Sony LBP Delay Not Favoritism, Just Business

Ripten:

"The recent controversy surrounding Sony's decision to delay the release of LittleBigPlanet, over a Qur'an reference made in one of the tracks, has many gamers flexing their memory muscle in an attempt to illustrate a double standard.

The belief is that Sony's 2006 decision to essentially ignore the Church of England's request asking for the removal of the Manchester Cathedral from their Resistance: Fall of man game, paired with the company's recent willingness to comply to the perceived wishes of a Muslim community, demonstrates favoritism."

Ripten's Chad Lakkis proceeds to explain why he thinks a business bottom line, not favoritism, is the reason behind Sony's decision to fight the Church of England and appease the offended Muslim gamer.

[Twizlex]

Business, shmizness. The fact is that Sony is being a bunch of pussies.

[Nostradavis]

Interesting perspective Twizlex. Care to elaborate?

[n4gzz]

JYI, Majority of Guns Terrorist has supplied by US business corp and government. Sony has nothing to blame on about terrorism.

By the way Islam is not terrorist. Terrorists are from every religious.

edit : You are jackass. English is not my primary language. So keep your Grammar yourself. And how'd terrorist win by sony pulling songs from game ?

Twizex Lado kha machikne randiko chhora. murkha muji.

[Nostradavis]

@RemmM,

I think you are going overboard just a tad. Sony will be just fine. It's one week.

[NegativeCreep427]

Until you grow up and hopefully one day go to college and become a smart contributing member of society (in whatever country you live in, I am an American) I suggest you shut up and stop trying to sound like if you know, in all of you're miraculous wisdom, that Sony's decision to remedy this situation is nothing but wrong.

You don't even know the first step in managing a multi-billion dollar multi-national corporation, let alone know the first step in determining the pricing, placing, and promotion duties of a new groundbreaking, potentially history-making title like Little Big Planet. Try to grow up first before you try to start talking like an intelligent person (but then again, what kind of intelligent person says 'business shmizness'?).

[ar]

The fact that you go about attacking people for there English grammar just shows me you lack arguments for the subject at hand.

[masterofpwnage]

to Twizlex.

thy delayed it because one muslim felt offended by the musce and if one muslim is offended who knos how many more are offended.

and dont compare south park to relife because that is just plain stupid, imean southpark is a cartoon that ur not supposed to take that serious.

and also are u saying that, they should pissed off the muslim and let the terrorist (which is not only muslim u racist bich) hurt more inoccent people.

cmon man

[juuken]

Did you think that any Muslim group would have let this slide if Sony/Media Molecule didn't step in and did something about this before the game shipped? If that guy was even more spiteful, he would have reported this to some Muslim group and this would have stirred up something called a "controversy".

Sony/Media Molecule saved themselves from a world of religious onslaught.

It's only ONE WEEK.

Go play Dead Space or something. I bought Dead Space to keep me company until the game comes.

[Enigma_2099]

... Someoene is offended by a song in LBP... Sony should be ashamed of including it in the game... that's the usual line of thinking I come across here... but YOUR take on it just blows my mind...

And as for those who accuse them of favortism... look no further than Valve or EA's treatment of 360 owners, or Microsoft treatment of the Japanese market as REAL examples of favortism... when the masses complain about shortcomings of the console, like a crappy controller, WHO do they look out for first?

[thor]

OMG SONY ARE RACIST BECAUSE THEY REMOVED LINES BY A ||MUSLIM ARTIST|| FROM THEIR GAME!!!1111onethree`grave11!!& quot;"$£2

[darkdoom3000]

this cant really b compared to the cathedral issue. The cathedral issue was risen months after the games release! Plus the cathdral was a map. and part of the games stroyline.

the music in LBP is just music. and LPB isnt released yet. music can be easily changed. i would have liked it bettr if they did a patch instead. but whatever...

[n4gzz]

me too, can't wait to play this game.

[n4gno]

absolutly.

that's all.

[sanamsingh]

Ok @sshole, you're just assuming every terrorist is muslim
racist moron

oh and n4gzz's last line, you got dissed big time twiTlex

[n4gzz]

lol, I thought at least he won't get it :D

[Jacobite]

How do you know he's a racist (Racism is hatred of Race ie white ,black,asian or Chinese,French English American so on)Hate for Muslims, Catholics and Prodastants is Bigots and Muslims came in all races (fact).Full of Hate over a Game is sad bothways

[pp]

I say sony should give up making ps3 console's and concentrate on tv's and leave the console making to Microsoft where the brains are.

