RipTen Videogame Blog » little-big-planet

Final Fantasy VII Costumes Finally Coming To LittleBigPlanet

Chris Carlson — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:44:41 +0000

The long awaited Final Fantasy VII Costumes are finally making their way onto LittleBigPlanet 2.

Media Molecule may be stepping away from LittleBigPlanet, but they’re still bringing the content. First revealed at the Tokyo Game Show in 2008 Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth costume was announced along side Solid Snake. Now three years later Sephiroth is finally making his way into the LBP universe and he’s bringing some not so good friends.

The Playstation Blog reveled that on July 13th Sephiroth, Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and of course Sephiroth will be available at $1.99 each for download. Alternatively you can purchase the Final Fantasy Costume pack with all the mentioned costumes for $5.99. If you purchase the pack you will also be granted a bonus Vincent Valentine costume (Only available through the bundle).

Other mentioned releases were Infamous 2, Toy Story, and Killzone 3 packs. To end this wonderful piece of news, I present you with the new and improved Sephiroth!

The PSN and PS Store Are Coming Back In Full Force This Week!

Dave Oshry — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:23:31 +0000

I think I speak for everyone when I say, it’s about damn time!

This just in from Sony:

Tokyo, May 31, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStation®Network services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea by the end of this week. The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™ for PlayStation®3 (PS3®), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), VAIO and other PCs. Details for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as the remaining services on Qriocity will be announced as they become available.

The company implemented considerable security enhancements to the network infrastructure, as well as conducted testing of the payment process and commerce functions. The first phase of PlayStation Network and Qriocity restoration began on May 15 in the Americas and Europe/PAL territories, followed by Japan and Asian countries and regions on May 28, when the company brought partial services back online. With this partial restoration users were able to access to some of the services such as online game play, account management, friend lists and chat functionality were restored. The full restoration of PlayStation Network as well as part of services to become available on Qriocity will include:

Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
In-game commerce
Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs
Full functionality on Media Go

Customers can now purchase and download games and video content from the PlayStation®Store on PS3 or PSP. In addition, consumers will have full access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity through PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PC’s. Service restoration of Video on Demand powered by Qriocity™ and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for a variety of network-enabled Sony devices will be announced later.

“We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time.”

The company will be offering customers a “Welcome Back” package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network* and Qriocity account services. The details of this program will continue to be detailed regionally.

* Only available for those countries with access to PlayStation®Store.

Just in time for E3!!

Little Big Planet 2 Delayed. Has a New January Release Date

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:13:36 +0000

Sorry Sackboy fans, Little Big Planet 2 will be delayed. Currently, developer media Molecule has given a firm release date of January 18, 2011 for North America.

Official Statement from Media Molecule:

LittleBigPlanet 2 is a crazy dream, a dream to allow players to make whatever kind of game they want, but also to play though a great adventure of drama and excitement, power-ups, and cinematics. But like all of the most ambitious ideas, it can be a considerable challenge to turn these dreams in fun games. We’ve all been working like powered-up space ninjas and we’re almost there, but because we love what we’ve made, and we love our little sack-friends, and most of all we love all our fans out there, we couldn’t let you all get together until we knew we were giving you the best experience imaginable. Which is why we’ve taken the hard decision to delay the worldwide release of LittleBigPlanet 2, originally slated for later this year to January 2011.

We know this will come as disappointing news for all you LittleBigPlanet fans, and believe us, we are disappointed too. We are a tight-knit team and we take enormous pride in our work, so to raise the bar we’ve set with the original LittleBigPlanet, a game that has been so embraced by all, we’ve agreed to allow ourselves a bit more time to deliver the experience that our great fans and community deserve. We are truly sorry, but hope you understand that we have to build the best possible game, as it is the foundation of our community.

On the upside, we are going to find a way to give more of you a taste of LBP2 prior to launch, so stay tuned.

Thanks for your continued love and support, it won’t be long – we promise.

Lots of love from all at Mm

I’m sure the game will do well with all the hype surrounding and taking into account the success of the first one. Only thing is I’m sure they’ll be many unhappy about not having the game for Christmas.

To see videos displaying LBP 2 ‘s versatility click here.

Little Big Planet 2 is Insane: Play Street Fighter, Zone of the Enders and Vietnam (Videos)

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:20:23 +0000

So, just how versatile will Little Big Planet 2 be? How about insanely versatile. Check out these creations from talented LBP 2 Beta Testers:

Sonic Boom! Sackboy looks good as Guile and beats up on both Ken and Zangief to a familiar theme song and setting.

