Resistance : The Fall of Sony?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I want Sony and the PS3 to succeed about as much as anyone (mainly for FinalFantasy XIII, which looks like it’s going to be awesome jaw-dropping and a big addition to the series), but I think the church has really got a leg to stand on with this one, and Sony is either going to lose a large chunk of money or endure a long legal fight and then lose a large chunk of money, in addition to getting yet more bad press about their flagship gaming system.
For those not intent on reading the article, it goes something like this : Sony released Resistance : Fall of Man, and one of the sequences in the game is a horrible slaughter in Manchester Cathedral. Manchester Cathedral is owned completely by the Church of England, and neither Sony (the distributor of the game) nor Insomniac (the game studio that developed it) asked for permission to use this iconic landmark. So, now the Anglican Church wants the game pulled, and says they’re willing to go to court to get it done.
This is a big deal : The PS3 has so few titles available for it already, quite possible the worst launch selection ever, and Resistance was one of the stand outs in the otherwise lack-luster selection of yawners. If the game is pulled from shelves, consumers have even less of a reason to purchase the completely over-priced and under-featured PlayStation 3. Will this put development of other titles (like anything worth buying) at risk? I hope not, but I can’t help but think that it will.