[Nostradavis]

Uhhhh. Look, I am by no means a fanboy. I own every console. The only difference is I have owned 3 Xbox 360s so I wouldn't say MS is the brains of the operation.

They launched with a better line of games and they have very deep pockets which they use to buy exclusives. From a hardware standpoint, Sony has them beat. In terms of pure marketability and mass appeal, Nintendo is the clear winner.

Bottom line. Microsoft spends money and buys what they want. Sony has a quality console that doesn't break and Nintendo has the old people in the nursing home dancing around in their pajamas.

[juuken]

I think you should shut the hell up and get a life.

[malcolm x]

Sony did what Intelligence guy well do or they well be hated by 1.6 billion ppl

[ginganinja]

The main gripe with the Manchester Cathedral was that no-one had asked permission to use it.

It was only once the tabloids et al. started stirring that they managed to find some people (who'd obviously never even seen a game - or a good chunk of western/far eastern culture for the last n years - and felt like having their name checked in a paper.)

[Nostradavis]

Interesting. The wiki page states the following gripes/demands:

"The cathedral’s spokesman, David Marshall, told reporters that the cathedral had received many supportive e-mails for its stance and that they intended to make several demands of Sony. These include an apology and a substantial donation, complete withdrawal of the game or modifying the segment featuring the interior of the cathedral, and financial support of Manchester groups trying to reduce gun crime in the city."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[NegativeCreep427]

"...and that they intended to make several demands of Sony. These include an apology and a substantial DONATION"

LOL!!! XD

Holy Sh*t. These religious groups never fail to make me laugh. In the end it wasn't about their place of worship being "disgraced" or "shamed" All they wanted was money, The life blood of practically every religion.

"Oh yes Sony!!! Give us a million dollars and a free trip to Tahiti for the entire congregation...and all of your sins will be forgivin!"

XD

[ginganinja]

The wiki article actually lends a little weight to my arguement.
If you check the references, the earliest is from the BBC;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/...
It leads with the 'they've not had permission' arguement and then diverts to the 'not good for the local community'.

It doesn't mention anything about it being sacrilegious, which is why I was suggesting the problem didn't originally stem from the religious aspect but that was tacked on later.

[ar]

Well from a pure business pow, the ones demanding the Cathedral level to be removed would probably never by Resistance in the first place. Whereas LittleBigPlanet is a game appealing to a huge audience (fundamental Muslims included).

However, I still don't think all we sane people should get but f*cked because there is some people out there with a need to get offended at just about anything. And I'm not only talking about LBP. Manhunt 2 in UK and Fallout 3 in Australia is two other examples of what I'm talking about.

[Nostradavis]

I agree ar, but I think the point of the article is to help those who think it is a double standard being set by Sony to see that it may be something far less personal.

[Lumbo]

What i find highly ironic is that the same people who now scream bl00dy murder at Sony for some made up "favorism" or "bending over for terrorists" for not "defending free speech and western values" are the ones who also screamed bl00dy murder at the makers of the 911 Art piece (the asteroids one) and the 911 crap levels in the beta. At that time they preached to the broad public how disgusted and offended they are when someone takes their precious 911 heritage and makes it into an art piece or a crap level. The threats varied from bans on the artists work to murder threats ...

Now that Sony tries do do the right thing by removing a potential controversy part from a game that is marketed as LOVELY and FUN game to play for EVERYONE the same haters who just came back from burning some 911-critics for daring to abuse their sacred holy national monument of being attacked by multitudes of made up terrorists every day till return outside to claim fighting for f#cking freedom of expression (made up terrorists as in the made up ones that the ministry of homeland security (maybe do a few background researches regarding : 'gestapo' 'stasi' or 'KGB' to get the picture what the purpose of such a ministry is) that led to the most fascist laws ever made called the 'patriot act' in principle a law to remove several of the oh so sacred freedom rights and replacing them with police state doctrines)

So whats the bottom-line here?

a) so called freedom activists are the same ones that want to deny any freedom to anyone who has a different opinion from their own. So in fact while claiming "freedom of expression" for themselves, they demand everyone else to shut up or be exterminated. Actually their only contribution to anything is whining for OTHERS to do something as they are to darn lazy themself.

b) so called favorism is in fact the most reasonable and less 'expensive' solution for Sony in the long run. Cause a freaking ONE WEEK delay is nothing worth of all the hysteria people show right now. Instead of Sony growing a pair, how about YOU whiners grow a pair and wait the meager week.

