LittleBigPlanet Thread

[flameboy]

Well just seen this pop up on eurogamer;

 

Sony Europe has said that LittleBigPlanet "will start to appear in stores no later than the week commencing Monday 3rd November in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, on a country by country basis".

 

The platform holder added: "We appreciate all the enthusiasm surrounding this much anticipated title and we would like to thank PlayStation fans for their support and understanding."

 

In case you missed all this, LBP has been delayed after last-minute testing confirmed that one of the background tracks includes Qur'an references. Developer Media Molecule prepared a patch, which would have fixed it immediately, but Sony decided to recall every copy of the game worldwide to replace the disc with a new master version.

 

Media Molecule has admitted to being "shellshocked and gutted" by the discovery, but said Sony felt it had to act. In the meantime, copies of the game that have already made their way into the wild are changing hands on eBay for over a hundred quid.

 

Sony America has said the game will be released across the pond in "the week of October 27th".

 

So 2 weeks isn't all that bad to be honest. Gives me a week to play fallout 3 before it hits but then means it cuts into other games time...so nevermind.

[Serebii]

Well this was always going to take a backseat to Banjo for me anyway...but I'll still get good use out of it

 

Just got this from gameplay...perhaps the UK date?

 

First of all some bad news - Little Big Planet has unfortunately been delayed by Sony until Wednesday 5th November. Obviously all orders will be shipped for the new release date.

[flameboy]

I do wonder how much of an effect this is going to have on sales of the game, it was one of the first big releases now its closer towards so many other games. For me it makes little difference, just I now have a week to play fallout 3 tons before this hits, whereas before it was the other way round, also gives me longer to complete Bioshock.

[Tellyn]

Something akin to this Muslim chant predicament happened with Ocarina of Time, right?

[flameboy]

Something akin to this Muslim chant predicament happened with Ocarina of Time, right?

 

yep and all that happened was the offending song was removed from future prints of the game.

[Choze]

What is going to happen is that other games will cower at the might of Sackboy and Sackgirl.

 

Milk will be spilt, Cookies will crumble and Ice will be broken.

[Dante]

Edge Online:

 

Sony’s decision to recall LittleBigPlanet is pure cowardice and hypocrisy.

 

It’s also, probably, the right and sensible thing to do and might also be seen as admirable, at least in the swiftness of its execution.

 

The game features small snips of music, tucked away, featuring lyrics in Somalian that quote, directly, phrases from the Quran.

 

So far as I know there is nothing about the lyrics or the music that might offend anyone. What seems to be offensive is that some passages of the Quran, religious words of great significance to millions of people, are being used in the context of a rather silly (albeit awesome) videogame.

 

Muslims have complained although, at this point, none in any official or senior capacity. If people are getting upset, it behooves all decent folk to hear what they have to say, and make a judgment call. One ought to endeavor to get through life without being a pain to others, right?

 

Of course, Sony’s decision has nothing to do with simple rules of decency. Sony doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings. Sony cares only about its profits. In this, it is much like all corporations around the world, even the ones who pretend to be nice.

 

Sony has no view on religion. It has no view on anything other than a desire to be left in peace to make as much money as possible.

 

Sony has learned that pissing millions of people off is a poor way to profitability, and so avoids making this mistake.

 

But there are different shades of anger. I look at the movies, TV shows and music that Sony produces and, a lot of it makes me pretty angry because it’s such drivel.

 

But this isn’t the sort of anger that Sony execs are going to worry about, and I don’t blame them. Lots of people like these products, and who am I to brandish such consumers of crap as utter morons?

 

Then there’s another type of anger that Sony execs have had to face. Like the one where a Sony game features acts of violence in a place of worship.

 

You’ll recall that Resistance features scenes inside Manchester Cathedral, a Christian church.

A senior Christian cleric expressed anger about this game, and was covered extensively in the media. Sony’s response?

 

Did it rapidly recall the game?

 

Nope.

 

Did it offer an apology?

 

Eventually, and half-heartedly.

 

Did it release a self-serving defense of its actions?

 

That’s the one.

 

The difference here is in degrees. On the one hand, a game featuring some non-contextual direct quotes from a sacred text. On the other, a violent intrusion into a sacred place.

 

Sony’s decision to treat one with the utmost seriousness and the other with the utmost contempt is easily explained. The reaction to anti-Christian content in any media is usually measured in a slightly annoyed grey-head appearing on NPR or Radio 4. Content that is viewed as anti-Islamic often raises more visual protests.

