it is.
Hannah Montana selling so much tells you about what kind of people some of the DS owners (AKA kids).
"Well Resistance is selling well still my BB doesn't have any copy and 1.3 is great that means 1 to 3 attach ration for resistance to PS3s"
its funny,cause how sh!tty ps3 is selling..some people can justify, "oh they sold at a 1:3 attachment rate"
hanna montana for DS sold better than resistance.
what other sh!tty game can i say that sold better than resistance?
hmm..?
'I don't think PM Tony Blair slamming the game in Parliament is going to help the game, nor is it the sort of publicity Sony are after...
Its ironic, to date its the only PS3 title that has done half-well...'
Cause you know people are gonna stop buying it now... free publicity.
'sales wise,resistance needs all the help it can get
http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=1893'
Sarcasm right?
Well Resistance is selling well still my BB doesn't have any copy and 1.3 is great that means 1 to 3 attach ration for resistance to PS3s
every kind of publicity is good publicity
I don't think PM Tony Blair slamming the game in Parliament is going to help the game, nor is it the sort of publicity Sony are after...
Its ironic, to date its the only PS3 title that has done half-well...
sales wise,resistance needs all the help it can get
http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=1893
Publicity will only help Resistance haha
They have a very good point, its like saying someone goes into your home blows it up virtually, makes millions, and pisses on the things that you hold dear. It's not right, and blue3 your kidding right?
they could use the money, but they arent stupid enough to sue someone without the likely hood of winning.
Sony should sue those morons.
and they have no case, but that's beside the point. They need money, but spend it to get more money when they wont get it. genius.
Look sony aint goin to recall the game any time soon
Well they could definitely use the money in the education department so they can learn the definition of Frivolous.
Substantial donation eh? .... yeah...
