Ye Olde LiBiPl Blog » music

A Gentle Reminder

LiBiPlBlog — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:23:28 +0000

…that the “Little BIG Music” album was released today (at least on iTunes). Buy it!

LBPDPMUZIK

LiBiPlBlog — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:30:20 +0000

For as long as we’ve been talking about LittleBigPlanet, music has been a big part of the equation. First the brilliant use of The Go! Team in the original demo; then a whole generation of gamers being introduced to Battles, Jim Noir, Ananda Shankar, and others; and finally the unfortunate Tourmani Diabaté controversy. I was even inspired to make my own casual attempt at music videology.

Now that we’re all waist-deep in the game, we can fully appreciate the other tracks which gently soothe our platforming frustration or spur us on to high score one-upsmanship. Our good friend Kenny wrote some solid numbers (the LiBiPl.net HQ towers quake with debate over whether it’s appropriate to use “Skipping Syrtaki” on the difficult sections of our levels), but the lion’s share of the non-interactive music comes by way of the Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra.

So it’s easy to see how we were overcome with joy upon hearing some details about the upcoming release of “Little BIG Music: Musical Oddities From And Inspired By LittleBIGPlanet”. Available on Dec 15th from “iTunes and all other major digital retailers”, it includes all eleven Pembertonian tracks from the game plus “other material that didn’t make the final product”. If you go to the MySpace link above, you can hear the extended version of “The Orb of Dreamers” (sans Stephen Fry) as well as another track which may sound familiar.

While you’re waiting for the 15th to roll around, you can go check out the promo video for TVPOPMUSIK. If you like it, it’s available on Amazon in both expensive import CD (for those in the States, at least) and inexpensive MP3 download form (as well as being available on iTunes).

[UPDATE: Boing Boing Offworld has a sneak peek at one of the unreleased tracks on the CD. Go give it a listen, download it, make it the new background music for your waking life.]

The scissors are the barbers

LiBiPlBlog — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:54:11 +0000

Not sure why I didn’t find this when I first looked, but if you’re curious about the real lyrics to “Atlas” they’re here on Battles’ MySpace Blog [warning: strong language in comments].

Post-Beta Pre-Launch Blues Part Five

LiBiPlBlog — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:49:29 +0000

More things to see and read while we wait:

Going to be in London next week? I’m not, but MyLittleBigBlog is giving away two tickets to see Irish supergroup The Script at the LittleBigPlanet space in Covent Garden on Monday. So go send in an email, and get out of the house and enjoy some culture for once!

If you’re a fan of handmade knitted Sackboys (like we are), you’ll want to keep an eye or two on this Flickr group.

Originally scheduled for an Oct 15th release, the BradyGames LittleBigPlanet Signature Series Guide is finally hitting the streets (at least in the USA). I’m not much for strategy guides, usually, opting to find everything myself; but look at the table of contents: 75 pages or so on the Creation mode. Assuming it’s full of tips and tricks from the Molecules, those pages alone are likely worth the cost of the guide.

Still haven’t ordered your copy of LittleBigPlanet? There are a couple of good deals to be had. Or, if you’re wealthy and impatient, you can pay a premium for the recalled version (warning: strong language).

If you already have the recalled version, and are online in Europe, you’ve probably been patched twice: The first patch “concerns certain online functions and adds more costumes”, and the second removes the controversial vocal track from Tourmani Diabaté’s song “Tapha Niang”. I was concerned that they would remove the song entirely, which would have been a shame, since Media Molecule clearly put a lot of thought into level-music pairing.

Webcomic 2P Start! pokes a little fun at the unhappy recall situation. Penny Arcade has dire predictions (warning: strong language).

Lastly, I would like to thank Guy Cocker for giving us some much-needed multiplayer etiquette pointers. When your fellow players are underperforming, it can be difficult to broach the subject in a sensitive, non-confrontational fashion. This YouTube clip can help.

Post-Beta Pre-Launch Blues Part Two

LiBiPlBlog — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:16:36 +0000

First, without commenting directly on the recent unpleasantness, I’d like to give some words of encouragement to our friends at Sony and Media Molecule. I’ve been part of enough suddenly-delayed releases to know what a horrendous pain it can be. If any of you have time to read this between frantic phone calls and urgent emails, you have our sympathies.

