LittleBigPlanet
Encyclopedia
LittleBigPlanet, commonly abbreviated LBP, is a puzzle platformer
video game, based on user-generated content
, for the PlayStation 3
first announced on 7 March 2007, by Phil Harrison
at the Game Developers Conference
(GDC) in San Francisco, California
. It was developed under the title The Next Big Thing by Media Molecule
and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
. Many saw the game as an important title for Sony's PlayStation 3.
The game received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from critics and has been praised for its presentation, including its graphics, physics, and audio, along with its gameplay and large array of customisable costumes and online features. Additional praise was given to its scope and future potential based on user-created content; minor criticism was reserved for specific elements of the gameplay mechanics and level creation facilities. LittleBigPlanet has won a considerable number of awards. A PSP
version of the game was released in November 2009, featuring new levels and content. The game was offered by Sony as a free download as part of their 'Welcome Back' program, following the PSN outage of 2011.
scenarios. Though the game features a set of pre-built levels
for the player to explore, the game's customisable nature is equally important, from altering the player's character and personal space, to building entirely new objects and levels, and then sharing and playing them online with other players as part of the LittleBigPlanet community.
; to create their own content, such as simply placing stickers into levels, in addition to using the level editor
to create, destroy, edit and manipulate levels; and, finally, to share creations, by publishing items such as levels and objects with the online community, and play these creations online with others. These three modes are described simply by the title's tagline: Play. Create. Share.
The player begins the game with an introductory level, and then go inside their own "pod", a personal space from which they can access the three modes of gameplay, and decorate the room with stickers and decorations. Initially, only the Play mode is available and the player must complete some tutorials, narrated by Stephen Fry
; once the basics are mastered, the player is free to play the rest of the game.
, and are based around different themes that draw inspiration from real-world locations, such as Japan
ese gardens, dry Mexican
deserts, New York City
streets, icy Russia
n stages, and other places. By completing the levels available to them (by reaching the scoreboard), the player may then advance the story and play further unlocked levels. The story mode comprises eight themed areas, with each area containing three or four main levels, and some of these levels in turn contain collectable keys to unlock bonus mini-levels. The main story mode comprises more than 50 pre-built levels in total.
To control their Sackboy character, the player moves by using the analogue sticks, jump with varying degrees of height depending on the pressure applied to the action button, and grab onto objects to either move or swing on them. In addition to regular left-and-right movement, and despite the 2D look of the game, levels consist of three levels of depth—the foreground, middleground and background—and may be traversed between either automatically by the game itself, or by the player's command. The player can opt to emote their Sackboy by applying varying degrees of delight, fear, sadness, and rage, control each arm independently through the analogue sticks, slap other players by jerking the arm movement with the analogue sticks, and use the Sixaxis motion-sensing functionality to animate the character's head and body.
The player can access the Popit menu at any time during the game by pressing the square button.
A large variety of pre-built objects are present in levels which may be interacted with. Those, along with objects that have been constructed out of simple shapes can be given specific materials, which act in a manner physically similar to those they represent. Examples include soft sponge, gripping rubber, and tough wood. Objects that are built with mechanical components, such as motors, pistons, jets, wires and springs also act appropriately. Along with these objects, levels contain dangers that the player must avoid. Examples include objects or platforms that have been set on fire, and explosives that can damage the player's Sackboy if he strays too close. Explosives can also be used to blow up sections of the level. The player's Sackboy can also be crushed to death if trapped under or between heavy items and drown in water. As the player progresses through the level, he encounters checkpoints - points from which the player can resume upon death.
Each level contains a number of "score bubbles", initially known as "sponge" in early demonstrations of the game, which may be collected in order to increase the player's score to beat their own, and other players', high scores. Users may collect larger bubbles known as "prize bubbles" which contain collectable items. Many of these bubbles are hidden or are in hard-to-reach places, and contain items such as new stickers and decorations, or new materials and objects that may be used in the Create mode for the user's own levels. Certain stickers, when placed properly, trigger events. Special clothing and accessories for the player's Sackboy is obtained by completing a level without losing a life, also known as acing a level. In addition to the prize bubbles, collectable keys found in main levels unlock new mini-levels with unique goals, such as skipping a spinning pole or bouncing to grab bubbles. There are also unlockable time trial levels such as bobsleigh racing.
Throughout the story mode, players collect prize bubbles which unlock materials, objects, stickers, decorations, sound effects and music tracks which can be used in Create mode.
The player may customise their character in a range of ways. They are able to select a base colour and texture for their Sackboy from a range of materials and designs along with giving them pre-made items including clothes, masks, swords and capes. By placing stickers and decorations on their Sackboy, it is possible to make new kinds of costumes. The game also features items based on other PlayStation franchises, such as a Helghast soldier from Killzone 2; and character models based on Kratos
, Medusa
, and the Minotaur
from the God of War
series; Nariko from Heavenly Sword
; Old Snake
, Raiden, Meryl, and Screaming Mantis from Metal Gear Solid 4
; Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
; a Chimera from the Resistance series
; as well as Ryu, Guile, Chun Li, and Zangief from Street Fighter; characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise; and Ezio from Assassin's Creed II
.
Although the Create aspect does include minor tweaks to existing levels whilst they are being played, such as placing stickers and decorations in levels, the main focus of this mode is the level editor. The editor incorporates a large number of editing facilities to create levels from a low to a high degree of complexity. The player may create new objects by starting with a number of basic shapes, such as circles, stars and squares, and then "painting" a shape into the level using one of the many materials. Objects may be glued to each other or to the level. More mechanical features are also available, such as connecting objects together with string, using bolts to spin objects, or using various kinds of triggers. Rocket motors can be attached to objects to propel them across a level. After creating custom objects, the player may save their creation to a library for later use, and even share their object by placing it inside a prize bubble in their level, so that other players who play the level can collect it and may use it in their own levels.
In order to facilitate the creation process and to accommodate any mistakes made, the editor features a manipulatable time system, whereby the player may "rewind" the editor, which acts as an undo feature, or pause the editor, which temporarily halts objects that run under the physics engine, such as gravity acting on falling or rolling objects. In addition to his narration for other parts of the game, Stephen Fry provides the voice-over for the large number of video and interactive tutorials that accompany the create mode, a number of which must be completed in full before unlocking a new set of objects for use. User-generated content is not limited to the player's region, but is available worldwide.
Although the feature was initially announced with the game, the ability to use create mode with other players online was not included in the final release. This functionality was added to the game through a software patch in November 2009 following a public closed beta test. Users are able to invite up to three people from their PlayStation Network Friends list to join them and create levels together.
An official community website called the LittleBigWorkshop complements the in-game sharing features. Logging on with their PlayStation Network IDs, users are able to create blueprint
s for level designs, view in-depth tutorials and take part in challenges. It is additionally the home of the official forums. Among its other features, the website allows users to upload in-game videos and photos.
LittleBigPlanet features a range of multiplayer options. Levels can be played online with up to four players, locally with up to four players or with a mixture of up to four online and local players. Up to four local users can play together in Create mode, whilst the ability to create levels with up to four players online has been added in an update. The way in which users undertake the level is dependent on the design of the level and how the users choose to play, allowing the players to choose whether they play cooperatively or battle against each other to get to the finish line first, or collect the most bubbles.
In the weeks following the game's release, some users reported on community forums that levels they had created had been taken down for "moderation", and were no longer available to play. A representative from Sony stated that once a level is flagged by players using the in-game Good Grief system, levels were reviewed by a moderator and only removed if deemed inappropriate. On 11 November 2008, SCE confirmed that around 200 levels —less than 0.5 percent of levels published — had been removed, the majority of which contained obscenity, while the rest were removed due to copyright violations. Media Molecule acknowledged there were issues with the moderation system and released an update in December to help rectify them. In addition to an on-screen message, users are notified with a PSN message when a level they have published is removed, along with information on the reason for its removal. They are able to play and edit the level themselves whether on or offline. The developers have clarified the rules regarding what is and is not appropriate and have made several changes "behind the scenes" which they hope will "alleviate most of the issues that creators have experienced."
