Posts by Colm Linehan

Sony apologies over virtual cathedral firefight

Get Real!

First of all how can they complain about a gun fight when the guns used in the battles are all imaginary and futuristic and do not exist I have not heard of any Plasma gun shootings in Manchester of late...........

Sony perhaps should have sought permission to use the name of Manchester Cathedral - but as no real footage is used it is all fictional. Does the CoE look for money from every author who writes a book and mentions a local church somewhere? This is just a ploy by some fund-raising committee to try and shame a large donation out of corporate funds.

btw has the Church apologised for all the people it killed during the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition or all the Churches burnt down during the Reformation?

Manhunt 2 banned

Bravo BBFC

Congratulations to the BBFC on attracting many potential underage and overage customers who may never have previously considered buying this game. In an era where online purchases are fast catching up with retail, these games can be bought online for delivery within days, thus making their whole system useless. If I really did want this game, I will simply buy another european version as almost all games now come automatically with language selection on set up.

By banning this game, all the BBFC have done is highlight the game and make it all the more attractive. And once again with online purchase, they may as well be saying "Now children you can't play this game - but I will just leave it on the table!". We may be able to stop a 12 year old from going to the cinema to see an 18s movie but we really have no very little control from stopping him from seeing it on DVD when released. Perhaps we should be looking at some movies like SAW 1, 2 & 3 and Hostel being released only in the cinema and not being given a certificate for DVD release if this is how they plan on dealing with overly violent media. At 18 we are adults and should be able to make up our own mind if we want to buy something or not. They would be better off giving every "overly violent" game an 18s rating and staying quiet than making a big ruckus which only fuels its popularity. As an example, when Manhunt was linked to the murder of Stefan Pakeerah and publicised internationally, our local game stores here in Ireland, in my home town of Cork were all sold out in two days. And this was a game that previously people did not pick up on. I wonder do Rockstar pay the BBFC to ban these games so as to publicise them and bring them to the public's attention - this is better than any advertisement campaign on magazines or TV!