And to the people who are so mortally offended by the laughable one week delay to claim to not buy LBP because of this:

VERY GOOD, do not buy it, good riddance, your type would not contribute anything meaningful anyways. Nothing lost if you stay out. Please also sell your PS3 as you are so offended by a company not playing world savior. That would reduce the risk of any sane person having to accidentally play a game with such narrow minded and hateful people.

[Jacobite]

lol sense in there somewhere, I'm going for a agree its a Sunday lol

[Lumbo]

there, have a bubble

After re-reading it i think this would need some heavy structuring and some shortening .. i blame the small edit box, it does not give you a good view of what you write :S

But i lack the time now .. gotta go visit some friends for lunch and some non-game related talking. Sometimes you would think some people do not leave their PC at all .. :/

[Venomish]

I agree with every word you said
bubbles4u

[dboyxz]

I agree. A week delay is just that. A delay. Its NOT like being can canceled or going to the Xbox360. I seem to remember The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was delayed several times, and still was a great game. All Sony is doing is avoiding controversy, since LBP is an important title this holiday season. For those complaining about delay, what would you rather have. 1 week delay and the game is hailed as possible GOTY or have angry Muslim activists protesting over the game and having game blasted by fox news or CNN?

[leyego]

*rereads above posters, and old posts*
holy sh!t your right bubbles for you.
the same ppl who got OFFENDED by every 911 game or level in LBP are now saying they wanna make a bombing muslims lvl and supported that muslim massacre level. face it, u guys are trash YES TRASH and think everyone other then yourselves and country are less the dirt. get a life.

news flash, every time u guys speak ur disgracing the human race and your country.
people who think like that are a waste of oxygen and carbon. do the world a favour and put ur ignorant selves on an island and stay there.

[DaTruth]

Good Job!!! Awesome post, first thing I thought of when this whole thing started. And I'm glad to see not everyone is still so deluded as to believe that 911 wasn't perpetrated by the U.S government, you just have to watch the last episode of "The Lone Gunman" check it on YouTube.

[Raul_7]

"Its funny...
..how many people say if you're offended by it, dont buy the game.

you're talking about yourself here, but Sony is talking business.

Why would they risk losing millions over a stupid mistake that shouldnt have been made from the beginning if they can fix it and release the game a week later ?

Thats how business goes. "

[svoltmer]

I still think that most people are missing the point. It's a fact that this publisher, and almost every other, has at some time released a game with blasphemous content. (using God's name in vein) No one would ever take a complaint about that seriously enough to actually do what this company is doing. It IS catering to one religious group over another. Say what you will, but you can't change the facts.

[Nostradavis]

Maybe God of War needs to be renamed Guy of War just to be safe.

[supremacy]

@svoltmer

"Conceptions of God held by individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus on the nature of God." -wikipedia.

so.. zues is a real god? lol

if you are trying to say that because one little game out of a few games has the word god in it is favoritism than your brains is on drugs my friend.

you do know that god of war like the quote gods in the game are nothing but Greek mythology right? it isn't a real religious thing,
in the first place so...

who is Sony really offending here? look even zena is found kicking a gods butt in her show lol so go sued her if that is the case.

the word god isn't an image, anything can be consider a god as long as is powerful and superior to you, heck look at 300 hundred that guy was consider a god? troy? devil may cry talks about demons and gods? otagi same? okami the same? so...there's no point to your logic my friend. god of war is a game dealing with Greek mythology, not Christianity or Catholics or even Muslims which are by the way real religions.

who ever sues sony over god of war is just plain stupid really because than they'll be suing a lot of companies that's for sure, after both Hercules and Zena if it wasn't for games like god of war i don't think too many people would be interested in some old mythology like they are now. so in a sense games like god of war is what tabloids are to celebs, you know added attention to something already in the known.

so in a sense whenever i hear "my lord" in a knights movie, than i should start finding that offensive right?

