Slog - Comments on Offense Alert http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert Sony announced today that they've begun a worldwide recall of their fall blockbuster game LittleBigPlanet. This "platformer 2.0" game, loaded with tons of user-made content and Pixar-esque art design, was set to hit stores one week from today--and is sitting in a lot of stores right now--but they'll all have to come back to Sony while new discs are made. Reason? A song by the Mali group Toumani Diabate's Symmetrical Orchestra is in the game, and its lyrics contain lines from the Qu'ran. In spite of the same song seeing release by Nonesuch Records in 2006 with no complaints,... Copyright 2008 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:26:58 -0800 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:14:58 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Simon OMG! the top character has it's thingy all stitched up.

]]> Simon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177522 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177522 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:46:14 -0800 Comment by i hate sony club USA You know, I, and everyone else and their mother...we were super pumped for Little Big Planet. Were. Over a year ago. They've delayed the living shit out of it. This is really the only reason to even have a PS3 right now, save Heavenly Sword and Drake's. Both of which you can beat in under six hours or so.

I haven't played the beta because I've simply lost all interest in the game. I don't want to give them money. I don't want to play it. I'm boycotting the shit out of it. Too little too late, guys.

]]> i hate sony club USA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177528 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177528 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:54:22 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @2 for the win.

Just don't care, I'm busy inscribing in WoW (level 85) ...

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177529 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177529 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:56:33 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave How does a level 85 dork have time to date pageant contestants?

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177556 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177556 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:17:33 -0800 Comment by bearseatbeats Damnit! I want to play this game.

@2 and 3

Seriously? You're going to boycott a game because it's been delayed? That's fucking retarded.

Heavenly Sword is all button mashing masturbation and Drake's Fortune....how many pirates do you seriously have to kill to get off the goddamn island?

I don't think we like the same games. At all.

]]> bearseatbeats http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177558 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177558 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:18:48 -0800 Comment by Mikki That is right BA, I'd forgotten about Will's dating history. Tell us Will, did any of these contestants you dated ever actually win Best in Show?

]]> Mikki http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177560 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177560 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:21:47 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave Best in Show...hahahhaha

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177561 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177561 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:23:43 -0800 Comment by Chris in Tampa I've been playing Mother 3 all morning. It's sort of boring so far.

]]> Chris in Tampa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177569 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177569 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:28:50 -0800 Comment by dork2 A person can level inscription to level 85 in an evening.

but that doesn't mean he's still maybe a dork.

]]> dork2 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177577 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177577 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:33:24 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe @5

It's been delayed countless times, to the point where it's obvious they've been focusing more on their bongs than their game. "We're adding some new features," yeah, and here's my dick. Suck it.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177580 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177580 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:34:48 -0800 Comment by Ariel Gawd, I used to love Earthbound. The first one. Still do. How did I not know there were sequels? This is what you get when your gamer older brother moves out of town; your nerd-information pipeline is disconnected. Thanks, Sam for hooking me up.

]]> Ariel http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177585 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177585 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:40:10 -0800 Comment by kinaidos Um, it's simply against Islamic law, always has been, to set the Quran to music other than chanting, which retains the original inflection of the arabic.
Marcel Khalife, the Lebanese Oud virtuoso, was caught up in a crazy prosecution years ago for setting a bit of the Quran about Yussuf to music, even though that was an attempt to create a modernized version of something close to the chanted version.
Why SONY feels compelled to respect Islamic law is beyond my ability to explain however. I would expect that most of the versions of any game played in the Islamic world are pirated.

]]> kinaidos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177628 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177628 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:08:35 -0800 Comment by mo Jesus Christ someone's opinionated.
Stop and play with the possibility that they recalled the game not for offended Caucasian Americans, but because of the letters sent in by Muslims who'd felt they'd been disrespected.

Sacred text is sacred text. Some people are apathetic as to what form their particular brand of it is used for and how it's copied -and that's fine, have at it- but others are not and instead have strong feeling about how the words that they find meaningful are used in public spaces-- and it doesn't take that much humanity to respect another person's spiritual boundaries. Hopefully you have enough to look at this situation a different way from the role of Offended American.

Remember that these are First World Issues. You're privileged enough to think that this is worth writing about. Obviously, someone postponing access to your next form of distracting entertainment is now an issue to get radical about. But JESUS CHRIST, get yourself out of the roles you're so busy condemning before you can talk trash about anything potentially worthwhile in this argument.

]]> mo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177642 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177642 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:15:31 -0800 Comment by Wurm Is this Sony bowing under extremist pressure from muslim groups?, or is this Sony expecting backlash and pulling the game before the shit hits the fan?.

Either way, Sony, you suck. If I even owned a PS3 I would boycott the game because of this horseshit.

The rest of the world has got to stop bowing down to these muslims, this is getting ridiculous.

]]> Wurm http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177645 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177645 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:17:06 -0800 Comment by Sam M. @13: This song was released by someone who is called a "devout Muslim" (link - http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2008/02/24/2003402699) and therefore should be relatively aware of his use of lines in the Qu'ran and any related Islamic law. Question then--is he wrong in his use of the lines in a song? If so, why did Nonesuch Records not receive complaints in the past two years? Plenty of time for somebody to step up and challenge the song's lyrics.

And if he's NOT wrong, then what changes by transferring a song from a music-only CD to a game experience? Is it an issue of "entertainment value"? If so, I don't see how one is any better/worse than the other.

Either way, the game's only delayed a week. Even if it was delayed longer, I'd more than live. But it's a culture of fear that makes this a newsworthy event--and any further discussion of what people consider "sacred" will sound like the movie Religulous, so I'll back off at this point. Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not complaining as a "gamer denied" or any crap like that.

]]> Sam M. http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177666 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177666 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:35:09 -0800 Comment by stinkbug I finally have a row consisting of 1 million attackers and 1 million defenders in mysqlgame!

]]> stinkbug http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177668 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177668 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:38:16 -0800 Comment by Sirkowski @13 Do don't teach you how to make a comprehensive arguement in your religion, do they?

]]> Sirkowski http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177765 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177765 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:57:16 -0800 Comment by Sirkowski Blah, fucking typoé

]]> Sirkowski http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177767 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177767 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:59:00 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave @16

LMAO, cute.

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177837 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177837 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:13:52 -0800 Comment by K This is why Sony is now a third stringer. Why the PS3 is such a sucking overpriced failure that every single game released for PS3 since it started shipping has been co-released with a PS2 version.

I mean, this level of shit-can complacency makes Nintendo's steady stream of complacent, Disneyish mush seem meaningful.

]]> K http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177847 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177847 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:27:38 -0800 Comment by Greg What the fuck ever. I've still got plenty of GameCube games to work through.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177890 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/offense_alert#c1177890 Games Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:14:58 -0800