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Is LBP Web 2.0 For Games Fulfilled?
4:30AM Maggie Greene | Simon Carless, publisher of Gamasutra and one of my favourite people in the world of gaming journalism, contents that LittleBigPlanet is Web 2.0 for games fulfilled — and makes a pretty persuasive argument for why it may be so. Of course, he’s basing this on access to the beta version and admits that we’ll have to wait until release to see how this will all pan out with a big community attached, but it looks promising: Now, I’m sure some might accuse me of hyperbole in the face of relatively little evidence. And it’s true that I can’t tell what’s going to happen to the community based around the game, when the full weight (and, hopefully, ingenuity) of the PS3 masses are brought to bear on it. But the game has managed to do what console titles have thus far shuddered to provide – an open, easy to use creation system that lets the community make the magic, while the creators stand back and marvel. More »
Sony Updates PSN Terms, Can Exploit Your LittleBigPlanet Content
4:22PM Seamus Byrne | Seems the Ts & Cs for Playstation Network have been updated recently to include reference to User Generated Content, no doubt just in time for the launch of LittleBigPlanet. According to Dean over at I Have The Princess, there is a clause that claims Sony and affiliated companies may license, sell, “or otherwise exploit” your user material with no payment to you.
They clearly needed to give themselves some leeway to redistribute content created by users, and for most players the prestige of a highly rated LBP creation will be enough. But what about if that made it onto an expansion disc at retail with no kickback for the creator?
Clearly many will be annoyed that there isn’t much to suggest they are recognising user copyright at this stage. As news spreads I’m sure a clarification will have to come from up on high, as previous suggestions have pointed to LBP players being able to set prices for their creations. Nice pick up by Dean at IHTP.
LittleBigRipoff? Sony can sell your user content [I Have The Princess] More » Far Cry 2 Map Editor: Simply Stunning
4:07PM Seamus Byrne | Ubisoft showed off Far Cry 2 at a media briefing this week, and while the game itself looks like a spectacular evolution of the franchise it was the map editor that completely blew minds. Get ready for some of the best user-generated maps you have ever seen in a shooter.
The Map Editor as we were shown it was the best promotion for procedural physics and animation I have yet seen. Starting with a blank canvas the user can quickly generate natural mountains, rivers, wildlife, trees, roads, and weather systems through an incredibly simple set of painting tools. While in other editors there is still a demand for careful brushwork to get a quality final product, here you have sets of constraints that tell the brush what to look for in the terrain and how to paint it. More » 
LittleSporePlanet?
3:00AM Brian Crecente | On it’s surface LittleBigPlanet is a very unique game, a highly-stylized title packed with evocative smiley-faced character and oozing charm. But for some reason I can’t shake the feeling that deep down it is in some ways reminiscent of Spore. I think both games are playing around with the concept of user-created content, of delivering more a system of creativity than play. In fact, the folks that I’ve spoken to from both teams say things that could be about either game. They both talk about giving gamers a pallet of creativity, of broadening the user experience by handing over control of the game to the gamers. The chief difference I see between the two games is that they’ve approached the idea of shared creative control from opposite sides of the same coin. In Spore you’re given a game and the tools with which to populate it. In LBP, from what I’ve seen, you’re given characters and the tools in which to create their world. At least that’s what I thought, but when I floated that past the LittleBigPlanet guys earlier this week they totally shot it down. “LittleBigPlant allows you to create your own characters and world,” Kareem Ettouney, Media Molecule art director, explained. “And it doesn’t stop there. You can animate your own creations, you can make them speak to you. “That exceeds just the aesthetic.” Ettouney, like Wright, believes that user created content has the potential to push the medium of gaming forward. “At the end of the day people have so much to say, to do, to express,” Ettouney said. More »
