Kotaku
We had the opportunity to sit in on a LittleBigPlanet demo with Media Molecule creative director Mark Healey at Games Convention to get a quick update on how the PLAYSTATION 3 game is progressing. Unfortunately, the build on hand was from E3 '06 meaning there was little in the way of new features or content. Healey did tell us though that we can expect an improved version of the "create, play, share" software at Tokyo Game Show.
In addition to loads of new stuff to futz with, edit and graffiti, exactly where you can place your customized materials is going to change (read: there's even more flexibility there). In addition to that very dry detail, one that probably needs to be seen in person to understand properly, Healey promised that we'd be impressed—quite possibly even doubled-over with laughter—at the new puppet emotes and "acting" skills.
He also revealed that you'll be able to interact with other users by navigating the textile based globe, seemingly in a fashion similar to Katamari Damacy's interactive Earth. You'll meet up with other puppets on the corduroy planet for multiplayer matches, sharing, chatting, all that stuff.
Hopefully, we'll get a look at all these new features at TGS.
It was actually my first time with LittleBigPlanet and I snatched up the SIXAXIS as soon as it was offered. After being blown away by the game's GDC presentation, I started to worry that it wouldn't actually be that much fun to play and that the editor might be a bit too slow for proper level creation. At this point, after running around the pre-made level with Healey and stringing together my own primitive shapes into something worthwhile, my fears have been allayed.
It's awesome. So awesome.
Comments
This was one of the PS3's biggest selling points for me. I'm not kidding.
Any word on the beta/demo supposedly out this fall?
I not only want this game.....but i also want that sack mans top hat.
a demo maybe? can we get that?
GOTY 2008
Bah i'm so jealous :(
E3 07, not E3 06.
I really can't wait for this to come out. After GDC it jumped into the top 5 of my most anticipated games. Its nice to have something like this to look forward to as a PS3 owner.
"Healey promised that we'd be impressed- quite possibly even double over with laughter -at the new puppet emotes and "acting" skills."
Please, no tea-bagging. That's all I ask.
I really hope this is as fun as it appears, a demo will definately help "sell" it to any fence-sitters, the Folklore demo definately sold that game to me!
Good god, March next year will be turture. Do I play MG online or Littlebigplanet. I love Lego, so there's a high probability the latter will win out
@Unastheslayer-PSN: *torture
There's a certain 'solidness' to the way the PS3 renders things sometimes. This game is a perfect example of it.
I think it looks pretty good -- I wonder what they're doing to achieve that effect.
This is my most anticipated game on any system.
I am SOOOOOO looking forward to this game. And now that I have some friends with PS3's, THEY are looking forward to this too.
It's like a virus. A very fun, well animated, well textured virus.
This game am win.
Best sidescroller ever? LOL, BTW you meant E3'07.
Glad to hear you liked it. Hands on time impressions seem to be few and far between on LBP.
@Kyle4rmCa: The game was announced with a 20-minute playthrough at GDC early this year. I'm pretty sure McMike meant what he wrote.
This game justs adds to the strengh of the 2008 PS3 line up
So far
Metal gear Solid 4
Final Fantasy 13
Gran Turismo 5
Killzone 2
LittleBigPlanet
Socom 4
You have 6 potential system sellers already
Anyway LBP is one of those games everyone needs to play. it will be epic. I can predict a 10/10 from Edge all ready
@jeffram:
looks good, but not GOTY material.
@jip100: In the perfect world LBP would be a system seller.But i dont think its gonna be attracting new people to the ps3......that being said i did get my PS3 a number of days after seeing LBP,so maybe im wrong and theirs some subliminal advertising going on in there somewhere......
@presto117: Depends who you ask. I'd probably nominate it.
@jip100: You forgot White Knight Story, Afrika and WipEout, among others.
@presto117: Well obviously not GOTY this year 'cos it won't be out, but a platformer with a built in level editor, oodles of charm, community elements, fantastic graphics (both technically and with regards to art design) and this from a game still at least 9 months from release? I'd say it's got a pretty damned good chance of being in the running for 2008 GOTY, but the competition will be fierce. Plus, have you heard anyone say a single bad thing about LBP in the gaming press? I haven't
@jeffram:
yup... i agree!!! i also agree with boxelder... and with jip100... and with samaridino too!
Man I cant wait for this game. I love to see all the creative shit people think up. I hope they put a demo out soon, just so I can fuck around with it.
*directs hate & jealousy towards Mcwhertor*
damn you >:(.
I still dont think Sony is truely aware of how much of an impact this game has made on the gaming community, plus they probably dont know that they might've bought the publishing rights to one the -perhaps- potentially huge-st game made.
This game is really hard to categorize... I mean it combines alot of features from simply editing and creating your own stuff to using it as your "weapon" ability, mixed into a platformer.