. This will allow other websites to integrate live data into their sites. This site is now open, and is called LBP.me
where users can access and purchase downloadable content. The Create planet, called "My Moon", is where players save and access levels they have created or copied. Each crater on the moon holds one or more levels. The Share planet, or "Info Moon", is where players can access their friends list, gameplay statistics and their hearted levels and creators. The user can select a person on their friends list to view their published levels, hearted levels and hearted creators.
The "Popit" is a menu which provides access to costumes, decorations, stickers, materials, editing tools, and messaging features. It is contextual and displays certain sets of options, depending on whether the user is playing a level, editing a level, or in their pod. Stickers and decorations can be plastered onto any surface in the game world, and can be used to decorate something, or to activate certain switches. Stickers may be created by the player, either using an in-game camera (allowing them to take pictures of in-game scenarios), or they can use the PlayStation Eye
. However, the ability to import images from the player's console hard drive has not yet been implemented, and is not planned.
The player starts out at The Gardens level, where the player's Sackperson meets the King, one of the Creators, the Queen, Little Xim and Big Xam, in charge of the Score Challenges and the Survival Challenges respectively; and their servant Dumpty. The player heads for the Savannah, where the next ruler, Zola, resides. When the player accidentally breaks one of Zola's statues, the player is asked to investigate what's scaring his buffalo; in return for his forgiveness. The culprits turn out to be fire and crocodiles, and the player has to clear a crocodile's name accused of eating Meerkat Mum's son, Stripy Tail. The player finds out that Stripy Tail is actually at a club with some female meerkats, underground where the meerkats live. After the player returns Stripy Tail to Meerkat Mum, the player does a favour for one of Zola's servants and goes to The Wedding (a story arc with a Day of the Dead
theme), where his friend, Frida, is about to wed with her bridegroom, Don Lu. However he's gone missing; therefore the wedding is at stake. Later, with the help of his dog, the player finds him in a dark cave. Don Lu explains to the player that he got lost, and got tired that he could not find his way out. Getting him back to the wedding, Frida thinks he jilted her at the altar, gets her Skulldozer, and starts to bulldoze everything in sight. However, when she sees her bridegroom waiting for her, she realises it was just a silly misunderstanding, forgets everything, and they wed.
Don Lu takes the player to the Canyons, where Frida and Don Lu have their honeymoon and the player meets Uncle Jalapeño. The player frees Uncle Jalapeño, who was put in prison unfairly by the evil Sheriff Zapata. Uncle Jalapeño teaches the player about explosives throughout the Canyons levels. After the player chases Sheriff Zapata into a temple and defeats him, Uncle Jalapeño takes a vacation into the Metropolis, taking the player with him, where they meet Uncle Jalapeño's friend, Mags the Mechanic. She trades the player for a new car for Uncle Jalapeño,then the player can edit the car to their liking. The player next races Mags's nemesis, Ze Dude, who stole her car, and after the race drives it into the sewer. The player then goes into the sewer and retrieves her car, then stops Ze Dude and his bouncers, who were wrecking Mags's construction site. Ze Dude, defeated, praises the player as a worthy foe, and lets the player take his private jet to the Islands to train with Grandmaster Sensei, his martial arts teacher. Grandmaster Sensei trains the player to defeat the evil Sumo, who took over Grandmaster Sensei's castle and her talking flame-throwing cat; and the Terrible Oni, with the help of her cat.
From there the player goes to the Temples, to get their very own talking flame-throwing cat, the Great Magician's latest creation, who is the master of emitters. After speaking to The Goddess at the end of the Dancer's Court she guides the player to The Magician himself. After the player overcomes his toughest obstacles, he asks to defeat the Collector, which would be the player's "greatest challenge". The player, with some help from the general and a bear whose family the Collector has kidnapped, infiltrates the Collector's bunker, gets past his army, and frees the characters the player met throughout the game who had been kidnapped by the Collector and locked up. As everyone escapes, they thank the player, and wish him good luck as the player goes to confront the Collector. After the final battle with the Collector, the Collector is revealed to be a little, lonely man who only kidnapped everyone because he did not have any friends, and hides in shame. However, everyone, including the player, offers to be his friend. He accepts, and everyone holds hands, beginning a new friendship.
and Dave Smith after a cinema visit to see Howl's Moving Castle
. Healey and Smith discussed a game that had character controls similar to their previous game, Rag Doll Kung Fu, that would be playable on a console. Healey and Smith left Lionhead Studios
in December 2005 along with other Media Molecule co-founders Alex Evans
and art director Kareem Ettouney, and managed to arrange a meeting with Phil Harrison
, the then-head of development for SCE Worldwide Studios. They created a prototype of their idea, a game called Craftworld, a physics-based, 2D side-scrolling game, with a place holder character called Mr. Yellowhead. Mr. Yellowhead's arms were controllable with the right analogue stick of the PlayStation 2 controller that Media Molecule had connected to their PC, whilst his legs were controlled with the left stick. The object of the game was to guide Mr. Yellowhead past a number of obstacles by grabbing onto objects and pushing or rolling them around.
They chose to pitch their idea to Harrison using their own software, rather than PowerPoint
, which allowed for bullet point information as in standard presentations, but also for live, controllable movement of game characters. By their own admission, the pitch was vague and they had deliberately toned down the creative aspect of the game—which they felt may have appeared as "weird" for a console game—for fear of negative reception of their pitch by Sony. They presented the prototype purely as a playable game, and only briefly mentioned the user created content aspect; Evans relates that Harrison actually picked up on the creative side, and had asked them why they had chosen not to explore this element further. The meeting, which had been scheduled to last 45 minutes, eventually lasted 3 hours at the end of which, Sony agreed to fund the project for six months. After some further development, the team were asked to present what they had done to Sony in what Healey describes as a "Dragons' Den
style scenario". Following this, Sony gave them a deal to develop LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 in exchange for exclusivity and ownership of the intellectual property. Media Molecule became incorporated as a company in February 2006.
Despite backing from Sony, Media Molecule were unsure about exactly what direction they were going to take the game. They also worried about whether people would understand, or even like the game, but these worries were dispelled after its first presentation. Media Molecule were aware of the fact that Sony wanted them to demonstrate the game at the upcoming GDC
2007, but they were not told they were to be part of Phil Harrison's keynote speech until near the date it was due to take place. Healey stated that it was only when they arrived in San Francisco for the conference that they realised just how much backing Sony were devoting to the game—much more than Media Molecule had previously thought. Healey relates that although the revelation of Sony's faith in the game boosted their confidence, additionally, it increased the pressure on them with the realisation that their task had become much greater than originally anticipated.
The game was less than one year into development, when it was first shown at GDC 2007. Evans remarked that this public approach to the game's development meant they had been able to react to feedback from the community, and the game had been specifically designed to allow them to easily implement further developments in the future, based on demand from players.
In the game players can earn an in-game costume that looks similar to that of Mr. Yellowhead.
, to customers who pre-order the game. A temporary shop in the UK was set up in Manchester
city centre, where people were able to play the game before its release. The shop moved to central London in October. In addition to a chance to play the game, it offered such activities as t-shirt making. To market the game to an online audience, a website campaign to "reclaim Pluto as the ninth planet", Proposition Pluto, was released as a marketing tool several weeks before the game's release.
