http://www.mediamolecule.com/games.html
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/l...g=tabs;summary
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cI...7&sec=PREVIEWS
YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST IF YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN THIS GAME!!
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect....sts/071708.mp3
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168921&p=37
http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_bl...yadded;title;1
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/l...&mode=previews
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/l...&mode=previews
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/l...g=tabs;summary
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Developed by Media Molecule, LittleBigPlanet is a new PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) computer entertainment system community-based game with a hugely innovative concept behind it. Players meet on a blue and green planet scattered with individual plots – and use their character's amazing abilities to play, create and share what they build with other gamers throughout the world via PLAYSTATIONNetwork. The LittleBigPlanet experience starts with players learning about their character's powers to interact physically with the environment. There are places to explore, creative resources to collect and puzzles to solve – all requiring a combination of brains and collaborative teamwork. As soon as players begin their creative skills will grow and they will soon be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings – the first step to sharing them with the whole community. Characters have the power to move anything in this glued and stitched-together 3D landscape; they have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to view and play. There's no complicated level editor; all of these skills can be learned by simply playing the game. Creativity is part of the gameplay experience and playing is part of the creative experience. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet community to come and explore their patch – or can go and explore everybody else's. KEY FEATURES
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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 7, 2007 - Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios today revealed a glimpse of the LittleBigPlanet – the first creative gaming experience for PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) – at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California. Developed by Media Molecule, LittleBigPlanet is a new PS3 community-based game with a hugely innovative concept behind it. Players meet on a blue and green planet scattered with individual plots – and use their character's amazing abilities to play, create and share what they build with other gamers throughout the world via PLAYSTATION Network. The LittleBigPlanet experience starts with players learning about their character's powers to interact physically with the environment. There are obstacles to explore, bits and pieces to collect and puzzles to solve – requiring a combination of brains and collaborative teamwork. As players begin to explore, their creative skills will grow and they will be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings – the first step to sharing them with the whole community. Characters have the power to move anything in this glued and stitched-together 3D landscape; they have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to view and play. There's no complicated level editor; all of these skills can be learned by simply playing the game. Creativity is part of the gameplay experience and playing is part of the creative experience. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet community to come and explore their patch – or can go and explore everybody else's. "We were confident that PS3 would be the platform to lead the way in creative gaming, and LittleBigPlanet brings this concept to life spectacularly," said Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. "By giving players the power to shape and share an entire virtual world via PLAYSTATION Network, we've created the space for PS3 owners to realize their creativity and craft their own unique gameplay experience." So, how does it work?
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http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cI...7&sec=PREVIEWS
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Previews: LittleBigPlanet After playing a little, we want to play a lot.  