Looks more of a toy than a game.
@Rukusa: Only if Sony knew how to market....
@Unastheslayer-PSN:
No one said anything bad about Bioshock until the RTM issues came to light either, so don't get so over hyped on it -- or any other game for that matter. You never know the issues that can be introduced from RC1 to RTM. That said you come to 'trust' some development houses like you trust your toothpaste brand not to sneak in powdered chili seeds. Not the kind of surprise you want rubbing into your gums. I think that's the reason people are so pissed with Bioshock.
Not that I think this specific game will have such issues. It's still unknown to a degree. I'll get LBP at some point, but I'm not expecting anything more than a coop platformer with user content. The reason is the game will only be as fun as the other people playing with you. This is one of those games an asshole with a headset can ruin. It's true you'll more likely only play this with friends, but part of the fun is finding new 'game' friends like back during the hay days of Quake. One of the reasons Quake2 was so great was the LMCTF mod had a great international community. You never knew that would happen before it shipped. ^^
From left to right:
Pringles Face, Jesus Christ its a LION!!!, Cooking Mama, that thing in that Bukkake flash video.
Still waiting for the ones that will look like balls and dicks
I'm loving the graphical style of this game. Even my big, hairy, burly lumberjack friends are excited to play this. If it ends up as good as we are being led to believe, I will be on the GOTY candidate bandwagon. System seller without a doubt.
In the words of Howard Dean, "Yeaaaaaaaahughhuh !!!!"
This is one of the few games that I want on the system, very nice indeed. I wonder how well it will go in Japan where quirky games seem to do well most of the time?
@Mongoosekun: Don't knock the peppers, man, they let you know you're alive.
@ Mongoosekun: Sorry bloke, you've lost me. What do RC1 and RTM stand for? Also, why were you mentioning Bioshock? You've really thrown me for a loop there. The reason I'm excited about LBP is the fact that I love creating levels and building worlds but I'm too lazy to develop the programming skills to become a modder. I also love 2D platformers and games with realistic physics. Why shouldn't I be excited for this game? I've seen all the trailers, viewed the creation system in action and have decided this is my sort of thing. I have a rule with regards gaming. If I enjoy watching it I'll enjoy playing it. This has proven to be 99% accurate so far (damn you Enter the Matrix) and so I'm pretty damned sure I'll enjoy LBP. As for this being a game an asshole with a headset can ruin, congratulations! You've pretty much just described every online game ever produced!
@Kyle4rmCa: You sadly got a point.. at least for scea..
With that dry info on emotes and 'acting', I guess there'll be some gratuitous internet-humor?
Guess LBP will not only be game and extreme level editor, but yet another outlet for Machinima..
ah, So 'LittleBigPlanet' lives up to it's name now with the 'Little Prince' type interface.. makes sense..
@Nymo: It's a good book. Good enough to even get a reference in Futurama.
Please tell me you can fall off a cliff! :D
Can't be a level without a chance of falling!
@Maldron: I love that Commander Keen picture.
@Unastheslayer-PSN:
I'm referring to a problem that comes up from time to time. Press demos and release candidates ( aka RCs) aren't exactly the same beast that ships to stores ( RTM Release To Manufacturer ). Sometimes a 'review copy' if you like is better than the finished game, or an issue like Bioshock's DRM comes up that wasn't even part of the review copy. Games like all software are far from static, but at some point you have to ship. My point was don't project too much on a game based on a demo. I'm sure LBP will turn out fine, but there is always a factor of uncertainty until it's in users' hands.
@Mongoosekun: Obviously things change during development, but it seems incredibly unlikely that they're going to change the style of the game (aka cute and loveable) and the fact that there is a very in depth level editor which are the two things I'm most interested in. You say "don't project too much onto a game" and so I'm not; I'm sure there will be disappointments with LBP; personally I'd love to be able to make a 2D weapon based fighting game out of it, but I know that won't be possible. I thought of all the crazy ideas, then scaled them back to what I know can be done, like building tanks out of cardboard and spools or creating wooden seesaws and jetpacks.
You also say "sometimes a review copy is better than the finished game"; really? You seem a pretty straight up sorta guy, judging from previous comments, but I can't help but think this is bullshit. I read reviews on several sites: IGN, Gamespot, 1up on occasion and I also buy PSM3 on a monthly basis. Not once have I ever seen any evidence of what you are saying here. If you can provide an example of this then that's fine but it's not something I've encountered before. Also, games generally get better the further along they get in development, not worse. Considering the fact that the levels I have seen played, either by journos or devs, have already looked like fun I sincerely doubt that this game won't live up to my expectations.
