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 You all know LittleBigPlanet. It's a PS3 exclusive platformer developed by Media Molecule that was slated to come out next week. Well, not so fast, because one of the songs from the game's soundtrack, Tapha Niang by Toumani Diabaté (listen to the song at his MySpace page), quotes the Qur'an, which has offended some Muslims who have managed to receive an early copy of the game. Media Molecule responded to this concern by preparing a patch for Sony, but the Sony people decided that it would be best to just do a recall of all printed copies of the game in order to cover people who may not have internet access on their PS3. According to a post on Sony's Playstation.Blog by Patrick Seybold and a call I received from GameStop, the game will ship to stores the week of October 27, one week later than originally planned. While I don't want to get into my personal beliefs about religious sensitivity and censorship, I must say that given the circumstances, Sony made the right decision. Yeah, it sucks that we have to wait another week, but it's far better than having the game be attacked by the media (except Fox News) for being offensive. This is not the first time a game has come under fire for religious content. In fact, last year Capcom had a similar situation with Zack and Wiki, and Activision removed some content from Call of Duty 4. Some of you may even remember that Nintendo snipped a lot of Islamic references from the N64 classic, Zelda: Ocarina of Time. What's your take? Let us know in the comments, but let's keep it clean. Don't get racist or intolerant. Sources: Media MoleculeKotakuPlaystation.Blog
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This has to be one of the most ridiculous and wasteful decisions I have ever heard of.
Were the lines derogatory at all? Is it improper to sing about this topic? Is the singer of the song Muslim to begin with?
Why do people feel the need to complain about everything? If you don't like something don't buy it. What happened to freedom of speech?
Also, what happens to all the pressed discs that now need to be removed from packages and destroyed, plus all other materials involved? What a waste that is.....completely terrible for the environment because I'm sure they will just get shipped to a dump somewhere.....plus, look at the extra resources needed to remake all those Blu-Rays.
You would think people concerned so much about religion would also care about our planet.....I guess not.
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fail.
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People need to calm down about this kind of stuff...
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What was the point again? Where was the insult? How was it harmfull? Guess Sony thinks Americans are so intolerant they cant handle muslims? Hey, I'm an American, a white American at that! Am I soposed to hate any particular relgious group this week or is this sexual prefrence hatered week? I forget. Oh, right, this is IQ demotion week. All in favor of stupid ideas, say Sony.
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Political correctness gone mad but it's a game and I can wait an extra week, big deal. Let me tell you folks, the first thing a kid is going to do once he gets this game is create a Muslim level and stuff far worse. It's just what happens. It'll be interesting to see how they apply censorship to the level creators and yeah I saw the 9/11 beta one.
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Yea, sure kids can do mean things, but they definitely will make a Muslim level now just because of this. If no one ever said anything, no one would have known. I know most people, when playing, even if they heard the lyrics would have no idea.
All this did was bring negative attention to Muslims and I'm sure the effects of this, rather than just being two lyrics that people would ignore, will be far more insulting.
I'm calm about it, it is just a terrible waste that truly helps no one.
Sure, a few Muslims complained.....the ones we heard about. How many everyday Muslims not in charge of said group would have even cared or said anything. Maybe 10 in the world total. So, Sony wasted tons of money and damaged the environment with thousands of wasted discs to appease 10 people.
And then companies wonder why they run out of money and need government bailouts.
The proposed online patch would have been more than enough.
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Muslims complain all the time. These guys are as conservative as conservative gets and they live like it's the Dark Ages. I remember when a Danish comic-writer made one that laughed with muslims. Result? Muslims destroyed Danish embassies around the world.
Political correctness is crap and the age of humor is dead.
- A game about a fat princess: fat people feel offended.
- The 5th game in a series of killing zombies has black zombies in it: black people feel offended.
- A song in a game quotes the qur'an: muslims feel offended.
- ...
All these retards need to GROW UP and not be offended by everything and everyone. God damn stupid people ruining things for those in the world who are still normal.
Things like this really piss me off.
@tholly: You're 120% right. What a waste...people should care more about this planet and not be over-sensitive about everything.
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Sirgin, at least someone agrees with me. When all this planet's resources are gone or it is too hot to survive on because of global warming then maybe people will stop complaining.
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It's pretty sad in this day and age, but nothing really surprises me anymore.
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once again; fail.
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It's a good call by Sony.