As has been widely reported, some people already have the game in-hand and are enjoying it offline while waiting for the servers to be enabled. Others seem to be turning a tidy profit on the online auction sites. Our good friend the Gastronomic Gamer got his hands on a copy, and has offered to take on any questions you may have, so comment away!

Industry heavyweight MetaCritic has received a lesson in how not to handle user reviews. While the professional reviews pushed LittleBigPlanet’s metascore into the stratosphere, the user reviews look a little fishy. As of this writing, just under 2000 less-than-stellar reviews for an as-yet-unreleased game (more than, for example, Halo 3 (which released over a year ago)), with not a single user comment. Since this casts some doubt on the integrity of the results, MetaCritic Games Editor Marc Doyle has commented:

My advice for our faithful users is to focus your attention on the Metascore for this game and not the thousands of user votes, most of which have been submitted before said users have played the game. This is a gaming community, and if people want to stuff the ballot box, there’s not much I can do at this point. When we upgrade the registration requirements for participation on the site in the near future, this type of thing won’t happen. We’ll post the full legitimate user reviews upon the game’s release. As always, thanks for using the site.

I haven’t had an opportunity to try out Spore yet; but if LittleBigPlanet forces Will Wright to buy a PS3, I just might have to give it a whirl.

Spaff has posted a great set of pics of the LittleBigPlanet space in Covent Garden. I wonder where all of the decorations will go when they close it down? I’d be willing to throw some serious money at an online auction (If I had serious money, that is).

I’ll admit that I was surprised to see 1UP holding their LittleBigPlanet review until they’ve seen the final online component of the game. Good for them, I say; I’ve seen a few too many reviews based on the Beta for my taste. Here’s hoping that they see all of the improvements made based on Beta feedback, and add to the long list of perfect scores.

Lastly, I know you’ve all seen it by now, but I just can’t stop watching LittleBigDance. It always makes me smile, and definitely raises the bar for those of us with music video aspirations.

Pax in bello – gloria mundi

LiBiPlBlog — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:03:15 +0000

Lots to report, before anything starts coming in from PAX:

First of all, the LittleBigPlanet News Site is showing off the official boxart for the USA [thanks Brian!]. I can’t decide whether I like the UK packaging better or not. I like the USA crowd better than just showing two Sackboys, but the use of the sticker art on the UK box is very appealing (and I love Sackboy holding the craft Earth). One thing about the USA box, though: It looks like it’d be easy to convert to a three-layer cardboard stand-up store display: Just make the craft Earth with patches the back layer, the Sackboy crowd the middle layer, and naked peace Sackboy the front layer. Frankly I’d be surprised not to see just that in my local GameStop in a few weeks.

System Seller and Emblematic Character

Mark Valledor, a “marketeer for LBP”, has told Advertising Age magazine that he wants Sackboy to become “the next emblematic character for the PS3″. I’m sure this’ll depend on whether LBP is seen to really be a system seller or not. (Link is to Eurogamer article in case you don’t have a subscription to Advertising Age)

Associate producer Eric Fong thinks LBP will sell PS3s as well, or at least that’s what he told Gamesindustry.biz.

Qore

Episode 4 should be dropping sometime at the beginning of September, and we’re eager to see if Veronica Belmont has retained her right big toe.

Japan

GameXtract has posted some scans of the latest LittleBigPlanet coverage in Japan’s Famitsu magazine. Worth a look, even if you don’t 日本語を話す. I notice they continue to call Sackboy “リビッツ”, is that the official name?

Australia

GameSpot Australia posted a new hands-on early this month. There’s a pretty good description of the controls, as well as their impressions of the first couple of levels and some Create time.

GameSpot Australia’s Crosshairs episode 21 focuses on LittleBigPlanet heavily as well. Starting about half-way through, they go into a lot of detail about their time with the game (and more than a few good words from Nick Robinson). Not just a “look, it’s cool” preview, this is actually worth watching for any LBP fan.

