This appears to be the animation in the winning creation’s creature’s brain..?

MTV’s Multiplayer blog did a time-lapse of Team Awesome building their level.  Team Awesome co-won “Most Innovative”; the lighting, the crazy platforms, the high jumps.. can’t [...]]]> While the internet’s going Beta crazy, some more has come out of the Game Jam at Parsons:

This appears to be the animation in the winning creation’s creature’s brain..?

MTV’s Multiplayer blog did a time-lapse of Team Awesome building their level.  Team Awesome co-won “Most Innovative”; the lighting, the crazy platforms, the high jumps.. can’t wait to die a hundred times on it.

On the official PlayStation blog, they have a nice interview with Kenny and Kareem.

VentureBeat talked to Kareem as well.

Destructoid gives us a short look at each of the finalists.

Reuters even put up an article about LittleBigPlanet mentioning the contest.

But GameSpot really delivers with a bunch of playthrough videos.  Team Rocket did not disappoint me.

Thankfully, you’ll be able to play [...]]]> It looks like the 24-hour Game Jam event at Parsons The New School for Design was a big success.  Team Sportmanship walked away with the “Best of Jam” prize for their large-scale punishingly-difficult Ueda-inspired level.  PS3Fanboy has a good write-up with some pics and videos, including the good news:

Thankfully, you’ll be able to play all of these levels when LittleBigPlanet launches on PS3 in October.

I, for one, am very curious to see what Team Rocket came up with.  I’m prepared for trouble.

MTV’s Multiplayer Blog has a lot of pics, and lets us know that Kareem and Kenny from Media Molecule were there for the opening presentation.  I expect we’ll see more pics and video hit the web in the next few days.

[update: UGO posted an article talking about the contest and the winning level, although they did take time to give the standard complaint about the controls.]

[update: Kotaku has an article up as well.]

It seems that EGM/1UP’s Shane Bettenhausen (with help from David Ellis) has been making good use of an early build of LittleBigPlanet.  October’s Electronic Gaming Monthly has a nice article giving us some tips from their first level-building attempt.

But first, there’s a two-page ad for LittleBigPlanet:

Nice to see the print [...]]]>

It seems that EGM/1UP’s Shane Bettenhausen (with help from David Ellis) has been making good use of an early build of LittleBigPlanet.  October’s Electronic Gaming Monthly has a nice article giving us some tips from their first level-building attempt.

But first, there’s a two-page ad for LittleBigPlanet:

Nice to see the print ads starting to show up.  From the ad, it should be clear that it’s a whimsical multiplayer platformer.  There’s talk of uploading your creations, but nothing about what those creations are.  Given the difficulty of expressing all of the goodness in a simple ad, I’ll take the multiplayer platformer take-away over confusing the reader into thinking it’s only a level design tool.  The lines “Actually, it is all fun and games” and “Fun shall overcome” are a good counterpoint to the dark serious tones that market a lot of the other upcoming games.

The article itself has a few reveals, including apparent confirmation that you must complete “the game’s first set of professionally constructed Story Mode stages” before entering Create mode.  Some forum-goers have been complaining about this restriction, but I certainly would not want to play anything constructed by someone who hasn’t even played enough to have the basic platforming mechanics down.  Trust me, the first set of levels won’t take you that long to at least complete (although there’s a lot of replay value later).  The same internet denizens will likely be perturbed by the mention of mandatory tutorials present in Create mode, but they are reportedly “brief, entertaining, and best of all, worthwhile”.

There’s also talk of levels having multiple exits, and a note of caution: “Jumping, in particular, requires a little practice, as your vertical leap goes considerable higher than a lateral one”.  In my experience, Mario and Metroid veterans won’t have a problem, and platforming newbies will get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Showing you their level, built “over the course of three hilarity-filled hours”; they give advice on choosing materials, inserting PSEye images, offering multiple paths, simple obstacles, leveraging mistakes, “wicked” jumps, corralling big contraptions, and including challenges near the end.

There’s not a huge amount of LBP content, but I’d suggest at least thumbing through it when it shows up at your local newsstand.  And since they already have the code, look for EGM to do a review of LBP soon.  Gee, I wonder who’ll be writing the review?

A games blog over at the Portland Mercury seemed impressed by LittleBigPlanet, and were nice enough to point out something that I think is being largely overlooked:

Unlike most world-building games, this platforming section is robust enough to functionally be its own game, much to the delight of those who don’t have [...]]]> PAX

A games blog over at the Portland Mercury seemed impressed by LittleBigPlanet, and were nice enough to point out something that I think is being largely overlooked:

Unlike most world-building games, this platforming section is robust enough to functionally be its own game, much to the delight of those who don’t have any desire to slap together oversized fire-breathing cranes for their friends to play with.