On 17 December 2009, LittleBigPlanet content including virtual clothing and furniture was released for PlayStation Home
. Users are also now able to meet players and launch into an online LittleBigPlanet game from within PlayStation Home with advanced options. On 13 May 2010, a LittleBigPlanet Game Space was released in PlayStation Home called the "LittleBigPlanet PlayGround". It features a mini-game called the King’s Snap Happy Photo Challenge where users find the target, snap a shot, and unlock Home rewards. There's also a sub-space called "The Creator" where users can create their own wallpapers for their PS3's XMB and coming soon is the LittleBigPlanetDerby which will be a carnival style mini-game. In addition to the Game Space, a personal space was released that users can purchase called the "LittleBigPlanet Pod Penthouse" which is designed after the Pod in LittleBigPlanet.
Originally intended for a release in mid-to-late October, a last-minute delay involving a licensed song in the game's soundtrack delayed the game's release worldwide. It was released in North America and Japan at the end of October 2008, and in Europe at the beginning of November 2008.
On 17 October 2008, SCEE instigated a worldwide recall of LittleBigPlanet and announced the game's release be pushed back after a PlayStation Community member reported the lyrics to one of the licenced songs in the game included passages from the Qur'an
and could therefore be offensive to Muslim
s. However, no actual complaints regarding the music were made. The song, entitled "Tapha Niang", was by Mali
an artist Toumani Diabaté
, himself a devout Muslim. The game was patched twice, the day before its release for players who had received the game early, before its intended release date. The first update did not affect the song, and was released to patch online issues, modify jetpack controls, and add further costumes, whilst the second updated the game to remove the vocals from the track, leaving only an instrumental. Some American Muslims responded to the recall and stated that they were offended by the restriction of freedom of speech. M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., head of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, was quoted as saying, "Muslims cannot benefit from freedom of expression and religion and then turn around and ask that anytime their sensibilities are offended that the freedom of others be restricted."
SCEA announced new versions of the game that would be shipped to North American retailers the week commencing 27 October 2008. On 20 October 2008 an SCEE press release stated LittleBigPlanet would start to appear in stores in the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand no later than the week commencing 3 November 2008 on a country-by-country basis. Later the same day SCEE confirmed the UK release date as 5 November.
began offering beta codes to its members on the same date, with a total of 5,800 codes available; the website quickly buckled under the influx of visitors, with many unable to load the site. Subsequently, several other gaming websites including 1UP.com
and GameSpot
offered beta codes to their users. Players were able to play the beta until it ended on 12 October. Although Sony had originally planned to erase all levels created by players during the beta period, an official poll was held to let the players decide their fate; the players voted to keep the levels. These levels were carried over to the final game, although save game data and progress made in the beta was not.
It was originally intended that players would be able to use the content creation mode with other players online however this feature was dropped before the game's release. Online Create was added to the game via software update 1.21 .
In a demonstration at the 2009 Tokyo Games Show, footage of LittleBigPlanet being played with Playstation Move was shown. This led to many people to believe that a Playstation Move DLC pack would be released, allowing the creation of Move levels. It was later revealed that the footage was from a spin-off game, Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves, and a Move pack was later released for the sequel, LittleBigPlanet 2
.
-themed game pack titled "Metal Gear Solid Level Pack". A paintball gun
power-up, called the "Paintinator", can be used to activate "Paintinator Switches", can destroy certain enemies, and can be picked up similarly to a jet-pack (which is by simply touching it). The player can also add the Paintinator to custom levels. The game pack includes new Metal Gear Solid-themed stickers, music that can be placed in user-created levels, and various character costumes.
In April 2009, Media Molecule released a free software update dubbed "Cornish Yarg", the first major update for the game. New features that were introduced with this update include the ability for the user to play their own music from the PlayStation 3's hard drive whilst in their Pod or in "Create" mode, the ability to turn a prize collection in user-created levels on or off and improvements to the character customisation process. Changes were also made to some creation tools including the ability to hide mechanical objects such as bolts and pistons. Shortly after this update, Creator Pack 1 was released as a downloadable content pack for free. This pack added new Create mode tools including a new type of checkpoint which provides the player with an infinite number of lives for a given section, a tether-less version of the jet-pack (allowing the player to hover around more freely) and a power-up removal marker which forces the player to drop any power-ups such as the Paintinator or jet-pack. The update also included a tool to allow the creator to trigger changes in the entire level's lighting and other environmental settings, when the player passes a certain point or performs an action.
In addition to characters from other franchises appearing in LittleBigPlanet, Sackboy has also appeared in other video games. In March 2009, an add-on was released for Everybody's Golf 5
which made Sackboy available as a playable character. Sackboy is also in Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists Of Plastic, a game released on the PlayStation Network based on the 2005 PC game, Rag Doll Kung Fu
by LittleBigPlanet creator, Mark Healy. Sackboy has also appeared in ModNation Racers
and 3D Dot Game Heroes
.
A "Game Of The Year Edition" was released only in North America on 9 September 2009. The Game of the Year Edition includes many downloadable content packs, along with new levels made by various LittleBigPlanet community members. (See the Game of the Year Edition section.)
In August 2009, Media Molecule announced that a future update would add water to the game. Eventually, it was revealed that the water would be released as part of a Pirates of the Caribbean
-themed downloadable content pack that arrived on 22 December 2009. Much like the Metal Gear Solid pack, the premium downloadable content pack contains six new levels and also unlocks new Creator tools allowing users to use the new mechanics in their levels. It allows the user to add water to their levels, and these tools include a Global Water Object allowing users to trigger changes in the water properties of their levels as well as a water-activated switch, a scuba-gear pick-up and a bubble machine. The pack also features Pirates of the Caribbean-themed stickers, decorations, music, backdrops, objects and materials. Whilst users are required to purchase this pack in order to create levels with water and water-related items, users are able to play levels utilising the features whether they purchase the pack or not.
. Initially there were no plans to release the Game of the Year Edition in Europe, however a European version was eventually announced for release on 16 April 2010. The Korean language version of the Game of the Year Edition is available in South Korea.
blog, technology editor Darren Waters wrote, "LittleBigPlanet is perhaps one of the most dazzling demos I've seen in the last 10 years". IGN
described the game as "beautiful" and reported that "even in the presence of Home
, Sony's impressive new community software, LittleBigPlanet stole the show at Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 practice conference, and was the thing that everyone was talking about." 1UP
wrote that "There are plenty of questions remaining about LittleBigPlanet … but it's clear from the reaction to the game so far that it has already won over many fans and that this could be something very special." Slashdot
Games editor Michael Zenke suggested the game could be the PlayStation 3's killer application
. Even Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, praised the product, but was unsure how the game would fare on Sony's platform.
. In their November edition they gave the game a score of 10/10 calling it "a beautifully elegant and powerful creative tool that puts unlimited potential in the palm of your hand". Eurogamer
scored the game 9/10. Reviewer Oli Welsh commented specifically on the game's "unforgettable visuals" and that the accurate lighting was "as total a realisation of high-definition as you'll see anywhere in games this year". He similarly praised the multiplayer gameplay as "a loosely-structured scrum of competition, collaboration and sheer, joyful mucking around". Speaking of the game's comprehensive creation and community tools in contrast with its classic platforming gameplay, he calls the game "the future and the past of videogames, rolled into one". IGN
(U.S.) scored it 9.5/10 and said the game was an "instant classic". The reviewer, Chris Roper, also suggested that the game may even be a reason to purchase a PlayStation 3; "If you own a PlayStation 3, you cannot miss this. If you don’t have a PS3 yet, this is the reason to get one." GamePro
scored the game 5/5 and said that the real strength of the game "is the tremendous sense of freedom and creativity that it instils in you."
Edge
gave it a 10/10 and said "It's a multiplayer riot, a visual landmark, a feat of engineering, and one of the most charming games ever made. But even those accolades are dwarfed by its scope, its potential, and the apparent endlessness of them both."