Sackboy makes such an adorable Mech….awww.

While I wasn’t in ‘Nam I hear it looked exactly like this. Sackboy mows down Charlie like it’s a shooting gallery.

All I can say is WOW! I’ve never played the first Little Big Planet but after seeing how varied the cusomization is, I’m not going pass up on this one!

Little Big Planet 2 hits retailers on November 16.

Source

LittleBigPlanet 2 Post-Release Patch Will Support Move, Your Limitless Imagination and Your Wildest Dreams.

Gavin Bard — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:15:12 +0000

While it was already known that Media Molecule’s heavily anticipated burlap sack romp LittleBigPlanet 2 would support the PlayStation 3′s Move peripheral at launch, it has been confirmed they will be releasing a patch that applies that same functionality to the robust level creation toolset.

This new tool, called the Direct Seat, will be available at retail but will only support Sixaxis controls. That is, until Media Molecule releases a patch. Co-founder Alex Evans had this to say;

“So, right now, players can use the Direct Control Seat to decide how the Sixaxis affects your level, and we’d like to do the same thing for the Move. We have something like that internally, but it’s not fully built. We’re working with another studio to help us prototype out what Move could be, and those levels will be on the disc at launch, to show players what they’ll be able to build.”

While I may be one of those heartless and jaded hardcore gamers that have no real desire for anything related to motion sensing technology, the idea of user created Move-based content in LittleBigPlanet 2 is incredibly exciting. The pretentious artist in me absolutely reveled in watching some of the borderline genius that flowed forth from amateur designers in the original LittleBigPlanet, and with the sequel poised to give gamers even more control over their creations, allowing them to also create motion based content will only prove to push creativity even further. Kudos to all- unless you don’t like granola, than I guess Crunch bars to all.

[Source: CVG]

Nine Modern Games Like Gears, Killzone, & LBP Get Retro NES Cover Treatment

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:43:54 +0000

Ever wonder what your favorite modern day games like Gears of War, Little Big Planet, or Call of Duty might look like had they been released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in the 80s? Well, the nifty piece of retro pixel art should give you a pretty good idea.

[Thanks AGB]

LittleBigPlanet update coming soon

Sam Naylor — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:16:46 +0000

The PS Blog reports that LittleBigPlanet will be receiving an update soon, including a multitude of fixes and improvements. The update notes are after the jump, and include such things as ‘the game doesn’t break much now’ and ‘it’s a bit better now’. Not really, but that’s the gist of it. The patch includes the ability to listen to your own music in some sections of the game, and a better way to manage clothing, as well as a few improvements to the UI and community aspects of the game.

This update addresses several outstanding issues with the game:

* There is a new music player which lets player’s choose their own music from the XMB to play during create mode and in their Pod
* Improved decoration mode makes it easier to customize your Sackboy

New options to help prevent profiles becoming full of unwanted community objects:

* Option to delete all (unhearted) community objects and photos
* Option to select whether to automatically collect community prizes and photos
* A number of improvements have been made to make profiles more robust and to recover from certain errors
* We now support Japanese and Korean IME for text chat.
* Emitter prediction has been improved (this should help fast-moving projectiles e.g. in MGS levels)
* The player proximity switch now has a ‘require all’ option in it
* An option has been added to cycle between various level information when viewing community levels on the earth
* Various LittleBigStore improvements

Via Dtoid.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Beats Little Big Planet for Ripten Readers Game of the Year

Ripten Staff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:09:13 +0000

Looks like Ripten readers love them some PS3 exclusives, because Metal Gear Solid 4 put down Little Big Planet by a razor thin margin to win The Ripten Readers Game of 2008. Thank you all for your well thought out and fun comments, you guys really did do us proud and just reassured us that we have the best readers on the entire internets.

Congrats to you, Cody Segraves for winning our best comment contest for your well thought out explanation of your admiration for Valve’s Left 4 Dead, you’ve won a 60 buck game of your choice. Also, congrats to DavidGX for coming in second place, and yes, I know we were only supposed to pick one prize winner, but we liked your impassioned comment about Gears 2′s chainsaw bayonet so much we decided to pull together and send you a used copy of The History Channel Presents: Civil War: A Nation Divided for the Xbox 360. Thousands of bayonets for a bayonet aficionado!

Cody Segraves and DavidGX, email your mailing addresses to Jzungre@ripten.com to collect your games.

LittleBigPlanet Sales Not That Great? No Shit!