Target: LittleBigPlanet Background: At this point, everyone knows LittleBigPlanet as "that game with the cute sack-puppet characters where you make your own levels and stuff." Technically, the "game" portion is a 2D platformer with a little bit of spatial depth, and it'll ship with several premade levels. LittleBigPlanet is truly distinguished, though, by its potential for becoming a creative outlet. With its disarmingly cute style and user-friendly tools that also offer tremendous depth, LittleBigPlanet makes imagination the only real limitation to what you can create. It's the exact opposite of the intimidating complexity of, say, building something in Unreal. What we played: For an hour or so, we sat down with Alex Evans, cofounder of developer Media Molecule, and played around with LittleBigPlanet. We tried out some of the levels planned to ship with the game (all of which were created in-game exactly the same way you'll be able to -- no cheating from the developers). And then we dove into creation mode, starting off with a blank slate, and messed around with all the different toys and tools. Good to go: Given free rein to screw around with the creator tools, we could've whiled away hours...no, make that days. Not only are the tools simple to use, but many of them are also so clever that before we'd complete what we set out to make, we'd already dreamt up a handful of new ideas. We'd never have believed it back in school, but playing with geometry and physics turns out to be an absolute blast. When you start connecting objects, making something that actually goes together in a sensible way, and then dropping yourself and anyone else who wants to play into your creation...wow. Good to go: Don't be deceived by the characters' cuteness; you've got more than simple building blocks to play with here. In fact, creating a level's structure very much equates to setting the foundation for all the other cool things you'll want to do with your creation. We were particularly mesmerized by the environmental effects you can apply to any object: For instance, make a surface icy, and anyone who touches it for more than a few seconds turns into an ice cube and must shake the Sixaxis controller to break out -- provided they don't come to rest on the ice, in which case someone else needs to push them from the chilling surface before they freeze to death. Good to go: Media Molecule is looking to address any concerns potential players may have about LittleBigPlanet's appeal, from the user who just wants to play the game to the budding architect who'd rather build levels. From what we played, both activities were fun on their own. There's an undeniably fun, childlike vibe to barreling through levels with your customized character, from getting electrocuted to blocks tumbling everywhere to hopping on a skateboard to escape to the finish -- all the more fun knowing that you can make any of it yourself. Warm afterglow: We feel like we hardly scratched the surface of the builder tools in our time with the game, and we can't wait to get a chance to really dig in and go nuts with them. After watching various users play LittleBigPlanet, our initial concerns about how much people who didn't care about creating levels would be interested in the game seemed unwarranted. User-created levels tap into a whole personal element above and beyond simply being "more to play with," and we figure that the better you know the creator, the stronger that connection becomes: Imagine receiving a special level from your friend wishing you a happy birthday. Since it's so easy to bang out levels, we have to wonder whether other game designers will make LittleBigPlanet levels just for fun -- publically, or perhaps as just a little secret on the side. |
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect....sts/071708.mp3
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168921&p=37
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Finally, the planets are aligning in Sony's ambitious user-driven platform-creator. You're reading an E3 2008 preview, which we've broken into three sections to make it easy to sift through during this week of convention madness. Check out E3.1UP.COM for all (meaning words, screens, and videos) of our E3 2008 coverage. What's the game about? Ever since it first debuted at 2007's Game Developers Conference, Media Molecule's wildly creative, genre-busting LittleBigPlanet has been one of the industry's most talked-about new titles. At first glance, it appears to be a simple side-scrolling platformer starring an expressive anthropomorphic beanbag named Sackboy. But rather than merely offering a traditional, predetermined set of levels to traverse, LBP also allows you (and up to three friends) to simultaneously create and play new stages in real time. With an immense amount of customization options (including the ability to import your own images as "stickers") and the chance to share and critique your creations on a global scale, this game hopes to push the emerging field of user-defined game content in ambitious new ways. What's new for E3? Media Molecule confirmed that the final retail version of LittleBigPlanet will ship with over 60 premade levels, and fresh samples revealed at E3 showed off player-controlled vehicles (including asymmetrical tanks and some awesomely tricked-out low-rider cars), and player-created enemies (placing a vulnerable "brain" on connected objects breathes life into your creation). And it sounds as if much of the game's content is still being kept under wraps: Media Molecule raved about massive boss battles that require flipping 120 switches to defeat, and they once again hinted that other internal Sony developers (such as Killzone creators Guerrilla Games or Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda) might be designing their own unique LBP showpieces. Plus, Sony's recently launched an early LBP beta for its employees, and E3 proved to be a perfect showcase to debut the game's first-ever fan-made levels. Although these early stabs at creativity weren't consistently awesome, flashes