Remember the outraged city of Siena, which was preparing legal action against Sony because the city’s Contrade flags appeared around GT5’s karting track, Piazza del Campo? There was some concern and confusion regarding what the eventual outcome would be, but the solution fortunately turned out to be quite simple: the offensive flags were removed and Siena’s cultural heritage “protected”… As reported by Corriere Fiorentino:
The Consortium continues the note, “notes also welcome the establishment of the Sony to withdraw immediately from the market any promotional materials containing references to and claims on which there are exclusive rights of Contrade and the Consortium, as well as the commitment to remove, dall’edizione the game on the market by November, flags and any reference to the Feast Contrade and Siena. In addition to the successful from the strictly legal matter, the Consortium is pleased because the reasons underlying its action, namely the protection of historical and cultural heritage as the Palio of Siena community were listed by Sony. “
See more articles on Karting, Piazza Del Campo, Polyphony Digital, and Sony.
Who cares?
The city doesn’t want their flags in the game… so the flags got took out the game.
Everyone’s happy… problem solved? Bit of a none issue to me
Man; it’s too bad that cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York have all allowed their rich histories and cultural heritages to be defiled and destroyed. and now apparently London and Rome as well. I feel bad for all those residents who’ve been violated and rendered without cultural identity on account of Gran Turismo. SHAME!
“protection of historical and cultural heritage”
hahaha
Next the electric company is going to file a lawsuit for the use of their street lights in the game.
We’ll all be forced to race in darkness.
Oh thank God we dodged another delay.
I hope this very stupid episode is finally over.
why don’t they replace the flags with Gran Turismo flags or
checkered flags?
thast probably what they’ll do, if not remove the flag completely
2 months to go.. Just yesterday it was 4 months… yaye!!
63 days left
63 very slow and boring days :(
Not when you’ve got Gran Turismo 1, 2, 3 and 4 to play! Come on people, lighten up. :P
Speak for yourself paddy, some of us have other thing to do in our lives besides sitting there waiting for GT5!
@Mr Frappy…
Like commenting one the 63 days for GT5 to come out?
I’ve got school for about 40 of those days, so I’m at least occupied.
How much do you want to bet Piazza del Campo doesn’t make it into GT6 ?
Hey! we have no teeth when gt6 will be out :D
and of course Piazza del Campo will be fully destroyed in the WW4 like NYC and Beijīng!
|m/_ _\m|
haha I’m glad I live in Austin TX.. We’ll succeed from the union before GT6 / WW4
magic ayrton u ve right
Really stupid those guys, I visited Nurburgring and other places on GT5 prologue because I found them great, Guess I won’t be visiting Italy anytime soon..
great loss
siena what? who care about this town? even more so now. let’s roll nov. 2nd.
Yes, PD did remove the flags. But it’s still on the demo discs! A limited number of you were playing GT5 at expos, and those are the discs you can’t take the flags out of!
The only reason i´m aware of the existence of this little town, its because all this marketing regarding the flags… so.. i presume they´ve a lost a big deal.
i m italiam, i hate the palio di siena and i want it to an epic fail
well done GT5
I honestly think that they should remove Siena all together and go the Turkey or other Mediterranean islands for the beauty.
It could be because siena thinks very lowly of the video games industry. They do not see the potential for an extra bit of promotion but just see it as people will know what they do to them horses. Still, on the one hand, they want to protect their identity but then again on the other hand, they will be seen as making a fuss over something as ‘small’ as a bunch of flags. Still each to their own and as KY said recently… its easy to remove.
Good things all this happened be for the actually release or thing could have got REAL messy for Sony..
I WANT 44 SECONDS OF MY LIFE BACK!!
Come one!!!GT5 is not NFS or GRID.GT5 is very beautiful piece of art!!!It’s only be better for that place – GT5 makes things famous!
Well, that was easy. No fuss, no muss.
They obviously did not really want the flags removing, they wanted Polyphony to say “OK we will pay you this much money for using the flags”. Smart move by PD to remove them and make the city officials look like money grabbing idiots.
Just remove Italy full stop.. :D
Thank God!
Idiots !
It’s quite funny how they like to complain about flags in their city that are in a game that sells millions, and how let the game ‘Mafia II’ go through without them complaining.
maybe its because mafia ii isnt fictional in the case of siena.
It’s quite funny how people assume that Siena really want or even need their flags shown to millions of people. It’s also quite funny how people go comparing fictional games like Mafia II to games that contain replicas of real locations like GT5…
@Jay, why are they dumbasses? Not every small town wants to be in the limelight.
