News.blog: Sony apologises for PS3 church massacre

Sony has said it's sorry for using an Anglican cathedral as a background for a bloody shootout in a PS3 game -- but it doesn't have any plans to withdraw the game anytime soon.

According to the BBC, the company on Friday printed a public apology in the Manchester Evening News for any offence caused by its Resistance: Fall of Man game, which includes a gruesome battle between soldiers and aliens in a building that resembles Manchester Cathedral.

"It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game, and we would like to apologise unreservedly to them for causing that offence, and to all parts of the community who we might also have offended," said David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, according to the BBC.

Sony may be sorry, but that's not enough for some folk.

Church authorities had expressed shock and outrage when they discovered that the cathedral made an appearance in the game. The Church of England called on Sony to withdraw the game and make a donation to Manchester Cathedral's efforts to fight gun crime in the city.

But Sony apparently has ignored the church's requests and has no plans on either making a donation or withdrawing the game. It says the matter is "closed".

And while Sony says it won't make such a mistake again, church leaders aren't so sure. They fear that another religious building could be "cloned for virtual desecration", said the Very Reverend Roger Govender, Cathedral Dean, according to the BBC.