The PlayStation Blog posted a booth tour from PAX; at 2:20 or so they start talking to SCEA’s Kyle Shubel, and he shows them a cool rocket car and the PAX08 Wall of Awesome.

The Escapist magazine gives a positive report of their hands-on session with LBP at PAX.  They mention the now-famous Disney DLC, purely as an example, and also repeat the October 21st release date.  Reassuringly, “Even so, Sony noted, they’re determined to keep LittleBigPlanet‘s unique style and presentation intact, so they won’t be replacing sackboy with other characters or introducing content that would weaken their own brand.”

Joystiq spent their hands-on time at PAX wisely, and give us a delightful time-lapse of them building their logo in LittleBigPlanet.  Be sure to check out the multi-rider tank at the end.  You can see a demo of that tank here.

PS3Center.net has a good gameplay vid of the ghostly Skate to Victory level, minus the actual skateboard part.   Whoever’s playing is much better than I am; those ghosts always got me.

Robot Martini has an informative and matter-of-fact hands-on preview up.  Kind of an analytical engineer’s view, which I strongly approve of.

Here’s a mini-preview from Blogcritics.  “I cannot wait for this game to come out.”

The Daily Dairy also got a chance to play.  Bowie reference FTW.

Cellphone camera videos of people playing LittleBigPlanet at PAX08 are certainly not in short supply.  dliggins put a few up on photobucket.  All of the remaining thermometer complainers seem to like seeing Kyle show the huge Elephant Temple filling only half of the glass.  Someone even caught what appears to be the game’s intro animation, although the quality’s not the best (sudden brightness vs cellphone camera, I guess).

Leipzig

videogamer.com unsurprisingly listed LittleBigPlanet among their “Games that most floated our boats at GC 2008″, saying that “[...] for all the buzz about user-built levels and online communities, it was the sight of row upon row of enraptured Germans that reaffirmed our faith in this game.”

Our favourite GC-attending Molecule Craig Kerrison only got a brief appearance on X-Play (and it doesn’t seem to be online), but GameReactor lets him give a nice demo of the oh-so-gorgeous Dancers’ Court on GRTV.  He does say that there are seven themes, each of which has three or four levels; if there are 60 or so levels included, mathematics tells us that some of these must be outside of the seven themes (or maybe they’re not considered “levels” per se).  Maybe this is the Player/Creator divide?

buzz-worthy

CVG made some hearts flutter by posting part of a recent interview with Pete Smith, where he said that “[...] we will be aware of who those awesome designers are and certainly there’s the potential to get them building levels as part of the dev team.”  Many fans already viewed LittleBigPlanet as a pathway into the industry, and I wouldn’t doubt that other developers will be keeping an eye out for fresh level design talent as well.  As I recall, the “show ‘em what you can do” path worked out pretty well for Zoid.

Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios, told videogaming247 that “LittleBigPlanet is going to be the biggest title for Sony in all markets this year”.  Everyone seems surprised that he includes Japan in that prediction, but we’re not.  We’ve been paying attention.

Speaking of Japan… ta-dah!  Official Sackboy plush toys from Taito!  Play-Asia has somewhat better scans, but I can’t wait for real pics.  About the info page at NCS, though:  Can someone with less rusty Japanese (and better eyes) help?  What does it say at the bottom-right about the three television commercials?  Early October teaser.. something new.. Mid October bookstore commercial.. ?  Christmas commercial.. LittleBigChristmas Campaign?  Forgive me, チャング先生、I have forgotten much.

misc

GNN gives us some cool info on (and screenshots of) the Chinese/English version of LittleBigPlanet.  It looks to me like one of the player names came from a Japanese version, unless katakana is used in Chinese games as well?

One of our favourite webcomic artists, Scott Johnson, says he’s looking forward to LittleBigPlanet.

Over at wayofthegeek, CMorrison seeems certain that LBP will flop.  A sucker for gamer pidgeonholing, (s)he says Hardcores are too hardcore, and Casuals are too cheap.  We’ll see.

]]> http://www.libipl.net/libiplblog/2008/09/03/pax-and-plush-toys-and-more/feed/ 2 http://www.libipl.net/libiplblog/2008/08/29/pax-in-bello-gloria-mundi/ http://www.libipl.net/libiplblog/2008/08/29/pax-in-bello-gloria-mundi/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:03:15 +0000 LiBiPlBlog http://www.libipl.net/libiplblog/?p=505 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 [...]]]> 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.

Joystiq has posted a new interview with the incomparable Jim Unwin (interface designer) and the [...]]]> First of all, if you haven’t yet, go take a look at Media Molecule’s Leipzig photos.  Simply amazing.  And to those who ask “What about lighting?  Can we make dark levels?”, you might spy an answer in this image.

