Sony has apologised for including Manchester cathedral in its PS3 First Person Shooter Resistance: Fall of Man.

In a letter from the European President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves, said that "It was not our intention to cause offence by using a representation of Manchester Cathedral ... If we have done so we sincerely apologise".

The Church of England responded in a statement on its website saying:

"We acknowledge the admission by Sony that the building in the game is Manchester Cathedral. We thank Sony for the apology they have made. However, we do not move from the position that we are against violence and especially the gun violence seen in this portrayal of the Cathedral."

The Church also seems to think the matter is far from over:

"In the meeting with Sony [planned in the coming weeks] we will discuss our outstanding demands, how this game came to be produced and where the images of the Cathedral came from", the Dean and Chapter said in a statement.

The incident started when Manchester cathedral picked up on the fact that the church had been re-created in the game set in a alternate Britain in the 1950s.

The game features a violent, death-heavy shoot-out inside Manchester Cathedral, a location that has seen memorials for gun crime victims in the past.

Earlier in the month, the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, told the BBC: "It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem. For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great Cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible".

Sony's original defence is that it had got "all permissions necessary" and the shoot-out involves aliens, rather than Mancunian gun gangs, and is set in the context of an alternative world, making it more science fiction that real life.