look as long as the word Jesus or any other real religious believes are not place in a game? than the word god can be used for anything really. seriously its no big deal my friend.

littlebigplanet however has a song that's actually dealing with an actual religion so... yeah that has to go. take it back and change it that's all, as for you and i shut up and play something else until the games comes out that's all.

and as far as...the whole cathedral incident is concerned, that was out of the question the game was already out many people already had the games in their home and a little patch wasn't going to solve that issue for those who didn't have online and insomniac would have had to spend time and resources recreating everything which could had proven costly.

in which like like someone has already stated Sony was asked to pay a million and some change to keep this whole deal quiet and low key, now i wonder why movies like saving private Ryan and Steven Spielberg didn't had to deal with this issue to begin with if we want to go into detail here. enemy at the gates? lol seriously.

[NickIni]

Because it's hard to remove an entire church from a level and replace it, but it's easy just to remove one song.

[DeZimatoR]

Ppl are acting like its the end of the world because the game got a 1 week delay, LOL!

You can get Far Cy 2 or Dead Space while you wait for LBP now, so its actually a good thing :D

I know I'll be getting Far Cry 2 now, and I probably wouldn't if LBP hadn't been delayed...

[snp]

The one week delay doesn't really bother me. The fact that yet again empiricism is being pushed off the cliff, and censorship is again taking root, on a case 'i've talked myself into being offended!'ism does somewhat. When there is no 'testing' method for offence - to determine whether it's legitimate or not - it all becomes completely random and nonsensical. Anyone could be offended by anything - you'll often find someone, somewhere is about practically every issue out there.

The clincher here is, sadly - for both moderate Muslims and non-Muslims - the violence and intolerance for anything a minority of hardliners talk themselves into believing is 'unacceptable' means that now we are all having to put up with this sort of thing pretty much anywhere Islam is concerned - unless demands are met.

It's silly to suggest the vehemence - the hysterical moron like behavior, really - in recent events (cartoons violence etc) where the Western interest 'hasn't' 'cow-towed' didn't play a part in this, likely fairly costly, recall (as opposed to just a simple patch). The sad thing about this - the irony - is that 'empiricism', as a belief system of a kind, needs to be thrown out for 'non-empiricism' (superstition, the irrational etc) to be brought in/catered to.

Oh well, hopefully whatever they replace these elements of the finished product with won't stand out too obviously.

[DaTruth]

Empiricism says that Dark Matter exists when nobody has ever witnessed it and under no circumstances has it ever been proven to exist, all attempts to find it have failed. At least many people have witnessed GOD. So empirically God is more feasible then Dark matter.

[snp]

Empiricism doesn't say that dark matter exists, it says that for current theories to hold up something else - a filler vaguely given that title - must exist. That's all it says. The logic of one needing another within the current framework is proved within - but only accords to - that framework (via reproducible experiments using maths, physics - all sorts of common tools, and continuing, openly shared, investigation).

No scientist would postulate beyond the overlying system regarding dark matter, though - except, maybe, as brainstorming. They certainly wouldn't be 'declaring', for example, that 'dark matter is offended by the use of a certain song within a certain video game because it contains lyrics x..' because.. well.. they say it's so - and their dad, and maybe his dad had the same unthinking response.

Someone saying they've seen something is an anecdote, it's not empiricism. The fact that it's not tangible, and in this case the parties making 'demands' don't even deign to offer any kind of rationale regarding their right to such demands, sort of shows what you're dealing with.

[riksweeney]

There's a soap on TV in the UK called Eastenders. In it they had a Muslim eating during Ramadan. Some Muslims went apeshit and even threatened to blow up the set.

On the one hand Sony (and the civilised world) should really not have to put up with this kind of crap, but on the other hand I can see them worrying that some moron will attack a Gamestop over this sort of thing.

[whoelse]

I think the publicity of church of england was actually good for resistance however not for a game like LittleBigPlanet where it is supposed to be a family game.

At least the delay is only by a week.

[SolidAhmed]

it is better to stop being racist
It is been a long time for this stereotype that we Muslims deal with every day since September 11, don’t get me wrong but I been upset deeply when I heard that who behind this inhuman operation Muslims (they supposed to encourage peace and good instead of killing and hatred) that behind that .
In addition, I am from Saudi Arabia and I know what the Americans felt when they been attacked in NY. We in Saudi Arabia suffer a lot from these attacks very often.
So I stand with you in this matter and it is better to stop the hate and the offensive messages between nations.
We are humans after all we are the children of Adam and Ave no matter of what color or religion or society status you are from, so we are the same.
We suppose to relate and communicate to become one instead of argue about nonsense.
I am totally encouraging Sony to justify their products to become enjoyable for all nations, religions and societies.

