Nekofrog Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/10/17/sony-littlebigplanet-to-be-recalled-on-global-level/ SCEE has just confirmed to VG247 that shipped LittleBigPlanet units are to be recalled on a global level thanks to a licensed track in the game containing two “expressions” from the Qur’an. SCEE has made a just made a statement on the issue, saying the game will be delayed as a result of the issue, but hasn’t confirmed a new release date as yet: Quote: During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused. It was thought this afternoon that shipped units of the game were to be pulled back in Europe, but the move will be made “worldwide,” Sony’s just told us. When asked how many units are to be recalled, a SCEE rep said, “We haven’t been given any figures.”. Yikes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jam Stunna Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Score for political correctness. Is there even a PS3 in the entire Middle East? This is seriously getting ridiculous now; I know that OoT had the music for the Fire Temple redone because of Muslim chanting, and now we're dealing with the same thing 10 years later still? Ship the game, it's time to stop appeasing the lunatics that are going to call for Jihad over a video game. On the other side though, if SCEE feels this is something that's truly worth a delay (it's not), how did they miss this all the way up until after they shipped it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwing Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 "Oh no, we have reference to a religion in our game!" I don't see the big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FR Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 :c seriously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirChadlyOC Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 WOW. At work (GameStop), we already have our Little Big Planets in. They are street dated, so they are sitting in a stack in the back room. It'll be really awkward put those back in a box and ship them out again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I recall spotting a news report on google about how the christmas play was cancelled in a school, christmas overall cancelled in the school because it might offend the moslims. Strangely, the moslims in the area, moslim parents of children in the school had no problem with christmas. So before blaming the middle east for the delay, how about we think about who actually has got a problem with the verses. This is an expression from the Qur'an, not a caricature of their prophet. So why? Fear of Jihad? Belief that games can't be enjoyed if they contain religious music or music containing religious "expressions"? Anti-religious bias? Political correctness just for the sake of political correctness? Or maybe it's fair. Europe gets the games last. This might put the european release a bit closer to the rest of 'em. edit: found reason, see kotaku Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollgagh Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Or maybe it's fair. Europe gets the games last. This might put the european release a bit closer to the rest of 'em. in your dreams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 according to loltaku, the words actually mean something! To: Sony Computer Entertainment & Media Molecule While playing your latest game, "LittleBigPlanet" in the first level of the third world in the game (titled "Swinging Safari"), I have noticed something strange in the lyrics of the music track of the level. When I listened carefully, I was surprised to hear some very familiar Arabic words from the Quran. You can listen to part of the track here: http://mt14.quickshareit.com/share/preview/soundclip22503c0.wav The words are: 1- In the 18th second: "كل نفس ذائقة الموت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death'). 2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "كل من عليها فان" ("kollo man alaiha fan", literally: 'All that is on earth will perish'). I asked many of my friends online and offline and they heard the exact same thing that I heard easily when I played that part of the track. Certain Arabic hardcore gaming forums are already discussing this, so we decided to take action by emailing you before this spreads to mainstream attention. We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online update, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it. We hope you act immediately to avoid any confusion and unnecessary controversy, and we thank you for making such an amazing game. Regards, NSider (On behalf of the gamers at True-Gaming.net) Maybe that will give it a little bit of context. Personally, I think Sony are pussies for taking this out!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Wolf Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Weirdness. Seems to me that people would appreciate hearing their holy text spreading around, however it might happen. Or maybe they're just sore cuz we're not supposed to know about the part where they kill everybody. Like if it said 'Allah makes me happy like a fluffy bunny' would it be OK? I dunno. On the other hand, there are militants who probably would pitch a fit over this. On the other other hand, it conveniently gives me a little more time to save up for the game before it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobaltstarfire Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I think it's more of a cultural thing, in Islamic art for example you aren't allowed to depict anything literally, especially if it's religious that's why Islamic art is all geometric patterns and such. I'm not sure about music, but maybe it's something similar. Or maybe the Quran is extremely sacred to them, and they only wish for it to be spread in the "correct" way. The particular words in it aren't exactly nice words to have in a song, whether they're from the Quran or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Wolf Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 No. They are not nice words at all, and they make me sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwing Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Still don't see the problem. Every one will die eventually and this planet will cease to exist sometime down the line. That's what those lines mean, and they are true. People need to stop being sissy little girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Wolf Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I wasn't being a sissy little girl. I was all "Fuck yeah! I'ma play me some LittleBigPlanet REAL soon, and I don't even care if it has Muslim deathchants in it!" Then somebody pissed in my Kool-Aid. totally their fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollgagh Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 SW, he's talking about SCEE and/or the mus/moslims (whatever the hell the spelling is) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Wolf Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I know he is. I just want the world to know that SOMEBODY pissed in MY kool-aid, and now I don't get to play LBP when I wanted, and THAT is triflin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollgagh Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 so what is this thing, anyway I didn't feel like browsing the site on my SDTV and never think about it on my