Some reviewers have criticised the game's control system. Eurogamers review stated that the jump timing sometimes feels "off by a fraction of a fraction of a second" and that this can be a minor annoyance when attempting challenges which require dexterity and timing. In IGN' s review, Chris Roper also reported issues with the control system stating that the game's heavily physics-based gameplay "left a few corners on what should have been a razor-sharp control scheme". He goes on to say that the character acceleration and deceleration "isn't as quick as it could be" but that his biggest complaint is the way the game handles player movement between foreground, middleground and background on the 2.5D
plane. He says that "there are instances where it doesn't do what you want it to do, and these points stick out like a sore thumb." This is an issue that has been raised by Media Molecule's co-founder Mark Healey who stated in an interview that "The Z [axis] movement is an incredibly hard thing for us to get right. There's times when it annoys me actually." He went on to say they would continue refining it, suggesting improvements via a future update IGN' s review commented that the story mode ended "in a somewhat disappointing manner" and the story as a whole doesn't make sense.
Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Visual Engineering, Game Design, Game Direction, and Outstanding Innovation in Gaming and was judged Family Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, and as Overall Game of the Year. LittleBigPlanet was also given the Award for Artistic Achievement at the 5th British Academy Video Games Awards
. It was dubbed Game of the Year
by several gaming websites and publications including GamePro
, Edge
, and Eurogamer
whose editors felt that while the single-player experience was nothing special, the mulitplayer gameplay brought the game into its own and were impressed by some of the user-created levels which inspired "gasps of wonder". It also received various other awards from gaming websites in 2008 including Best New IP
and Best Platform Game from IGN
and Most Innovative Game from GameTrailers
. LittleBigPlanet was judged Best PlayStation 3 Game at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards and was given the awards for Best New Debut, Best Game Design, Best Technology, and the Innovation Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards
.
In May 2010, Media Molecule announced that recent rumours of a full sequel were true and that LittleBigPlanet 2
was in development, and that users would be able to use all the DLC released for LittleBigPlanet and all its user-generated content. Games magazine GameInformer revealed the first details of LittleBigPlanet 2 in its June 2010 edition. The game was released in January 2011.
would be developed by SCE Studio Cambridge
in conjunction with Media Molecule. LittleBigPlanet for the PSP was first shown publicly at E3 2009 and it was released in November 2009.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game, based on user-generated content
User-generated content
User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...
, for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
first announced on 7 March 2007, by Phil Harrison
Phil Harrison
Phil Harrison is the former British corporate executive and a representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe . At E3 in 2005 he showcased the first public realtime demonstrations of PlayStation 3 development hardware...
at the Game Developers Conference
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
(GDC) in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. It was developed under the title The Next Big Thing by Media Molecule
Media Molecule
Media Molecule is a British video game developer based in Guildford in Surrey. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney...
and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. Many saw the game as an important title for Sony's PlayStation 3.
The game received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from critics and has been praised for its presentation, including its graphics, physics, and audio, along with its gameplay and large array of customisable costumes and online features. Additional praise was given to its scope and future potential based on user-created content; minor criticism was reserved for specific elements of the gameplay mechanics and level creation facilities. LittleBigPlanet has won a considerable number of awards. A PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
version of the game was released in November 2009, featuring new levels and content. The game was offered by Sony as a free download as part of their 'Welcome Back' program, following the PSN outage of 2011.
Overview
The game revolves around the player's control of a small character, known as a Sackboy or Sackgirl — or gender-neutral Sackperson — owing to their appearance, in a variety of platformingPlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
scenarios. Though the game features a set of pre-built levels
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
for the player to explore, the game's customisable nature is equally important, from altering the player's character and personal space, to building entirely new objects and levels, and then sharing and playing them online with other players as part of the LittleBigPlanet community.
Main features
Sackboy can run and jump and grab certain objects. Grabbable objects can have the designation of being purely for mobility, such as swinging, or they can be pushed, pulled, switched, or operate in other manners. The player uses these abilities in several ways: to play and explore the environments that come with the game, which feature platforming elements such as jumping, pushing, grabbing and running, and which make use of the game's robust physics enginePhysics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...
; to create their own content, such as simply placing stickers into levels, in addition to using the level editor
Level editor
A level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
to create, destroy, edit and manipulate levels; and, finally, to share creations, by publishing items such as levels and objects with the online community, and play these creations online with others. These three modes are described simply by the title's tagline: Play. Create. Share.
The player begins the game with an introductory level, and then go inside their own "pod", a personal space from which they can access the three modes of gameplay, and decorate the room with stickers and decorations. Initially, only the Play mode is available and the player must complete some tutorials, narrated by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
; once the basics are mastered, the player is free to play the rest of the game.
Core gameplay
The Play section of LittleBigPlanet consists of a number of levels that have been created by Media MoleculeMedia Molecule
Media Molecule is a British video game developer based in Guildford in Surrey. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney...
, and are based around different themes that draw inspiration from real-world locations, such as Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese gardens, dry Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
deserts, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
streets, icy Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n stages, and other places. By completing the levels available to them (by reaching the scoreboard), the player may then advance the story and play further unlocked levels. The story mode comprises eight themed areas, with each area containing three or four main levels, and some of these levels in turn contain collectable keys to unlock bonus mini-levels. The main story mode comprises more than 50 pre-built levels in total.
The player can access the Popit menu at any time during the game by pressing the square button.
A large variety of pre-built objects are present in levels which may be interacted with. Those, along with objects that have been constructed out of simple shapes can be given specific materials, which act in a manner physically similar to those they represent. Examples include soft sponge, gripping rubber, and tough wood. Objects that are built with mechanical components, such as motors, pistons, jets, wires and springs also act appropriately. Along with these objects, levels contain dangers that the player must avoid. Examples include objects or platforms that have been set on fire, and explosives that can damage the player's Sackboy if he strays too close. Explosives can also be used to blow up sections of the level. The player's Sackboy can also be crushed to death if trapped under or between heavy items and drown in water. As the player progresses through the level, he encounters checkpoints - points from which the player can resume upon death.
Each level contains a number of "score bubbles", initially known as "sponge" in early demonstrations of the game, which may be collected in order to increase the player's score to beat their own, and other players', high scores. Users may collect larger bubbles known as "prize bubbles" which contain collectable items. Many of these bubbles are hidden or are in hard-to-reach places, and contain items such as new stickers and decorations, or new materials and objects that may be used in the Create mode for the user's own levels. Certain stickers, when placed properly, trigger events. Special clothing and accessories for the player's Sackboy is obtained by completing a level without losing a life, also known as acing a level. In addition to the prize bubbles, collectable keys found in main levels unlock new mini-levels with unique goals, such as skipping a spinning pole or bouncing to grab bubbles. There are also unlockable time trial levels such as bobsleigh racing.
Throughout the story mode, players collect prize bubbles which unlock materials, objects, stickers, decorations, sound effects and music tracks which can be used in Create mode.
Content creation
Kratos (God of War)
Kratos is a video game character from Sony Computer Entertainment'sGod of War series, which is loosely based on Greek mythology. Kratos first appeared in the highly successful video game God of War , which led to the development of five additional games featuring the character as the protagonist...
, Medusa
Medusa
In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...
, and the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
from the God of War
God of War (video game)
God of War is an action adventure video game for the PlayStation 2 first released by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division in March 2005...
series; Nariko from Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe...
; Old Snake
Solid Snake
Metal Gear, initially released in 1987, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and...
, Raiden, Meryl, and Screaming Mantis from Metal Gear Solid 4
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
is a video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3 console. The game was directed by Hideo Kojima and made its worldwide release on June 12, 2008, ten years after the release of Metal Gear Solid and twenty years after the North American release of Metal Gear.Guns of the Patriots...
; Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
; a Chimera from the Resistance series
Resistance (series)
Resistance is a science fiction horror series of first-person shooter and third-person shooter video games developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita video game consoles.The series takes place in an...
