Media Molecule has been passing out the Sackademy Awards left and right this month, with the winners for Best Machinima Video, Best Visuals and Use of Special Effects, Best Use of Story in a Level and more now available for your viewing pleasure over at the PlayStation Blog. The only award yet to be determined is the coveted Level of the Year, and that's all up to your vote.

As I said, MM has selected 10 finalist, and they want you to decide which should take home the award. Not only do I think this is a lovely way to get the fan community involved, playing through the ten levels is an excellent reason to dust off that copy of LittleBigPlanet you've played twice and then never went back to, not to mention a fine way to spend an hour or so while waiting for your time zone to warp into the future.

Hit up the link below for a list of the finalist, and remember to actually play the levels and not just pick LittleDeadSpace because the name is awesome.

The Sackies - Level of the Year [Media Molecule]

The new waterlogged Pirates of the Caribbean level pack will hit PlayStation 3s on December 22, priced at £4.79 or €5.99 or US $5.99 or AUS $ 9.95 or NZD $11.50, depending on what you've got in your wallet. And the pack comes with... deep breath... 5 new levels, 1 new costume, 4 new music tracks, 1 new level background, 8 materials, 14 decorations, 27 objects, 133 stickers and 11 new PlayStation Trophies.

That's 204 things! Less than $0.03 USD per thing!

There's a trailer down below, with a handy link to the official LittleBigPlanet web site that should answer most of your questions about how the addition of water affects your Sackboy. There are also new screenshots, artwork and a general feeling of warmth. Soak it in!

Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit [LittleBigPlanet.com]

How did Media Molecule get wrapped up in the Spike TV Video Game Award statuette designing process? Well, Spike TV asked them. The developers won "Studio of the Year" honors at Spike's award show in 2008.

Media Molecule's design signals the start of a new tradition, with this year's award winner planned to tackle a new design for next year's show, which is based on a sculpt originally created by vinyl toy experts Kid Robot. That means next year's VGA prize will be designed by a "Studio of the Year" nominee—Infinity Ward, Naughty Dog, Rocksteady Studios or Valve—should things go as planned.

To see who's going to get all these colorful monkeys, turn your television knob to whatever channel Spike TV is on next Saturday, December 12.

Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio Auditore de Firenze looked good in white, but not nearly as good as Sackboy does. The complete outfit goes up for sale today for LittleBigPlanet on the PlayStation Network, allowing LBP players to deck their tiny avatars out in Ezio's cloak and cowl, breeches and boots, tunic and cape, and most importantly, his hidden blade glove.

The whole ensemble is a steal at $1.99, and even if you don't like Assassin's Creed II, you could probably fashion a hell of a Moon Knight costume from the pieces, and who doesn't love Moon Knight?

Assassin's Creed II Costume [Media Molecule - Thanks Ursus-Veritas!]

Until the new Leerdammer update hits on Monday, the only way to create LittleBigPlanet levels with your friends was to gather around the television set or coordinate online and have one person do all the work. Come Monday, that will no longer be a factor, and friends from all around the world will be able to join together online and craft the sort of sublime, disjointed experience that comes from too many cooks in one pot. It's a feature fans have been waving their arms about for, and now it's almost here. Rejoice!

Leerdammer also adds location-based matchmaking to the mix, meaning the game will first look for folks whose connections don't suck before pairing you up with some guy on the other side of the planet.

All this plus more profile space, an auto-reject play invitation setting, and more, all in Monday's update. You can check out the full details over at Media Molecule's home on the web.

LittleBigPlanet Leerdammer Update [Media Molecule - Thanks Ursus-Veritas]

In some ways, you can see that the game's final aesthetic has a lot in common with its formative sketches. But in others - the ones that look like French cartoons from the early 90s - the furry, felty world of LittleBigPlanet seems a world away

Like what you see? There's plenty more at the link below.

Concept Art [LittleBigPlanet, via Boing Boing]

According to PlayStation.com's Hong Kong presence, as spotted by Siliconera, LittleBigPlanet costumes that ape Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Werehog, Tails, Dr. Robotnik (aka Eggman) and Knuckles will be available later this year. December 17, at least in Hong Kong, to be exact.

While we'd PlayStation.com to be right about the particulars, we're checking in with Sony and Media Molecule to see when we can enjoy dressing our Sackboys up as Sonic and his friends on our PS3s.

LittleBigPlanet Sonic the Hedgehog Costumes (English/Chinese Ver.) [PlayStation Hong Kong via Siliconera]

"We'd never want to do that," said Danny Leaver, adding that a sequel would fragment the game's community. Producer Martin Lynagh said that the game's existing strategy of updates and DLC - and both have been robust enough - will be status quo.

"I think what you've seen so far from LittleBigPlanet, that's the way it's going to continue," Lynagh told Critical Gamer.

There's this and much more in an extensive interview, the first part of which was published today.

A LittleBigPlanet 2 Would Be "Counterproductive" Say Media Molecule [Critical Gamer via Evil Avatar]

That would be the launch ready Space Suit Sackboy Costume, re-releasing the week of November 5 for LittleBigPlanet latecomers. Media Molecule's also letting PlayStation 3 owners eat cake, prepping a candle-headed, slice-suited Sackboy, seen floating in space above.

