A few days ago, we had reported that the Church was planning to sue Sony over their PS3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man. Now it seems that the tiff will take a political turn as major English politicians are expressing their strong views on it. Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central and Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spoke about it at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions in the Parliament.
Tony Lloyd asked, “When large organisations like Sony find their copyright has been breached, they’re very quick to use the law, Would the Prime Minister agree with me then that when Sony used images of Manchester Cathedral as part a game which extols gun violence, this was not only in bad taste but also very, very insulting to not simply the Church of England, but people across the land who think it’s inappropriate that big corporations behave in this way?”
To which Tony Blair replied, “I agree with my honourable friend. I think it’s important that any of the companies engaged in promoting these types of goods have some sense of responsibility and also some sensitivity to the feelings of others. I think this is an immensely difficult area, the relationship between what happens with these games and its impact on young people. I’ve no doubt this debate will go on for a considerable period of time, but I do agree. I think it is important that people understand there is a wider social responsibility as well as an interior responsibility for profits.”
The Church officials are also demanding an apology as well as donations (huh!) as the officials feel that Sony never paid a commercial fee to the Church for using the historic Cathedral as a part in Resistance: Fall of Man.
It seems, after drawing the ire of the Church, Sony will now have to face anger from the political arena and they could really find themselves in a mess. Some months ago, Sony was in trouble as it had tried to save taxes for its consoles by passing them as personal computers.