http://www.sundayherald.com/30248A bloody spat has broken out between two of Europe\'s biggest brands after top executives discovered a rendition of one of their staff being brutally murdered amidst the blazing action of the UK\'s all-time fastest- selling computer game.
Scenes in Sony\'s The Getaway, an ultra-violent crime game currently topping the sales charts, require players to assassinate an innocent BT engineer, then don his clearly branded overalls before setting out on a gun-wielding killing spree in a London police station. The giant telecom company, its management outraged, has responded by demanding instant action from the global corporation.
\'We have protested very strongly to Sony about a section of the PlayStation 2 game The Getaway, which involves the specific elimination of a BT engineer. We\'re taking the issue of what we see as a potential incitement of violence against our staff extremely seriously,\' a company spokesperson told the Sunday Herald this weekend.
According to BT, Sony has issued a formal apology together with a firm undertaking to correct the problem. It is understood that the Japanese-owned conglomerate has already instructed game developers Team Soho to remove all on-screen references to the telephone company, and that the revised version will reach shop shelves early in the New Year.
Sony\'s spokespeople have thus far declined to comment on the issue, refusing to respond to repeated telephone, fax and e-mail enquires. Many commentators are reading this unaccustomed silence as a deliberate attempt to keep a low profile on the issue and avoid similar actions.
\'If I was Sony, I\'d be keeping my head down just now too. It may well be that BT is not the only company to feature in The Getaway, and more cases could emerge in the weeks ahead,\' said London-based intellectual property lawyer Jason Weatherburn.
\'I am already going through the game step-by-step to check whether any of my clients are affected, and I suspect that many of my colleagues will be doing exactly the same.\'
The scope for potential legal actions provoked by The Getaway could be enormous. Billed as one of the most expensive videogame ever made -- at £5 million -- it faithfully reproduces 21 square miles of London , recreating thousands of real-life business landmarks from Starbucks franchises to the West End production of Les Miserables.
In the storyline, the player alternates between taking the roles of Mark Hammond, an ex-bank robber coerced by gang boss Charlie Jolson into performing a series of violent missions, and a CID detective charged with investigating the spree. During play, the armed characters are able to visit many locations -- including Sony\'s headquarters on Great Marlborough Street -- and wreak bloody havoc within.
There could be thousands of organisations who will object to this game because of their inclusion in it, and the case certainly raises a lot of issues. What happens if one company in the future sponsors a game publisher to deliberately include negative depictions of their rivals, for example? There are a lot of grey areas here, and it could descend into a legal quagmire,\' Weatherburn said.
Although many analysts had questioned the wisdom of pouring £5 million into the production of a single title, The Getaway sold 200,000 copies on its launch earlier this month and sales are expected to top one million over the festive period, delivering a 10-fold return on Sony\'s investment. The company will be desperate to avoid any action that could damage the success story.
The new, sanitised version of the game set to hit the shelves in January might have staved off further action from BT, but many of that company\'s staff privately feel that with over one million players using an edition in which one of their colleagues is massacred for fun, the damage has already been done.
This view is echoed by numerous studies claiming that prolonged exposure to violent video games can cause anti-social behaviour, particularly in young children. Advocates of such research contend that in extreme cases, some individuals might be motivated to carry out copy attacks.
Rejecting such studies, the games industry has remained resolute its output is harmless fun, and refuses to criticise Sony for its decision to publish a package in which violence, strong language and racism feature. Pointing out that all such products carry clear age restrictions like those on films, they maintain that responsibility for censorship is down to individual users and their parents.
\'It is vital not to underestimate the value this industry brings both culturally and economically to the UK. Unfortunately there is a tendency for some people to accuse games of overt violence and corrupting young people, but let\'s be quite clear about this: games aimed at an adult audience are labelled as being suitable for 18 years and over, and there is absolutely no reason why they should be played by a younger person unless the child\'s parents allow it,\' said Roger Bennett of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.
\'We should be applauding the success of these games, not creating negative comment on their content.\'
