LittleBigPlanet developer "shellshocked"

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 October, 2008

New date imminent, eBay prices mental.

LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule has said it is "shellshocked and gutted" at having to recall and remaster the PS3 platformer worldwide after a community member spotted references to the Qur'an in one of its background tunes.

"As some of you may have noticed, LBP has been slightly delayed in some territories," technical director Alex Evans wrote - with some measure of understatement - on the developer's official website. "At MM we were as shocked and dismayed by this as anyone - shellshocked and gutted. We can't wait for you all to get playing and creating!"

Evans said the developer only found out about the offensive lyric on 16th October after it "slipped through the usual screening processes".

"Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously. LBP should be enjoyable by all. So within 12 hours of hearing about this issue involving a lyric (in Somalian, I believe!), Media Molecule had prepared an automatic day 0 patch and had a new disk image ready.

"However, a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support of people with no online [PlayStation Network access] was to replace existing disks. They assure us that they are doing everything in their power to get things straightened out as fast as possible, and will announce dates soon."

Elsewhere on the European PlayStation.com forum, one of Sony's community managers elaborated on the nature of the problem and its solution.

"LittleBigPlanet will be remastered in order to remove a track from the game that contained two expressions found in the Qur'an," he wrote.

"Whilst shorter expressions from the Qur'an are sometimes used in Nasheeds, we are aware that the mixing of musical instruments with recognisable extracts from the Qur'an is offensive to Muslims. Therefore, we have taken immediate action to rectify this. We will confirm a new launch date shortly."

Sony America issued a variation on the original SCEE confirmation statement late on Friday, in which the platform holder said the game would arrive in US stores in "the week of October 27th". Sony Europe is expected to confirm a new date imminently, amidst suggestions the game will be released on 31st October or 7th November. (UPDATE, 11.16am: Sony has now said the game will be out here in the week commencing 3rd November.)

In the meantime, the delay has caught national press attention in the UK, and promo versions - already distributed to journalists and folks connected to Sony - are exchanging hands for desperate sums on eBay, peaking at over GBP 100 yesterday.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Vanmunt #1 3 years ago

    what moron would pay £100 to play a game a week early... seriously that is pretty fricken sad.

  • bad09 #2 3 years ago

    Like the people who got consoles (like the 60gb PS3, GRRRR!!!!!) at inflated prices, people are mugs if they pay those sort of prices.

  • Vice.Destroyer #3 3 years ago

    What moron would pay £100 to play a game early? Well, young grasshopper, let me tell you a story. Many years ago, I witnessed Shekhana Games shop in Wood Green, London do an impromptu auction for the last japanese import copy of Street Fighter II on SNES. £150. All because the fella could not wait for ONE week for stocks to replenish.

    Enthusiasts have always had more money than sense. That never changes.

  • BraveArse #4 3 years ago

    I would have thought it was more to do with the potential value of those unedited copies of the game in years to come. Collectors will pay far more stupid money in a few months/years time. These will be the only copies in existence with the offending lyrics on disc.

  • t8yman #5 3 years ago

    storm in a teacup this one, but great publicity for Sony, surely the most sensible course of action would be to have the patch, and a replacement service for anyone not connected to the PSN who happens to give a flying toss about this anyway.

    the resources used and disposal of all this plastic are an unnecessary waste.

  • Rodney #6 3 years ago

    I reckon your average Halo fanboy would donate a few non-essential organs to play a new Halo game a week early.

    I feel bad for the LBP developers. the culmination of all their hard work focused on getting the product ready on time only for the release date to be put back two weeks. must be frustrating for them.

    I wonder if the copies of the offending version floating around will someday be worth something to antique game collectors...

  • Rodney #7 3 years ago

    BraveArse, you beat me to it!

