Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2008/10/20/lbp_koran/

Gamers cash in on LittleBigPlanet delay

Title pulled over Koran reference

By James Sherwood

Posted in Personal Tech, 20th October 2008 10:31 GMT

Updated The value of the PlayStation 3 game LittleBigPlanet has rocketed on eBay as sellers attempt to capitalise upon Sony's decision to temporarily withdraw the title, found to contain lines from the Koran.

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Sony's LittleBigPlanet: delayed

Sony announced late last week that it had chosen to delay the game’s worldwide launch – which was set for this week in the UK – because during a “review process prior to the release”, it discovered that some of the game’s background music tracks contained two quotations from the Koran, the holy Islamic text.

However, some early copies of the game claimed to contain the controversial music tracks in the fourth level have now begun to appear on eBay, selling for upwards of £135 ($236/€175) on the back of their rarity value.

According to one seller’s description, his version “will be quite rare in the future” because Sony "recalled" the title lest Muslims become upset by it.

Sony confirmed that an amended version of the title will be shipped to North America next week. The revised UK release date has not yet been announced.

Sony did not re-launch Resistance: Fall of Man last year when the title became the focus of complaints from British Christians after it emerged the game features a level set in a church that looks a lot like Manchester Cathedral.

Sony did, however, apologise for any offence caused.

Update

Sony's since told Register Hardware that "LittleBigPlanet will start to appear in stores no later than the week commencing Monday 3 November in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, on a country by country basis".