LittleBigPlanet Catch-all

Um.... yeah. They should have delayed the game.

details what is being said.

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').

Those are some choice quotes. This was a smart thing to do.

Still...

This is the game I've been looking forward to more than any other game in a long time. I mean, it's from a pop song, no? How were they supposed to know?

Not sure what I'll play until then.

DSGamer wrote:

Not sure what I'll play until then.

I hope you're joking

If anything, this frees up my schedule somewhat to dig into all the other AAA stuff coming out, in addition to a growing fondness for Warhammer Online. If I hadn't used up all my holidays already this year I'd be seriously considering taking a week off and hitting the backlog.

So, apparently this is a link to the Google cache version of a message board post that allegedly started it all.

I kind of feel bad for the guy. He included his PSN ID in his post. I bet his inbox is brimming with solid goodness today.

I imagine this will result in the creation of anti Muslim levels once it hits retail again, too.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but won't this delay put LBP out on the same day as Wrath of the Lich King and Call of Duty: World at War? This could impact the day 1 sales.

Swat wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Not sure what I'll play until then.

I hope you're joking

If anything, this frees up my schedule somewhat to dig into all the other AAA stuff coming out, in addition to a growing fondness for Warhammer Online. If I hadn't used up all my holidays already this year I'd be seriously considering taking a week off and hitting the backlog.

I have no real backlog, though. Not in terms of recent games. Unless someone can convince me there's something out right now that has an amazing MP experience that I'm shamefully missing, I'm not terribly interested in SR2 or many of the other games that are out right now. Fallout 3 is interesting, but that's not out yet. I don't know.

WineGlass wrote:

So, apparently this is a link to the Google cache version of a message board post that allegedly started it all.

I kind of feel bad for the guy. He included his PSN ID in his post. I bet his inbox is brimming with solid goodness today.

I imagine this will result in the creation of anti Muslim levels once it hits retail again, too.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but won't this delay put LBP out on the same day as Wrath of the Lich King and Call of Duty: World at War? This could impact the day 1 sales.

I'm wondering how many people have already sworn off the game as a result of this. I've googled this story and a lot of commenters are saying they've cancelled preorders or won't buy the game. I don't know how many of them will actually follow through, but if what I've seen is indicative as a sample, the results could be nontrivial.

I won't be cancelling my preorder, but I can't say I'm happy about the delay.

As for what the lyrics translate to, I can see the point of wanting to remove them from the game. But considering that I know what the lyrics to 99 Luftbaloons mean, I find it hard to get worked up over. There's a lot of games out there with content I find objectionable, and you know what I do? I don't buy them. For all I know Sony does big business in the demographic that knows Arabic and finds the setting of those words to music so offensive that they won't buy the game. I certainly hope that's the case, though somehow I doubt that it's a big enough market to offset the bath that Sony really can't afford to take over this right now.

On the bright side, it gives that second controller I ordered as a surprise for my wife plenty of time to get here before LBP does.

By itself this isn't a big deal, but it does (inadvertently) build upon an anti-Islam stigma which exists in the gaming industry. Given the larger stereotype at play, SCEE made the proper call in delaying it.

johnny531 wrote:

By itself this isn't a big deal, but it does (inadvertently) build upon an anti-Islam stigma which exists in the gaming industry. Given the larger stereotype at play, SCEE made the proper call in delaying it.

You're probably right, though I question how many people would have even noticed it if not for this controversy.

Right or wrong, it sure is annoying. But, at least it gives me time to finish Half Life 2, which I'm getting ready to be done with at this point.

I'm more bummed about the delay than angry at anyone or anything. But now I really wish I'd gotten into the Beta.

I wish the beta hadn't ended so soon. But I'm actually ok with the delay. It spreads out some money that I can spend later, and due to the packed release schedule I was going to wait couple weeks before I picked it up anyways.

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').

Regardless of how harsh that translation sounds I don't think it is meant to be "bad". Technically all that is living on earth will indeed perish, and every soul will eventually "die". Anyhow, I think this is a particularily silly thing to recall a product on.

I can live with a week-long delay (though I am very disappointed). And I don't really take issue with the decision to take the politically correct approach and remove the potentially offensive content from the game.

What I do think is odd is Sony's decision to broadcast the specific nature of the delay, and the content that provoked it. Why not say it just needed another week in the cooker? Why not say, "We've discovered some unforeseen problems and we need to delay LBP for one more week to make sure everyone has the best experience possible." Sure, fans would be disappointed, but it wouldn't have ignited the backlash we're already seeing.

If you're delaying a game because you've found some potentially inflammatory content, it seems like it might be good business to keep the nature of the content under wraps. Sony didn't in this case, and now we'll be hearing not just from disappointed fans, but from a hateful subset of disappointed racists and bigots.

Nice move, Sony.

I think the big issue (at least for the specific poster on the forum) was not with the content of the text but that any text from the Qur'an was being associated with music at all. Now if this truly is the issue, it does seem like this outcry is two years too late since the song itself has existed for quite a while now.

Now I certainly would like to applaud Sony for trying to be conscious of the religious beliefs of their consumer base but I do not believe that a world wide recall is the appropriate course of action. Especially when a region specific recall, patch or consumer specific recall all could have functionally addressed the problem.

The Fly wrote:

What I do think is odd is Sony's decision to broadcast the specific nature of the delay, and the content that provoked it. Why not say it just needed another week in the cooker? Why not say, "We've discovered some unforeseen problems and we need to delay LBP for one more week to make sure everyone has the best experience possible." Sure, fans would be disappointed, but it wouldn't have ignited the backlash we're already seeing.

If you're delaying a game because you've found some potentially inflammatory content, it seems like it might be good business to keep the nature of the content under wraps. Sony didn't in this case, and now we'll be hearing not just from disappointed fans, but from a hateful subset of disappointed racists and bigots.