; as well as Ryu, Guile, Chun Li, and Zangief from Street Fighter; characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise; and Ezio from Assassin's Creed II
Assassin's Creed II
Assassin's Creed II is a historical third-person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is the second video game installment of the Assassin's Creed series, and is a sequel to the 2007 video...
.
Although the Create aspect does include minor tweaks to existing levels whilst they are being played, such as placing stickers and decorations in levels, the main focus of this mode is the level editor. The editor incorporates a large number of editing facilities to create levels from a low to a high degree of complexity. The player may create new objects by starting with a number of basic shapes, such as circles, stars and squares, and then "painting" a shape into the level using one of the many materials. Objects may be glued to each other or to the level. More mechanical features are also available, such as connecting objects together with string, using bolts to spin objects, or using various kinds of triggers. Rocket motors can be attached to objects to propel them across a level. After creating custom objects, the player may save their creation to a library for later use, and even share their object by placing it inside a prize bubble in their level, so that other players who play the level can collect it and may use it in their own levels.
In order to facilitate the creation process and to accommodate any mistakes made, the editor features a manipulatable time system, whereby the player may "rewind" the editor, which acts as an undo feature, or pause the editor, which temporarily halts objects that run under the physics engine, such as gravity acting on falling or rolling objects. In addition to his narration for other parts of the game, Stephen Fry provides the voice-over for the large number of video and interactive tutorials that accompany the create mode, a number of which must be completed in full before unlocking a new set of objects for use. User-generated content is not limited to the player's region, but is available worldwide.
Although the feature was initially announced with the game, the ability to use create mode with other players online was not included in the final release. This functionality was added to the game through a software patch in November 2009 following a public closed beta test. Users are able to invite up to three people from their PlayStation Network Friends list to join them and create levels together.
Online community features
A large part of LittleBigPlanet is the global community features through the PlayStation Network for the player to interact and share their "patches"—levels and other modifications—as well as online play. As of September 2011, more than 5 million user-created levels have been published. The main focus of the Share component is the ability for level creators to publish their levels and objects to the online community for other people to play. Once a custom level has been played through, the player is able to tag the level with a list of predefined words, and may cycle through the word choice to find the most appropriate. This allows other players to quickly find their level of choice. The player can search by a specific tag such as "Beautiful". The player has a "heart" feature available to them, which allows them to specify which levels, stickers and decorations they prefer; in this way, people can heart to show appreciation for other people's creations, and visit their online friend's hearted items, or visit the creator of a hearted item, then view his or her hearted items, and so on.An official community website called the LittleBigWorkshop complements the in-game sharing features. Logging on with their PlayStation Network IDs, users are able to create blueprint
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
s for level designs, view in-depth tutorials and take part in challenges. It is additionally the home of the official forums. Among its other features, the website allows users to upload in-game videos and photos.
LittleBigPlanet features a range of multiplayer options. Levels can be played online with up to four players, locally with up to four players or with a mixture of up to four online and local players. Up to four local users can play together in Create mode, whilst the ability to create levels with up to four players online has been added in an update. The way in which users undertake the level is dependent on the design of the level and how the users choose to play, allowing the players to choose whether they play cooperatively or battle against each other to get to the finish line first, or collect the most bubbles.
In the weeks following the game's release, some users reported on community forums that levels they had created had been taken down for "moderation", and were no longer available to play. A representative from Sony stated that once a level is flagged by players using the in-game Good Grief system, levels were reviewed by a moderator and only removed if deemed inappropriate. On 11 November 2008, SCE confirmed that around 200 levels —less than 0.5 percent of levels published — had been removed, the majority of which contained obscenity, while the rest were removed due to copyright violations. Media Molecule acknowledged there were issues with the moderation system and released an update in December to help rectify them. In addition to an on-screen message, users are notified with a PSN message when a level they have published is removed, along with information on the reason for its removal. They are able to play and edit the level themselves whether on or offline. The developers have clarified the rules regarding what is and is not appropriate and have made several changes "behind the scenes" which they hope will "alleviate most of the issues that creators have experienced."
Web-based portal and API
In May 2009, Alex Evans revealed that a new community website was in development that will serve as a web-based portal to help users promote their levels. Each user-created level will have its own page on the website where users can view information, pictures, leaderboards and comments for the level and add it to a "download queue". Once added to the user's queue, the level automatically be accessible from a menu the next time the users plays LittleBigPlanet, helping users find specific levels more easily. Media Molecule also plan to allow third parties to access level information directly through a software APIApplication programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
. This will allow other websites to integrate live data into their sites. This site is now open, and is called LBP.me
Interface
The game's main interface is based around the player's "pod" and three planets, each of which is focused on the three areas of the game; "Play", "Create" and "Share". These are accessed using the "pod computer". The main Play planet is the "LittleBigPlanet". This is where users access the main story levels and also serves as the main gateway to user-created levels. The LittleBigPlanet features an interface into the PlayStation StorePlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
where users can access and purchase downloadable content. The Create planet, called "My Moon", is where players save and access levels they have created or copied. Each crater on the moon holds one or more levels. The Share planet, or "Info Moon", is where players can access their friends list, gameplay statistics and their hearted levels and creators. The user can select a person on their friends list to view their published levels, hearted levels and hearted creators.
The "Popit" is a menu which provides access to costumes, decorations, stickers, materials, editing tools, and messaging features. It is contextual and displays certain sets of options, depending on whether the user is playing a level, editing a level, or in their pod. Stickers and decorations can be plastered onto any surface in the game world, and can be used to decorate something, or to activate certain switches. Stickers may be created by the player, either using an in-game camera (allowing them to take pictures of in-game scenarios), or they can use the PlayStation Eye
PlayStation Eye
The PlayStation Eye is a digital camera device, similar to a webcam, for the PlayStation 3. The technology uses computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the camera. This allows players to interact with games using motion and color detection as well as sound through its...
. However, the ability to import images from the player's console hard drive has not yet been implemented, and is not planned.
Plot
LittleBigPlanet is a world full of creations made by the eight Creator Curators. However, the eighth Creator, a rogue Creator called "the Collector" is stealing the other Creators' creations and not sharing them with the world (sharing is one of the core elements of LittleBigPlanet), and later, the Creators themselves.The player starts out at The Gardens level, where the player's Sackperson meets the King, one of the Creators, the Queen, Little Xim and Big Xam, in charge of the Score Challenges and the Survival Challenges respectively; and their servant Dumpty. The player heads for the Savannah, where the next ruler, Zola, resides. When the player accidentally breaks one of Zola's statues, the player is asked to investigate what's scaring his buffalo; in return for his forgiveness. The culprits turn out to be fire and crocodiles, and the player has to clear a crocodile's name accused of eating Meerkat Mum's son, Stripy Tail. The player finds out that Stripy Tail is actually at a club with some female meerkats, underground where the meerkats live. After the player returns Stripy Tail to Meerkat Mum, the player does a favour for one of Zola's servants and goes to The Wedding (a story arc with a Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality...
theme), where his friend, Frida, is about to wed with her bridegroom, Don Lu. However he's gone missing; therefore the wedding is at stake. Later, with the help of his dog, the player finds him in a dark cave. Don Lu explains to the player that he got lost, and got tired that he could not find his way out. Getting him back to the wedding, Frida thinks he jilted her at the altar, gets her Skulldozer, and starts to bulldoze everything in sight. However, when she sees her bridegroom waiting for her, she realises it was just a silly misunderstanding, forgets everything, and they wed.
