[mabo]

I think we have a contender for the most ridiculous gaming news story. Must be a slow news day.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=165667

Though it does make you think where the line between what games can and can't depict will be drawn. Can you use any real object/person in a game?

[Adcook]

"The Church of England is considering legal action against entertainment firm Sony for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent computer game. "

Just read this article on BBC.co.uk, bit over the top I thought, what about every one else?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/6736809.stm

[waring192]

haha, and most people agree that religion is the cause of most war

[Tony Hoyle]

Slow news day. *** RFOM is set all over the place. There's a London one too. Not to mention that the Manchester depiction bears only a passing resemblance to the actual city, and the cathederal is very generic and doesn't look like much like manchester cathederal at all.

It looks like ITV drummed up this one http://itn.co.uk/news/f25e0c0172bfa6...b20ec983f.html

I mean.. 'Manchester - a city plagued by gun violence which has left tens of youngsters dead.'

Sorry, what? I do volunteer work at nights there and not only is it not 'plagued by gun crime' it's almost unheard of in the city itself. Outside the city (in the 'manchester area' if you like) there are known trouble spots but even then it's not exactly 'plagued'.

It'd also be interesting to know what line the rev. was fed to come up with a quote like that... from what I know of him he's not the type to jump on bandwagons - so it's entirely possible RFOM was painted in the blackest possible light (eg. 'do you know there's a game where you get points for shooting people in a photorealisic image of manchester cathederal'? or something a bit more imaginative).

[coluigi]

Not that I'm worried by such an article as we all know controversy boosts sales I'll point out the following:

After the release of the first trailer, New York City officials were appalled with the choice of their city as the inspiration for the setting of Grand Theft Auto IV, and said that a game like GTA does not represent the city's crime levels accurately. A spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers". However, Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, accused New York City officials of hypocrisy, for criticizing video games but not other forms of entertainment, such as books, films and television shows, which use New York City as the setting.

People fear games a lot more than other mediums because they think that as we are interacting with the character we are more 'brainwashed'. The BBFC recently claimed that their classification scheme was outdated and too harsh on gaming. Like others they thought that as a game was interactive it had more sway over the user, however they recently discovered that because a user continually has to be putting input into a game they know that if they stop moving, the game stops moving, and that concept always seperates a gamer from the game. This makes games less invasive than films - we can easily stop the game by not giving input, however a film keeps on going and taking us along (we have no control over it).

So to criticise games over other mediums really annoys me. Violent games don't create violent actions in the real world. Exposure to violence in games can probably make a person more violent if they have it in them, but not moreso than a violent film or book (you can get away with anything in books.)

[monkeybayou]

I think that their reaction is a bit unconsidered. I'm actually in favour of enforcing ratings, and think that gaming has to get a bit more responsible about it's content (It doesn't make people shooters, but it doesn't exactly disway people from that if they are already inclined).

But the church seem to be speaking about this without having seen the game in question. R:FOM is not a hyper realistic gang shooting bloody game. And as for it's 'Manchester' setting (or 'Grimsby', 'Nottingham', et al) well that's laughable- the environments are cartoons of anywhere. I'd be surpised if the Manchester cathedral actually looked anything like the one in the game.

I worry about people who don't have the right understanding or morals to act in the right way in the real world. It is perfectly possible to teach people right from wrong and let them play games without the games confusing them.

[cobbler]

This was on the news this morning and it looks like sony refused to let them use footage from the game so the BBC just took a video of it off youtube. As you can imagine the quality was aweful, it looked worse than doom .... being played on a calculator. I like resistance fall of man and thought it was a little unfair to show such poor quality footage.

[RottenFox]

hmmmm church of england...middle ages right through to modern times..murder,torture etc..all in the name of religion..what hypocracy.
i do beleive the church have been responsible for a vast number of murders for centurys,and they have the nerve to bring this up..pff.

[dino2021]

Seems a bit late to be doing something about it now
Top and bottom of it is though, Sony should of got permission and didn't, but can't see them getting it pulled off shelves some how.

[Moogle]

I've merged these two threads together as they are both on the same topic.

