Muslim backlash fears hit PlayStation game

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The release of one of the most hotly awaited computer games in the past year has been delayed over concerns some of the background music may offend Muslims.



"LittleBigPlanet" has been delayed due to background music that Muslims may find offensive.​

"LittleBigPlanet," described by review Web site IGN.com as an "instant classic," has been pulled from warehouses after it was noticed that one of its music tracks contained words from the Islamic holy text, the Quran.
The move is a blow to the Sony PlayStation game, seen as the console's first launch of an icon to match Nintendo's ubiquitous Mario, in which rag doll character Sackboy negotiates a lavishly designed world of platforms and challenges.
"We're sure that most of you have heard by now that one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Quran," a statement on the game's Web site said.
"We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused."
It said the game, initially due for release earlier in the month, will now begin shipping in North America in the week of October 27.
A statement on the Web site of Media Molecule, the game's UK-based developer, said the company was "shellshocked and gutted" by the delay.
"At MM, we were as shocked and dismayed by this as anyone," it said.

Source.

I think this is a bit overrated.

Peace,
​

 

Quite a dumb reason, but since we should not mix religion with games, it was probably a good move.

 

I think that's fair.

If the game contained anti-Christian sentiment there would be just as much outrage if not more.

 

Why shouldn't we mix religion with games? There are plenty of Christian themed video games out, designed specifically to promote Christianity. Final Fantasy X had strong religious overtones, yet (in my opinion) had one of the best game story lines of any I've played.

The problem isn't religion in games, it's asshole extremists that never learned how to play well with others.

 

A Christian would not consider a game "anti-christian" just because it recites textx from the bible

 

Why risk your business by offending 1.5 billion people? It's a smart business move, let's leave it at that.

 

That's not the point.

The song IS offensive to them. So take any anti-christian symbolism like an upside down cross or images mocking Jesus and replace the song with that.

I was just trying to get you to see it from their point of view.

 

So what if it's offensive to them? Christians have learned for the most part that society at large isn't going to walk on egg shells in fear that they will do something offensive towards their religion whether it's intentional or not. If it were christians complaining they'd probably be laughed at and then ignored.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the reason for the pull-out is just that the background song contains phrases that appear in the koran ("use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Quran"). What is that is offensive? Are those phrases offensive (but they are in the book!)? Is the rest of the song offensive? (I'm asking, I don't know what's the song about). Is every word in the koran copyrighted? I undertand the commercial tact of the company, and they certainly did well under a marketing point of view, but the whole thing is at least ridiculous, it seems.

 

Religious fundamentalist nutjobs usually live in a glass house. Always in a constant fear that someone might throw a stone and their house will crumble down. If they are so sure about their so called 'faith', why are they afraid of people even quoting a couple of texts from their so called 'holy book'? I think this explains everything.

 

Hi, as a Muslim, I regard the Quran as the word of God. I along with billion others believe Quran has never been corrupted and never will. At the end of the day, we find it offensive that people will use God's words this way. We ourselves would not do it. Simple as that.

 

specially about more important issues like gay marriage and the rights of mothers.

 

Nobody is dictating here but you're right there are dictators, like in every society.

It's a request and that company agreed. Well and good. Why argue?

Side note, why go all the way to include scripture into something which is not suited for it, it only calls for extremism on both sides.

If accidental(in this video game it was) then okay, but intentional then it's clearly hate.

 

The news just states ""concerns some of the background music may offend", an assumed backlash, who knows this is not for free publicity? This stuff is quite trendy nowadays, "hey we produced a soap that may offend Muslims, there is nothing wrong with it they are being irrational, try it yourself and see" (buy 3 pay 2 ^^, btw)