Dan Landis — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:25:21 +0000

I know some fanboys will read the headline and expect this article to totally slam the PS3 and Little Big Planet, and they will likely start posting hateful comments before even reading what this is about. Great. You are only making your fanboyism more apparent and showing the community what a massive dickface you are, so I welcome that.

What this article is actually about is in defense of Little Big Planet (or is it LittleBigPlanet, one word?). You see, a lot of websites (that I won’t mention because they don’t deserve the promotion) have been commenting on Little Big Planet’s sales and making the fantastically brilliant analysis that the game’s delay may have affected its numbers. More specifically, its October sales numbers in particular are not as high as they could have been because the release date was pushed back. Um, no fucking shit, you morons.

While a lot of fanboys and seemingly intelligent people have tried to reason with these websites as to why the sales were as “low” as they were (the patch caused people to be wary of buying it, lots of big releases in October, Sony didn’t advertise it enough, etc.), they all seemed to be missing one obviously logical explanation: it didn’t sell as well as it could have because it was only out for 4 fucking days!

Let me ask you this: do you think Little Big Planet sold less copies in October in 4 days than it would have if it was instead available for 11 days? Um, of course it did. It’s pretty simple logic, isn’t it? In fact, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 units in 4 days was only right behind SOCOM’s sales of 231,000, and that game was available for a full two weeks longer.

Some people assumed Little Big Planet would be an instant million-seller, and some even predicted 5 million units sold. These October numbers now have people making all kinds of excuses. Let’s be real, people. The PS3 has only 17 games that have to date sold over a million copies (Xbox 360 has 47), and GTA4 tops that list with less than 5 million. Obviously, Little Big Planet is not going straight to the top with over 5 million copies sold. That’s just silly.

On the other hand, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 copies in only 4 days puts it on track to sell a million copies fairly easily, a feat which is pretty impressive for a PS3-exclusive new IP (joining Motorstorm, Resistance, Uncharted, and Heavenly Sword). In fact, I would predict that Little Big Planet breaks the million mark by the end of the month, and if Sony decides to pack it in a holiday bundle, you can expect it to pass 2 million by year’s end.

So all these idiots pretending to be analysts need to just stop writing. If you want to talk about sales data, at least be logical about it… or don’t. At least if you keep doing what you’re doing I’ll have plenty of material for my own writing. So, uh, thanks for that… idiots.

LittleBigPlanet Review

Patrick Steen — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:13:55 +0000

In shock from scandalous accusations, Sackboy slowly saunters from the shadows and into the spotlight. As indulgent as that alliteration might be, there really aren’t enough words to adorn LittleBigPlanet. I asked whether the game could live up to the hype last month, which is ultimately for you to decide, but in my opinion LittleBigPlanet has launched itself into a whole new stratosphere of excellence.

So what’s changed since the Beta? Now on Blu-ray, the textures have more pop, the art more polish, and the tutorials shine in high definition. This gives me a good opportunity to describe the even more beautiful LittleBigPlanet. Graphically, the game is a reality that’s been put through a mangle and reassembled in miniature. Like a mass Blue Peter make, the toilet rolls, yoghurt pots and tinfoil that once created Tracey Island now form Sackboy’s playground. Stuck together with glue rather than sticky-backed-plastic, the variety of real-world textures that shape disparate environments is nothing short of inspiring. Some of the best lighting and shadowing continue to stretch the realism, along with lovingly applied motion blur to give the impression of being filmed.

You’ll travel eight diverse worlds in the story mode, where 25 main levels and approximately 35 mini-challenges await Sackboy. The premise of the narrative encompasses every portion of what the game stands for: Creature Curators tend LittleBigPlanet’s creations and as they share their wares with the nomadic Sackboy, their creations start to go missing. The culprit lies at the end of jumps, swings and puzzles; Sackboy will have to use all his talents to free the Planet. The plot’s delivery is misty, mainly due to the eschewing of Stephen Fry’s narration in favour of short episodic text, but it does have a certain charm and becomes clearer as the game advances towards a spectacular finale.

The levels themselves glisten with Media Molecule’s creative juices, demonstrating what can really be achieved with the games creation tools as they grow in ingenuity. It must be noted that LittleBigPlanet is not the carefree cakewalk you might expect. Most levels rely on a solid grasp of the controls and when it comes to Sackboy’s physics based jumps, common sense. You’ve never seen a real-time physics system as inclusive as LittleBigPlanet’s and so leaping from a springy platform might require trial and error. Yet, Sackboy is not an uncooperative lump of floaty stuffed cloth: once you understand LittleBigPlanet’s rules of movement, he is but your faithful puppet.

