Sony Patches Controversial LBP Song

After releasing the v1.01 patch yesterday morning, Sony turns around and releases v1.02 later that afternoon in Europe, nuking the lyrics in the controversial song from LittleBigPlanet.

While PC gamers have been dealing with drama surrounding Will Wright’s Spore and the accompanying, somewhat sneaky SecuROM DRM, PlayStation 3 owners have faced a different class of drama altogether with the charming little Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet. Although the character’s name could be taken in a not-so-decent manner, what has driven the game into the forefront of the industry news as of late stems around lyrics contained within one of the game’s songs. With most of the physical copies withdrawn and the song’s lyrics removed from the game for the next wave of distribution, all would seem well for the re-launch next week.

However according to Eurogamer, Sony has released a patch -v1.02 in fact- that will remove the lyrics from existing copies of the game that escaped the clutches of Sony and have scattered about worldwide (and finding their way onto Ebay sporting hefty price tags). Although no other information was posted in regards to what the patch actually does, apparently v1.02 removes the vocal tracks entirely, leaving only the instrumental track. The previous patch -v1.01- obviously did not address the song issue, but rather now allows the gamer to turn off the jet pack by hitting the "O" button rather than shaking the controller (which really didn’t work to begin with). The patch also adds additional costumes and fixes a few online functions.

So far, it doesn’t seem apparent that the North American version has received either patch; our copy didn’t make any visible attempts to update as of a few hours ago. Because Sony released the game early to the press, our copy is the original, recalled version containing controversial lyrics from Tourmani Diabaté’s song "Tapha Niang". Earlier this week Diabaté spoke to MTV Multiplayer about his song and the inclusion of verses from the Qur’an, claiming that his use of the verses was his way to attract and inspire people towards Islam. He even added that it was normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed (Peace on his Soul) in his country (Mali).

Beliefnet’s Muslim editor Dilshad Ali understands why some Muslims found the song offensive. “Muslims are told not to drink alcohol or do drugs or things like that because they are things that would make us lose our inhibitions,” she told MTV multiplayer. “I wouldn’t put music on the same scale as that, but that’s the idea behind it. Verses form the Koran have been used all over the place, from poetry and books to words from the Qur’an being quoted in an article. The reason why it’s harder when it comes out in a song is because you’ve got the background of songs being considered Haram — which is “forbidden” — in the very proper-ist of Islamic context. That doesn’t mean Muslims don’t listen to music. I’ve watched MTV. I listen myself when I have the radio and I’m driving the car. But if you put the two together I can see why it would have the potential to be offensive.”

Many people believe Sony did the right thing by recalling all physical copies of the game. Other consumers questioned the need for the recall altogether, believing that a simple patch would fix the offensive issue. However, it seems that Sony is covering all bases, and once the game hits retail next week, every LittleBigPlanet owner will be on the same page. As of now, Sony has not revealed when either patch will trickle down through the PlayStation Network here in North America.