  • Vanmunt #8 3 years ago

    my brother imported sf II for the snes and paid £100 for it... then £100 was a 'lot' of money... mind you I did pay over £300 for my PS1 when it first came out, so £300 for a PS3 seems a bargain!!!

    still you only have to wait a week, patience is a virtue!
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/08 @ 09:02

  • Kiigan #9 3 years ago

    If I have the money to spare, and it seems like good value to me, why not spend extra to get a game early?
    It's just down to your own priorities and your budget.

  • Beano #10 3 years ago

    I understand the delay (although a huge overreaction).... but SCEE, get your fingers out and announce a new date now!

  • menage #11 3 years ago

    I still don't understand that nobody tried checking the lyrics in the first place.

    "Oh, three's some weird gibberish chanting through the song, what could it mean? Oh hell who cares anyway. let's just put it in and be done with it!"

    Jeez.

  • jolboy #12 3 years ago

    I think the same sort of thing happened when the Getaway was first released on the PS2. There was one level when you had to beat up a BT engineer, for some reason BT took offense to this so they had to re-release the game with all the BT logo's taken out.
    From what i remember then the original copies of the game were hot property on the internet.

  • nickthegun #13 3 years ago

    I would be shellshocked if my publisher recalled my product for such an utterly retarded reason.

    FEAR THE MUSLIM WRATH! GO ON! FEAR IT!!!

    (That comment was aimed at all the hand wringing and panicked appeasement going on, not at actual factual muslims)

  • Vice.Destroyer #14 3 years ago

    Nickthegun will soon feel the full force of the fatwa.

    (I hope that does not offend anyone? I would hope that that was quite an obvious joke, not to be taken as malicious or a slight on the religion of Islam)

  • nickthegun #15 3 years ago

    It was clearly an attempt to avoid the bad press of burning Sackboys outside the Sony embassy.

  • kangarootoo #16 3 years ago

    People who freak out over release dates have a screw loose. I simply can't understand why it matters. Unless you are on your death bed, or aren't allowed to go to the toilet until you own a copy of game X, why does it matter when it comes out? We always have to wait for something. Blame the laws of physics and Stephen Hawkings if you have to blame anyone.

  • Artemus #17 3 years ago

    There's a LOT of games coming out the 31st.

  • optimusprym8 #18 3 years ago

    all part of the me, me, me theology and the must have it now! credit busting way we're raised.

  • RazorObsession #19 3 years ago

    @vice.destroyer

    I was doing my work experience at Shekhana Woodgreen when they had that auction. I couldn't believe it either. though they were proper cunts in that place.

  • Hexobot #20 3 years ago

    Sackrilegious Boy!

  • themorganator #21 3 years ago

    What a load of bullshit.

    I can't stand this PC world we live in. I'd imagine Muslims have bigger things to worry about these days than a few lyrics.

    It's their problem they're offended anyway. Send it out as it is.
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/08 @ 09:55

  • chicknstu #22 3 years ago

    Don't worry guys. This week we've got Fable 2, Farcry 2 and Dead Space.Then next week it's Fallout 3..

    This delay makes the next few weeks a hell of a lot simpler, and easier on the wallet!

  • keyboardmonkey #23 3 years ago

    Pure Marketing genius , to take the hype to another step up from what it had already become.

  • Chimpanzee #24 3 years ago

    The delay in UK/Europe had better be along the same lines as that in the US. But knowing how SCEE treats it's customers, I'll expect the November 7th date or later.

  • Chimpanzee #25 3 years ago

    jolboy: "I think the same sort of thing happened when the Getaway was first released on the PS2. There was one level when you had to beat up a BT engineer, for some reason BT took offense to this so they had to re-release the game with all the BT logo's taken out.
    From what i remember then the original copies of the game were hot property on the internet. "

    I must have had one of the original copies and not even noticed then. I'm pretty sure I beat up a BT engineer when I played the game. I remember thinking "I'm surprised BT don't have a problem with this!"

  • Beano #26 3 years ago

    "It was clearly an attempt to avoid the bad press of burning Sackboys outside the Sony embassy. "

    OR... even worse (for Sony): people in the Middle East stop buying Sony products.