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@tholly:
I would say way more than 10 Muslims would be offended by this. Have you seen what Sharia Law is like? Religion having an impact on gaming? BAD idea but then I am biased as a free thinking, non-religious, gamer! Religion should be a personal belief and not something imposed on others and I include Christianity and any other religion with that statement!
Environmental impact? Yes, totally ridiculous and unnecessary. A patch would have been fine.
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My main problem with religion is when religions try to impose themselves on people who are non-religious or on people who follow a different religion.
For instance, the current situation. Muslims trying to impose their beliefs on other people who now will never be able to see the game with this song in it, as it was intended by the creators.
This is a travesty on artistic freedom. It would be like someone going to a museum and putting underpants on a nude statue because they were offended by the nudity. No one would allow art to be defaced with a pair of boxers, so I don't see how video game art should be any different.
I also dislike when one religion tries to convert others. For instance, Christian missionaries going to random countries to convert, say, pagans. I am absolutely disgusted by that idea.
(Yes, I am an atheist and I do not believe that any sort of god or higher being exists at all.)
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@tholly:I totally agree. In the current world, the Islam does most of those things, and more extreme than other religions.
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@tholly: Yeah I agree with most of what you're saying about religion and the artistic freedom is a very good example. I just don't get why hardline Muslims would want a Playstation3 anyway? I think there is some irony there.
"I am not buying LBP until they remove that song! It's offensive."
- "Good point. Let's play GTA IV so I can steal cars and kill hoes."
LOL!
(my point being that all creativity has something people can be offended by)
Re: environmental issues. Do you remember at the G8 Summit when Bush said "goodbye from the world's biggest polluter!" whilst grinning and punching the air. And I thought I was a lil nuts lol.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2277298/President-George-Bush-%27Goodbye-from-the-world%27s-biggest-polluter%27.html
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You people obviously have no idea the power of Islam. It is the religion of undereducated yokels the world over and it is stuck in a perpetual 12th century outlook on the world and religious freedom.
I see no reason to give them any reason to start rioting or taking legal action when it may as well be removed. There are enough Muslims in the ghettos of Europe that serious trouble could be caused.
I do agree that it's bullshit and damn near censorship; but Islam is not a thing to toy with. WWIII will be Islam vs. the rest of us, and it's already begun. Do I think LBP would cause widespread looting and mayhem? No, but it's an interesting development.
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y2richie
I had no idea Bush said / did that. His idiocy never ceases to amaze me.....
The Maligned Leon
Well, the US may as well take Islam on now....why not. Everyone hates the US anyway....what's one more enemy. Maybe we can get them into the 18th or 19th century if we try.
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I sent Sony an e-mail asking how they felt about their decision and the impact it is going to have on the environment and the effect it will have on artistic integrity.
I doubt I will get a response, but if I do, I will share it with you all, although, if I do get a response, it will probably be a cookie cutter generic letter.
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Know where a lot of these discs will go? eBay!
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I think one thing people are forgetting is the large and loyal install base that Sony has in Arab nations and it's not the first time things have been censored for Christian or other religious beliefs. Xenogears, which is one of my favorite PS1 rpgs almost didn't see a release here because of it's displays of the cross and if I remember correctly saw alot of censorship, so it isn't like there's a double standard. Back on point - Sony is really highly regarded brand name in Arabic countries, Sony realizes that. So what should you learn about that for the people who say all of 10 muslims might be offended? It's a fact of simple economics. The recall was cheaper than potential lost profits. It's like any other company consumerism driven recall.
Muslims are very fickle with the way their religion is used. In this case, it was quotes from the Koran being sung as apart of the game soundtrack. Where? I can't tell you as I never noticed it when I was....well I can't legally finish that sentence without worry about my job, just fill in the blanks. Regardless, some people did notice it and wrote into Sony that they felt offended by it and would go to the media if Sony didn't do anything. They're not imposing their views on ANYONE and it's childish to think that that was their plan. What are they doing? They used their first ammendment to write to Sony and complain about something they felt offended them. There is NO LAW that states that Sony HAD to comply because it offended someones senses, Sony complied because of the previousily outlined statements in the first paragraph.
One thing I find great that no one is writing about though is that Sony did something at THEIR cost to make customers happy (Mostly because not doing it would cost more than the recall, I'm betting) and I think that's something not enough people are noticing and commenting about. Sony valued customers enough to retract a game that they'd already shipped, destroy the product (Guessing on that one) and ship out new versions of the game. Isn't this the same Sony that people love to hate? Sony was put inbetween a rock and a hard place, but instead of choosing to risk a gamble and potentially lose loyal customers, they bent over backwards to appease people.