Adding three planes of depth was a work of brilliance, resulting in more complex traversals that brim with originality. However, this depth can cause tricky situations if you’re not well versed with the controls, which is especially problematic when online creators neglect to take care of the planes. Nevertheless, LittleBigPlanet is in a relatively comfortable space between 2D and 3D and with plenty of spawn points to help Sackboy through his trials, you’ll rarely need to restart a level unless you’re targeting the perfect run.

At every hop, skip and jump your mind will be intrigued by contraptions you’ll want to create for yourself. And with a canvas begging for Sackboy’s toolbox, you can. The easy to navigate Popit Menu holds the tools and after Fry’s help you’ll be popping out levels to your hearts desire. The menu bursts with materials, lights, music, bolts, pistons and will grow as you traverse the story mode. This is why collecting bubbles is so addictive for the Sackpeople – it brings them closer to discovering that next sticker, decoration or object to include in their own creations.

Create is LittleBigPlanet’s revolution. In stark contrast to the traditions of console gaming, LittleBigPlanet’s expansive and easy to use creation tools surpass anything similar you’ve experienced before. Moreover, since every object is physics based, your tweaking can create a dynamic living level that can be tested immediately by switching to Play Mode.

Nevertheless, some of my complaints from the Beta remain. The rules of gluing remain a mystery: sticking objects together is relatively simple, but when it comes to ungluing one particular object, you might find every item in a structure un-sticks, resulting in collapse. A similar conclusion occurs if you neglect to give your structure sufficient support – under the strain it will overheat, causing sections to spontaneously combust. These rare and solvable problems (use floating dark matter for stability) aside, LittleBigPlanet’s talent for creativity conjures something very special – an imaginative concoction that gets your creative juices flowing and fills your belly with tasty levels of your own design.

It’s in the discovery of others levels that stand LittleBigPlanet in good stead to last years of player input. Sackboy’s smile may eventually tire, but the Planet will keep on giving. This game is meant to played online (questioning the efficacy of a recall when an online patch was available) with a solar system of levels, ranging from nostalgic remakes and classic platformers, to eccentric dabblings and video game theme tunes. All are ready for your exploration, which is particularly gratifying when you’re not one for creation yourself. Why create when you can play, play, play?

Levels can be voted and commented on and tagged with praise or damnation. It’s a youtube of gaming that crowns the best levels. At least, that’s the intention. Teething problems have rendered the sorting comparatively fruitless, but if you find a gem, heart it, comment and invite your friends to join in on the fun.

LittleBigPlanet’s catchphrase “Play, Create, Share” denotes a trilogy of descriptions that can only be possible in this console generation. A new PlayStation mascot is here and Sackboy welcomes both the casual and hardcore. Your family can express themselves with Sackboy’s emotions, and you can express yourself through complex creations. What’s more, you can all play together in seamless four player co-op.

Although the game is certainly not perfect, with a slightly eccentric create mode and online struggling to be lag-free, there’s still no escaping the fact that without LittleBigPlanet, you’re severely missing out. LittleBigPlanet wears originality on its sleeve, with a nagging Sackboy waving his popit about and screaming “I’m creative!” Shame on you if you don’t take notice.

[album=45]

LittleBigPlanet Level Goes “To Zanarkand”

Roly Reyes — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:27:56 +0000

I’m not the creative type. LittleBigPlanet should have no appeal to me, but for some reason I’m consistently drawn to it.

After dwelling on this notion for hours (literally) I decided it’s the game’s combination of approachability (in both visuals and gameplay), and the platform it creates.

Media Molecule presents users with a tool set expansive enough to recreate Shadow of the Colossus in a condensed form, and in this specific case, revive the emotion previously evoked by the original.

The following LBP level, designed by PSN user Kirathian, recreates the theme song from Final Fantasy X, “To Zanarkand.” Yes, you heard me correctly — he recreates the song using the LBP level editor.

Hit the jump for the utterly awesome video filled with awesome.

Keep in mind that what you just saw was created with a beta version of the game, which is said to contain roughly half of the items that will be available in the full retail release of LittleBigPlanet just two weeks away.

Source: 1UP

LittleBigPlanet to Hit Stores in October

Rangebar Merani — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:46:28 +0000

Sony confirmed today that the highly anticipated PS3 title, LittleBigPlanet, will ship to stores in North America on October 21 and on the 24th in Europe.

