Sony Pisses Off the English

[Griking]

LONDON (AP) - The Church of England accused Sony Corp. (SNE) on Saturday of using an English cathedral as the backdrop to a violent computer game and said it should be withdrawn from shop shelves.

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Sony just can't seem to catch a break.

[FantasiaWHT]

It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem.

Gee, and I thought that banning guns completely was supposed to solve Britain's gun problems.

/sarcasm

This is stupid. Unless they've somehow copywritten the image of their church, how can you possibly bring a legal action for that?

[heybtbm]

Sony just can't seem to catch a break.

[Iron Draggon]

Gee, and I thought that banning guns completely was supposed to solve Britain's gun problems.

/sarcasm

This is stupid. Unless they've somehow copywritten the image of their church, how can you possibly bring a legal action for that?

that's what I wanna know... who the hell does the Church of England think they are? you have to get their permission to put their Cathedral in a game? I hope they release an addon that lets you kill all the guys wearing robes there

[jajaja]

Its a pretty stupid case indeed. I do understand their point of view to a certaint point tho, but to sue over something like this is pretty strange in my opinion. Its not the first game who use accurate models of something that excist in real life. And why do they take this up now? The game have been out for like half a year (almost 3 months in England tho, but still). And why isnt Insomniac Games mentioned? They developed the game :P

[Richter Belmount]

that's what I wanna know... who the hell does the Church of England think they are? you have to get their permission to put their Cathedral in a game? I hope they release an addon that lets you kill all the guys wearing robes there

They have free speech to bitch about it. But sueing is a different matter , hopefully they come up with a arrangement.

[goemon]

On one hand, I can see the church not wanting to have their cathedral being shown in a violent game. How did they get the layout of the cathedral in the first place? Did they copy any blueprints? In the worst case scenario, Sony will just have to alter the map to look less like the cathedral in question. I don't think they're going to lose any money over it. (Granted, I'm unfamilliar with the British legal system, so maybe there are other rules about lawsuits and payouts.)

[Lothars]

Well since the church is so old it's definitely possible that the blueprints are probaly in the public domain, which means the lawsuit is frivilous and plainly stupid IMO

[Iron Draggon]

well maybe it's just me, but the very fact that it's a CHURCH places it in the public domain, IMHO... so the stupid robes just need to get the hell over it... legal action... give me a break... if the church is stupid enough to waste its money suing over this, I hope that Sony files a counter suit and wins bigtime!

[Richter Belmount]

I hope the church wins for fun times sake , not my country.

[Leo_A]

I hope they win it because stupid gamers would be against it no matter what the case was.

"Well since the church is so old it's definitely possible that the blueprints are probaly in the public domain, which means the lawsuit is frivilous and plainly stupid IMO"

What does that have to do with it? I can buy blueprints to a B-17 online, but that doesn't mean I can create a WWII flight simulator and put it in there without securing a license from Boeing.

"And why do they take this up now? The game have been out for like half a year (almost 3 months in England tho, but still). "

I suspect the leaders of the Church of England aren't buying and playing through each PS3 release the moment it comes out. I'm sure it took a while for them to discover that this took place, and they've surely debated what course of action to take before taking it public.

[jajaja]

"Well since the church is so old it's definitely possible that the blueprints are probaly in the public domain, which means the lawsuit is frivilous and plainly stupid IMO"

What does that have to do with it? I can buy blueprints to a B-17 online, but that doesn't mean I can create a WWII flight simulator and put it in there without securing a license from Boeing.

Its alittle different. B-17 isnt public domain, it belongs to Boeing and they can sell the name/license to anyone they want, but who owns the Manchester cathedral? Who do you have to pay to get a license to use the cathedral? I thought churches were "owned" by everyone. Or possibly the goverment own them in that way as they manage/build/restore the churches.

"And why do they take this up now? The game have been out for like half a year (almost 3 months in England tho, but still). "

I suspect the leaders of the Church of England aren't buying and playing through each PS3 release the moment it comes out. I'm sure it took a while for them to discover that this took place, and they've surely debated what course of action to take before taking it public.

True, but the game is pretty popular so i would think it would be known quicker. Or maybe things like this do take some time, dont know.

[Lothars]

I hope they win it because stupid gamers would be against it no matter what the case was

Man that's an idiotic post

There's no way they can win this case, I would be shocked if the Blueprints for the church isn't in the public domain and if that's the case than this case is just a stupid.

[FantasiaWHT]

out of curiosity, in the game is the inside of the cathedral actually used or do you just see it from the outside?

And if the Boeing B-17 is still protected, it's done so with a patent. I doubt you can patent a building.

And the church is owned by the Anglican Church, I would wager.

[Mayhem]

out of curiosity, in the game is the inside of the cathedral actually used or do you just see it from the outside?

There's a mass (read 30-40 people) shootout inside the cathedral... plus it's an area for the multiplayer.

Whilst it sounds a silly thing to sue over, I can well imagine why, because you don't want killing depicted inside a holy place. And you can recognise it's Manchester Cathedral apparently, it's that accurate. The developers did their homework on the place.

TV and films need permission to shoot footage in many locations, I wonder as graphics start to get so photorealistic, whether software companies will need the same as well to recreate something that exists?!

I don't think the Church will win because I don't think any case is strong enough, just moral objections, but it might set a precident for depiction of real life places in future games.

[TonyB80]

I saw this on my local news last night. when you put the game footage next to the real place it looks very similar except in the game it's all smashed up.

I can see the church's point of view especially as there have been a couple of high profile gun crimes in recent months in manchester as well.

i'm pretty sure that in films you have to get permission to film in certain locations (including catherdrals). looks like video games will be going the same way. rockstar may start having a similar problem with GTAIV, although they changed the names of everything.

[Snapple]

Using a church as the setting for a shootout is almost passe at this point. It's been done a million times, in movies and video games and anime and whatnot. Why is the Church of England only now getting pissed off?

[FantasiaWHT]

I wonder how much the necessity of getting a locale's permission to shoot a movie there is more about the disruption and inconvenience of the filming itself than any concern about the locale's "image". The former wouldn't help the church in its argument at all.

[PS2Hawk]

so wait .. as soon as they can produce a living chimera SONY should pull it off the shelf

[monkeysuit]

The only thing that came to my mind after reading that article was the countless shoot outs in churches I have played through in all of the CoD and Medal of Honor games. The funny thing about that is, in those games you actually are fighting humans. In the level they are suing over you fight - drum roll - chimera. Why is this just now becoming an issue?