LittleBigPlanet Delay

While at work today, I cam across some very bad news. LittleBigPlanet was delayed by Sony due to one of the audio tracks used. Supposedly, it was offensive since there were phrases from the Qur’an in the lyrics. The song in question, “Tapha Niang” by Toumani Diabate can be heard on his myspace page here. According to Wikipedia, no mention has been made regarding religiously offensive material being released by Toumani Diabate. In contrast, the artist claims to be a highly devout Muslim.

Media Molecule has already stated that a patch for the game is ready for launch, but Sony has decided to pull all current copies of the game and release the game one week later, during the week of October 27th. Sony’s point for pulling the game is some people do not have access to the Playstation Network, which might be true. I think anyone that buys a $400+ gaming system already has some form of high speed internet access. It would be like buying a high-powered sports car, but not having any money left to pay for some gas.

I guess it will now compete with Fallout 3 instead of Fable 2. Not the best move, since it’s now competing with a game also being released on the PS3. And I am sure that there will be a large portion of PS3 owners debating on which one to purchase now, and which one we should hold off on. Both are must have titles and will take up most of your free time. Some gamers, myself included, may not have the freetime available for both LBP and Fallout 3. Anyone who was in the LBP beta knows how much fun you and a couple of friends can have and how much of a time-sink the game can really be. It’s sad, but I am already considering putting my Fallout 3 purchase on hold…

Waiting a week won’t be fun, since PS3 owners were looking forward to playing what could be the best game of 2008. We’ll manage, but we won’t be happy because Sony was worried that someone somewhere without internet access may be somewhat offened by a Muslim using phrases from the Qur’an. At least it makes sense…

Source: joystiq.com

MGS4 Magic

Saw this posted on Kotaku this morning about the upcoming MGSIV game, due out on 6/12. If you haven’t seen him before, Cyril Takayama is an awesome Japanese Illusionist. Here is some footage of his recent work with Solid Snake:

I apologize for the poor quality of the video. Hopefully, a better version will be up on youtube in the next few days.

Original Post here.

GTA IV: About half way there…

I’ve never really played a Grand Theft Auto game before; well, let’s just say I neve left the sandbox. Every GTA game is know for it’s sandbox world where you can relieve some tension and kill some people something not easily done in the real world.

It’s the first time I’ve actually played through the story and I am surprised at how long of a game it really is. I’m am probably around 30 hours in and have only completed about half of the game. I know, that i can attribute this time to other aspects…like maintaining your in-game relationships.

Stealing cars and doing work for the all dregs of Liberty City is great, but finding the time to ‘just hang’ with them gets annoying. It feels like if I am not doing work for someone, I’m getting whiny calls or texts about how they haven’t seen me in like 2 days. It’s much worse when your contact list grows, and most of them are only there to be your ‘friend.’

I know that this is there for a reason. There are tons of things you can do in Liberty City other then push through the game: Strip clubs, comedy shows, drinking, etc. I feel that you shouldn’t have to spend so much time with every person you have ever met just to keep them happy. I am sure that each character has other friends to hang with during the few days you are busy robbing banks and killing fools. And with Brucie, it comes off even more gay.

I am enjoying the game, but the social aspect has become more of a second job than what the game designers thought it would be. I like being able to go to digital locations and take in the atmosphere of Liberty City, but don’t make every person you meet so needy that they have to call you once a day to see what you are doing since their lives are so empty and boring without you around.