@Unastheslayer-PSN:
RTM probably means Release to Manufacturing or Ready to Market
RC1 probably means Release Candidate one
As for this game, I don't like the track record for first and second party games for the PS3... I've noticed a lot of hype for any Sony-made game be in huge abundance regardless of quality of the actual game. I'm not saying this is going to fizzle upon release like previous PS3 exclusives have (read: folksoul's release in japan; over 9 weeks only 36,798 units have been sold), but I have a hard time trusting a system where every game gets an incredible amount of hype before any information concerning the game is released at all. Media Molecule, as a company, has never made a game before, from what I can tell.
Then again, I haven't watched any of the trailers for the game, partly because I have horrible memories of sucking at 2d platformers as a kid, and partly because I have "ps3 hype fatigue" at this point.
I'm just curious as to whether the game is going to have things like PvP, or PvE in it. For example, do my little sackmen have a health bar? Can I create a monster sackman that my sackman can jump on or hit with something ala Mario? I really wanna know whether or not the game has tools built in to do more than just make interesting platforming puzzles. It would be great to integrate the flexibility and physics of the game engine with say, the combat ideas of Smash Brothers, or the ability to create your own full fledged action-platformer like Mario or Klonoa or something. If it has stuff like that, then this probably will be one of the greatest things ever to happen to gaming. Putting the power of modification and design in the hands of gamers with a system that is easily tangible for them to use is going to be an amazing gameplay revolution, when combined with the apparent flexibility of this game.
it really does warm my cockles whenever i read about this game (or see that picture). fingers crossed this manages to deliver on the expectation.
yay! if there's one man i hang my trust hat on, it's mcwhertor.
@Hayabusa: the developers have said that you can create bad guys, but so far I haven't found any more info about them.
@Akin: Yeah you've got a point there, the Sony hype machine has always been a bit overwhelming. Thing is, most of the first party Sony games up until now have been underwhelming because they were pushed out the door too soon. Motorstorm is a prime example of this; great core gameplay but it had balancing issues and not enough to it. Genji also springs to mind. However, the Folklore demo has solved most of the problems with Genji; namely the camera, the community features (if the Japanese release is anything to go by) and the overall combat so at least Game Republic have learned from that.
The games with the most hype (Lair and Heavenly Sword) do have a degree of uncertainty about them (I think we're all aware of the IGN heavenly Sword review and the EGM lair review) but with Uncharted and Ratchet & Clank there's no need to worry. Insomniac and Naughty Dog have never made a bad game between them so why would they start now?
Looking into 2008, Level 5 (White Knight Story) have an excellent track record (DQ8, Rogue Galaxy, the Dark Cloud series), Gran Turismo is the original driving simulator and MGS4 is, well, MGS. These games all come from developers you can trust. Littlebigplanet is an unknown, but if there's player created content it's sure to have some merit. Killzone 2 you say? I'm intrigued but not yet convinced. I like cover systems, and it does look amazing but I played the first game and found it very repetitive. Still lots of convincing to be done there
Ultimately, you can probably tell that I'm not too worried; even if Heavenly Sword and Lair are both massive failures, there are still plenty of games from reputable developers which will be good. If I'm wrong about Uncharted and R&C future then I will never post on Kotaku again.
@Hayabusa: Enemies have been confirmed in the game, and you can set them with basic behavioral patterns, such as "move left constantly" or "go up and down". Dunno about health though.
@Unastheslayer-PSN: Hot damn I want White Knight Story, saw a new trailer and I just wanted it all the more. I'm praying Level5 has English text in their Japanese version, I'll be on that so damn fast.
I don't think Heavenly Sword will have overall engaging gameplay, but I want it for the cinematic graphics and story all the same. Lair I gave up on because of all that slow-motion nonsense, which I crusade against. I think Sony shot themselves in the foot on both with all the self-promotion, advertising decent titles as system-sellers just leads to... well, what's happening, really.
That textured planet they were talking about will hopefully resemble something like what was on the cover of EDGE the other month :).
@Unastheslayer-PSN: for it to have any chance at GOTY it better develop a deep, engrossing single-player mode too, with a spectacular storyline.
@Maldron: Too true, Sony's biggest problem (IMO) wasn't the price point, nor the lack of games but the sheer, unbridled arrogance demonstrated about the games and the console. If they had been slightly more modest I'm sure we wouldn't have seen anywhere near the amount of bile which was floating around. They set themselves up for a fall, and promptly got one. HS and Lair are games which people with PS3s will probably rent or buy, but those without just won't care. Personally I like the swordplay in Heavenly Sword (what little I tried in the demo) but IGN said it was really short and that's my main fear. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (before I lost it) had taken about 30 hours of my life to get through Normal and about half of Hard whilst HS is rumoured to be about 6 hours. Not good.
White Knight Story, on the other hand, will be awesome, I loved DQ8 even though I hate random battles and turn based combat and the DC series was really cool, if kind of flawed