Joystiq has posted a new interview with the incomparable Jim Unwin (interface designer) and the famous-German-tolerating Pete Smith (producer).  Right at the beginning, we get the bestest news ever:

Firstly, the game is finished and pretty much ready to go. The European release date has been finalized as October 29th, with other regions to be confirmed later. Barring unforeseen circumstances there’s no reason at all why this game shouldn’t ship in time.

With just over two months to go, we’re happy to see that it’s almost burning-blu-rays-and-printing-manuals time.  I just hope they spend that time hardening the servers as well.  With lessons learned from the likes of Warhawk, SingStar, and the Home Beta; the PSN should be able to handle anything, right?

Since everyone seems to be curious about DLC:

Smith confirmed that there are plans for paid-for and free downloadable content, but bemoaned the rumours and speculation flying around about things like allowing people to charge for their levels. “We don’t know that stuff ourselves, yet. We’re going to be listening to the community once the game comes out, to see what you want.”

So keeps those comments coming, but in a nice way.  Media Molecule wants to listen to us; it’s up to us to communicate clearly, without whinging or abuse.

As we’ve heard, sticker imports are only via the PSEye for now:

At the moment it’s only possible with the PlayStation Eye, but other methods could be patched in later.

My theory is that this will be one of the first patches.  The public outcry has been pretty clear, but perhaps too late to make the change before release.  (I could go into a whole discussion of the QA impacts, but will spare you.  This time.)

One of the other public outcries has been over the level creation thermometer.  There’re a lot of confused and concerned aspiring level designers, seeing the thermometer fill up “too quickly” in the demos thus far.  Maybe this will sooth their fears:

There’s a thermometer in the Create mode which shows how complex your level is. This is just a rough estimation and we’ve only ever seen it maxed out once and that was here, at Leipzig.  One guy kept a level open for an entire day while groups of German press rotated in and more content was added. By the end of the day it was maxed out, but none of our levels, the ones on the game disc, even come close.

Now here’s a fascinating idea (good question, Jem!):

Will there be any levels that require the Create mode to get to the end?

No, not to beat the level. Though there are levels where using the create mode will allow you to access hidden areas. The Create mode will have its own set of tutorials to get you used to it.

Platformers are usually full of secret little areas that take some skill/luck to reach, but think how much more interesting it could be when the player has to actually build his or her way in!  It’s not mentioned whether these levels are part of the story mode or not, however.

Finally, on the question of game length:

It takes me [Jim Unwin, interface designer] about 12 hours to complete all the levels, and I’ve been developing the game for the past however-many months. So expect it to take a bit longer than that.

So, perhaps 20 hours for a mere mortal?  The temptation was certainly there for the developer to try to get by with only a few hours of included gameplay, relying on user-generated content for the value proposition.  However, Media Molecule seems to be going above and beyond.  I’m feeling more and more confident in recommending the game, even to those who have no interest in going online.

So put on a smile, start waving your hand…

Getting more subtle, we track the creators of the levels – so the people are as important as the levels themselves. We have this [...]]]> Eurogamer posted a couple of blurbs from an interview with Alex Evans some time ago, promising the full interview soon.  Now they’ve revealed it, and there’s a lot of happy inside:

Getting more subtle, we track the creators of the levels – so the people are as important as the levels themselves. We have this notion of “hearting”, which is basically where you favourite something. You can favourite a person or a level that they’ve made – and it’s really powerful, because we track what you’ve hearted and we use that to push content towards you that we think you might like, based on other people who also liked it. “People who liked this, also liked this” – that kind of thing.

What’s awesome is that, like Facebook, we know who is logged in under what PSN ID, and we know what level the photo was taken in. Within the LittleBigPlanet universe, we geotag the photo with where you were at the time – and we put Facebook-style clickable links to everyone in the picture! You get a feed of photos, so every level has a photo feed, and every player has a photo feed.

We’re even going to push those feeds out onto the web, so if you’ve got a blog, you could create a sidebar with a feed of people who are playing your levels, or levels you’ve recently played.

Eurogamer: Are you pushing that data out just as standard RSS?

Alex Evans: RSS, yeah. It’s awesome!

Coming out of Leipzig, we have two videos of levels being created:

Fiery Ferris Wheel

Creation Time Lapse

Finally, from YouTube, we have two level previews from European TV (The show is called “Playr”.  Thanks Clarkey!).  These are two of my favourite levels, but if you don’t want to be “spoiled”, don’t click:

The Wedding Reception, by Frida the Bride

The Meerkat Kingdom, by Zola