of brilliance (such as a stage that deftly experiments with the game's impressively complex music- and sound-effect editing tools to make a mammoth musical windmill) inspired hope that the average consumer will be able to forge good stuff once they get their hands on the game. What's our take? LBP has remained squarely on the radar ever since its debut, and it's incredibly encouraging to see it all finally coming together as a polished product. The interface appears to be exceptionally elegant, dividing the content into three "planets": one that tracks your own progress as a creator, another collecting all the levels and comments from your PSN friends, and yet another representing the global LBP community as a whole. Whether or not Sony will be able to successfully manage this potentially unstable, ever-evolving beast remains to be seen (Media Molecule did walk us through the easy-to-use system for tagging pornographic material -- you simply take a snapshot of the offending screen and tag the offensive bits), but we're incredibly stoked to explore the depth of creative possibilities this game will offer. |
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PlayStation 3 owners won't be able to populate LittleBigPlanet until October, but Sony isn't waiting any longer to start attracting new inhabitants.  The company unveiled its preorder incentive program today on the PlayStation Blog, and it features a handful of bonuses to be split up between Sony's retail partners. There are five different goodies awaiting North American customers who put down money for the game up front: a Brady Games miniguide for the game's customization tools, a sticker book, a LBP-branded burlap pouch, and two different in-game characters. Both bonus characters are pulled from other Sony franchises, as gamers will be able to play as SackGirl Nariko (from Heavenly Sword) and SackBoy Kratos (from God of War). Sony has not yet announced which retailers will carry which preorder items. For more on LittleBigPlanet, check out GameSpot's previous coverage. |
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E3 2008: LittleBigPlanet Updated Impressions We check out the many possibilities of playing, creating, and sharing in Media Molecule's upcoming game. By Brian Ekberg, GameSpot Posted Jul 16, 2008 3:37 pm PT Last year we kicked off our E3 preview of LittleBigPlanet with the simple phrase, "LittleBigPlanet is awesome." Here we are a year later and, after a killer appearance of the game at yesterday's Sony E3 2008 press conference, we're quite happy to report that, yes, the Media Molecule-developed Sony exclusive is still knocking our socks off. In addition to having the game on our live stage show, we got a chance to check out an extended preview session of the game hosted by Media Molecule's Alex Evans, in which we got a deeper look at this highly anticipated game. LittleBigPlanet's subtitle "play, create, share" describes the three main tent posts on which the game is built. What's interesting is that the game pays attention to exactly how you play and will reward you for participating in its various aspects. Some players might want to focus on the play aspect of the game, making their way through the various levels that will come shipped with the game at release. Others might want to forgo the playing altogether, and instead choose to experiment with the game's extended creation tools. Finally, sharing your creations with the rest of the world will earn you rewards, too, either as in-game trophies, or as recognition from other LBP players who choose to download and play your levels. Evans took us through several levels of the game, demonstrating a huge breadth of creativity from the developers at Media Molecule. First up was a traditional platforming level, one with a wintery theme that featured icy ramps that you could slide down, a mechanized dogsled that was powered by a rocket engine, and falling icicles that you had to dodge and then use as ledges to access higher areas of the level. The platforming levels are likely to be tons of fun for fans, but what really fires us up are the more creative levels that use some of the new tools introduced today. For example, Evans introduced the audio tool, which will let you attach prerecorded audio samples to objects and then choose from a variety of criteria to determine when that sound is triggered and how it sounds when it plays. As an example, you might have a simple box to which you can attach the sound of a ninja yelling. In addition to being able to tweak the sound of the ninja's scream (slowing it down or speeding it up, for example), you can set when that sound is emitted, such as when your sackboy character comes near, or when another object comes into contact with it. Although this is a simple example, it can be taken to extremes. Evans showed off a Media Molecule demo level that featured a huge stack of boxes with attached audio samples, arranged to play in a very specific order as the player's sackboy drove by in a cart. The result was a fascinating, sequenced musical piece that included full percussion and accompaniment. It was just another example of the kind of flexibility in the game's toolsets, the kind of creativity that seems to be limited only by the imagination (and the available free time) of the creator. Some LBP players might want to focus