Don Lu takes the player to the Canyons, where Frida and Don Lu have their honeymoon and the player meets Uncle Jalapeño. The player frees Uncle Jalapeño, who was put in prison unfairly by the evil Sheriff Zapata. Uncle Jalapeño teaches the player about explosives throughout the Canyons levels. After the player chases Sheriff Zapata into a temple and defeats him, Uncle Jalapeño takes a vacation into the Metropolis, taking the player with him, where they meet Uncle Jalapeño's friend, Mags the Mechanic. She trades the player for a new car for Uncle Jalapeño,then the player can edit the car to their liking. The player next races Mags's nemesis, Ze Dude, who stole her car, and after the race drives it into the sewer. The player then goes into the sewer and retrieves her car, then stops Ze Dude and his bouncers, who were wrecking Mags's construction site. Ze Dude, defeated, praises the player as a worthy foe, and lets the player take his private jet to the Islands to train with Grandmaster Sensei, his martial arts teacher. Grandmaster Sensei trains the player to defeat the evil Sumo, who took over Grandmaster Sensei's castle and her talking flame-throwing cat; and the Terrible Oni, with the help of her cat.
From there the player goes to the Temples, to get their very own talking flame-throwing cat, the Great Magician's latest creation, who is the master of emitters. After speaking to The Goddess at the end of the Dancer's Court she guides the player to The Magician himself. After the player overcomes his toughest obstacles, he asks to defeat the Collector, which would be the player's "greatest challenge". The player, with some help from the general and a bear whose family the Collector has kidnapped, infiltrates the Collector's bunker, gets past his army, and frees the characters the player met throughout the game who had been kidnapped by the Collector and locked up. As everyone escapes, they thank the player, and wish him good luck as the player goes to confront the Collector. After the final battle with the Collector, the Collector is revealed to be a little, lonely man who only kidnapped everyone because he did not have any friends, and hides in shame. However, everyone, including the player, offers to be his friend. He accepts, and everyone holds hands, beginning a new friendship.
Development
LittleBigPlanets origin lies in a conversation between Media Molecule co-founders Mark HealeyMark Healey
Mark Healey is a British computer games developer. Healey started his career making games for the Commodore 64 home computer - his first published game was KGB Super Spy for Codemasters which led to developing the Educational Fun School series of games for Europress Software...
and Dave Smith after a cinema visit to see Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle (film)
is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones...
. Healey and Smith discussed a game that had character controls similar to their previous game, Rag Doll Kung Fu, that would be playable on a console. Healey and Smith left Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
in December 2005 along with other Media Molecule co-founders Alex Evans
Alex Evans (video game developer)
Alex Evans is a UK based computer games developer. Evans previously worked at Guildford-based Lionhead Studios and developed the video game Rag Doll Kung Fu independently. He is the co-founder of Media Molecule, a computer games studio based in Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom...
and art director Kareem Ettouney, and managed to arrange a meeting with Phil Harrison
Phil Harrison
Phil Harrison is the former British corporate executive and a representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe . At E3 in 2005 he showcased the first public realtime demonstrations of PlayStation 3 development hardware...
, the then-head of development for SCE Worldwide Studios. They created a prototype of their idea, a game called Craftworld, a physics-based, 2D side-scrolling game, with a place holder character called Mr. Yellowhead. Mr. Yellowhead's arms were controllable with the right analogue stick of the PlayStation 2 controller that Media Molecule had connected to their PC, whilst his legs were controlled with the left stick. The object of the game was to guide Mr. Yellowhead past a number of obstacles by grabbing onto objects and pushing or rolling them around.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
, which allowed for bullet point information as in standard presentations, but also for live, controllable movement of game characters. By their own admission, the pitch was vague and they had deliberately toned down the creative aspect of the game—which they felt may have appeared as "weird" for a console game—for fear of negative reception of their pitch by Sony. They presented the prototype purely as a playable game, and only briefly mentioned the user created content aspect; Evans relates that Harrison actually picked up on the creative side, and had asked them why they had chosen not to explore this element further. The meeting, which had been scheduled to last 45 minutes, eventually lasted 3 hours at the end of which, Sony agreed to fund the project for six months. After some further development, the team were asked to present what they had done to Sony in what Healey describes as a "Dragons' Den
Dragons' Den
Dragons' Den is a series of reality television programmes featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. The show originated in Japan as "Manē no Tora"...
style scenario". Following this, Sony gave them a deal to develop LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 in exchange for exclusivity and ownership of the intellectual property. Media Molecule became incorporated as a company in February 2006.
Despite backing from Sony, Media Molecule were unsure about exactly what direction they were going to take the game. They also worried about whether people would understand, or even like the game, but these worries were dispelled after its first presentation. Media Molecule were aware of the fact that Sony wanted them to demonstrate the game at the upcoming GDC
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
2007, but they were not told they were to be part of Phil Harrison's keynote speech until near the date it was due to take place. Healey stated that it was only when they arrived in San Francisco for the conference that they realised just how much backing Sony were devoting to the game—much more than Media Molecule had previously thought. Healey relates that although the revelation of Sony's faith in the game boosted their confidence, additionally, it increased the pressure on them with the realisation that their task had become much greater than originally anticipated.
The game was less than one year into development, when it was first shown at GDC 2007. Evans remarked that this public approach to the game's development meant they had been able to react to feedback from the community, and the game had been specifically designed to allow them to easily implement further developments in the future, based on demand from players.
In the game players can earn an in-game costume that looks similar to that of Mr. Yellowhead.
Marketing
Both Sony Computer Entertainment and Media Molecule undertook a large-scale marketing campaign in the run-up to the game's release. In North America, SCEA partnered with several major online retailers to offer unique bonus gifts to customers pre-ordering the game from the selected retailers. These gifts include codes to access additional in-game costumes, a sticker book, a burlap pouch and an official game guide. In the UK, SCEE partnered with online retailers to offer downloadable costumes, such as the Nariko character from Heavenly SwordHeavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe...
, to customers who pre-order the game. A temporary shop in the UK was set up in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
city centre, where people were able to play the game before its release. The shop moved to central London in October. In addition to a chance to play the game, it offered such activities as t-shirt making. To market the game to an online audience, a website campaign to "reclaim Pluto as the ninth planet", Proposition Pluto, was released as a marketing tool several weeks before the game's release.
On 17 December 2009, LittleBigPlanet content including virtual clothing and furniture was released for PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home is a virtual 3D social gaming network developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network . It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar under PlayStation Network. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN...
. Users are also now able to meet players and launch into an online LittleBigPlanet game from within PlayStation Home with advanced options. On 13 May 2010, a LittleBigPlanet Game Space was released in PlayStation Home called the "LittleBigPlanet PlayGround". It features a mini-game called the King’s Snap Happy Photo Challenge where users find the target, snap a shot, and unlock Home rewards. There's also a sub-space called "The Creator" where users can create their own wallpapers for their PS3's XMB and coming soon is the LittleBigPlanetDerby which will be a carnival style mini-game. In addition to the Game Space, a personal space was released that users can purchase called the "LittleBigPlanet Pod Penthouse" which is designed after the Pod in LittleBigPlanet.
Release/Re-release
A demo version of the game was planned for release on the PlayStation Network in the fourth quarter of 2007, but was delayed until 2008. The demo was again delayed until 11 September 2009, when it was released alongside the Game of The Year Edition. Original announcements pointed to a full release early in 2008, but Sony later said the game had been delayed until September 2008 in the UK. During the Sony PlayStation Day on 6 May 2008 in London, Sony announced the game would be delayed for one month, but also confirmed release dates for 21 October 2008 in North America, 22 October in Europe, 24 October in the UK and Ireland, and 30 October in Japan.Originally intended for a release in mid-to-late October, a last-minute delay involving a licensed song in the game's soundtrack delayed the game's release worldwide. It was released in North America and Japan at the end of October 2008, and in Europe at the beginning of November 2008.
On 17 October 2008, SCEE instigated a worldwide recall of LittleBigPlanet and announced the game's release be pushed back after a PlayStation Community member reported the lyrics to one of the licenced songs in the game included passages from the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and could therefore be offensive to Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. However, no actual complaints regarding the music were made. The song, entitled "Tapha Niang", was by Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
an artist Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...
