IDG News Service —
A revised version of Sony's "LittleBigPlanet" game for the PlayStation 3 has begun shipping days after Sony postponed release of the game because it included a song that drew lyrics from the Quran.
"Looks like our production line churned out new copies quicker than our original schedule, and a few of our retailers did what they could to take care of the fans who preordered ASAP," said a message on Sony's PlayStation blog.
The game, one of Sony's highest profile titles for the PlayStation 3 this year, was due to launch on Oct. 21 but just a few days prior it was discovered that the lyrics used in one of the songs in its soundtrack were derived from the Quran. The potentially offensive lyric was contained in a licensed song played during the Swinging Safari level in the game.
Rather than upgrade the game with a launch-day patch, which would only have reached gamers with an Internet connection, Sony decided to postpone the launch and produce new discs with the song remove. Launch was rescheduled for this week in the U.S. and the following week in Europe.
Sony's decision brought a fast response, both positive and negative, from many gamers who filled online forums with discussion of the move.
Many were disappointed with the delay because it meant another week waiting for what is one of the most innovative games yet produced for the PlayStation 3, according to critics.
The game has won an "editors choice" award from GamePro, been rated "incredible" by IGN, scored 10 out of 10 with Games Radar and been called the "best thing out there" by 1Up.
In the long run the incident will likely mean little to the sales of "LittleBigPlanet." In the game players are challenged to create objects and patch them together using a variety of tools and parts at their disposal. Puzzles and challenges are built into the game to test a gamer's creative abilities and objects created can also be shared with others through the PlayStation Network.