mostly on playing the game, whereas others will want to spend their time creating things. Media Molecule recognizes these two very different approaches and is designing a path through each play style that will allow both kinds of players to be rewarded. For creators, there will be a series of levels that will consist of more than 60 focused tutorials, which end up at about two hours total of gameplay. This path will unlock the entirety of the tools you'll need to create anything you want in the game. However, if you're the "player" type and you make your way through the game's created levels, you'll not only unlock the same tools, but also a lot of prefabbed items that you can plop into your created worlds right away. Add to those tools things like the ability to create stickers from scratch by using the PlayStation Eye camera, and the results seem to be virtually unlimited. Collaborative creation will let multiple players join in on the fun of creating levels and objects together. When creating with a friend, there will be a hover mode that will let you float through various parts of the screen to easily access things that you might have to climb to get to otherwise. For more complex objects, you'll see exactly how they are put together, including any behind-the-scenes wiring that makes an object work but isn't viewable when encountering the object in the played version of the level. In addition, players will be able to "copyright" their created objects, which will let them share it with other players but will also lock it so that those players won't be able to break down how the object works. Once a level is created, you'll be able to tag it with a number of preset tags to better describe your level in preparation for uploading to the world. All of the content that is published online will be easily moderated by the community using some simple in-game tools. If you find something that bothers you, the first step will be to take a photo of the objectionable content, then explain why you find the content offensive with some handy preset tags, and then upload the photo, at which point the LBP community will check into it. Thanks to some handy (and undoubtedly complex) behind-the-scenes code, the in-game community aspect of LBP seems to be rich and robust. In addition to the aforementioned tagging of levels, the game will let you keep track of your favorite levels and players in the game. You'll be able to tag your levels with a "heart" system that will let you tag levels as favorite and, over time, the game will present you with user content that is more attuned to your personal preferences. In addition, Evans said that the team hoped to have a Web version of the favorites system that would let you keep track of your favorite players and levels, and even check out who's been playing through the content that you've created. Each time we see LittleBigPlanet, our smile seems to grow a bit wider. As we said in the beginning, the game is looking awesome, and there's better news ahead: A beta is in the works, which we hope to be playing in the near future. The final version of the game is due for release this October. We'll be bringing you much more coverage of the game in the near future, so stay tuned. |
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LittleBigPlanet Updated Hands-On We get some serious sit-down time with the create portion of LittleBigPlanet and get to play through the first few levels of the single-player game. By Dan Chiappini, GameSpot AU Posted Aug 4, 2008 4:09 am PT For a game that has only been kicking around in the public consciousness since the Game Developers Conference last year, LittleBigPlanet takes a novel approach to hyping an entertainment product--simply let the concept speak for itself. Freedom is an amazing motivator, and at every one of its public showings--GDC, E3, Tokyo Game Show, Leipzig's Game Convention, and Sony's own London Gamers' Day--crowds of gamers and media have been enraptured by this unique product. At a recent Sony Computer Entertainment Australia event we got several hours of hands-on time with the game. The team at developer Media Molecule is in the final stretch, putting the polishing touches on the 50 or so levels that will ship on the game disc. We explored a little of the single-player campaign but spent most of our time mucking around with the level creator, attempting to build something from scratch.  If you can think it up, chances are you can create it in LittleBigPlanet. First, we created our own sackboy, which acts as your in-game avatar. You have the creative freedom to go as minimalist or over the top as you like. Another journalist sitting nearby during our hands-on time re-created Final Fantasy villain Sephiroth, complete with miniature wooden sword. We went for a more subdued Solid Snake for our onscreen character, with a camo suit and cardboard-box headgear. LBP is an incredibly social game, so it makes sense that the team at Media Molecule is including trophy support to let gamers show off to their friends online. No doubt the extra month the team picked up by delaying the launch from September to October is allowing more time for tweaks. While it's unlikely you'll need the incentive to customise your sackperson, switching out a few items of clothing was enough to unlock a trophy in our play. Rewards play a pivotal