Cathedral row over computer game

Buzza · 9 Jun 2007 at 12:29

Just saw this on BBC news(TV):

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6736809.stm

They showed a clip of Resistance fall of man on the PS3. It was downloaded from YouTube and was so low quality it would look bad even on a 1 inch mobile phone screen lol. Anyone watching the clip on TV wouldnt know it was a cathedral and would probably think the PS3's graphics capabilities had slipped quite a bit

squiffy · 9 Jun 2007 at 12:31

Now where's Father Ted "reality/dreams" poster? :rolleyes:

"We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired.

ha ha ha.

Buzza · 9 Jun 2007 at 12:33

I thought that playing a character liberating a church from invading aliens (rather than gunmen as mentioned in the article) would be a positive message

KNiVES · 9 Jun 2007 at 13:07

I havent seen these guys complain about the scene in Die Hard 2 =s

Memphis · 9 Jun 2007 at 13:08

Because RFoM is the first game ever to portray fighting inside a place of worship....

dokko · 9 Jun 2007 at 13:28

All i can say is I'm thankful they had the good grace to not do it in a mosque.

moody · 9 Jun 2007 at 13:32

dokko said:
All i can say is I'm thankful they had the good grace to not do it in a mosque.

Already happened I think, pretty sure one of the Hitman games was criticised for this. Could be wrong thou.

"andy" · 9 Jun 2007 at 13:44

think the hitman game got pulled of the shelfs in some shops didn't it

Buzza · 9 Jun 2007 at 14:12

was the interior of that church a literal copy of the Manchester cathedral or was it just a room with a "churchy" theme set in manchester.

Werewolf · 9 Jun 2007 at 14:19

From what has been said, it's a practical copy of the church interior and easily recognisable as being that particular church rather than a generic one.

I think that is what the fuss is about, the use of a readily identifiable specific church without explicit permission, rather than the use of "a church".

There is a slight (but very important) difference between the use of a generic structure of it's type, and one that is modelled closely enough on a real one to be instantly identifiable to those who have been in the real one.

pinkacidbootson · 9 Jun 2007 at 14:38

I just played that level yesterday, to me it was just another large indoor environment full of enemies that needed shooting. At no point was I thinking "cool I'm shooting a gun inside a church". :rolleyes:

Unless these aliens actually invade in RL, I can't imagine anyone wanting to go down to the cathedral in Manchester to recreate the game. Unless the design of the cathedral is under copyright or something, I don't see the problem.

BloodWolf · 9 Jun 2007 at 14:52

KNiVES said:
I havent seen these guys complain about the scene in Die Hard 2 =s

cus die hard 2 wasnt that good..

pinkacidbootson · 9 Jun 2007 at 15:05

For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great Cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.

That's just ridiculous!

Buzza · 9 Jun 2007 at 15:24

yeah its pretty offensive to people who play games. They seem to think well turn into gun totting nutters the second we play a shooter :/

KNiVES · 9 Jun 2007 at 15:53

It's not about the portrayal of us, it's about the portrayal of the church. I think it's no big deal though. These religious zealots will look for anything to moan about.

Joebob · 9 Jun 2007 at 16:22

What gets me is that the media or whoever are 'yet again' blaming Sony - surely they should be going after Insomniac games as they are a third party developer, even if they are in Sony's pocket!

http://kotaku.com/gaming/battle-of-the-century/sony-vs-the-church-of-england-267462.php

Over on kotaku now too.

D18241 · 9 Jun 2007 at 16:38

didnt know you had to get people permission to put there buildings into a game...

Werewolf · 9 Jun 2007 at 16:39

I don't think you do if it's just the front, but i'm fairly sure you do if it's the interior, or large recognisable parts of it.

dokko · 9 Jun 2007 at 17:09

Not being Churchist or anything but can anyone tell them apart from one another?

Buzza · 9 Jun 2007 at 18:13

KNiVES said:
It's not about the portrayal of us, it's about the portrayal of the church. I think it's no big deal though. These religious zealots will look for anything to moan about.

By thinking that this game encourages us to carry guns in a church i think they have a low opinion of a gamers intelligence