[Simba]

totally pathetic. seems like anyone and everyone will try something to get in the media or sue someone for whatever ridiculous sum....

will be interesting to see how this ends

[small358786]

They should be glad,that was the first time I had been to Church (I know its a Cathedral) for years

[dino2021]

Originally Posted by Simba

totally pathetic. seems like anyone and everyone will try something to get in the media or sue someone for whatever ridiculous sum....

will be interesting to see how this ends

Personally I dont see what is pathetic about it, Sony should of got permission and didn't, its just a fact.

From what I have read the church is not asking for any money

[mabo]

I wonder what the law is regarding computational representations of buildings. I'm sure if it's a film then they have to get permission.

[dino2021]

Originally Posted by small358786

They should be glad,that was the first time I had been to Church (I know its a Cathedral) for years

[dino2021]

Originally Posted by mabo

I wonder what the law is regarding computational representations of buildings. I'm sure if it's a film then they have to get permission.

They have to get it with cars in computer games and players in footy games, and as you pointed out when filming, I can't see why a building would be any different to a car? From the way the BBC article is written you need permission and Sony didn't get it.

snip....
A Sony spokesman said that permission had been sought where necessary.

However, the Church said Sony did not ask for permission to use the cathedral

[beowulf]

Originally Posted by small358786

They should be glad,that was the first time I had been to Church (I know its a Cathedral) for years

hahaha

[The Gooner]

cant understand them, Manchester cathedral is now seen all over the world. Grimsby is now well known

As they say no publicity is bad publicity so can only be good for sony.
It is a bit OTT though. I thought it was a great game, maybe they should play before commenting.

[Jim_Fear]

I'm confused, when do hundreds of soldiers die in the cathedral? there are plenty of horrible aliens but not hundreds of soldiers. I bet most people throwing a paddy over this haven't even played the game.

[small358786]

I would have thought that people killing aliens in a cathedral was a good thing,kind of like keeping the devil at bay in the house of god.
They seem to forget that almost everytime you go into a church you see some dude NAILED to a cross.

[nehalem]

It will provide the Daily Mail headlines for tomorrow if nothing else, the usual ill-informed hysterical 'daily hate' they are known for.

[coluigi]

Originally Posted by nehalem

It will provide the Daily Mail headlines for tomorrow if nothing else

What Princess Di Thinks of Sick Cathedral Game
by her vets mates sister, continues p2,3,4,5,6,7,8

[Tony Hoyle]

Sales of RFOM are gonna rocket because of this. A bit on notariety does wonders... Would GTA have got anywhere without the Daily Mail?

[RGP]

It just made the headlines (first story) on the BBC news on 1

[mabo]

Originally Posted by coluigi

What Princess Di Thinks of Sick Cathedral Game
by her vets mates sister, continues p2,3,4,5,6,7,8

I think you'll find that will be the Express.

[nehalem]

Same crap, different bucket

[KTroopA]

go outside and enjoy the sun people. slow news day indeed...

HA HA!

[WelshBluebird]

Originally Posted by dino2021

They have to get it with cars in computer games and players in footy games, and as you pointed out when filming, I can't see why a building would be any different to a car? From the way the BBC article is written you need permission and Sony didn't get it.

I doubt it. Look at the getaway. That had real buildings from London in it, and I doubt sony got permission for them, yet there was nothing made of it. This is just the church attacking games because it seems the in thing to do (Jack Thompson, mayor of New york etc).

[mabo]

Originally Posted by WelshBluebird

I doubt it. Look at the getaway. That had real buildings from London in it, and I doubt sony got permission for them, yet there was nothing made of it. This is just the church attacking games because it seems the in thing to do (Jack Thompson, mayor of New york etc).

The getaway didn't contain the interiors of well known buildings though. I can see the churches point of view, however the reporing of this has been atrocious. Did anyone see the news just now where they describe the hundereds of "fighters" and "enemies" that are killed in the scene. No one wants to say alien.

Originally Posted by KTroopA

go outside and enjoy the sun people. slow news day indeed...

HA HA!

Why do people assume that everyone on the planet likes hot sunshine, personally i can't bear it and have to sit in front of a fan all day or i'll explode.