role in LBP, and throughout the game you'll come across bubbles containing unlockable items. Collecting these will grant you new costumes, premade items that you can place in your own levels, and objects that can be used in the creation of custom levels, such as backgrounds, music, and templates. You'll even have the option to create custom items and share them with your friends and with strangers by offering them as prizes for completing your homemade levels, for achieving a certain score, or for finishing within a certain amount of time. The early part of the single-player game is ostensibly a glorified tutorial, giving you an indication of what you'll be doing in the remainder of the game. Here you get a chance to familiarise yourself with the three planes of depth--the foreground, middle ground, and background of any given level--that you'll need to traverse between using the analog stick. Your sackboy is also clever, so jumping between two planes will see you land safely where you intended. The standout feature of this first level is a sticker puzzle that requires you to open your pop-it item menu and locate the three matching stickers that you must paste onto a wooden canvas. Even with sloppy pasting, as long as you hit part of the target you'll pass this obstacle, unlocking a bridge to let you continue. The sticker beast--who looks like Henry the Eighth wearing sneakers--follows you until he reaches a trigger point, which causes a collectible item bubble to be released. Once you pick it up, it unlocks a new costume element for you to try on. Level two was much the same, but it mixed things up a tad by including ramps, destructible bridges that you can fall to your death from, a spinning wheel, and a rideable skateboard. There is also a miniature wooden horse vehicle that you can use as a makeshift ladder to reach a wayward bonus bubble.  Use the pop-it system to sticker wallpaper on the LBP world. LittleBig's pop-it menu system--brought up by pressing the square button on the controller--is how you'll get to all the action, be it "hearting" items to indicate what you and other players like, customising the way your sackboy looks, or getting to the many menus for creating and editing items. You'll navigate the menus using the left thumbstick and skip between the pages of item categories using the L1 and R1 buttons. LittleBigPlanet imposes very few restrictions on you as the creator, though it's worth mentioning that even with a relatively small palette of objects and materials at your disposal, it can be a daunting experience. Having so much creative control and being able to complete goals using many different approaches is a bit like being given the keys to the city and then told you can do anything. Where do you even start? Our first hour was spent considering what we wanted to make and then attempting to make a prototype of a couple of ideas. Because LBP is so heavily physics driven you'll need to think a few steps ahead and at times work in reverse to build platforms for other items to sit on. Luckily there are two functions you'll want to immediately familiarise yourself with. Moving up on the D pad disables your stage's physics to allow item placement, and when necessary, you can secure objects to the ground by holding the X button. Pressing down on the D pad engages the hover mode, which you'll use to zoom around your level untethered. One or both can be disabled when you're ready, and you can try out your physics playground in real time to make sure everything is working as intended. On the left-hand side of the screen is a large red thermometer to indicate the maximum number of objects that can be placed per level. It's not nearly as restrictive as it sounds, and inserting items included on the disc has only a small associated memory footprint since they simply get saved as vector coordinates for the game to reassemble on another user's console. Custom items, such as images captured using the PlayStation Eye camera and then placed in your level, will attract a higher space charge, although the sheer size of the levels we saw being made in both height, width, and complexity shouldn't leave too many of you wanting for more space. We began our demo with only a modest material list spanning cardboard, wood, rubber, metal, sponge, stone, glass, and dark matter. But between these and the freedom to pick and alter shapes, you'll be able to start building your jumping puzzle, trebuchet, or skateboard ramp in no time. The modular nature of LBP extends beyond the items you can drop into levels and includes the levels themselves. Variables such as the lighting or fog in a level can be tweaked independently, turning an outdoor day environment into a spookier nighttime setting ripe for ghosts and ghouls. Likewise, many items have their own tweak submenus, accessed by holding the square button when using the pop-it system. The menus let you adjust relationships, radius trigger distances, sounds, and more using sliders. LittleBigPlanet's late-October birth on the PlayStation 3 is beginning to loom, but even with the home stretch to go, from what we've seen and played so far, we have faith in the development team at Media Molecule to ship a cracker of a title. If you're not all that impressed with the levels on the disc come launch day, you can always make your own version of LBP. |