Australian games site Gameplayer wonders whether LittleBigPlanet will show Microsoft the folly of their restrictive Xbox Live policies [warning: interesting read, but very crude graphic].

Gameplayer also has posted an extensive hands-on, calling it “a guide to building your own level.”

Scotland

WonderwallWeb’s hand-on preview from Edinburgh points out a neat level feature (that I haven’t seen much talk about):

When first playing through the levels they will seem very linear, with a beginning and an end, but with closer inspection you will notice sticker boards dotted around, if you have picked up the matching sticker from other levels you can use it to open new areas which may hold extra goodies to use in game or during customization.

Scotland’s Daily Record has a nice preview as well.

DarkZero’s hands-on preview from Edinburgh includes screenshots and details of their attempt at building a complex vehicle; definitely a must-read.

PS-cubed’s hands-on answers the oft-asked question “Is the Play part actually fun?”:

Given that these core platforming mechanics are the foundations upon which this entire experiment is built, it’s important that Media Molecule get at least this bit right, and happily they acquit themselves handsomely; the controls are simple and nicely weighted, the physics floaty yet consistent, and the gameplay and puzzle challenges enjoyably tricksy.

Norway

Another LittleBigPlanet voice actor revealed: Harald Eia! [thanks BasketSnake!]

Denmark

GameStadium got a demo in Leipzig from Leo Cubbin and Jim Unwin, but only took a picture of Jim? The interview unfortunately confirms that there aren’t many plans for pre-order goodies in Europe. We can only hope that the same goodies will available some other way.

Benelux

PlayStation Only has posted a screenshot showing a number of LBP trophies. It looks like there are at least seven for simply completing the story levels.

Forums

Goodbye sponge and fluff and aether, Sam says it’s officially “bubbles” now.

Curious about the music in the trailers? AKIRA-UK is maintaining a very informative threat over on LBPCentral.

Elsewhere

TheSixthAxis tells us six cool things about LittleBigPlanet, with links to Sam’s posts on the forums where they got the info.

Gotgame’s preview of LittleBigPlanet gives us the phrase “comfort food platforming”. And another article reminds us that console user-generated content isn’t restricted to LittleBigPlanet (or, indeed, the PS3).

Joystiq got in touch with both Canadian and American PR folks to confirm that LittleBigPlanet is definitely, completely, really, truly a Blu-Ray-only release. I’m sure this changes nothing, and we’ll be hearing “I thought it was a downloadable game” well beyond the end of the year.

No real surprise, the readers of Scrawl have voted LittleBigPlanet their most anticipated game this year.

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a short article about user-generated content, which of course talks about LittleBigPlanet:

[GameTrailers editor-in-chief] Satterfield said a lot of eyes will be on LittleBigPlanet in particular to see how it performs. If it does anywhere near what people expect, he said, it’s likely other developers will follow suit.

GameSpy has a confusing positive/negative preview; I have to admit I’m not sure exactly what the author was shooting for, but I gather he’s looking forward to Playing more than Creating.

Newsweek’s Level Up’s N’Gai Croal caught up with Mark Healey to talk about receiving the Game Critics Awards for Best Console Game and Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game.

PlayStation Disorder has a long page of Leipzig coverage, calling LittleBigPlanet “one of the best casual games I have seen so far.”

PlayStation Direct, however, is concerned that the hype will give way to criticism, and suggests lots of DLC.

IGN gives us a list of 10 Sackboy costumes they’d like to see. [thanks Capn P!]

Over on Flickr, Pavel Hruboš gives us a glimpse of the moderation reporting screen.

Lovely Leipzig

LiBiPlBlog — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:21:17 +0000

The video of the LittleBigPlanet portion of Sony’s press conference is up on GameTrailers (part one, part two). Items of note:

Saved sets of material/clothing/etc in the “My Costumes” section of the Pop-It.
“The planet holds all of the levels: the user created levels, as well as the developer levels on the Blu-Ray.”
The man who comes on stage and plays with them appears to be Elton from SevenGames TV. Here they are interviewing some LittleBigPlanet players on the show floor.
Pasting your face on the blank mask successfully takes a little coordination.
The level shown is within “The Temples” section, and is called “The Dancers’ Court” by “The Great Magician”. It is “quite far through the game”, and is at a point in the story where we’re looking for the Magician and go to the storekeeper. (I think. Somewhat hard to hear.)
Trophies earned: Forager, Sticky Fingers, Treasure Hunter, Booty Master, and 2X Multiplier! The first four might just be for picking up a certain amount of bubbles or collectables. Multipliers seem to be given for picking up bubbles in quick succession.
The Sackboy Lion’s eyes glow in the dark..?
The hanging carpets blowing in the wind look great, but do they impede Sackboy’s progress or are they just decoration?
Danny and Pete are far more tolerant than I would have been.

