Koran expressions delay PS3 title 'Little Big Planet'
Updated at 1 p.m. PDT Monday, October 20, with name of song and artist and link to YouTube video of the track.
Sony is delaying the much-anticipated PlayStation 3 title Little Big Planet due to a late discovery that background music tracks contained two expressions found in the Koran, an inclusion some might deem offensive.
"We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused," Sony said on its official PlayStation blog Friday. "Sorry for the delay, and rest assured, we are doing everything we can to get Little Big Planet to you as soon as possible."
It will be a little longer than expected before gamers get their hands on Little Big Planet.
(Credit: Media Molecule)Concerns about the lyrics--contained in the track "Tapha Niang" by Grammy Award-winning African kora player Toumani Diabate--came to light on official PlayStation Community forums and reportedly on some Arabic gaming forums, as well.
"We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Koran deeply offending," a contributor to the Sony forums wrote on Thursday. "We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it."
The puzzle-based game--in which players guide highly customizable lead characters through a series of mental challenges--was slated for a North American release Tuesday. Instead, Sony says it will start shipping Little Big Planet to North American retailers on October 27. Copies of the game already released elsewhere in the world will be recalled from retailers and replaced, according to Sony.
British game developer Media Molecule, creator of Little Big Planet, said it was as "shocked and dismayed by (the delay) as anyone--shellshocked and gutted. We can't wait for you all to get playing and creating!"
Media Molecule added, however, that it takes the potentially offensive licensed tracks seriously. "LBP should be enjoyable by all," the company said on its Web site.
Within 12 hours of hearing about the issue, the game maker said it prepared an automatic "day zero" patch that would have removed the potentially offensive lyrics, which it says it believes were in Somali. "However, a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support...was to replace existing disks," Media Molecule said.
Many reviewers have hailed the game, calling it beautiful and brilliant. A CNET review posted Thursday described it as "novel and imaginative" and gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
A number of videos containing the song have been posted to YouTube in the last several days.
Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie. 
"the Messenger of Allah . . . would say: 'Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war. . . . When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. . . . Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. . . . If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them . . .'" (Muslim Book 19, Number 4294).
"fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) . . . " (Qur?an 9:5).
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued" (Qur'an 9:29).
"Allah's Apostle said: 'I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle . . . '" (Bukhari Volume 1, Book 2, Number 24).
"It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. Ye desire the lure of this world and Allah desireth (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise" (Qur'an 8:67).
?Allah?s Apostle said, ?I have been made victorious with terror. The treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand?? (Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220).
Every time someone does something the muslims don't like, everyone starts doing the P.C. shuffle.
"We are so sorry, we didn't mean to offend you, please don't suicide bomb us, declare a jihad on us, or issue a fatwa against us! whimper! whine! grovel!"
Screw that! What about the Christians who've been lampooned and offended ?
What about all the others groups (religious or otherwise) who've be over targets ?
And all this over a SINGLE SONG that has -some- mulsim scriptures.
SCREW THEM!
You don't want people to tip-toe around you just because you might kill them, do you? That's what's happening here - Sony couldn't give a rat's one about the feelings of a bunch of wife-beating clerics but like most people they want to stay healthy, so the ridiculous ban stands, and this merely serves to show up how intolerant Islam as an institution really is.
I should like to add that I dearly hope this fine civilisation comes out of the dark ages soon and joins the rest of us in making the world a better place. If the Americans can elect a Barak Obama, maybe there's hope for us all...
Secondly, badnewswade is absolutely ridiculous. If you're going to chalk this change up to a fear of extremists, might as well not say anything bad about those Irish, Southerners(of the US), Black Muslims, all kinds of African-Americans, the Russians, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Vietnamese. There are good and bad people in every religious and ethnic subset, and the bad often overshadow the good. Hypersensitivity you say? Turns out, there's a clash of ignorance on both sides. Neither party is willing to accept similarities and let differences be civil. The western world was the first to butt into the Muslim world's business, mind you, lest you forget colonialism. The religion does not promote ultra-violence either. Thanks for pulling a buzzword out of Clockwork Orange by the way. The religion itself professes peace, as do most other religions. Even Satanism, for the most part, promotes uncontroversial practice(this is in reference to LaVeyan Satanism, as I believe no other facet can claim an organized ideology). Let's put it this way. After colonialism, the western world left Muslim countries absolutely destitute and with no control over their most valued possession, the vast majority of the people descended almost into poverty. The economic gap had widened to an absurd level. it is proven that terrorism is best bred in conditions slightly better than poverty. Why? People will always seek a scapegoat for their misfortunes, and people in poverty are barely making ends meet. Those who can spare an hour or two, or some meager amount of funds are the most dangerous. Set them in a direction, and they will take your message to heart. The real aggressors in this situation are those in relative power(the sheiks and ayatollahs) who have nothing but pure hatred against the western world in their heart, and use their influence to brainwash entire nations. This is somewhat analogous to McCarthyism in that instability or uncertainty breeds extremism.