 

Sony understands that extreme religious anger is something any sensible person or company will work diligently to avoid. It’s also something the media really loves to cover.

 

My point is not about the reaction of different religious people to perceived slights so much as the reaction by Sony to actual trouble.

 

Sony saw the possibility of bad press and angry scenes and made a very quick decision.

 

It ran.

 

But, of course, the next time it annoys a group of believers, it’ll have a much tougher job handing out a dismissive statement, such as in the Manchester Cathedral episode.

 

The other difficulty about this situation is the nature of LBP. This is a game that invites highly individual expressions of creativity and points of view, very often aggressive and contemporary. I fear there is much more LBP-related content coming soon that will make people very angry indeed.

 

And although this content will be beyond Sony’s control; there are many people in the world who will find this distinction irrelevant. Sony’s actions, while swift, have probably not been decisive.

Agree or disagree with him?

[flameboy]

I have to say I totally agree with it. Resistance arguably caused a bigger uproar in countries where it will sell in large numbers (ie countries where Christianity is a major religion, for example the UK), yet that feature stayed in and the game was launched. This song has been out for X number of years... and never seemed to have caused any sort of problem, yet as soon as its on something Western it is a problem. It's a shame as the song was only included as Media Molecule's attempts to have a global feel not only to the notion of this world of creators making games but also to the games music.

[Shino]

I hope they recall them back again and put the song back.

[Choze]

Wow, Edge are not any different Fox news or the Sun. Talk about misrepresenting the facts.

 

The Manchester issue started off as a complaint about how Resistance was increasing youth crime in Manchester to which a predictable reaction followed(indifference). Months later the church then changed that to Sony not asking for their permission. Sony then gave a 'donation'(much like hollywood movies as the The Da Vinci Code). Not only that but it was very minor since the game was well past its release date and hey day. They missed the boat so to speak.

 

This article is woefully ignorant of recent games like Zack & Wiki and Paper Mario, not to mention many games had to be recalled because they did not print the age rating on disks(stickers are no longer ok thanks to stricter rules). Ultimately games like GTA San Andreas decided the fate of how games are handled when it comes to censorship. If publications like Edge had been defending these games(or gaming in general) we would be in a different situation right now.

 

Regarding "So far as I know there is nothing about the lyrics or the music that might offend anyone.", mentioning a specific's faith preaching is not going to go down well. Especially about death. If Paper Mario had to be recalled over the word spastic then Sony did not really have a choice here.

 

The worst thing would have been for retailers to get angry first or some concerned parents make a complaint. This would have occurred without a recall. A patch is not going to answer parents or retailers concerns since GTA San Andreas. Everything on the disk has to be declared.

 

The only people who messed up are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony or the muslims(or both). This includes several posters above me.

 

I have to say I totally agree with it. Resistance arguably caused a bigger uproar in countries where it will sell in large numbers (ie countries where Christianity is a major religion, for example the UK), yet that feature stayed in and the game was launched. This song has been out for X number of years... and never seemed to have caused any sort of problem, yet as soon as its on something Western it is a problem. It's a shame as the song was only included as Media Molecule's attempts to have a global feel not only to the notion of this world of creators making games but also to the games music.

 

Again the church complained well after release in regards to Resistance and were making legal threats. Even Tony Blair commented on the issue

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/prime-minister-responds-to-churchs-complaints-over-resistance

and said companies have to take these issues more seriously. People all of a sudden using Resistance as an example are being extremely selective and non factual. There is no comparison between Resistance and LBP.

 

Countless games have had content changed over the year. As far as I can research no one had issues with any of them. Like LBP the issues that required changing were never intentional.

 

Oh and my copy arrived. You can buy it now if you really want.

[Dante]

The reason they said Resistance because Sony own it rights than Zack & Wiki and Paper Mario (you mean Mario Party 8 which "spastic" is only a offensive word in the UK.)

 

Here is the story of the controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance.

 

Who are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony?

[Shino]

So what exactly was the reason for recall? "Spastic" is an actual problem, being Muslim isn't.

[dwarf]

Well it's happened now hasn't it, so may as well accept the new release of 3rd November right?

[KKOB]

Well it's happened now hasn't it, so may as well accept the new release of 3rd November right?

 

But it is a horrible statement of the times in which we live whereby the tip-toeing around peoples irrational beliefs and personal delusions results in things like this. Simply ridiculous.

 

Also, pisses me off how the US gets priority of release of a British made game, in which SCEE has invested a lot of money.

