Church demands apology from Sony

The Church of England is to demand an apology from Sony for using a recreation Manchester Cathedral as a location in hit PS3 shooter Resistance: Fall of Man.

The Church claims the recreation of the building was used without permission, "desecrating" the cathedral and upsetting the local area which already has a reputation for gun crime.

It was reported over the weekend that the Church is considering legal action over the incident.

"It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem," The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, told ITV News.

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

"Here in Manchester we do all we can to support communities through our parish clergy, we know the reality of gun crime and the devastating effects it can have on the lives — it is not a trivial matter," he said.

Sony has stated that it has received the necessary permission to include the location in the game, and highlighted the fact that the game is a sci-fi game and not based on reality.

Church officials are to meet today to draft a letter and discuss the actions Sony must take to address the issue.

According to the BBC, this includes an official apology, withdrawal of the game or modification to remove the offending location, a donation of the games' profits to go to the cathedral's education department and support for groups tackling gun crime in the Manchester area.