Oh and learn to spell a candidate's name before you support him. Barack Obama will most definitely not fix our problems. He has openly suggested the bombing of Pakistan, and that has been seen as a major failure both in the domestic and foreign policy paradigms. Domestically, he not only alienated an entire group of voters in one fell swoop, but went against his party's policy for the centrist vote, in effect alienating the most ardent detractors of war. Internationally, it was an awful awful move, akin to showing your opponents your terrible hand in a game of poker, and still betting as if they have not looked. When policies are announced prior to any guaranteed possession of power, it allows the other side to regroup and rally support. If you really support a candidate based on promises of change or purely on party affiliation, you might want to reconsider. Change is not necessarily good. I know I just can't bring myself to support a socialist.
For real now. some movies have bad guys wearing crosses and the media is trying to make christianity one big grey messy goop to show it is not all black and white which is a total lie in itself.
They do this to trivialise any and all christians. The movies were great and entertaining but at what cost?
They have the devil fighting for the good guys..... Hellboy
Constantine has much more blaphemous religiosity than ever before. Everyone trying to make christains look bad.
And...the phrases weren't even Anti-Muslim or anti-Quran, right? That's stupid...you'd think Muslims would WANT people humming along to the words from their "Holy Book".
Don't really see this as a big issue. Apparently the guy who brought it up wasn't some ***-backwards psycho with an explosive vest, just an average well-meaning Muslim guy. (He does own a PS3 after all.) Sony's reaction was also very responsible in my opinion.
Keyword: GOVERNMENT.
ALLAH IS IS ONE OF THE GODS AND GOD IS NOT JUST ALLAH
JESUS IS ONE OF HIS PROPHETS! READ THE QURAN!
ABOUHOU
I don't know what's the deal with this. Muslims are just so weird.
everyone has different priorities and believes different things, and alot of people value religion above video games, so think what you want about races but you don't have to voice your opinion in such an ignorant way.
in the end it was just a misunderstanding between muslims and the business, and it was solved. why would you hate muslims for that? I think that's just racism. you are not being sensitive ENOUGH to respect what people think is important to them.
good day to all of you.
That is not the real translation. the word "AllahmaK" means ( God be with you OR God with you )
Next time before you comment make sure you know what you commenting about.
God Bless.
malaysians in general don't read books, don't take intellectual pursuits seriously, and like you are bigots in your own country! learn some tolerance and maybe your country won't be so ****ed up.
allahmak, that does not mean God's mother. where did you get that from? seriously, chill. before you decide to post anything up, please do proper, extensive-good- research.
ps. don't disgrace malaysia with your blatant accusations and outright -unfounded- bigotry.
Muslims should think about that the next time they moan about America, Japan and Europe dominating everything - we'd love to add middle eastern and Islamic riffs and have you guys along, but we're just too **** scared of being murdered by your raving loonie coreligionists to even go there! I think this is very sad as it leaves so many people out and relegates their culture to backwater, hick status. I hope we can all join together in rejecting this sort of silliness in the future.
YOU CALL YOUR SELVES CHRISTIANS BUT YOU PRY ONLY ON SUNDAYS OR WHEN S.B IS ILL! YOU4RE WEIRD
ABOUHOU
ps - the quran only prescribes prayer three times a day. the five times is derived from the hadith. the hadith are not above the quran. we are all more than welcome to pray only three times a day.
Extra points for Sony's marketing team for raising the issue... relevant or not... always marketable!
then again, pieces of quran are sung by imams five times a day all over the world.. i don't see what the big deal is, quran is already a poem made for singing. people should understand their religions fully before complaining, a little education and iq points higher than g.w.b. would be nice on the side too.
and by the way, god damn you sony!!! no mac support for nothing for years, ignoring all the mac and linux users, but delaying/recalling a crappy game whom no one even cares about for a bunch of religious idiots who don't represent even 0.0001% of muslims worldwide? smart...
Go google the Quran miracles!
Just sayin'.....
Thanks for taking the bait.
all believers in fairy tales, and that includes you whining christians too, should just shut up and not buy the game if you don't like it.
just what the world needs, more caving in to people too stupid to grow up and stop believing in their personal santa claus......
I've taken the liberty of flagging your comment as personally attacking. Don't take any offense.
Secondly, the Quran is only considered inspired in it's original language (ancient Arabic). Translations of the text are never given the same 'authority' (and in fact are looked down upon by most) and according to this, they were speaking in Somalian.
I know that violent muslims are the (extreme) minority, but I wonder if this was done out of fear?
and bulshit is your freedom of speech when the american goverment wants to hide a matter they ban reporters from their bases and when they want to offend someone they call it freedom of speech .
bunch of hypocrits
- by amg503 October 19, 2008 2:10 AM PDT
- I misread the title of this article at first, and thought that it said that the Quran foretold the delay of Little Big Planet. Now THAT would have been something!
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- by Digital.Trucker October 19, 2008 6:25 AM PDT
- Don't feel bad, I thought the same thing.
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- by Leslie Katz October 19, 2008 9:09 AM PDT
- Good point! I tweaked the headline slightly to make it more clear. Thanks.
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