Expected to be a huge part of Sony’s holiday lineup, LittleBigPlanet was easily one of the best games on the PS3 at this year’s E3. The game is totally different than any game I’ve ever played, combining platform and adventure gaming with user-generated content, LittleBigPlanet is sure to be one of the hottest titles this winter.

With a little over a month until we get our hands on the game, be sure to check out our E3 hands-on preview of LittleBigPlanet to get a better understanding of the game and its content.

Source: Gamedaily

Hands-On Preview: LittleBigPlanet

Rangebar Merani — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:20:02 +0000

One of the most popular games among the Ripten E3 crew (check out our last day of E3 podcast) has to be Sony’s LittleBigPlanet.

Honestly, when I first heard of the game I wasn’t too interested. In fact, I wasn’t even going to play it at E3, but Chad told me to. Thanks Chad, because it easily became one of my favorite games of E3.

Developed by Media Molecule, LittleBigPlanet is a side-scrolling action game that focuses heavily on player-enabled customization. From creating your own character to customizing your own level, almost everything in the game can be user-created, leading to an unlimited amount of possibilities.

As soon as I got my hands on the game, I was impressed and having fun with it. The controls were easy to learn and only used a few buttons to interact.

I played with two other people, first trying out a mini-game that had a series of platforms coming from the bottom to the top. The objective was to keep dropping down from one platform to the other before getting smothered with toxic gas at the top of the screen. I’m guessing there will be tons of mini-games just like the one I played, making LBP a fun party game.

We then went on to play an actual level, which relied heavily on co-op play with different puzzles and strategies. There were all sorts of obstacles on the stage we played, like rolling logs on fire and swinging sponge-looking thingies that we had to grab onto to swing over to the next area.

Although the game relies on co-op gameplay and brainstorming with each other, it’s also a race to the finish, complete with points and grabbing items and goodies.

As you’re progressing through a level, each character will be awarded points by collecting these bubble-looking things and at the end of the level you’ll be placed in order of who finished the fasted, just for bragging rights. Oh, and you’ll want to be the quickest to grab all the customizable items like stickers and equipment for you characters.

Oh, and LBP is finally a game that really uses the Sixaxis controller! When you’re playing the game, you can move the Sixaxis to shake, bobble, and make your character dance around. Even better is the ability to control your character’s arms with the L2 and R2 buttons, smacking around the other players for purely no reason. Funny shit.

Each player was able to customize their character mid-game, everything from changing outfits to face paint. You could also change the landscape of the level mid-game, like adding stickers to the wall. Again, the game is all about user-created content.

My favorite aspect of LBP has to be online and sharing experience. Not only can you hop online through the Playstation Network to play with three friends, you can also upload and share all your created levels to the LBP community. Once you’re online, you can check out all your friends’ created levels, play on them, and even edit their levels to your liking and make it your own.

Overall, LittleBigPlanet looks wonderful and the gameplay is incredibly fun. I played for about 15-20 minutes and I just fell in love. For a game that I had no intention on playing, I was blown away.

Be prepared for tons of fun and laughter when LittleBigPlanet comes out for the PS3 this October.

Ripten Radio: E3 08, Day 4 Wrap Up

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:44:43 +0000

Our fourth and final installment of Ripten Radio from this years E3 will run you through the high (and sometimes low) points from day 4 of the conference. We give hands-on impressions of Left 4 Dead, RE5, Socom, Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Mad World, Little Big Planet, and many more.

This particular edition features the following Ripten super studs: Andrew “Hotel DJ” Podolsky, Jon “as seen on Ripten TV” Zungre, Emily “like a banshee” Balistrieri, Rangebar “Power Ranger” Merani, and myself — Chad “balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls of steel” Lakkis. Enjoy it after the jump.

Sony: In-house Studios Will Produce Most PS3 Exclusives

Kev Lochun — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:52:42 +0000

President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has confirmed Sony will be investing in their first party development to ensure a steady flow of exclusive titles as third party devs increasingly opt to go multiplatform.

Speaking to Three Speech, Yoshida explained that they could no longer rely on third party loyalty in light of soaring development costs.

“Because, in this generation, it costs much more to develop one product, it’s just natural for third-party publishers trying to recoup the investment from multiple platforms. I think that’s pure economic pressure, pushing most of the third parties to move from some exclusive titles to more multi-platform titles,” said Yoshida.

