Little, big mistake to make.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear how could this have happened?  Is the world in which we live now in such a state that a few words can cause the recalling of a game?  Apparently the answer is yes, and by now I’m sure that most of you will be aware that this all relates to the worldwide recalling of the hugely anticipated Little Big Planet.  If you don’t know at this point, Little Big Planet, which was due to be released this coming week has been removed from all outlets, to be returned to Sony because an in game music track features two lines from the Qu’ran.  At this point many of you will see this as a potential hot potato with huge implications in both the gaming  world and indeed the world in general.  However it seems that the vast majority of gamers are seeing this in a far greater way, in ways which kind of disgust me but at the same time intrigued me to find out why they think this way.  First up, though, I have a quote which was released from Media Molecule -makers of the game.

“As some of you may have noticed, LBP has been slightly delayed in some territories. 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!

We learnt yesterday that there is a lyric in one of the licensed tracks which some people may find offensive, and which 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!), we 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 on-line 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.

Apologies to everyone excited to play the game and I can assure you that when it arrives, it will be worth the wait! We want everyone to be able to enjoy the game, and this tweak should help – we’re just gutted it couldn’t be sooner. MM continues to work hard to support the game too. We know that LBP will be something that you can enjoy for a long time to come, when all of this is forgotten and all that remains are thousands of incredible levels and creations to play, create and share.

[EDIT Sony are going to announce new dates and information re discs for each territory soon. We’ll keep you posted! The patch is ready from our side and I imagine it will go live at the same time as the game. More info when we get it. ]”

For the sakes of decency and the like I am not going to go into any great detail about what I have read but I shall give you some information.  On one website where the delay was announced comments flooded in ranging from, “oh no that’s terrible” to “F**kin’ ass***es” to some quite frankly horrendously racist comments.  I am upset about the delay but only because I was really looking forward to playing it soon, a few weeks wait is okay and better than some other delayed games.  However, to go on to forums and rant and rave like some lunatic is just plain out of line, yes some would argue that this is minority rule but obviously Sony see it as something bigger.

It is a fragile world that we live in today, words can be mistaken for others, actions can be taken wrongly – but this is just madness.  I know plenty of people and I’m sure that none of them speak nor understand Somalian, would you even notice the lyric if you didn’t understand it?  The idea of a patch sounded good to me but obviously the disc would still be tarnished with the lyrics.

Let me put it in some kind of context, being Scottish I hate to hear the phrase “Jock” being used to describe someone of Scottish descent.  I have heard it used in many games and indeed in the real world but I am of sound mind that I can ignore it when I hear it, even though I take it to be a racist slur.  Would I want a game to be altered to take into account my feelings?  What do you think!

Sony has gone a bit too far with this one and the repercussions could be huge in so many ways.  I just hope that the delay is of the shortest time possible and that I can play, create and share soon.  Just don’t invite me to play your Jock themed level or I might phone up Sony!