Today I discovered what the rest of the LBP fans probably know already. The game has been delayed not by the developers, but by the distributor – Sony. The problem boils down to one of the songs played in the background of the third planet. It refers to the Qur’an quoting passages from religious literature. I visited the songwriters myspace site and listened to the song in question, Tapha Niang. It begins with a peaceful instrumental. When it does get around to the lyrics, it sounded to me like something from Africa. In fact, the world with the song has a Safari theme to it and is called “Swingin Safari”.
I am not offended by the idea that the lyrics are there. However, Sony pulled the plug to avoid any legal issues with offending Muslims. There have been a few arguments from different viewpoints. Some people say that they would rather choose not to buy the game rather then to restrict the freedom of expression. However, business is business. The game is delayed until at least the 28th of October, and I’m seeing chatter that it may be delayed until the first week of November.
I just wanna have fun already.