He went on to add…

“Because we know that is the trend, we, as a company, can invest in our first-party studios; in terms of exclusive titles, our role becomes more important.”

Nonetheless he was pretty optimistic about how multiplatform titles would perform, adding that he expected some to “have something extra” because of the system’s abilities and the Blu-Ray format.

Still it seems like a good time to be investing. Yoshida anticipates that the second and third year of PS3 will be the ones where we see a shift in focus from next-gen graphics to next-gen gameplay – and no-one’s better placed to do that than first party devs right?

“This is a time when we feel more comfortable with the technology, so we can focus more on the actual game development. I think that’s the same for the major developers and third parties. So, many games have focused on the graphics side, and it’s often the case when a new platform comes out that the gameplay kind of goes back. But now, in the second and third years of the platform, we will start to see something really unique and interesting.”

Keep your eyes peeled for Little Big Planet then –- it’s got Yoshida practically wetting himself in excitement.

Source: Three Speech

User Generated Content Is Not Sweatshop Labor

Andrew Podolsky — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:03:53 +0000

Mr. Will Wright? Can we have a bathroom break now?

N’Gai Croal, videogame and internet writer for Newsweek magazine, has determined that since Youtube, Spore, Little Big Planet, and Wikipedia are almost completely dependent on user generated content, this makes Web (and Game) 2.0 something like the 21st century equivalent of textile mills or coal mines. Sweatshop labor– really? Hyperbolic much?

N’Gai’s been on the mark before– his “Who’s Being Naive?” column is required reading if you want to begin to understand the complex and weirdly Hollywood relationship between game publishers and journalists– but I can’t help but feel he’s being a bit alarmist in talking about these modern-day online “sweatshops”.

One quick point is that there are real sweatshops still in existence, and the conditions can’t be better than the average Wikipedia editor’s computer den. Those textile mills and coal mines may not be common in America anymore, but in the impoverished nations of the world, a day job creating Youtube clips probably sounds pretty sweet.

But another point N’Gai is missing is that Youtube and Spore don’t solicit their users’ content through economic pressures or necessities. Nobody is born into a poor family of laborers who toil over the perfect level in Little Big Planet.

The key question N’Gai asks is, “is it really entertaining to update a Wikipedia entry?”, and this is a question that he answers incorrectly. His assumption is that it’s not, and therefore people are being used as cheap labor.

But actually, it’s a lot of fun to update a Wikipedia entry. Thousands of volunteer editors wouldn’t do it for free if it wasn’t. And yes, that alone justifies the effort. Tooling around with the Spore creature creator is a blast, and that doesn’t make everyone into some unofficial EA employee.

The really smart game developers are learning to harness the interest people bring to a collaborative project to create something that is equal parts product and popular movement.

There’s a straight line to be drawn through to viral marketing as well– people will distribute their own advertising materials just because it’s seen as fun or cool on its own. This doesn’t turn your average person into a Madison Avenue advertising executive, so spending an evening creating a custom level in Unreal Tournament 3 doesn’t make them into unpaid computer programmers either.

As the tools to make such creations possible become easier to use, and that line between professional and amateur development is blurred, we’re not becoming sweatshop laborers. We’re just becoming smarter consumers.

Source: Newsweek

2008: Year of the _____?

Cavin Smith — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:12:38 +0000

Have you had enough of First Person Shooters? It was such a dominant genre this year that it seemed to define what it meant to be “next-gen.” We’re not quite out of the woods yet, but 2008 promises to bring us a more diverse line-up. What games or concepts will characterize the industry as we move into the second generation proper?

It wasn’t that long ago when I considered writing an editorial complaining about the lack of variety in games this generation. Some developers will always be making software outside the norm, so it would’ve been by no means absolute if I’d said “can’t you guys come up with anything else?!”

Let’s face it, First Person Shooters get a lot of attention in a lot of different ways and few games have been fawned over as much lately as HALO 3, Orange Box (Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2), Crysis, or Call of Duty 4. Then there’s Unreal Tournament III, Resistance, Timeshift, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Hellgate: London, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Red Steel, Shadowrun, Soldier of Fortune Payback, Blacksite: Area 51, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Even, in many ways, the inimitable Bioshock qualifies. Not all are good, but some are great, maybe even “best game ever” material.

So why did we see so many this past year (and before you ask, yes, I’m aware some were technically released in 2006)? Part of the answer might be found in the types of technology they’re pushing, making them great showcases for what new gaming platforms can do.