I think PD were perfectly OK using the flags in the first place, but at the same time, town officials were perfectly within their rights to request them to be removed. No harm done, and everybody can move on. Neither the gameplay nor release date will be any different because of it.
But the town itself remains in the game. So, how are they out of the limelight now?
Come on 62 more days!!!
When 10 days are left for thebrelease day
Im going to clean my living room the dust, my ps3 delete any data.
For gt5 to have all the space & be perfect.
Im quiting xboxlive/xbox360
For about 2 years
November 2
2 more months & 1 day from now for that amazing day<3
Lol, I have already deleted Brothers in arms and several demos (I have the 40Gb as I bought it years ago for GT5 LOL) So I have 16GB Free, will Install GT5, retrieve GTP data and PSP data, then Delete GT5P.
Also, I have made a playlist which includes MP3 Menu Music from GT1 and 2 and 3!!
Oh, and I will be selling my xbox 360 complete with Forza 2 and 3, PGR4, steering wheel and pedals, 2 controllers..
Hahaha, yes. I’ll be selling my Xbox 360 Elite along with all games for a PS3 before GT5 hits the stores. :P
I’m selling my Xbox Elite to buy Playstation move… Money is already there with dust on it for GT5…
im gonna poop on my xbox. jokes XD, never wasted money on it in the first place.
On the other hand, I don’t think Sony and PD would like it very much if Siena started to arrange “Gran Turismo 5 Karting” (without asking for permission to use the brand) on the town square…
rabble rabble
That’s great news. I seriously don’t think i can handle another delay. Phew! (wipes brow)
Those peacocks don’t know what they do. Their attitude is very wrong for me.
Citys and towns in Italy (communes) have big budget problem.
They saw this as opportunity to get some free cash.
Venezia gives you a fine for eating gelato on the piazza San Marco
i guess everybody got that this might have been the reason for the legal pressure.
I went to Siena, this summer.
Consider I this city doesn’t need additional advertising.
There is already a lot of people who visit this magnificent city
For me,this news, it’s not an event.
Fair enough. Polyphony put the flags in the game without permission and the city of Siena did not appreciate this and reacted. This is the result. At least Polyphony or Sony didn’t have to pay a large amount of money for using the flags in the first place.
maybe the reality of it is, that pd indeed didnt ask and siena tried to contact sb from pd or sony directly. anybody who ever tried this himself, might know what the inevitable outcome is. frustration. ;)
Great comment. The first normal comment I could read until now. Don’t forget that the italians love cars and people in italy are waiting for the game as much as in all other cuontries. PD made a small mistake (As we all know, it’s very very unusal for them) and they found a solution directly. Great. Knowing the histroy of the city of Siena, I do understand why they were angry. They just asked for a minimum of respect for the local cultures and traditions.
You can kiss your tourism increase goodbye! They should be paying Sony to put the flags back in!
Tourism increase because of GT?
Tourist who visit Siena because of its famous square probably never heard of GT.
@Bobbie001
And you’re point is what?
The idea of advertising is to spread a message. It doesn’t work well unless you spread it to people who don’t already know.
Do yourself and favor and stay out of the advertising business.
Way to Promote Siena.
it was in GT5… For Free.
The Most Anticipated Game on PS3 with a Massive Consumer market, And you got in it .
for free.
cant have that!
I hope Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed will recreate this place and create some scenarios that result in burning the flags.
muhahahaaa.
So they are protecting their culture by limiting the number of people have even hard of it?
Idiots…
As a male I am greatly offended at PD and Sony for their blatant disregard of the driver avatars in the game and their resemblance to men everywhere. In order to preserve cultural and personal integrity, I must insist that they remove any likeness of myself clothed in racing attire from this an all future games. My name is Jeremy and I approve this message.
LOL, I know what you mean, I mean some of the scenery in the Game may resemble bricks.. bricks have feelings too you know!!!??
Mission accomplished. Good job PD!
…theres to kinds of people in the world.dumb,and not-dumb. They effin stupid-dumb. They created a 3rd kind
Good news, even if a report has never worried me.
Better check closely to be sure that 5oul on D!splay doesn’t mention the Qur’an, Sony.
hahaha.I lol’d at that. Tomorrows article,Extremists label Sony infidels,releases statement ‘It has come to our attention,that the great infidel of the east,Sony,and their false infidel prophet,Kaz,have made referance to a Soul on display.this is blasphemy,punishment must be dealt quickly,20lashing and maybe a few throwing of stones is in order’ :p
Well played.