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Wolfman Walt
As you said, no one is writing about what Sony did to make their customers happy at their cost. Of course were not, because Sony chose to make one group of customers happy, completely ignoring the concerns of all other customers bases as well as ignoring the artistic integrity of the original product.
I am very displeased with Sony's actions and think they definitely took a terribly wrong course of action.
The smart choice, both for the normal average user and for the environment would have been to either offer an optional, I stress OPTIONAL patch (could have been released via CD in the mail for those without internet access, thus cutting down drastically on the extra discs needed to be printed and could have also been released for USB upload to the PS3, cutting down for the CD printing all together), or they could have easily offered full refunds for those offended, or just offered optional music-in-question-free discs for offended users.
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But Tholly, Sony realized that it would probably be best to remove this on an E-rated family-friendly game which is being marketed as their big title for the holiday season.
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I don't have the answer for this, but what do you think the percent of people this affects actually is?
Consider the world population
Remove all non-Muslims
Remove all people who cannot speak and / or understand spoken Arabic
Remove all people that will never own this game and / or never own a PS3 and / or never have the chance to play this game
Remove all people that have their PS3 hooked up to the internet (since a simple optional patch would have then been possible)
How many people do you truly think are left? (Obviously it's more than my exaggeration of 10, but how much bigger?)
People are acting as though this truly affects every Muslim, but it doesn't....only those that fit the above criteria.
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@tholly:
It obviously does not, but Sony is simply saving face and preventing another Hot Coffee type scenario. Minor as the potential scenario may be, it's worth preventing.
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@tholly: Wait. So if someone makes an offensive remark in a game, it only potentially effects people who hear that offensive remark? What sort of logic is that? It doesn't matter who is able to view the content as much as the content is there. That's kinda how it works. You don't put out a niche product called "Towel head" and then include the option to mail in for an optional marker to change the title to whatever you like. You also don't make the claim that the product would only offend those who are Muslim who happen to buy it because it'd offend a good majority of muslims who heard about such a product. It affects all of them.
You say that this makes you SO angry at Sony and that they did the wrong decision. Are you still planning on buying it because they made you wait another week? Are you honestly that unhappy? You'd rather have Sony put out a product that would surely offend a large group of people, some of which who Sony has a vested interest in so you could have a game one week early. Remember, Sony doesn't just put out video games or Playstations. They produce electronics of all sorts.
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The artist of the song that caused the game to get delayed, Toumani Diabate, has spoken out about the controversy:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/using-koran-quotes-in-music-quite-normal
"It's quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed," Diabate explaine. "It's my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam"
Also:
http://www.edge-online.com/features/muslim-group-condemns-lbp-%E2%80%9Ccensorship%E2%80%9D
That article is a GREAT read.
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thank you tondog. I restate my point that, based on those articles, Sony made the absolute wrong decision. And, I revert to my statement that this only offends about 10 people. Looks like that is true. Actually, the only person this might offend is that original forum poster, and that is asuming they were being serious about their concern and not just joking around.
I have decided against purchasing this game ( I was going to. ) I would accept it for free I'd I ever got it as a gift or something like that, but I won't give Sony my money so they can stomp on artistic freedom and freedom of speech.
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Suprise, the guy who makes the music says his music is ok.
I restate my point by saying otherwise.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7679151.stm
"Manzoor Moghal, of the Muslim Forum think-tank, explained that words from the Koran should not be set to music because the words are seen to have come directly from God.
He added: "We must compliment Sony for taking decisive action by withdrawing these games immediately, and releasing a version that is not offensive to Muslims." Also, please note that media molecule did consider your patch idea, but instead chose to just remove the song. CHOSE TO. CHOSE TO. Sony didn't blungeon media molecule and I can tell you, if Media Molecule had known about it before, the song wouldn't have been in there in the first place.
So I can atleast say that everyone at THAT think tank would have been offended and believes otherwise contrary to you. I'd say that's probably more than 10 people. As for you not buying it, he, it's your money, but if you ask me, you're being ridiculous. Do you refuse to buy Rockstar or Square Enix games too?
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How many times do I have to say it? fail, on account of all parties involved.
