WOW.... *insert souja boy gif* PCGA totally ripped on them, this is fantastic :) Hopefully it's harsh enough for LucasArts to take note.

Like I've said before, I spent a lot of time playing the LBP beta and watching various videos with my small kids, and nothing I've seen leads me to the conclusion that Media Molecule would intentionally insert lyrics promising death or predicting Armageddon (or whatever). Add in the fact that fluent non-Arab speakers of the Arabic language are rare since its one of the hardest languages in the world to learn I am certain the white guys I've seen in the LBP videos had no idea what the words meant.

Sony opted for a recall despite the fact MM reported proposed a patch, but the end result is the same, so I don't see how MM would have been more free if Sony had gone for the patch (if MM agreed that the content needed to be chopped, does the means of the chopping matter?).

I oppose the babysafing of videogames (Congress hailing Martin Scorcese as a genius and attacking GTA is a sign of double standards) but this isn't a case of double standards. Very few artists (be they filmmakers, videogame makers, painters or writers) and/or production companies are willing to risk offending the Muslim community in large part because some of those that have wound up dead.

As for whether or not the music would have offended the community, that only way to find that out would be the hard way.

CarnageHeart

I agree with you up until this line. That is a very extreme and radical statement. How often have people actually died in the west for insulting Muslims? I can't think of one incident off the top of my head.

This is a matter of good buisness, and making sure all their customers are happy. Insulting a group of them isn't exactly economically sound.

Your logic is faulty.

Christianity is still the largest religion on the planet yet there are literally countless references found in entertainment that not only allude to it but in some many cases directly insult it. As a point of fact, most religions have been used in entertainment, often distorting or twisting the fundamentals for the sake of selling a product or telling a story.

Sony backpedaled here because the religion in question was Islam, which illustrates a double standard that I feel uncomfortable supporting.

I also disagree that this was the "best common sense/business move they could have made." Common sense would have been not even to draw attention to something that likely people would have never even heard or paid attention to. Sony acted prematurely out of paranoia and that reaction was overkill, especially since MM was prepared with a viable solution that (mostly) negated this ridiculous recall.

Also, this whole thing really annoys me as a consumer, especially during a time of year when I am literally neck-deep in awesome software. It's almost as if Sony, in their typical arrogance, decided that we as lapdogs would be content to wait for their leavings another week even as games drop all around us that demand just as much attention. Given the ridiculous amount of money I spend on this hobby, I just don't care for their attitude and the way I and other consumers are treated as expendable assets. If my money isn't good enough for them this week, why should I give it to them the week after?

Understand, there are no tears here. I'm simply taking a stand against this particular issue because I happen to love this medium and as Skylock pointed out, it's a medium that is striving for artistic credibility and legitimacy and this type of thing only hurts gaming as a whole. I'm also going to be sending Sony a formal statement, outlining my status as a long-time customer and included will be a copy of the receipt that shows the cancellation of Motorstorm 2, Resistance 2 and LBP preorders.

Perhaps if all it took was one complaint from a person on a forum to cause this kind of chaos then my singular letter will remind them that we as customers shouldn't be marginalized or taken for granted. Of course, that probably won't happen, but at the very least I don't have to feel culpable in this whole mess by supporting this nonsense.

Grammaton-Cleric

How does having this sound track that is insulting to the followers of a religion adding to the artistic value of the game? It's not, which is why the developer didn't hesitate to remove it.

It wasn't about one person finding insult in it, and the developer removing the content, and Sony recalling it. Sony or the developer would not have added it in the first place had they known this information.

As for using the humilation of Christianity in the media as an excuse. It's just that, an excuse. That said, i have yet to see Christianity humiliated in a video game. Why? Video games is a different kind of medium... as it's sold around the world, not just locally / nationally.

That said. Why exactly do you feel so hurt about this that you are willing to go as far as canceling your other orders. Are you upset that Muslims are being appeased?

Original Post that got the game recalled:

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:

mt14.quickshareit.com/share/p...lip22503c0.wav


The words are:

1- In the 18th second: "3;4; 6;1;س ذائ2;ة ا4;5;8;ت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death').

2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "3;4; 5;6; ع4;ي7;ا 1;ا6;" ("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 patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it.

We would also like to mention that this isn't the first time something like this happened in videogames. Nintendo's 1998 hit "Zelda: Ocarina of Time" contained a musical track with islamic phrases, but it was removed in later shipments of the game after Nintendo was contacted by Muslim organizations. Last year, Capcom's "Zack & Wiki" and Activision's "Call of Duty 4" also contained objectionable material offensive to Muslims that was spotted before the release of the final games, and both companies thankfully removed the content.

We hope you act immediately to avoid any confusion and unnecessary controversy, and we thank you for making such an amazing game.

Regards,
yasser

Why are people bringing suicide bombing into this. This really displays how extreme people's takes are over these things.

Sony's customers being upset is enough for them to make a global recall. They will and would lose sales if they released this game with those lyrics in there. For those of you who don't have a background on Islam: Music and the Qur'an do not mix. It's very inappropriate and blasphemous to do what is done in the song. Obviously those of you who are not Muslim wouldn't care, but real Muslims would, as it is offensive.

We live in a Global market. Offending people in the products you want to sell to them is like trying to serve food that has poison in it -- it's just plain dumb from a buisness standpoint.

[QUOTE="ShadowDragon720"]Uh, ok. Why the hell did they put that Quran lyrics in the soundtrack anyway? I mean it doesn't make sense especially if the lyrics were audible in a way.Skylock00

The guy who originally wrote the song that they licensed had those lyrics in it.

Still a bad move on their part, but I really think the overall response has been a rather poor turn of events.

That's not really a valid excuse though. Sony and the developers may not have crated the song, but they certainly licensed it for their game. At the end of the day, the medium still finds its way into the final product.

Aside from graphics, Crysis was an excellent game when it came to gameplay. The story itself was amazing, and one of the best I've seen in a FPS in a while. It wasn't cheesy, but instead pretty darn theatrical.

I don't know how FC2 will fair.

I believe some of reasons why devs want to switch to consoles only is because a chain of RENTAL STORES are guaranteed sales for a game, ya know the store has to buy the games first before they can rent them out. I hear of all sorts of kids renting games, copying them, and returning them. The devs don't know/care because blockbuster or gamefly already bought the game from them. it's still being pirated after though. Not as bad as pc piracy because at least the game dev gets some money somewhere. out0v0rder