The problem with the approach you are suggesting is that the complaints already existed on the internet. And you know how the internet is. People would search for the reason for the delay, find that thread, it would become a widespread rumor that that was the reason. Then Sony would have to deal with the backlash anyways, but with the added layer of percieved 'cover-up' making them look even worse.

I think this was handled poorly (see my post above) but I think transparency is neccessary with any course of action as the situation stands at the moment.

I would like to agree with your complaint about those claiming that they're canceling their pre-orders. That's just stupid in my opinion. The game isn't going to be any less great two weeks later, and the fact that Sony made a judgment call with what could be potentially offensive material shouldn't be seen as a terrible thing. I understand you were hyped, so am I, but not buying the game because the publisher attempted to respect the beliefs of all it's consumers, now that's just a dick move.

Ah, only 1 week now. That's not so bad. Maybe I'll pick up SR2 now after all...

Ugh, it's always a no-win situation when you encounter something like this. Given the audience for this game I'm sure Qur'an levels will only be outnumbered by penis levels during the first week of release . . .

DeeVoc wrote:

Ugh, it's always a no-win situation when you encounter something like this. Given the audience for this game I'm sure Qur'an levels will only be outnumbered by penis levels during the first week of release . . .

Huh? I'm the audience for the game and I have no plans for penis levels.

Stylez wrote:
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').

Regardless of how harsh that translation sounds I don't think it is meant to be "bad". Technically all that is living on earth will indeed perish, and every soul will eventually "die". Anyhow, I think this is a particularily silly thing to recall a product on.

From what I understand, you're absolutely right: it's not meant to be 'bad'. However, it would seem that Muslim's find it deeply offending to have parts of the Qur'an recited to music and there's where this recall is stemming from. Honestly, I think this is a good move by Sony - even though I'm not a Muslim myself, I could understand where the poster in the original thread was coming from.

At this point though, I'm thinking 'poor Sony': first they offended the Catholic Church with the Manchester Cathedral thing in Resistance, now this.

dhaelis wrote:

At this point though, I'm thinking 'poor Sony': first they offended the Catholic Church with the Manchester Cathedral thing in Resistance, now this.

That was the Anglican Church, actually.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
dhaelis wrote:

At this point though, I'm thinking 'poor Sony': first they offended the Catholic Church with the Manchester Cathedral thing in Resistance, now this.

That was the Anglican Church, actually.

My apologies for that, you're right.

dhaelis wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
dhaelis wrote:

At this point though, I'm thinking 'poor Sony': first they offended the Catholic Church with the Manchester Cathedral thing in Resistance, now this.

That was the Anglican Church, actually.

My apologies for that, you're right.

And now you've offended both of them!

I just read the thread with the initial complaint. You're right Zoidberg, it would have been difficult to gloss over. Transparency does seem to be the best route given the circumstances. I just wish it didn't result in the kind of garbage we're seeing in response.

HaciendaSquish wrote:

And now you've offended both of them!

Awesome, I can finally check that off of my list of 'things to do before I die', which might not be long since I'm clearly an infidel/heretic.

dhaelis wrote:
Stylez wrote:
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').

Regardless of how harsh that translation sounds I don't think it is meant to be "bad". Technically all that is living on earth will indeed perish, and every soul will eventually "die". Anyhow, I think this is a particularily silly thing to recall a product on.

From what I understand, you're absolutely right: it's not meant to be 'bad'. However, it would seem that Muslim's find it deeply offending to have parts of the Qur'an recited to music and there's where this recall is stemming from. Honestly, I think this is a good move by Sony - even though I'm not a Muslim myself, I could understand where the poster in the original thread was coming from.

At this point though, I'm thinking 'poor Sony': first they offended the Catholic Church with the Manchester Cathedral thing in Resistance, now this.

I'm glad that Sony is showing extra care to a specific religious group. Of course, when one religious group kills people when they are offended by media, it helps push the company to be careful.

Ulairi wrote:

I'm glad that Sony is showing extra care to a specific religious group. Of course, when one religious group kills people when they are offended by media, it helps push the company to be careful.

Ouch. Cleveland here we come.

Asz wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I'm glad that Sony is showing extra care to a specific religious group. Of course, when one religious group kills people when they are offended by media, it helps push the company to be careful.

Ouch. Cleveland here we come.

P&C here we go.

It offended a group, they asked to have it removed (by patch and then from subsequent pressings, which would have meant no delay), Sony went further and decided to delay to remove. Sony made the choice to delay it. We can shout from the hills all we want, but many of our own religions weren't that much different 1400-1500 years after they were revealed to their followers.

P.S. - I'm Catholic married to a Muslim.

I still see a patch as a better solution.
Almost got a copy at BestBuy today, but at the last second a manager blocked me.

boogle wrote:

I still see a patch as a better solution.
Almost got a copy at BestBuy today, but at the last second a manager blocked me.

Agreed, I am livid that sony decided to delay it a week at all, I don't have a problem with them issuing a patch to remove the song and then from subsequent pressings but it's bullsh*t that now we have to wait

I have it preordered and will still buy it but I won't play it now till probably december because of it coming out on fallout 3 date.

Stupid Move Sony for delaying it is all I have to say.

O well such is life, I still hope LBP does really amazing but I think this will hurt it.

Lothar wrote:

I have it preordered and will still buy it but I won't play it now till probably december because of it coming out on fallout 3 date.

On the plus side, when you get around to playing it, LBP will actually be a better game.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:
Lothar wrote:

I have it preordered and will still buy it but I won't play it now till probably december because of it coming out on fallout 3 date.

On the plus side, when you get around to playing it, LBP will actually be a better game.

That's true especially since it should have a pretty cool levels by than.