You’re right, better look closely: Always remember the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Coca-Cola had to destroy several million cups, after some Saudi-officials discovered their flag on it (the flags of all participating nations were printed on the cups). The national-flag of Saudi Arabia shows a stanza from the Qur’an, and they didn’t want the words of their prophet being thrown into the trash can
Either that, or BMW will come along and say that the game can’t be called Gran Turismo 5, because they have a car that goes by the same name!… IMAGINE THAT! what would the game be called then? *queue the dramatic music*
@Damo That’s Maserati isn’t it?
@Corey it’s Maserati and BMW at least.
@Damo You do realize that Maserati and BMW probably paid PD/Sony to use that in the car name, right? Unless the term “Gran Turismo” is in the public domain, it is copyrighted by PD/Sony, meaning whoever uses it has to pay them or at least ask permission.
@Missed_the_Apex “Gran Turismo” is italian for “Grand Tourer”. You know, the type of car? I don’t see anybody paying royalties to call their car a “sedan” or a “coupé”, do you?
Gran Turismo fits to Spanish too.
Good atleast it did’t effect any release day delays
Bye bye siena, anyways i can just recreate another and call it ***ANEIS***
just realized the other day that sdrawkcab always works. and it almost doesnt show for music videos. :D
They must have something to hide from general public
Illumanita live there! they hide the truth!
Nice to know this was handled rather quickly.
Now to continue with the countdown.
on top of that. In GT5 im sure the didnt put the sienna location in a bad light either. beutifully rendered. Perfect weather. Buzzing atmosphere. . . . . . .
just like a commercial.
They’re dumbasses. They just lost publicity for their unknown town. For a game that will potentially sell millions wiling to advertise an unknown town this was a dumb move by these city offcials.
Ooooooooorrr They’re geniuses because let’s be honest no one was going to notice the flags and by making a big fuss about the game maybe getting delayed because of legal matters got them to be on the news for quite a lot of people to see.
Still. Anybody who spends a second flicking through any article will see siena in a bad light ide assume.
I honestly dont think PD did anything wrong.
do i have to sign a disclose when i pass by the flags?
none of the signs have (TM) or (c). Good Sir, Can i take a photo of your flag.
here fill this in.
They will see Siena in a bad light at first. Then they look the little town up and see what a nice little town it is, sure would be nice to go on holiday there. Hey wait, we havent decided where to go on holiday next year! why not Siena?
All publicity is good publicity
Well just because you don’t know the city of Siena, doesnt know its an unknown city! Its one of the most famous cities in Italy!
I agree with Jay. They could have had a section for the own to be displayed in the track info in the game. They could have included a web link advertising the city, but they decided to sever ties with a game with who manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ferrari, Audi, et al., are using to advertise their cars. A hugely ill-advised move and a certain own goal by this bitter, uninviting little community. What was the name of it again? Exactly.
MilkMan “All publicity is good publicity”
You heard this famous quote, which sounded pretty educated to you and then you decided to use it to make yourself appear intelligent. Conversely, it is a typically thoughtless comment. Gary Glitter, Myra Hindley, Heinrich Himmler? Now you got it.
@milkman, you should look up Gerald Ratner on wiki to learn why not all publicity is good publicity
Oh come on, you all understand me but as typically with this forum, you all have to be negative and push down people who might not agree with you.
Spiderman: I think that quote applies to most stuff. But sure, in extreme cases it could be different but very often it works. It is not something I say to appear intelligent (unlike your post that is only focused on making me look like an idiot). You know it but just had to namedrop a few that it didn’t work so well for (last two I can’t even relate to this statement, but feel free to explain it).
Siena is unknown?!?! For those who don’t know, Siena is one of the nicest towns you can visit in Italy. It’s in one of the most visited areas of the world rich in culture, food and art. When you think Tuscany region, you think Siena. I think this whole flag thing was just PD not getting approval of the city/region’s flag. They take things like that personal. Not a real biggy, removing the flag now allows them to have the course.
It’s hardly an unknown town… Why do you think it is in the game alongside London, Tokyo, Rome etc…?
Sure they caused a fuss that didn’t deserve to be risen to but that’s is how historical sites are run I guess. I don’t expect they would have taken kindly to a nascar ring in the middle of the collosium either…
@ Jay
I disagree that the town is unknown, it is a very renowned town in Tuscany. However I do agree that they are dumb asses, fretting over flags. It’s like the Washington D.C. saying to take out all the American flags in a D.C. track because it’s disrespectful, it’s fricken idiotic.
Bad publicity. I’d be scared to go to such a “prude” town being a foreigner from out of that area.
@Apollo They’re actually stupid, because now no one will move there since they think they are all a bunch of whiney asses.
@ Jay
“unknown town”? Sienna is one of Italy’s most famous towns. Just because you don’t know where it is or what it’s famous for doesn’t make it an unknown town…