  • Beano #27 3 years ago

    "Sackrilegious Boy! "

    LOL!!

  • KreyAtiv #28 3 years ago

    Well at least it makes sense why they didn't go with the Day 0 automatic patch.
    I do think it is madness that people are forking out £100 for a promo copy of the game on Ebay.
    I'm eager to play it but with other games coming out I can amuse myself with one of them whilst I'm waiting for the new release date.

  • sneetch #29 3 years ago

    @Hexobot
    "Sackrilegious Boy!"

    LOL.

    Seriously. A huge snorting laugh; it's drawn a lot of attention here at work. I'm trying to pass it off as a cough.

  • rhubarbandcustard #30 3 years ago

    Does this palava not indicate that Eurogamer need to emply staff who are not exclusively white and middle class as it is at present?

    You don't exactly represent a large group of your readers do you?

    And your inability to understand why some of us agree with the LBP withdrawl suggests you are unlikely to represent us anytime soon.

  • Jay-ITFC #31 3 years ago

    Why not let the game go on sale as planned for anyone that's not easily offended and/or not a Musilm. Then in a few weeks released LPB: Qur’an Muslim Edition with said content removed and a couple of extra goodies thrown in? Everyone's a winner...

  • oliath #32 3 years ago

    This whole delay sums up why 360 is better than PS3.....
    Microsoft wouldn't give a crap about any offense it caused and just go ahead and release the game on schedule lol

    (i own both consoles btw and actually love them equally)

  • canIdoyabombsforya #33 3 years ago

    "what moron would pay £100 to play a game a week early... seriously that is pretty fricken sad"

    I would rather spunk my money on a single game, than spunk my whole life on a fairytale told 2,000 years ago.
    Seriously a warning sticker on the box would suffice. They dont have do buy the game ffs

  • superjag86 #34 3 years ago

    I really feel for MM as that team of 26 has done an amazing job and now they get screwed by 5 or so people who are "offended" - boo hoo! The whole situation is BS...

  • bonker #35 3 years ago

    "Does this palava not indicate that Eurogamer need to emply staff who are not exclusively white and middle class as it is at present?

    You don't exactly represent a large group of your readers do you?

    And your inability to understand why some of us agree with the LBP withdrawl suggests you are unlikely to represent us anytime soon. "

    What???

  • bonker #36 3 years ago

    "Sackrilegious Boy! "

    Big lol :)

    How long before images of Sack Girl, replete with burqa, appear?!

  • guernican #37 3 years ago

    The white middle classes are far more oppressed than you think.

  • Monkey_Chops #38 3 years ago

    I hate nasheeds. It's really bad music. Glad they're taking that out!

  • RedSparrows #39 3 years ago

    'The white middle classes are far more oppressed than you think. '

    Only in as much as anyone else is.

  • 3william56 #40 3 years ago

    "Does this palava not indicate that Eurogamer need to emply staff who are not exclusively white and middle class as it is at present?
    You don't exactly represent a large group of your readers do you? "

    Er, yes they do. As I don't see anyone else in here complaining about an honest attempt to bring unusual and ethnic music to the masses being derailed by bleeding hearts and over sensitive religious nut jobs. Was the lyrics chosen by Sony or MM? I think not. Do they insult the religion or Koran? Nope. Any Mohammed representations? Nope. Would most muslims either notice or give a sh*t? I can't speak for them, but I think they are smarter and have better things to do. (Ditto the daft Resistance nonsense from last year)

    So really, these wowsers need to get a life, learn tolerance of others, or go live in an asbestos bag insulated from all media in case their precious wickle ears hear naughty words.

    God (of whatever flavour) is a little bigger than that, and can take an innocent lyric or two without the universe coming to an end, or can have a word with the guilty come judgement day. He doesn't need a bunch of sad sacks protecting Him like a three year old girl.