But what’s a conference without new trailers being released? First we get the Sackzilla trailer:

We can pause the early parts of the video to see the Sackzilla construction: pre-shaped cardboard parts saved in the Pop-It, stiff rods for the feet, pistons for the arms, a button on the head tied to the two wheels– Oh, and some creepy autonomous eyes. Painting whole pieces seems fairly easy.

Now for the music: Was the song just written this way, or is this an example of the customizable music? The percussion section starts out alone, with other instruments (and vocals) coming in at various points; I wouldn’t be surprised one way or the other. Or has anyone heard this song before?

Next we get the somewhat familiar falling-through-gaps minigame. Whoever’s playing this is fairly skilled; it’s harder than it looks.

Finally, we have another play-through of part of the construction yard level:

If Comic-Con was any indication, we’ll get loads of videos of people playing at the booth in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Answers from Edinburgh

LiBiPlBlog — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:14:30 +0000

The intrepid Gastronomic Gamer has posted his report from the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. He managed to get almost all of your questions answered, so go on over and take a look. Just don’t quit reading early; the last paragraph is, to me, the most important.

Music, Sweet Music

LiBiPlBlog — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:38:31 +0000

Ever since its first showing, a lot of us have felt the strong musical vibe of LittleBigPlanet. Many gamers became overnight fans of The Go! Team, or Battles, or Jim Noir after the release of a new LittleBigPlanet trailer. Others have more exotic musical tastes to share with the world.

It’s not surprising, then, to read Siliconera saying that “LittleBigPlanet started off as a music game”. This article gives us the most detail on music and sound tweaking in the game so far:

[Sony Computer Entertainment producer Leo Cubbins {sic}] demonstrated that you can plunk down a box on the floor of the gaming level you are generating and attach a boom box to the front. After that you can adjust the trigger radius, so that as you get closer in proximity to the speakers the volume increases. There is also a mixer (shown in the screenshot below) with options to adjust the bass, drums and other instruments.

The trigger radius control allows players to place tracks strategically at various locations in their stages to create a musical transition that unfolds as players wind their way through the level’s various areas.

This sounds awesome, but then comes the downer:

Due to licensing issues, there are no plans at this time for players to be able to import their own songs into the game.

Long suspected, it now seems to be confirmed. It’s not a technical issue, but simply a legitimate concern over legalities. And while I have great faith in Media Molecule’s musical taste, and Sony’s licensing power, it does deliver a blow to our interactive-music-video level plans.

Always the helpful ones, we’ve laid out some concerns and some coping suggestions:

“But I’ll get bored listening to their music during my twenty-hour marathon level editing sessions!” I’m sure you have some music-playing device other than your PS3; just drag it over and listen to whatever you want.
“But I had a perfect plan for a music video for ‘Disco Inferno’ with lots of flashing lights and Sackboy jumping into lava!” Most music videos require some editing anyway; it should be easy to import the music you want before throwing it up on YouTube.
“But I wanted ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ playing while Sackboy rides a golden fiddle over a mountain of brimstone!” Here’s my idea: Put no music in your level (assuming that’s an option), and place a sign at the beginning that says “For maximum enjoyment, play on your stereo while playing this level”.
OR here’s another idea: Make your quiet music video level, and quiz players at the end. Give them five choices for which song it’s supposed to be, and five levers. The right lever can give them a present and a path to the exit, the other four just a path to the exit.

There’s always the option of using sound and sound effect triggers to make your own music, but I doubt it’s practical for any reasonably complex music. The ability to recreate a certain trombone riff might be useful, though.