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Does the cuteness of LittleBigPlanet know no bounds? Hipster publication VICE Magazine goes totally Sackboy cute crazy in its latest issue. There are Sackboy cover cuteness, Sackboy fashion photo-shoot cuteness and Sackboy American Apparel panty ads. Not sure if that's so cute. It's certainly not sexy, that's for damn sure. VICE magazine and Little Big Planet = LittleBigVice [Wonderland Blog]
Early sales on Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet didn't quite set the world on fire. The game moved a solid if unspectacular 215,000 copies in the United States during its debut month of October — just four days, really — and 69,000 units during its first two weeks of availability in Japan. In the UK, it dropped quickly to nineteenth place on sales charts in its second week. Over a quarter million copies in a few days isn't bad, but it might not be the killer app exclusive emotionally invested PlayStation fans or Sony executives were hoping for.
There's been a LittleBigPlanet rumour this year that's been so strong it's popped up twice, once in April, and again last week. Said rumour involves the popular (if a little oversold) platformer making its way to the PSP. MTV asked Sony's John Koller about it, and his response was:
LittleBigPlanet' is so expansionary. I think the developer's really concentrating on right now making sure that the launched product is everything it could be and can be. We're watching the UGC [user generated content] and seeing how that's playing out. But for the future, I think certainly, we'd look at a wide variety of opportunities. Whether that's the PSP or not, I can't really say. We certainly look at 'LittleBigPlanet' franchise as a going forward franchise for us, and that speaks to the PlayStation brand overall.
Do not take this as precedent, that Kotaku is going to get involved in every level taken down on LittleBigPlanet. But the demise of Azure Palace seems newsworthy for a few reasons -- one, it's well made (a little too fly-and-grab for me, but still a good level); two, there seems to be no apparent reason for it; and three, it's the big stink in any forum now discussing the heavy-handed moderation on LittleBigPlanet.
LittlerNotAsBigPlanetoid? The December issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly carries a rumour (the second we've heard this year) that LittleBigPlanet may be about to get even more ubiquitous as the title is ported to the PSP.
The LittleBigPlanet community is in an uproar over their favourite levels suddenly disappearing off the face of the LittleBigEarth, and while Sony appreciates the creativity, they aren't planning on cutting back on moderating them any time soon. In a statement released on their Three Speech Blog, Sony lays down the simple guidelines to follow if you'd like your levels to stay in play.
*Ensure that the content you share with other users is suitable for all ages - everybody has access to your level if you publish it
*Please respect other people's intellectual property rights. For example, don't use images, brands or logos that you're not entitled to use.
*If you come across any content that you feel the need to report, then please do it responsibly. Hoax reports will be considered inappropriate behaviour.
Moods of Norway, a fashion design firm, is out to save the world from a fashion crisis. At least, that's the point of the LittleBigPlanet level it designed in collaboration with a Norwegian PlayStation distributor. The level's published and ready for you to play and, I assume, won't be taken down because it references third party IP. Although it'd be hilarious if it did.
There's a growing clamour on the LittleBigPlanet forums about level 'moderation' -- if by 'moderation' one means 'summary deletion.' Without warning. It doesn't have to involve penis innuendo creations or anything blatantly offensive, either. Just create a level that references anyone else's IP, and you're at risk of losing all your work on the spot. Considering some people are spending standard workdays on these things, keep that in mind before you plunge into your Metal Gear Solid tribute.
As of right now, the only way to import images that one can plaster upon the levels of LittleBigPlanet is courtesy of the PlayStation Eye, EyeToy or "other compatible USB camera." Great for capturing one's nether regions, but less great for transferring one's original artwork and digital photos. Fortunately, that's about it change, according to Media Molecule's Alex Evans and, oddly enough, the developer's Flickr photo stream.
As the 2007 Game Developers Conference approached in early January 2007, many folks in the game industry were unsure what to make of Sony's PlayStation 3. Just a couple of months old, the console only had a handful of titles, most of them sub-par, and the promise of some bigger games down the line. Many new PS3 owners were losing hope, and then LittleBigPlanet happened. Media Molecule's baby, even in the brief look we got courtesy of Phil Harris and crew at the Sony GDC keynote, captured the imagination of not just the gaming public, but the entire industry, promising levels of interactivity and user-created content unheard of for a console title.
So now it's the better part of two years later, and despite some last minute setbacks, LittleBigPlanet is in the hands of PS3 owners everywhere. So how'd that work out for them? Witness sackboy quivering under the steely gaze of game critics, after the jump.