 

Also pisses me off how the fear of offence has resulted in this over reaction. The original complaint was happy with the song being removed from future versions of the game, and a patch removing the offending lines.

 

Simply ridiculous.

[Choze]

The reason they said Resistance because Sony own it rights than Zack & Wiki and Paper Mario (you mean Mario Party 8 which "spastic" is only a offensive word in the UK.)

 

Sony owning Resistance is the only thing it has in common with LBP(although it could even be a MM franchise). LBP shares more in common with the two Wii games. The game to contain Spastic was Paper Mario.

 

 

 

Here is the story of the controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance.

 

Who are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony?

 

Oh lets see. The people jumping to rapid conclusions. The people calling this being a freedom of speech issue when MM did not even intend to use any religious material(like Zack & Wiki or Paper Mario)in a kids game. The people saying Sony did the wrong thing by recalling the game. The people using this a moment to hate on muslims. The people using this a moment to hate on Sony.

 

The hypocrisy and combination for bigots makes it completely stupid for debate and reasoning. Its embarassing that this is how many gamers are conducting themselves.

[Gizmo]

Wow, Edge are not any different Fox news or the Sun. Talk about misrepresenting the facts.

 

The Manchester issue started off as a complaint about how Resistance was increasing youth crime in Manchester to which a predictable reaction followed(indifference). Months later the church then changed that to Sony not asking for their permission. Sony then gave a 'donation'(much like hollywood movies as the The Da Vinci Code). Not only that but it was very minor since the game was well past its release date and hey day. They missed the boat so to speak.

 

This article is woefully ignorant of recent games like Zack & Wiki and Paper Mario, not to mention many games had to be recalled because they did not print the age rating on disks(stickers are no longer ok thanks to stricter rules). Ultimately games like GTA San Andreas decided the fate of how games are handled when it comes to censorship. If publications like Edge had been defending these games(or gaming in general) we would be in a different situation right now.

 

Regarding "So far as I know there is nothing about the lyrics or the music that might offend anyone.", mentioning a specific's faith preaching is not going to go down well. Especially about death. If Paper Mario had to be recalled over the word spastic then Sony did not really have a choice here.

 

The worst thing would have been for retailers to get angry first or some concerned parents make a complaint. This would have occurred without a recall. A patch is not going to answer parents or retailers concerns since GTA San Andreas. Everything on the disk has to be declared.

 

The only people who messed up are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony or the muslims(or both). This includes several posters above me.

 

 

 

Again the church complained well after release in regards to Resistance and were making legal threats. Even Tony Blair commented on the issue

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/prime-minister-responds-to-churchs-complaints-over-resistance

and said companies have to take these issues more seriously. People all of a sudden using Resistance as an example are being extremely selective and non factual. There is no comparison between Resistance and LBP.

 

Countless games have had content changed over the year. As far as I can research no one had issues with any of them. Like LBP the issues that required changing were never intentional.

 

Oh and my copy arrived. You can buy it now if you really want.

 

Every time you post you make yourself look worse and worse.

 

I'm too lazy to talk about most of your post so I'll just single out the most obvious;

 

The only people who messed up are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony or the muslims(or both). This includes several posters above me.

hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony or the muslims

 

the muslims

[Choze]

Well it's happened now hasn't it, so may as well accept the new release of 3rd November right?

 

Well you can buy it now if you really want. Its on Ebay. Before the early release date even.

 

Still some act like as if the LBP was ruined by Sony and muslims.

[Dyson]

Every time you post you make yourself look worse and worse.

 

I'm too lazy to talk about most of your post so I'll just single out the most obvious;

 

 

 

What he said.

[Dante]

Okay Choze I help you a few pages back by posting the mario party 8 screencap when you said it was paper mario and now on this page by giving you the link to Resistance story.

 

Does this look like Paper Mario to you!

[Daft]

Woe is me. The game is delayed a couple weeks. Whatever shall I do?...

 

People really need to sort their priorities out if this annoys them.

[Choze]

Every time you post you make yourself look worse and worse.

 

I'm too lazy to talk about most of your post so I'll just single out the most obvious;

 

 

 

OMG I used the M word.

 

To be fair this forum is not that bad, its easy taking in alot of information but i dont want to post in many forums(time). Its not like its wrong to be critical of Muslims but doing it without justification seems pretty common. Some forums were comparing LBP to the Danish cartoons lol. Others just like geting a rise out of the situation.

[flameboy]

Wow, Edge are not any different Fox news or the Sun. Talk about misrepresenting the facts.