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At best, Muslims are split on if they would be insulted or not. And, the "think tank" may or may not be representative of all Muslims and their point of view and ideals may not align with other Muslims.
To answer your questions, I have not purchased any newer GTA games because I basically just lost interest in the series after Vice City. I will say that GTA series insults all peoples equally though, so everyone can be equally offended by it. But with GTA, it's rated M and if you cannot handle mature material, you had been warned by the label prior to purchase, so there is absolutely no room for complaint with the series.
As for Square Enix, I couldn't tell you if I even have any games by them.....not sure.
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Muslims are no different then Jews. That is the flat truth. The is just sad in terms of world releases since this is no different then a VHS tape. The problem is that people in the west cry about religion too much. Look at Russia and how the west affected it. I have no problem with any religion. Personally you can still buy the Japanese game and hope for no uneasy ideas.
About Zelda. That is more of a Priest, Monk, or Shrine Maiden kinda thing that has to do with the dragon or whatever holy practice. Personally I never noticed it in Zelda since I played only the original version. I would sing to that all the time when I would play the Volcano level. Personally it sounds like the chanting from the Iria animations.
Remember the final battle with Zeriam and you can here Zeriams voice echo in the background?
This is just dumb even dumber then loco rocco. I mean Loco Rocco is really just a jungle creature and What is this
a doll in a small world. Oh wow great. I mean when did we go back to the 80's. This is not the 80's why is everbody so pro religious???
It is like the monkey advertisment. I mean monkey is man AKA Money is man
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"Someone, please think of the children!!"
Seriously, this is supposed to be a game rated for everyone is it not? Would any of you want the characters to start shouting "Jesus Christ" every time they fall down or do something silly? Would you, in a world trying to teach tolerance, want children disrespecting another's religion because their holy text is being used for entertainment purposes? Religious, non-religious it doesn't matter. I find it hard to believe so many are so ignorant of the world we live in to think freedom of speech means you can slander at will.
Six billion people on earth. 1.3 billion of those Muslim. Do the math folks, even a small % is a huge number well into the millions. Resistance had an interior floorplan of a church in their game and the Vatican came down on them like a lightning fury, this is no different.
How can anyone respect a religion or teach tolerance if it's used for cheap entertainment whenever someone felt like it? Should we perhaps start throwing racial slurs around as well? Will that give you good entertainment value? Maybe we can take steps to objectify women more, while we are at it, let's sterilize the homeless and clone Hitler. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Well so does remarking that Sony shouldn't respect the world's 2nd biggest religion. Try to remember that when you think about the fact that 1 out of every 5 people on this planet is a Muslim.
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The children? We are the children!
We have crown up with games with various figures from all over the world. Guess what videogames is fiction. Guess what? ficiton is a calaberation of various facts that is not related but is similar. Another thing to think about is how the Japanese really feel about us when they see us as a customer. They feel westerner gamers are too dumb to understand there way of gaming.
You know the Japanese are right. Our society is a relgious domnated society. There is too many people crying to god to even have a safe consumer base. Also with all the anti-gaming propaganda in the west; it is extremly hard for anybody to be creative here.
Look at all our works. Everything is anti establishment, Anti-society, and humanitarian. Guess what? As consumers we are too lazy and could careless to do anything about it. On the subject let us not forget a very important invention
of the Japanese. ORIGINAL VIDEO ANIMATION. Thanks to this invention you could make a animation free of restrictions and do as you please. In videogames the same has been done during this time.
Personally nobody cares at all. The west just keeps getting dumber and dumber; and we can't do a thing about it thanks to our european influence and hatefill ideas.
I mean come on I never knew that was Chanting until you people told me. I thought that was just the atmosphere of the level (which it is ). If this game was only released in Japan.
In the west the idea of mature is seeing unhealthy people doing feats of young adults who should be success full to a westerner Link in real life would be playing in the sand box and wetting himself; not saving the world from pig man and going on island dreamy vacations.
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In case anyone cares, the end result based on my revised copy of the game is that they kept the song in the game, but just removed the words.
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Moral of the story is that Sony will invest much more in Game Testing. Have the game tested by atleast 3 billion individuals from every country of the world. If all the complaints have been filtered out, release the game, hoping that the other 3.5 billion people won't be offended aswell.
It's just too expensive to have a little thing like this pull back all those printed copies.
PS: spot the sarcasm, even though it's true.
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