The musician behind the song that caused the highly anticipated PlayStation 3 game “Little Big Planet” to get recalled just days before its release has defended his song in a statement issued to MTV Multiplayer.
Perhaps even more significantly, singer Toumani Diabate has explained what the song is about and why its inclusion of verses from the Qur’an is his “way to attract and inspire people toward Islam.”
Multiplayer received the statement late yesterday, following conversations with two Muslim experts who helped illuminate the reasons why Diabate’s song might trouble some Muslims and just how similar — or different — this situation is from the publication of the Danish cartoons that inspired deadly riots across the world.
They note the complication that there is no explicit rule in Islam prohibiting a song like Diabate’s.
Diabate’s song first was initially flagged on the official PS3 message boards by a M... More »
Update 2: SCEA has acknowledged the recall on its PlayStation Blog, apologizing to those offended and for the delay. According to the post, SCEA "will begin shipping LittleBigPlanet to retail in North America the week of October 27th."
Update: Impatient gamers may still be able to get their hands on the version of Little Big Planet that contains the Qur'an references. Gaming importer National Console Support said that it has begun shipping US versions of the game to customers who preordered. What's more, the site says that it will ship the game to US customers for Saturday delivery if they order by 4 p.m. Eastern time today.
This is not the first time a game developer has run afoul of the Qur'an. In November of 2002, Microsoft released the Xbox fighter Kakuto Chojin with a piece of background music that sa... More »
Update: We have received word from Paramount that they will meet the street date, and that the 'Iron Man' Blu-ray will not be delayed.
Blu-ray.com is reporting that the upcoming Blu-ray release of ‘Iron Man’ has been recalled. A few weeks back, some of those receiving review copies reported trouble playing the disc in their Blu-ray players. Apparently, there is an authoring problem with the disc, and distributors have been issued direction to send back all product.
According to those distributors, Paramount is doing everything possible to get enough replacement discs to retailers in time for its September 30th release date, but it may not be able to meet the demand. If Paramount can’t get enough titles onto retail shelves, they may delay the title until October 7th.
Online retailers like Amazon are likely to ship first-come, first-serve, so make sure you have your pre-order in now if you... More »
Unauthorized hacking of the PSP has been a serious problem for Sony ever since enterprising hackers managed to run unsigned code on the PSP-1000 back in 2005. The ability to revert to an unprotected version of the firmware, and later the ability to install completely custom pirate firmware has enabled some owners to play pirated PSP games downloaded from the Internet.
By some accounts, developers like Ready at Dawn and Capcom have lost more than 50% of their prospective revenues to software piracy. One estimate has software producers losing more than $4 million per week to piracy. In June, SCEE President David Reeves stated that “There is a piracy problem on the PSP. We know about it, we know how it’s done. It sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales, but on balance we are not happy about it.”
Clearly, defeating piracy is one of the biggest concerns facing designers at Sony. It appears that the company may be planning to take some drastic step... More »
Computer giants Microsoft are facing a £500 million ($990 million) repair bill after their Xbox Elite consoles were hit by the notorious "red ring of death".
The console was originally thought to be immune from the problem, which permanently freezes the unit after a ring of green lights on the power control button turn red.
Now, hundreds of angry owners are sending back their £290 consoles, which are being shipped to Germany for repair. But the fault remains a mystery.
Jamie King, 16, from Gomshall, Surrey, said: "I got my Xbox in September and it packed up eight months later in June. First, it kept freezing, then it developed the red ring of death."
In a statement, Microsoft simply said: "The majority of Xbox 360 owners enjoy a great experience with their console. "Anyone with a problem should call Xbox customer service."
Last year, the company had to recall 230,000 Xbox steering wheels worldwide after comp... More »
No matter which way you cut the cheese, the Wii has been a huge success for Nintendo. Sales for the little white box of joy have been extremely impressive, and it isn’t uncommon for some Aussie retailers to witness ‘Wii droughts’ due to the console rapidly disappearing off the shelves like Hotcakes, or Tickle Me Elmo, or some yet-to-be-recalled anatomically correct Barbie doll.
Immense console sales are all well and good for the bean counters and the Nintendo money bin, but when it comes to game titles the Wii has a fatal flaw: 3rd party shovelware and the piss-poor graphics contained therein.
With the occasional exceptions from a handful of talented 3rd party developers with the time and money to spend on their products, most of the high watermark visuals we’ve seen on the system have been spewed forth from Nintendo themselves.
This is mainly due to the majority of third party developers saturating store shelves with low budget, half-ar... More »
Some of the coolest OS features are nowhere to be found in Windows XP or Vista. Here are 18 brilliant features that Microsoft should beg for, borrow, or steal--plus tips on how you can add many of them to your PC now.
Love it or hate it, Microsoft Windows is the world's most dominant operating system. But when you look at some of the hot features found in competitors such as Linux and Mac OS X, both XP and Vista can seem a little incomplete.
From intuitive interface features like Apple's application dock and Cover Flow to basic media capabilities such as ISO burning, Windows often falls short on built-in goodies. And some features that other operating systems offer by default-- such as 64-bit processing and business-networking tools--require a premium-version license in Windows.
We took a good look at a variety of OSs, from the Mac to Linux to PC-BSD and beyond, and we rounded up a list of our favorite features--few of which come standard in any ... More »
With BioWare's Mass Effect a few weeks from release, the recent purchase of BioWare and Pandemic by Electronic Arts seems brazenly timed. The reactions from all corners defy classification, and in their most common form equally defy serious analysis and unbiased discussion. Electronic Arts, burdened by a tumultuous and controversial history, has become an entity which many people criticize and condemn by default, its dealings automatically perceived as some extension of corporate evil defined by nefarious misdeeds and malicious motives.
Vilifying Electronic Arts is virtually a pastime for most bloggers and forum posters, and so common as to be nearly cliché. How the BioWare/Pandemic deal might affect future products and franchises is a debate of pessimistic one-upmanship, and the consensus is this will be a bad thing for gamers. However, these conclusions often lack any compelling evidence beyond "if EA is involved, it must be bad."
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