 

The Manchester issue started off as a complaint about how Resistance was increasing youth crime in Manchester to which a predictable reaction followed(indifference). Months later the church then changed that to Sony not asking for their permission. Sony then gave a 'donation'(much like hollywood movies as the The Da Vinci Code). Not only that but it was very minor since the game was well past its release date and hey day. They missed the boat so to speak.

 

This article is woefully ignorant of recent games like Zack & Wiki and Paper Mario, not to mention many games had to be recalled because they did not print the age rating on disks(stickers are no longer ok thanks to stricter rules). Ultimately games like GTA San Andreas decided the fate of how games are handled when it comes to censorship. If publications like Edge had been defending these games(or gaming in general) we would be in a different situation right now.

 

Regarding "So far as I know there is nothing about the lyrics or the music that might offend anyone.", mentioning a specific's faith preaching is not going to go down well. Especially about death. If Paper Mario had to be recalled over the word spastic then Sony did not really have a choice here.

 

The worst thing would have been for retailers to get angry first or some concerned parents make a complaint. This would have occurred without a recall. A patch is not going to answer parents or retailers concerns since GTA San Andreas. Everything on the disk has to be declared.

 

The only people who messed up are the hypocritical bigots who are using this as a poor excuse to hate Sony or the muslims(or both). This includes several posters above me.

 

 

 

Again the church complained well after release in regards to Resistance and were making legal threats. Even Tony Blair commented on the issue

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/prime-minister-responds-to-churchs-complaints-over-resistance

and said companies have to take these issues more seriously. People all of a sudden using Resistance as an example are being extremely selective and non factual. There is no comparison between Resistance and LBP.

 

Countless games have had content changed over the year. As far as I can research no one had issues with any of them. Like LBP the issues that required changing were never intentional.

 

Oh and my copy arrived. You can buy it now if you really want.

 

I do agree with you it was never intentional, so why remove it? It's actually in there for a reason as Media Molecule apparently put a lot of work into finding a wealth of different and diverse music from around the world...

 

To me it is no different to for example the text before/after games and films that roughly say "this is fiction, and any relations to real people living or dead is purely coincedental, any offence is not intentional" why not have similar disclaimers for other content?

 

I do tend to agree with you on many things that you post up and down the length and breadth of this forums, but I do think the comparison with Resistance is there to be had, simply by distilling down the fact that they are both based on religion. Ok yes the situations and circumstances are very very different.

 

I think it is very much a "problem" with the UK and the Western world in general that if something offends the masses then it can be stomached. So in this case from the perspective of the UK if something offends White Christians then yes it can cause uproar, but in some ways is nothing compared to similar offence being caused to a "minority" religion (not worldwide of course as there are millions of muslims) It's odd and something that can't really be explained, it doesn't just extend to just religion. I think here in the UK our island mentality does have a big part to play.

 

There are far deeper issues here than just in game music...

 

On to the game, where did you get your copy from? You should slap it on ebay, I know I would if I had it! Call it profiteering but well worth it to me...

 

So what exactly was the reason for recall? "Spastic" is an actual problem, being Muslim isn't.

 

It is the mixing of the quotations from the Qur'an with westernised music that causes offence. But like I have said before the song has been out for years and it has been reported by gaming sites that it has not previously caused any sort of complaints or outcry from muslim communities. However the profile of both Sony and the game has obviously helped its cause.

 

Well it's happened now hasn't it, so may as well accept the new release of 3rd November right?

 

It's the 5th November... I am accepting of the date, I still think it is an over reaction however. If you look into plenty of things there is likely to be something that will cause offence and especially considering the song was merely included to extend the global image of the game is a shame as its almost like Media Molecule have shot themselves in the foot.

[Shino]

I think its not really people are concerned with the release date, its more the kind of treatment sensitive issues get.

[Choze]

Okay Choze I was helping you for your facts.

 

First i help youfew pages back by posting the mario party 8 screencap and on this page by giving you the link to Resistance story.

 

Does this look like Paper Mario to you!

 

Mario party 8, my bad. : peace: I remember it being bordered on the sides though. It was pretty awful as well... I keep thinking Mario Party was the glitchy unpolished one.

[Shino]

It is the mixing of the quotations from the Qur'an with westernised music that causes offence. But like I have said before the song has been out for years and it has been reported by gaming sites that it has not previously caused any sort of complaints or outcry from muslim communities. However the profile of both Sony and the game has obviously helped its cause.

 

That's my point, apparently not even Muslims care about it and I'm sure there are many musics with references to the Qu'ran. Why did they decide to make this such a big deal.