There were also some hotly anticipated sequels released, with HALO 3 in particular having the “biggest day in entertainment sales ever.” Multiplayer features have also been a big draw, keeping players hooked for the long haul. And, of course, there’s also the socio-political pressure that’s been put on the genre since day one (though, ironically enough, most of the attention has been focused on Manhunt 2, which isn’t a shooter at all).

Taking all of that into account, maybe it was just a perfect storm of sorts — one grand coincidence created by the combination of a strict holiday deadline and finally-finished development times.

But 2008 looks remarkably different with fewer First Person Shooters on the docket. Thinking of the top of my head, only three stand out – Ubisoft’s delayed HAZE, hype-machine Killzone 2, and, well, Duke Nukem Forever (good one, Broussard!). There will unquestionably be others, but it looks like my original fears were unwarranted. I’ll no longer need to be writing that article.

So, with the FPS taking some much needed time off, what other genre will we be sick and tired of by the end of next year?

2008: Year of the Free-Roamer?

It’s a no-brainer that Grand Theft Auto IV is going to rule the gaming scene. Whether it comes out in the Spring (as planned), or in the Fall (as expected), it will serve as the anchor for free-roaming sandbox games to sail into port. Like a ship-load of liquored-up seamen on shore leave, though, we should probably hope they don’t overstay their welcome.

Remember what happened last time? Free-roaming elements shoehorned into every orifice of a game which otherwise might’ve been good, checkpoint races that take you from zero to frustrating inanity in four seconds flat? A redux of this kind of game design without appropriate context built around it would be unfortunate for an industry that really needs to start finding new ideas.

That said, I’ve got a feeling that we’re in for a few tasty treats. Last year’s GTA clone du jour, Saints Row, should be having another go-around. Up against the king itself, this time, the court jester’s got to become the assassin. Or at least some sort of bizzaro-world, evil twin assassin, considering that the more Volition tries to differentiate itself from its inspiration, the closer it seems to come to it.

“Saints Row has a much darker and more sinister story that leads your character down a path of betrayal, revenge, and redemption against the city that left him for dead, although we’ve blended that with the same light-hearted humor from the original.”

That’s from the official announcement press release. Bittersweet story of revenge with cheeky, culture-skewering laughs thrown in to balance out (or sometimes compliment) the wanton bloodshed? Sounds like a crib notes version of Grand Theft Auto to me.

If Volition’s up to the task and rolls out a quality product, though, I don’t think anybody’s willing to complain.

Speaking of inspiration, ’08 should see at least two from the school of Crackdown (and hopefully expanding on its great, but underdeveloped concepts). Prototype comes from the makers of Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, another last-gen free-roamer, and from the recent footage shown at the Spike Video Game Awards, it looks like your character’s super-destructive powers improve the more you use them.

Sucker Punch’s Infamous, of which we’ve seen nothing since E3, also looks to hit next year. Featuring a similarly-endowed avatar, it’s easy to draw comparisons to Prototype, but from what we can glean, it leans more towards a super-hero morality tale. The early trailer seemed to imply that you would do more than just play around in a sandbox, you’d shape it, and that you might have the delightfully villainous ability to destroy man in the process.

Assuming other titles like L.A. Noire and Mercenaries 2 also show up in ’08, sandbox games look poised to, er, rule the sandbox once again.

2008: Year of Game 2.0?

Game 2.0′s a fancy term, but it’s not at all a new concept. The idea that a someone could effectively change, hack, or recombine elements of a game has bred a healthy, if somewhat exclusive modding community. I say “exclusive” because of the technical know-how often needed to produce any worthy results, let alone something other people would actually enjoy fooling around with.

Game 2.0 aims to bring those capabilities down to the average human being, just as Prometheus did with fire. Hopefully no vengeful gods are angered in the process.

Leading the charge is Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet, now firmly locked as a 2008 title. Voraciously cute and brimming with creativity, it puts almost all of the game’s development possibilities in the player’s hands. Levels are completely customizable. If you can do it with physics, you can probably do it in LBP. Likewise, being able to import various stamps and graphics allows you to add your own, unique look to creations.

Often times, though, we don’t know a whole lot about a game’s customization features until later on its development cycle when it becomes a fully fleshed-out concept. It’s tough to say what may or may not come out way in 2008, but this year’s offerings gave us a tease.

HALO 3′s Forge was a great way to appeal to casual modders, stripping away the need to meddle around in screens of code for half a year before quitting, resurrecting your project two weeks later, and then another two weeks later finally telling the whole affair to sod off for good. Plus, we get some really neat things out of it, like Rit Dye’s self-portrait.

