Sony Delays LittleBigPlanet Because Of Koran Reference

Sony's potential flagship game for the PlayStation 3, LittleBigPlanet, is being recalled because an in-game song sets phrases from the Koran to music. While not specifically prohibited by the Muslim faith, setting words from the holy text may be considered deeply offensive to Muslims around the world.

Once notified of the issue, Sony issues a statement on its PlayStation blog, acknowledging the foul-up and announcing steps to remedy the issue.

"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 apologize for any offense that this may have caused," states the company on the blog.

Media Molecule, the maker of LittleBigPlanet, also issued a statement on its Web site acknowledging the potentially offensive lyrics and addressing how the problem will be fixed.

"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!), 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 on-line was to replace existing disks," MediaMolecule wrote on its Web site.

The music and lyrics for the game were composed by Toumani Diabete, a Mali-based composer, according to his MySpace page. "Tapha Niang" is the title of the song that contains words from the Koran.

The phrases, when translated from Arabic to English are "Every soul shall taste of death," and "All that's well on Earth shall perish."

LittleBigPlanet was slated to ship to stores and customers this month but has been delayed while the lyrics are altered.

The latest word from MediaMolecule is that the game will ship in the U.S. the week of Oct. 27, with a release in the U.K. to come about a week later.

LittleBigPlanet follows the adventures of Sackboy, a stitched rag doll who sets out on adventures through elaborate world while navigating obstacles.