Whatever happened to Sony

Sony seem to be capable of nothing but making themselves look like right arses these days. There was the massive scandal of the anti-copying rootkit their music CDs secretly installed without permission onto hundreds of thousands of user’s computers, causing a lot of damage, then exacerbated by their initial denials of this, then a half-hearted attempt to rectify it which was an insult to users (they ended up with government departments suing them for damage to their machines). They had huge problems with the PS3 launch. Now they have shot themselves in their own public image foot twice within days – distribution of the first Official Playstation magazine has been delayed while offensive pages from the launch part of their God of War II featured a large picture of a slaughtered goat (yeah, I mean no-one, even a non veggie, will be disgusted at a large pic of a slaughtered animal being used to promote a fucking game, eh? What retarded PR agency have the got????).

And Sony are also in trouble for using the interior of Manchester Cathedral without permission for a violent shoot-’em-up now. They say they sought permission where required, but the church points out not only did they do no such thing they now refuse to answer calls from angry church officials who, strangely enough, don’t want to see an important place of worship as the venue for a violent game, especially in a city that has suffered its share of gun crime. Once again Sony’s response seems to be to pretend there is no problem at all. One of the few Sony spokespersons to comment offered the following pathetically inadequate explanation: “It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction. It is not based on reality at all. Throughout the whole process we have sought permission where necessary.” Yes, it is a game, it is fantasy and I don’t agree with the moral outrage brigade who hold that games are corrupting youth any more than the ones 20 years ago who blamed violent video films, or 20 yeas before horror comics or before that rock and roll… But you can’t use a space like this without permission – a show like Doctor Who, to stick to the Sony Apparatchik’s farrago of an excuse, would seek permission well in advance and show some respect to the location. Sony didn’t do either and now refuse to talk about it to the church – I hope the church sues the arse off them.