The release of a video game has been delayed amid fears that lyrics in a song for the background music could offend Muslims.

Sony’s LittleBigPlanet (LBP) was held back after it was discovered that one of the background music tracks to the game included expressions from the Qur’an (Kur’an).

Little Big Planet has been delayed!

Sony is recalling all copies of LBP that had been sent to retailers and is manufacturing new discs of the PlayStation 3 blockbuster, removing the music track by the Mali-born singer Toumani Diabate.

A statement on the Sony PlayStation website explained the reason for the product recall was due to two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an.

“We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused,” the statement read.

The British-created game features a rag doll hero called Sackboy. Players can customise the toy and then control it to run and jump through a world designed to appeal to all ages.

A post on the official PlayStation forum from a gaming enthusiast identifying himself as Yasser explained that the offending musical track was in the first level of the third world in the game. The level is known as Swinging Safari.

The track featured Arabic words from the Qur’an translated as “Every soul shall have the taste of death” and “All that is on earth will perish”.

He went on to say that “we Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Qur’an deeply offending” and said it was not the first time games had contained material offensive to Muslims.

The game was developed by Media Molecule, based in Guildford, Surrey. It allows players to design their own level in detail and share it with friends over the internet.

A statement on Media Molecule’s website said it was “shellshocked and gutted” by the delay.

“We learnt … 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,” it said.

“Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously. LBP should be enjoyable by all.”

The release has been rescheduled for October 27.

Little Big Planet is a critically-acclaimed, G-rated game that lets players guide a character named Sackboy through a series of levels which can also be created and shared amongst users.

Developed by Media Molecule and published by Sony, the game uses licenced music in the background during gameplay.

One of these tracks, “Tapha Niang” by Grammy-award winning musician Toumani Diabaté, apparently contains lyrics which are quotes from Islamic holy text the Koran.

In an online statement, Sony said it was withdrawing Little Big Planet worldwide after discovering the song’s lyrics.

“It has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an.”

“We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense (sic) that this may have caused.”

Sony was allegedly reacting to a letter, published on gaming website Kotaku, saying Muslim gamers found the combination of music and words from the Koran “deeply disturbing”.

The letter translated the offending lyrics as “Every soul shall have the taste of death” and “All that is on earth will perish”.

However the song, from the album Boulevarde de L’independence, may not have been intended to offend anyone.

It was released two years ago by Diabaté - who is also a devout Muslim, according to the Taipei Times. The African musician has never previously been associated with religious controversies.

Sony may have wished to avoid another religious debacle after a notorious run-in with the Church of England last year.

In June 2007, the Church of England was considering legal action over the use of the sacred Manchester Cathedral as a setting for a shootout in blockbuster video game Resistance: Fall of Man.

The church said Sony’s production was “insensitive” given the rate of gun crime in Manchester, and rebuked Sony’s claims it had sought permission to re-create the cathedral.

The Manchester Cathedral controversy came two months after animal rights groups were shocked to see a real goat’s carcass used at the launch party for Sony’s God Of War II.

Sony’s decision to withdraw Little Big Planet has left Media Molecule “shellshocked and gutted”, according to a statement on the developer’s website.

The game, originally set to be released in Australia on Thursday, is now reportedly delayed until early November.

Although the game has technically gone gold, the highly anticipated title Little Big Planet is facing a worldwide delay non the less. The reason for the delay is because of one of the game’s songs containing references to the Qur’an in its lyrics. Sony did the sensible thing, and apologized for the mistake.

“During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.”

The game was intended to release next week, on the 24th. The new release date is October 27th, however, only the American version has been confirmed for that date, and all other regions have not yet had their respective release dates updated.

With the game being apparently offensive to Muslims both Sony and MM are disappointed as well as many thousands of Ps3 gamer fans.

Links

Little Big Planet - http://www.littlebigplanet.com/
Sony statement - http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/10/17/littlebigplanet-release-update/
Toumani Diabaté’s Myspace (with audio) - http://www.myspace.com/toumanidiabate
Media Molecule statement - http://www.mediamolecule.com/2008/10/17/and-in-other-news/