[NowGen]

today its just a song. tomorrow who knows. next thing you know muslims will be offended by something else as petty as a song. maybe a character or setting. its not a big deal. but it does set a bad double standard. i bet if other religions where chopping heads off then they too would be taken serious.

[malcolm x]

sony did the right thing

[Nostradavis]

I agree malclom. The risk reward ratio makes sense for them.

[malcolm x]

they is 1.6 billion Muslim in word if sony stupid & they didni do any thing they well be hated by the 1.6 billion ppl

[pixelsword]

They were going to make a money-grab even if Sony took out the building.

If you don't believe me, google it.

[pixelsword]

It's just like the week wait a 360 owner getting their console fixed has to go through, except you still get to play every game you already own.

Does that make you feel better?

[cereal_killa]

A week sh1t I wish it was only a week to get my 360 I had to wait over 6 weeks for mine to get fixed.

[Enate]

What I did to calm my rage.

I did what jukken did only thing I rented Deadspace space as I don't really buy short games although after playing deadspace. It doesn't seem to be all that short an for me someone who hates anything horrer its even amazing that I tried it and now I'm even considering buying it. I can say though without renting it I would still be pissed because LBP was planned for the up coming weak an that was taken away in the blink of an eye. I even considered dropping my LBP pre order in favor of something else sooner because there is no reason any of us should be bored in this gold rush of games. Thank fully I was able rent Saints Row 2 an Deadspace to calm my rage now I won't have to fly to Europe to find a certain person. Violent video games help manage anger believe me stick that in your study.

[ProperFunked]

me and my friend already have our copies. we picked them up last wednesday. stores already have them, but this store always break street date.

[Chriswsm]

Yesterday I emailed this story to a Muslim friend (Nab) and former colleague of mine. I quote from his reply.

"... What on earth for? I sincerely doubt that anyone would pay that much attention to the music in a game like that and the fanatical, scary, bonkers muslims probably wouldn't be playing the game in the first place.

This is a non muslim overreaction .. . . again. Muppits! Nonetheless do buy the game. I want to pop round and take a look as the ad's for it are impressive. "

I have to agree with Nab, Its dead stupid as is any form of pandering towards people who believe is something as ridiculous as a deity (not that he would agree with that sentiment). We really are a terribly illogical species. Surely if the relevant (and non existent) deity was upset at the wording of the song he/she/it would have smited the artist and the song would never have been released.

[Toolster]

To compensate us for the delay Sony should put the beta up for public download!!!

[jamenees]

Dead space is gonna take me at least a week to get through, if LBP was still getting released this week, I'd probably forget to play Dead Space.

Oh, btw I haven't had time to look into this, but is LBP getting shipped the 27th, or will it be in stores by the 27th? thanks guys.

[andron]

I remember Eidos had to patch Hitman 2 because it contained some material Sikhs found insulting.

If the Cathedral complaints had been raised before launch they might have done something about that too. Although as someone points out, that would have been more difficult to edit, since it was a building in the game.

Companies don't wan't to fight the free speech battles, but make money...

[Nathaniel_Drake]

I call it learning their lesson and not taking much time for this, which will produce negative opinions about LBP, like how the whole debacle Resistance had, which might have made it suffer some sales, so smart move on Sony for fast correction, needed or not they couldn't again go through what happened with Resistance

[FantasyStar]

Is Sony afraid of being bombed Muslim extremists? Or are they afraid of lawsuits?
-Agree if you think it's bombs, disagree if you think it's lawsuits. Anything else, please comment below.

[DARKTRINITYxxx]

Well pp MS have brains because they got the nikle and dime buisness down to an art. They made and rushed out a unreliable piece of junk because they knew asses like you would rush out and buy one and then making even bigger asses of ureselfs with comments like ures and many other brainwashed XFLOPS.

[llMurcielagoll]

Actually, LBP took over a year to get released. I waited a year or more I think I could wait for 1 more week. Although I am dieing to play the game.