October 21, 2008	Tuesday	Shawwal 21, 1429

LONDON, Oct 20: Developers delayed release of one of the most eagerly anticipated games in the history of the Sony PlayStation because of concerns that some of the background music might offend Muslims, the developers said on Monday.

LittleBigPlanet, in which gamers can customise the rag-doll protagonist Sackboy and allow it to roam through an interactive world filled with different challenges, had been hailed by video games website IGN as “nothing short of astounding” and given a review rating of 9.5 out of 10.

But its release date has been put back after one of its background music tracks, a song by Mali-born artist Toumani Diabate, was found to have included expressions from the Holy Quran, which could be interpreted as an offence to Muslims.

“We’re sure that most of you have heard by now that one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Holy Quran,” a statement on the game’s website read.

“We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused.—AFP