Since the church obviously would not have copywrited its actual layout, I would say that there has been no wrong committed here, as no brands or trademarks were infringed upon.

As a lawyer specializing in copywrite and trademark infringement I see this as a blatant travesty no matter the motivation behind it.

Anyway, the good thing is that the church has no base for a legal battle and sueing sony will be digging themselves a grave. Also demanding for it to be pulled off shelves wont happen… They think that since the are a “Church” (more like a buisness) they can do this stuff and people will follow.

On the flip side I’ve bought the game [even though I haven't got a PS3 yet] as it’s one of the three titles I most definately want.

Isn’t that what this will do? Sell more copies of the game? I think so. Big up the church, their silly argument should do more for marketing the game than other advertising will

my post was moderated, but dont get me wrong.. i dont hate what the church or christianity stands for. i just hate what it has become

Peace, Love and Unity are all things we should keep close to our hearts.

You see, long time ago, when people where less enlightened and a lot more violent, the leaders of men had to tell people that there was some kind of mysterious man in the sky, looking and wathing you every hour of the day. Just so that you would behave.

there is nothing wrong with that in itself, if people behave its all jolly good e?

but the power that came along was unforseen, and in the hands of greedy men, responsible for millions(?) of lives.

Nowadays we got cameras, fingerprints, DNA
and better communication than ever before. people think twice before doing something stupid

Religion is good in so many ways, but is prone to manipulation and brainwashing.

a thousand years ago we might have needed it but in our day and age, it is slowing our progress as mankind

i have played PLENTY of games that have churches in them. the fact that this church is real or not does not change the fact that the game itself is NOT real

the really sad part of this story is that youre up against religion. this could be a hard nut to crack.

i wish you luck

Zed Zee : I think you’ve said too many things things that don’t stand up to much scrutiny:

1. “Scenes of personal violation, cruelty and bullying and so on are, quite rightly, not tolerated in games”; How about the almost barbaric Manhunt? The bullying in Bully (or School Daze) or the torture scene in Metal Gear Solid? (though granted, in the last example it’s you getting tortured).

2. “Can Sony please write a game whereby a terrorist cell is hiding in a Muslim Mosque/have a weapons stash there and an elite army squad has to go in and ‘flush them out’?”. Are you joking here? So what you’re saying is that because many Muslims have a tendency to be intolerant, it’s ok for Christians to also be intolerant? Get a grip my friend.

It seems to me that no-one complains when Christian religions sell off their “Sacred” buildings to property developers to make into flats, but when someone tries to make their game a bit more authentic by including virtual representations of such buildings, they’ve gone too far. Would it be ok to set a game in a church that’s been converted into yuppie flats? There’s a moral dilemma for you (hint, yes of course it’s ok). Please remember that those of us who aren’t religious are tired of having our activities constrained by arch-myth-believers (to my mind, religions have always been little more than a great way of controlling the masses.)

p.s. For the old timers out there, the first game I remember which brought guns into churches was Robocop 3. I can’t remember any furore over that!

I have played Resistance FoM many times, and the scene that is so depicted is not exactly how its depicted.

Its been blown out of proportions… the city of Manchester has been been purty much destroyed all civilians are either dead or being turned into something… different.

The church in question is not in whole its partly destroyed like the rest of Manchester, but is used by the Americans seeking refuge. Unfortunately it was not as safe as they originally thought.

My largest concern over this entire thing is Insomniac made this game.. not sony, they are independent developers.

So this to me, is a cash cow situation since they did not go after the developers of the game.

By doing this the church is even further more distancing it self from the youth, and further creating delusion in the minds of others over religion.

I do not consider what they have demonstrated today to be in the best interests of the Lord and his followers.

Thats all im going to say.

_
Chris