PC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwing Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I wasn't being a sissy little girl. I was all "Fuck yeah! I'ma play me some LittleBigPlanet REAL soon, and I don't even care if it has Muslim deathchants in it!"Then somebody pissed in my Kool-Aid. totally their fault. Yeah sorry that was me. The bathroom was occupied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malaki-LEGEND.sys Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Ahh... Muslims. Reminding us all what hundreds of years of severe indoctrination does to a people. Sucks for everyone wanting to play LBP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Still don't see the problem.Every one will die eventually and this planet will cease to exist sometime down the line. That's what those lines mean, and they are true. People need to stop being sissy little girls. Yeah it's fucking littlebigplanet though. I'd understand if this was like, Fallout 3. But it's not. It's littlebigplanet. Who wants to hear lyrics (whether or not you understand them) that you are aware say those kind of things while playing LittleBigPlanet? True, for some of us it would be pretty entertaining for the two elements to mix. But kids are going to play this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Ahh... Muslims. Reminding us all what hundreds of years of severe indoctrination does to a people. Um, yeah, okay, thanks. :\ Oh and for you guys saying that those verses are referring to people killing each other, you're wrong. Those verses are about Judgement Day. You know, the end of the world when everyone dies and we're all judged? Pretty sure the Bible has some pretty specific descriptions of what happens on Judgement Day too. It's not a deathchant about killing people. :\ Do you really want verses about the end of the world in a game like Little Big Planet? Come on. And here's the reason Muslims don't want it in there: they're using sacred text to make something "sound cool." They're stripping the meaning away and just using it to make the song sound "exotic." It's a phrase; it means something. The objection isn't "OMG VIDEO GAMES ARE THE GREAT SATAN AND MUST BE CONDEMNED TO THE HELLFIRES!!" The objection is "Hey, this is from a religious text that means something, and we're trying to protect that because we care about it." There are plenty of ways you can make something sound exotic without going straight to quoting the Qu'ran. There's a great deal of secular Arabic vocal sampling that can be used for that kind of thing. Yeah, the game got delayed, and that sucks, but don't start insulting the entire population of Muslims in the world just because a PS3 game is coming out a few weeks later. If you do, I will ban you, because you are the great Satan. Edit: and before anyone gets on my case, no I will not ban you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 And all this time I've been seeing allegory's of Satan/Lucifer being the embodiment of enlightenment to humanity Yeah that was uneccesary... But even if those particular lines from the Qu'ran are from their depiction of Judgement Day, would that hint something of a Doomday event occuring in "LittleBigPlanet"..? Such as a set of events that causes it to occur and you have to some how construct something to save the planet..? Or was it just some bad coincidence that it just happens to be in a song with the word "safari" in it..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 If you do, I will ban you, because you are the great Satan. Edit: and before anyone gets on my case, no I will not ban you. I was sooo happy until I saw the edit. Of all the reasons to ban someone, I think being the great Satan is pretty high up there. Regardless, I don;t think the specific lyrics really fit the LBP theme anyways. All this recall will do is make us more jealous of the dudes that got their (now COLLECTOR EDITION) versions of the game early due to the broken street dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 And all this time I've been seeing allegory's of Satan/Lucifer being the embodiment of enlightenment to humanity Yeah that was uneccesary... But even if those particular lines from the Qu'ran are from their depiction of Judgement Day, would that hint something of a Doomday event occuring in "LittleBigPlanet"..? Such as a set of events that causes it to occur and you have to some how construct something to save the planet..? Or was it just some bad coincidence that it just happens to be in a song with the word "safari" in it..? Are you saying that Little Big Planet is actually a metaphor for the human condition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Might this be the most expensive VGM-related mistake ever made?? Anyways, glad Shariq chimed in, as some of the comments were headed in the wrong direction. I'm always interested in talking with him about Islam because he helps temper some of the perceptions I'm fed by the media and others. Whether it's LBP or Fallout 3, a game developer should be prudent/pragmatic enough to realize that including content like this is going to be offensive. Sometimes it's an intentional thing, to get a media grab & free advertising, and sometimes it's just a screw-up, as this appears to be, but either way, you do have to wonder what the composer in question was thinking. I could easily see this being a case of ignorance, too: someone searching their sample library for "ethnic chanting" or googling for public domain samples of such or whatever, finding said quotes, and not even bothering to vett them. How much sense do they make in context, on the level? If it's deliberate, it really is an odd decision. Other side of the coin: different things offend different people. Having a thick skin is, in my opinion, a rational and advantageous personal AND cultural characteristic, but you can get almost anyone riled up with the right words. Furthermore, Muslims don't try to hide or obfuscate what they object to... it's all pretty straightforward, they spell it all out, so it should never surprise anyone that instances like these raise eyebrows. In this instance, the quoted email sent to Sony was phrased very politely and makes a calm explanation of the issue. That's some pretty damn tactful "fanaticism" there HOWEVER, I think the reaction this is causing amongst some is fueled by the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, where there WAS overreaction, violence, and what seemed like fanaticism to me. The problem with events like that - which Islam doesn't attempt to distance itself from enough, in my opinion - is that when rational Muslims make calm, understandable objections to things like this LBP content, it's hard not to resurrect such events in one's mind and make connections. Is that fair? Not at all... but, like I said, if mainstream Islam did more to distance itself from extreme reactions like the cartoon event, there'd be less misunderstanding and generalization. Pretty much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirChadlyOC Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Thank you for adding some intelligence to this thread, DS. I'm gonna stop by GameStop on my way home from work and see if they have any official info from corporate yet as to when/how they are shipping the games back. DETAILS TO COME! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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