Both are, thankfully, free!

Happy Birthday LittleBigPlanet! [Media Molecule]

It's a year old, but it's still terrifyingly adorable. The pumpkin head costume piece returns to LBP on Thursday, when it will be available for free download on the PlayStation Network. You might have missed it when it was released last year as I did, not getting the game until later due to the recall that saw it pulled from the shelves because of offensive lyrics in one of the music tracks.

Return of the Pumpkin Head Halloween Costume! [Media Molecule]

Here's the announcement:

Water is coming to LittleBigPlanet as part of an exciting new kit!

It's not just a saying you know - We really do need to test the water to make sure the new features all work as planned, and we need your help to do it! How would you like to dive on in to the crystal clear waters and enjoy some splish-splashing about before everyone else? Get out your rubber rings people, this is gonna be one hell of a pool party!

If you're interested, you just need to be 18, have a PSN ID, and promise not to ever never never ever never share what you see with those who write about video games. Have fun!

LittleBigPlanet Beta Sign-Up [site, thanks Bob-a]

"The one thing we've lost is multiplayer," Sony's Mark Green told Eurogamer. "You've got full physics systems, you got full create mode, you've got all the aspects of LittleBigPlanet - you can upload, download, ad-hoc share with people - but we haven't got multiplayer".

"It's a trade-off", he elaborates. "The system is physically capable of doing multiplayer, but perhaps not with the full physics system. On the technical side of things you lose a third of the processing power or a third of the system memory just to do multiplayer at all. With those limitations we couldn't achieve it."

Hey, fine by us. Couldn't really see multiplayer being as viable on the PSP anyway.

No multiplayer in LittleBigPlanet PSP [Eurogamer]

How has the LittleBigPlanet community survived this long without real water? Sure, we've had cardboard water, but that isn't quite the same. Now the Super Mario Bros. levels can have swimming sections, The Little Mermaid is no longer off limits, and chasing waterfalls is a definite possibility. I wonder if we'll be able to drown our sack people? I also wonder why the thought makes me smile so much?

Just add water… [Media Molecule - Thanks Stu!]

It combines "objects, decorations, music, sounds, materials and 140 (zomg!) stickers" from a number of historical styles/civilizations, including Roman, Egyptian, Arabic, Oriental, Gothic, Celtic and Native American. Oh, and there'll be a costume pack, whose selection of figures we also approve of, as it includes Boudica, that most up-and-at-them of Britain's pre-Norman monarchs.

History in the making [Media Molecule]

Siliconera spotted the menu option during a recent playtest of the PSP game, a choice that sits alongside "story levels" and "downloaded levels." Clearly, "purchased" and "downloaded" could easily overlap, but Sony may be setting us up for more pay-to-play content.

Not that that's such a bad thing. There are plenty of Sackboy costumes and accessories up for sale, but little in the way of professionally created LittleBigPlanet levels. Media Molecule's Alex Evans recently discussed the option of selling some of that downloadable content to owners of a possible LittleBigPlanet 2, but didn't provide much in the way of specifics.

Hey, if it means getting LBP levels on par with the Metal Gear Solid-themed releases, we're all for it. Let's start making better use of those Team ICO costumes, 'kay?

LittleBigPlanet PSP Menu Shows "Purchased Levels" [Siliconera]

The game in question is Rag Doll Kung-Fu, and he'll be made available as a playable character as part of tomorrow's PlayStation Store update, where he'll join the game's unlockable characters in a "time savers" pack (as in, pay money for the pack, save you the time unlocking them).

If only LittleBigPlanet could repay the favour, and add a pack that lets you unleash some adorable little roundhouse kicks.

LittleBigPlanet-eers can opt to go good or be evil with their Sackboy, as defined by the color of Sack MacGrath's sparkiness and angle of brow furrowing. Surely this will be a two-for-one deal, right MM? You can't, in good conscience, charge for two of these, can you?

That's another PlayStation property checked off the list, getting us one step closer to that Blasto costume mentioned in my numerous e-mails to Media Molecule HQ. See the nicer, bluer version of Cole at the developer's official site.

Not This week but next week on the store: InFAMOUS [Media Molecule]

That means, according to Media Molecule, that a new level has been published about ever 21 seconds since the game's launch. It would take a gamer nearly five years, playing 24 hours a day, to go through all of those levels. How's that for value for your money?

Those million levels have been played a total of 244 million times. To celebrate, it seems, Media Molecule has uploaded this lovely video and is teasing us with some sort of news that they plan to spill on the official Playstation Blog on August 18.

Wow, I still remember back when Tristan was asking famous designers for help with his very first level.

LittleBigPlanet Community Reaches One Million Creations [Playstation Blog]

The whole lot will be out this Thursday. Those stickers (which will for $6 for the pack) are pretty great, no? Shame about the ghosts, though; the ones from the game are...OK, but some love for Vigo the Carpathian love would have been better.