The scoop on LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet, the puzzle-platformer due October 21 for the Playstation 3, is coming with such high anticipation that it's hard not to believe it will be a massive success.
LittleBigPlanet is simple yet complicated at the same time. The theme of the game is “Play. Create. Share.” and you certainly do just that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the intricacies of what each one of those entails.
LittleBigPlanet is being published by Sony, which is working wonders for the hype, and is being developed by a United Kingdom based developer, Media Molecule. LittleBigPlanet is the company's first game, but prior to becoming a company in 2006, the founders of Media Molecule worked together within Lionhead studio (another UK games developer). Media Molecule managed to woo Sony's backing in late 2005, getting funding from them the very next month.
It's not out of the ordinary for a large publisher or console maker like Sony to back a new IP (intellectual property) so heavily. However, what is quite out of the ordinary for a big publisher is to back a new IP from a new studio that has yet to produce a recorded blockbuster. New IPs from developers like Bioware (before they were bought by EA) or Insomniac Games are backed by their respective publishers almost no-questions-asked. Media Molecule has found itself among one of the largest promotional blitzes in recent Sony history.
Sony's heavy backing as the publisher, and thus promoter, of LittleBigPlanet makes a little more sense when you consider the reaction to the gameplay innovations that have since early 2007 been wowing games world wide. It started slowly, but as we're upon the release of the title, LittleBigPlanet's gameplay has been showcased in dozens of Media Molecule produce trailers and gameplay demonstrations. Now thousands of videos are making their way around the Internet thanks to the semi-closed-beta. The beta being a short test period for the game's online integration, where Sony and Media Modecule have distributed thousands of in-progress and no fully unlocked copies LittleBigPlanet to online gamers.
The gameplay is hard to explain precisely, but easy to explain broadly. Sackboys and Sackgirls are the playable characters, which are small and look like they're made of cloth like material. Like many platformer games before it, players run and jump around a mostly 2D environment, with a limited third dimension. Players can also grab onto objects, as the game is very physics based.
Those are the basic controls of running around, but the real unique parts of LittleBigPlanet are its Creation and Sharing features. With a library of materials, players can create their own entire levels to play through, and share online with friends. The depth of the creation available to players to build their own levels is on par with all of the levels designed by Media Molecule that ship with the game. The game also features online and offline multiplayer with up to four players.
LittleBigPlanet was unveiled in March 2007 at the Game Developers Conference, stealing the show for Sony and Media Molecule. Response from gamers exploded, and a heavy interest remained as LittleBigPlanet dipped below radar for a while during it's development. The game has been making headlines in gaming publications worldwide, and already a few reviews of the title have made it out. The UK “Playstation Official Magazine” gave the title 10/10 in their latest issue.
Furthermore, Sony and Media Molecule have created an online-frenzy with how they are distributing beta invitations. Instead of sending them to a select group of Playstation owners or people that pre-order the game, they have instead given a few thousand invitations to different online gaming publications, who have been releasing them en masse at different times. This has not only lead to publicizing the publications to a very high degree, but in turn LittleBigPlanet has seen an enormous focus from almost every major online gaming publication.
The outlook for LittleBigPlanet could hardly look better than it is. Sony is waving its LittleBigPlanet flag higher than any other title is this season, which has seen and has still-to-see Spore, Gears of War 2, Wii Music, Resistance 2, Fable 2, and Motorstorm among others. The word around the web is that LittleBigPlanet could become the YouTube of games as the Share feature of the game may be underestimated by many at the moment.
However, with the deep integration of things like ranking and user created level libraries, maybe LittleBigPlanet could be better than it looks, and it already looks like the game of the year.
LittleBigPlanet is simple yet complicated at the same time. The theme of the game is “Play. Create. Share.” and you certainly do just that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the intricacies of what each one of those entails.
LittleBigPlanet is being published by Sony, which is working wonders for the hype, and is being developed by a United Kingdom based developer, Media Molecule. LittleBigPlanet is the company's first game, but prior to becoming a company in 2006, the founders of Media Molecule worked together within Lionhead studio (another UK games developer). Media Molecule managed to woo Sony's backing in late 2005, getting funding from them the very next month.
It's not out of the ordinary for a large publisher or console maker like Sony to back a new IP (intellectual property) so heavily. However, what is quite out of the ordinary for a big publisher is to back a new IP from a new studio that has yet to produce a recorded blockbuster. New IPs from developers like Bioware (before they were bought by EA) or Insomniac Games are backed by their respective publishers almost no-questions-asked. Media Molecule has found itself among one of the largest promotional blitzes in recent Sony history.
Sony's heavy backing as the publisher, and thus promoter, of LittleBigPlanet makes a little more sense when you consider the reaction to the gameplay innovations that have since early 2007 been wowing games world wide. It started slowly, but as we're upon the release of the title, LittleBigPlanet's gameplay has been showcased in dozens of Media Molecule produce trailers and gameplay demonstrations. Now thousands of videos are making their way around the Internet thanks to the semi-closed-beta. The beta being a short test period for the game's online integration, where Sony and Media Modecule have distributed thousands of in-progress and no fully unlocked copies LittleBigPlanet to online gamers.
The gameplay is hard to explain precisely, but easy to explain broadly. Sackboys and Sackgirls are the playable characters, which are small and look like they're made of cloth like material. Like many platformer games before it, players run and jump around a mostly 2D environment, with a limited third dimension. Players can also grab onto objects, as the game is very physics based.
Those are the basic controls of running around, but the real unique parts of LittleBigPlanet are its Creation and Sharing features. With a library of materials, players can create their own entire levels to play through, and share online with friends. The depth of the creation available to players to build their own levels is on par with all of the levels designed by Media Molecule that ship with the game. The game also features online and offline multiplayer with up to four players.
LittleBigPlanet was unveiled in March 2007 at the Game Developers Conference, stealing the show for Sony and Media Molecule. Response from gamers exploded, and a heavy interest remained as LittleBigPlanet dipped below radar for a while during it's development. The game has been making headlines in gaming publications worldwide, and already a few reviews of the title have made it out. The UK “Playstation Official Magazine” gave the title 10/10 in their latest issue.
Furthermore, Sony and Media Molecule have created an online-frenzy with how they are distributing beta invitations. Instead of sending them to a select group of Playstation owners or people that pre-order the game, they have instead given a few thousand invitations to different online gaming publications, who have been releasing them en masse at different times. This has not only lead to publicizing the publications to a very high degree, but in turn LittleBigPlanet has seen an enormous focus from almost every major online gaming publication.
The outlook for LittleBigPlanet could hardly look better than it is. Sony is waving its LittleBigPlanet flag higher than any other title is this season, which has seen and has still-to-see Spore, Gears of War 2, Wii Music, Resistance 2, Fable 2, and Motorstorm among others. The word around the web is that LittleBigPlanet could become the YouTube of games as the Share feature of the game may be underestimated by many at the moment.
However, with the deep integration of things like ranking and user created level libraries, maybe LittleBigPlanet could be better than it looks, and it already looks like the game of the year.
