The Prime Minister today gave his backing to the Church of England in the row over Sony's use of Manchester Cathedral as a setting for a gory computer game.

Tony Blair told Parliament there was a need for large organisations such as Sony to have both “some sense of responsibility and some sensitivity to the feelings of communities.” He said there was a need for recognition that “there is a wider social responsibility” that goes beyond simply the “responsibility for profit” whatever the cost.

His comments came as the Dean of Manchester, he Very Reverend Rogers Govender, disclosed that Sony had made no formal contact since the row was disclosed by The Times last Friday night.

Virtual images of the interior of the cathedral feature prominently in a violent shoot-out in the flagship PlayStation 3 game Resistance: Fall of Man.

Manchester Cathedral has called for all copies of the game to be pulled from shelves and Sony make a “substantial donation” to church charities. The game has sold more than one million copies and depicts a fictional 1950s world where the Second World War never happened and alien Chimera are trying to take over the planet.

At a press conference in Manchester this afternoon, the Dean thanked the Prime Minister for his comments and repeated that the cathedral as a backdrop for the bloodthirsty game was “highly irresponsible”.

The computer game shows scenes of bloody violence where players must shoot dead a host of enemies using weapons such as a Rossmore 236 close-quarter combat shotgun, the L23 fareye sniper rifle and an XR-005 Hailstorm chaingun.

Cathedral clergy believe the use of Manchester as a setting for the shoot-out game is particularly inappropriate because of the city’s history of gun violence. A Church spokesman said the issue had provoked particular controversy in Japan.

The Dean said: “On Monday we sent a letter to Sony outlining our concerns and making some key demands. Today I want to report that since sending that letter we have had no formal response from Sony.

We believe a silent response on the issue is not acceptable behaviour for a responsible large corporate body. Today I want to appeal directly to the people of Japan to help us put pressure on Sony to respond.

So I speak directly to those citizens who share our concerns. “For a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral, with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly irresponsible.”

He once again called on Sony to withdraw the game, to apologise unreservedly for using the interior without permission and to make a substantial donation to the Church’s education department which helps tackle gun violence. The cathedral is consulting lawyers over what to do next.

A Sony spokesman refused to comment, but said the company had been in contact with the cathedral by telephone on more than one occasion.