Crave Denies Pro-Islamic Message In Baby Pals
Baby Pals [http://www.cravegames.com/] game says "Islam is the light" - the second such toy she's discovered in recent months.
To Mattel [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88990-Mother-Finds-Pro-Islam-Message-In-DS-Game] issued a statement saying the doll contained only one spoken word - "Mama" - and that the rest was just baby gibberish.
Unsurprisingly, Crave has said essentially the same thing: That the sounds in Baby Pals are just baby talk. "In creating the Nintendo DS game Baby Pals, the game developer Brain Toys / InXile used sounds files to simulate the life like baby noises and babbling," Crave said in a statement issued to GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/01/29/publisher-responds-quotislam-lightquot-ds-game-controversy]. "The sounds are publicly available for license. It is a recording of a 5 month old baby babbling non-intelligible phrases. In over 200 hours of testing the product, no recognizable English words or phrases were discernible."
"The sound in question of this babble may sound like the words night, right or light, but it is only coincidence as the baby recorded was too young to pronounce these words let alone a whole grammatically correct phrase," the statement continued. "We at Crave Entertainment and InXile [http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/] regret that there was any misinterpretation of the baby noises and in no way have intentionally put any words or phrases into the baby sounds. We hope this eases any concerns and fans continue to enjoy playing the game."
The fact that the sounds for both the Cuddle and Coo Doll and Baby Pals come from the same publicly available source seems a far more reasonable explanation for the similarity - which is undeniable - than some grand Islamic conspiracy, but whether or not that will be enough to satisfy excitable suburban housewives is another question entirely. In response to the Cuddle and Coo Crisis, a group calling itself Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability filed a complaint with the FTC over the lack of warning about the doll's Islamic proselytizing. (Unfortunately, the MAMA website at labelthatdoll.com [http://www.labelthatdoll.com/] is not currently responding.)
An audio expert who was asked to examine the doll here [http://www.kjrh.com/mostpopular/story/Audio-expert-examines-controversial-doll/c0uxVvEDFk-V7JrmNROSbg.cspx].
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Baby Pals [http://www.cravegames.com/] game says "Islam is the light" - the second such toy she's discovered in recent months.
To Mattel [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88990-Mother-Finds-Pro-Islam-Message-In-DS-Game] issued a statement saying the doll contained only one spoken word - "Mama" - and that the rest was just baby gibberish.
Unsurprisingly, Crave has said essentially the same thing: That the sounds in Baby Pals are just baby talk. "In creating the Nintendo DS game Baby Pals, the game developer Brain Toys / InXile used sounds files to simulate the life like baby noises and babbling," Crave said in a statement issued to GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/01/29/publisher-responds-quotislam-lightquot-ds-game-controversy]. "The sounds are publicly available for license. It is a recording of a 5 month old baby babbling non-intelligible phrases. In over 200 hours of testing the product, no recognizable English words or phrases were discernible."
"The sound in question of this babble may sound like the words night, right or light, but it is only coincidence as the baby recorded was too young to pronounce these words let alone a whole grammatically correct phrase," the statement continued. "We at Crave Entertainment and InXile [http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/] regret that there was any misinterpretation of the baby noises and in no way have intentionally put any words or phrases into the baby sounds. We hope this eases any concerns and fans continue to enjoy playing the game."
The fact that the sounds for both the Cuddle and Coo Doll and Baby Pals come from the same publicly available source seems a far more reasonable explanation for the similarity - which is undeniable - than some grand Islamic conspiracy, but whether or not that will be enough to satisfy excitable suburban housewives is another question entirely. In response to the Cuddle and Coo Crisis, a group calling itself Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability filed a complaint with the FTC over the lack of warning about the doll's Islamic proselytizing. (Unfortunately, the MAMA website at labelthatdoll.com [http://www.labelthatdoll.com/] is not currently responding.)
An audio expert who was asked to examine the doll here [http://www.kjrh.com/mostpopular/story/Audio-expert-examines-controversial-doll/c0uxVvEDFk-V7JrmNROSbg.cspx].
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