, himself a devout Muslim. The game was patched twice, the day before its release for players who had received the game early, before its intended release date. The first update did not affect the song, and was released to patch online issues, modify jetpack controls, and add further costumes, whilst the second updated the game to remove the vocals from the track, leaving only an instrumental. Some American Muslims responded to the recall and stated that they were offended by the restriction of freedom of speech. M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., head of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, was quoted as saying, "Muslims cannot benefit from freedom of expression and religion and then turn around and ask that anytime their sensibilities are offended that the freedom of others be restricted."
SCEA announced new versions of the game that would be shipped to North American retailers the week commencing 27 October 2008. On 20 October 2008 an SCEE press release stated LittleBigPlanet would start to appear in stores in the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand no later than the week commencing 3 November 2008 on a country-by-country basis. Later the same day SCEE confirmed the UK release date as 5 November.
Beta phases
A public beta version of the game was previously scheduled for the summer of 2008, but it was later announced that only private beta testing would take place; a public demo was mentioned as a "possibility". However, in a later interview, Alex Evans, Co-Founder of Media Molecule, said a beta would be released in September 2008 describing it as "a public beta, but limited at the same time". The first beta became playable on 23 September 2008, when gaming website EurogamerEurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
began offering beta codes to its members on the same date, with a total of 5,800 codes available; the website quickly buckled under the influx of visitors, with many unable to load the site. Subsequently, several other gaming websites including 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
and GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
offered beta codes to their users. Players were able to play the beta until it ended on 12 October. Although Sony had originally planned to erase all levels created by players during the beta period, an official poll was held to let the players decide their fate; the players voted to keep the levels. These levels were carried over to the final game, although save game data and progress made in the beta was not.
Future developments and downloadable content
A feature the title lacks, but was included in demonstrations, is the ability to create stickers by importing images from the console's hard drive. When initially asked about the missing feature, Alex Evans replied that its removal was due to time constraints, and that a patch before Christmas would enable the feature. A later forum post from a PlayStation official countered this by stating image import would not be appearing "for a variety of reasons". Further speculation arose when Media Molecule posted an image to their Flickr page after both statements were made, showing the image import tool in action, and a television advert for the game demonstrated family photographs in a custom level.It was originally intended that players would be able to use the content creation mode with other players online however this feature was dropped before the game's release. Online Create was added to the game via software update 1.21 .
In a demonstration at the 2009 Tokyo Games Show, footage of LittleBigPlanet being played with Playstation Move was shown. This led to many people to believe that a Playstation Move DLC pack would be released, allowing the creation of Move levels. It was later revealed that the footage was from a spin-off game, Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves, and a Move pack was later released for the sequel, LittleBigPlanet 2
LittleBigPlanet 2
LittleBigPlanet 2 is a puzzle platformer video game, centred around user-generated content. The game is developed by Media Molecule, published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for PlayStation 3 and was originally scheduled for release in November 2010 but was delayed until January 2011...
.
Major updates and downloadable content packs
On 23 December 2008, weapons were introduced into the game with the release of a Metal GearMetal Gear (series)
is a series of stealth video games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. The first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for the MSX2. The player takes control of a special forces operative Solid Snake who is assigned to find the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear", a...
-themed game pack titled "Metal Gear Solid Level Pack". A paintball gun
Paintball marker
A paintball marker, also known as a paintball gun, is the main piece of equipment in the sport of paintball. Markers use an expanding gas, such as carbon dioxide or compressed air, to propel paintballs through the barrel. Some paintball players refer to the piece of equipment as a "marker" rather...
power-up, called the "Paintinator", can be used to activate "Paintinator Switches", can destroy certain enemies, and can be picked up similarly to a jet-pack (which is by simply touching it). The player can also add the Paintinator to custom levels. The game pack includes new Metal Gear Solid-themed stickers, music that can be placed in user-created levels, and various character costumes.
In April 2009, Media Molecule released a free software update dubbed "Cornish Yarg", the first major update for the game. New features that were introduced with this update include the ability for the user to play their own music from the PlayStation 3's hard drive whilst in their Pod or in "Create" mode, the ability to turn a prize collection in user-created levels on or off and improvements to the character customisation process. Changes were also made to some creation tools including the ability to hide mechanical objects such as bolts and pistons. Shortly after this update, Creator Pack 1 was released as a downloadable content pack for free. This pack added new Create mode tools including a new type of checkpoint which provides the player with an infinite number of lives for a given section, a tether-less version of the jet-pack (allowing the player to hover around more freely) and a power-up removal marker which forces the player to drop any power-ups such as the Paintinator or jet-pack. The update also included a tool to allow the creator to trigger changes in the entire level's lighting and other environmental settings, when the player passes a certain point or performs an action.
In addition to characters from other franchises appearing in LittleBigPlanet, Sackboy has also appeared in other video games. In March 2009, an add-on was released for Everybody's Golf 5
Everybody's Golf 5
is a golf video game developed by Clap Hanz/SCEI and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3...
which made Sackboy available as a playable character. Sackboy is also in Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists Of Plastic, a game released on the PlayStation Network based on the 2005 PC game, Rag Doll Kung Fu
Rag Doll Kung Fu
Rag Doll Kung Fu is a fighting computer game, created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studios, along with other Lionhead employees, such as David Smith and Alex Evans. Rag Doll Kung Fu is available from Valve's Steam content delivery platform...
by LittleBigPlanet creator, Mark Healy. Sackboy has also appeared in ModNation Racers
ModNation Racers
ModNation Racers is a kart racing game developed by United Front Games for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. User generated content will be a central aspect of the game, such that it uses the same "Play, Create, Share." adage as LittleBigPlanet to convey its basis in online user-generated...
and 3D Dot Game Heroes
3D Dot Game Heroes
is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Silicon Studio and published by From Software in Japan, Atlus in North America and by SouthPeak Games in Europe. The game uses a unique style, presenting 2D retro-style graphics in a 3D environment using voxels...
.
A "Game Of The Year Edition" was released only in North America on 9 September 2009. The Game of the Year Edition includes many downloadable content packs, along with new levels made by various LittleBigPlanet community members. (See the Game of the Year Edition section.)
In August 2009, Media Molecule announced that a future update would add water to the game. Eventually, it was revealed that the water would be released as part of a Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...
-themed downloadable content pack that arrived on 22 December 2009. Much like the Metal Gear Solid pack, the premium downloadable content pack contains six new levels and also unlocks new Creator tools allowing users to use the new mechanics in their levels. It allows the user to add water to their levels, and these tools include a Global Water Object allowing users to trigger changes in the water properties of their levels as well as a water-activated switch, a scuba-gear pick-up and a bubble machine. The pack also features Pirates of the Caribbean-themed stickers, decorations, music, backdrops, objects and materials. Whilst users are required to purchase this pack in order to create levels with water and water-related items, users are able to play levels utilising the features whether they purchase the pack or not.
Game of the Year Edition
A Game of the Year Edition of LittleBigPlanet was released in North America on 8 September 2009. This version included all of the content from the original game, as well as exclusive levels from 18 members of the LittleBigPlanet community (along with short videos of each of them explaining the levels). The re-release also includes the "Metal Gear Solid", "Monsters", and "History" costume and level packs and the "Animals" costume pack. A limited number of copies of the game also included a code, giving the player access to a beta of ModNation RacersModNation Racers
ModNation Racers is a kart racing game developed by United Front Games for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. User generated content will be a central aspect of the game, such that it uses the same "Play, Create, Share." adage as LittleBigPlanet to convey its basis in online user-generated...
. Initially there were no plans to release the Game of the Year Edition in Europe, however a European version was eventually announced for release on 16 April 2010. The Korean language version of the Game of the Year Edition is available in South Korea.
Reception
Previews
The unveiling of LittleBigPlanet at GDC 2007 elicited numerous positive reactions. In his BBC NewsBBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
blog, technology editor Darren Waters wrote, "LittleBigPlanet is perhaps one of the most dazzling demos I've seen in the last 10 years". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described the game as "beautiful" and reported that "even in the presence of Home
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home is a virtual 3D social gaming network developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network . It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar under PlayStation Network. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN...
, Sony's impressive new community software, LittleBigPlanet stole the show at Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 practice conference, and was the thing that everyone was talking about." 1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
wrote that "There are plenty of questions remaining about LittleBigPlanet … but it's clear from the reaction to the game so far that it has already won over many fans and that this could be something very special." Slashdot
Slashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
Games editor Michael Zenke suggested the game could be the PlayStation 3's killer application
Killer application
A killer application , in the jargon of marketing teams, has been used to refer to any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, gaming console, software, or an operating system...
. Even Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, praised the product, but was unsure how the game would fare on Sony's platform.
Reviews
LittleBigPlanet has received wide critical acclaim from reviewers. The first major publication to review LittleBigPlanet was the UK edition of PlayStation Official MagazinePlayStation Official Magazine
The Official UK PlayStation Magazine is a now-defunct magazine, launched in November 1995 to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation console. It ran for 108 issues, with the last hitting news stands in March 2004. The first issue sold 37,000 copies...
. In their November edition they gave the game a score of 10/10 calling it "a beautifully elegant and powerful creative tool that puts unlimited potential in the palm of your hand". Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
scored the game 9/10. Reviewer Oli Welsh commented specifically on the game's "unforgettable visuals" and that the accurate lighting was "as total a realisation of high-definition as you'll see anywhere in games this year". He similarly praised the multiplayer gameplay as "a loosely-structured scrum of competition, collaboration and sheer, joyful mucking around". Speaking of the game's comprehensive creation and community tools in contrast with its classic platforming gameplay, he calls the game "the future and the past of videogames, rolled into one". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
(U.S.) scored it 9.5/10 and said the game was an "instant classic". The reviewer, Chris Roper, also suggested that the game may even be a reason to purchase a PlayStation 3; "If you own a PlayStation 3, you cannot miss this. If you don’t have a PS3 yet, this is the reason to get one." GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
scored the game 5/5 and said that the real strength of the game "is the tremendous sense of freedom and creativity that it instils in you."
Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
gave it a 10/10 and said "It's a multiplayer riot, a visual landmark, a feat of engineering, and one of the most charming games ever made. But even those accolades are dwarfed by its scope, its potential, and the apparent endlessness of them both."
Some reviewers have criticised the game's control system. Eurogamers review stated that the jump timing sometimes feels "off by a fraction of a fraction of a second" and that this can be a minor annoyance when attempting challenges which require dexterity and timing. In IGN
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
plane. He says that "there are instances where it doesn't do what you want it to do, and these points stick out like a sore thumb." This is an issue that has been raised by Media Molecule's co-founder Mark Healey who stated in an interview that "The Z [axis] movement is an incredibly hard thing for us to get right. There's times when it annoys me actually." He went on to say they would continue refining it, suggesting improvements via a future update IGN
Awards
LittleBigPlanet has been given numerous awards. It won in eight categories out of 10 nominations at the AIASAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Visual Engineering, Game Design, Game Direction, and Outstanding Innovation in Gaming and was judged Family Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, and as Overall Game of the Year. LittleBigPlanet was also given the Award for Artistic Achievement at the 5th British Academy Video Games Awards
5th British Academy Video Games Awards
The 5th British Academy Video Game Awards awarded by British Academy of Film and Television Arts , was an award ceremony honouring achievement in the field of video games in 2008. Candidate games must have been released in the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2008...
. It was dubbed Game of the Year
Game of the Year
Game of the Year is a title awarded by various magazines, websites, and shows to a deserving game. Many are only for PC or console video games...
by several gaming websites and publications including GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
, Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
, and Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
whose editors felt that while the single-player experience was nothing special, the mulitplayer gameplay brought the game into its own and were impressed by some of the user-created levels which inspired "gasps of wonder". It also received various other awards from gaming websites in 2008 including Best New IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
and Best Platform Game from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
and Most Innovative Game from GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
. LittleBigPlanet was judged Best PlayStation 3 Game at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards and was given the awards for Best New Debut, Best Game Design, Best Technology, and the Innovation Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are annually presented by the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999.The 2009 award presentation was...
.
Sales
In the UK, the game entered the ELSPA video game charts at number four, then fell to number 19 in its second week of sale. By 29 November 2008, the game was at number 32 and had sold between 100,000 and 200,000 copies in the UK. In the US, the game sold 356,000 units during October and November placing it fourth amongst all PlayStation 3 software sales for that period. It entered October's all-platform video game chart at number eight before falling out of the top 20 by the end of November. Sony defended the game's sales, stating the abundance of other released titles at Christmas was a factor. A representative from SCEE said "In other times of the year it would be a clear number one, so you have to put the chart in context." Due to the game's last-minute recall and subsequent delay, LittleBigPlanet was released mid-week and as a result, its first week performance indicators are based on four days instead of the usual seven. This has also been suggested as a contributing factor. Many supporters of the game have suggested that a lack of advertising has let it down although advertising campaigns were launched in North America and Europe which helped to boost the game's sales in the run up to Christmas. After the launch of the UK-based advertising campaign and a decrease in price, LittleBigPlanet sales increased by 58 percent and raised it from 32 to 16 in the videogame charts by mid-December and had sold over 300,000 units by the beginning of February 2009. In January 2009, Sony announced that the game had sold 611,000 units in North America up to the end of December 2008 and that there were 1.3 million unique users playing LittleBigPlanet. As of March 2010, the game has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. SCEE President Andrew House announced at Gamescom 2010 that the game has now sold over 4.5 million worldwide.Sequel
Statements from Media Molecule and Sony indicated that there were initially no plans to create a traditional sequel to LittleBigPlanet. Alex Evans stated that the "huge emotional investment" users have made in LittleBigPlanet is the reason he does not want to ship a traditional sequel. Because they do not want all of the user-generated content to be made obsolete, their focus would be to "expand the game without partitioning the audience".In May 2010, Media Molecule announced that recent rumours of a full sequel were true and that LittleBigPlanet 2
LittleBigPlanet 2
LittleBigPlanet 2 is a puzzle platformer video game, centred around user-generated content. The game is developed by Media Molecule, published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for PlayStation 3 and was originally scheduled for release in November 2010 but was delayed until January 2011...
was in development, and that users would be able to use all the DLC released for LittleBigPlanet and all its user-generated content. Games magazine GameInformer revealed the first details of LittleBigPlanet 2 in its June 2010 edition. The game was released in January 2011.
PSP game
In a February 2009 press release, Sony announced a version of LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation PortablePlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
would be developed by SCE Studio Cambridge
SCE Studio Cambridge
Cambridge Studio, part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, was formed in July 1997 when Sony Computer Entertainment Europe acquired the Millennium development studio from Cyberlife Ltd...
in conjunction with Media Molecule. LittleBigPlanet for the PSP was first shown publicly at E3 2009 and it was released in November 2009.
See also
- List of PlayStation 3 games
- List of LittleBigPlanet downloadable content packs
- ModNation RacersModNation RacersModNation Racers is a kart racing game developed by United Front Games for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. User generated content will be a central aspect of the game, such that it uses the same "Play, Create, Share." adage as LittleBigPlanet to convey its basis in online user-generated...
- Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of PlasticRag Doll Kung FuRag Doll Kung Fu is a fighting computer game, created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studios, along with other Lionhead employees, such as David Smith and Alex Evans. Rag Doll Kung Fu is available from Valve's Steam content delivery platform...
External links
- Official websites:
- LittleBigPlanet.com
- LBP.me - Official community website
- LBPWiki - Official wiki
- Media Molecule website
- LittleBigPlanet at PlayStation.com: UK, US, Australia, New Zealand at WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...