And that’s really the spirit of Game 2.0, isn’t it? Flexing your creative muscle and accomplishing things even the original developers would never have conceived?

Some of the other things that have impressed me lately are custom paint jobs. Forza 2′s liveries were a huge hit. Using up to a thousand different shapes, modified for size and color, players have concocted some truly elaborate skins for their cars.

With features like this, Forza becomes just as much a canvas for budding artists as it does a game for car enthusiasts.

Rock Band’s character customization has a similar, if slightly less elaborate, system for creating tattoos to slap on your avatar. Even I was able to construct a basic Pokeball, clearly making my rocker the coolest dude in town.

Ah, and then there’s the unique art of making a complete fool of yourself. Perhaps latching more onto the “unfortunate internet celebrity” bandwagon instead of the “express yourself” bandwagon, Sony’s SingStar lets you record videos of yourself singing like banshee and shuffling back-and-forth as awkwardly as possible in your very own living room! Though it hasn’t hit the US yet (licensing issues, to be sure), the game is beginning to leak out around Europe, and the results couldn’t be more embarassing.

In 2008, modders will continue to mod, but you don’t need to be a coding whiz to participate in the creation of something new. The concept of Game 2.0 is just beginning to hit its stride, dragging every undiscovered genius along with it.

2008: Year of the Downloadable Content?

Not all predictions are hopeful. The DLC model has introduced us to the concept of microtransactions, and we’re bound to see more in the coming years, both good and bad. For every The Godfather cheat in the world, you’ve also got new songs for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

But if we’re talking about digital distribution in general, then we’re getting some pretty keen stuff through the same channels – fully, downloadable games, many of the “independent developer” persuasion. Highlights of 2007? Everyday Shooter, Super Stardust HD, Gripshift, Warhawk, PixelJunk Racers, High Velocity Bowling, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Bomberman, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and others. That’s some serious pedigree right there.

Nintendo’s entering the fray next year with WiiWare (Virtual Console aside, of course), which should only push the phenomenon further.

There’s also the hope that we’ll see bigger titles available online, like the aforementioned Warhawk. Older titles are great (VC, Xbox Originals, PS Classics), but new games are even better. Since we know this is the direction that the industry is moving towards in the future (how can we forget about the crazy success of Steam?), I don’t think it would be far-fetched to say we’ll see a lot of DLC in 2008.

2008: What It Probably Won’t Be

Perhaps the most ideal year will be one in which no particular genre or concept will dominate. We’ll all live together in harmony and skip down Candy Cane Lane as unicorns soar overhead dropping rainbow-colored gumdrops straight into our mouths. Then one bold individual will realize that our utopia is a sham and that human nature always has a way of breaking out of its shackles. We’ll suffer through the Great Fluffy Bunny War for a few years before society can be rebuilt, and then a clever author will write a best-selling book about the whole affair.

Or maybe I’m thinking of 2012, when the Mayan calendar ends. Oh well, we’ll deal with that when we get to it.

Something we can’t deny, though, is the entertainment industry’s penchant for taking a good idea and driving it into the ground. That’s the one constant we can depend on.

That said, 2008 probably won’t be the Year of the RPG (FFXIII won’t hit until 2009, or later), it probably won’t be the Year of Waggle (it’s either outlived its welcome or already become so ingrained in our collective gaming consciousness that we won’t think about it so much anymore), and it probably won’t be the Year of Sports Games (bold prediction, I know!).

And, thank the gods, it probably won’t be the Year of the FPS again!

For what it’s worth, I’m banking on my very first pick (Year of the Free-Roamer) to be the right one. What about you, dear readers? What do you think will define the world of gaming in 2008?

Playstation Store Update: 10-29-07

Cavin Smith — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:53:03 +0000

It’s Thursday again, which means that it’s time for Sony to throw up some content on the good ol’ Playstation Store. The marquee release this week is PAIN, a game once unceremoniously touted as being thought up by a marketing department. If that doesn’t blow your skirt up, there’s plenty of DLC for your favorite Playstation 3 titles.

Despite those negative connotations, you’ve got a game that’s roughly reminiscent of Stair Dismount. Fling your little ragdoll dude out of his giant slingshot and then relish in the sounds of his torture as he slams into walls, skids across the pavement, bravely submits to gratuitous nut shots, and gets run over by a semi. It’s kind of like a Tony Hawk game without the skateboards, which means that it’s completely obnoxious. Even so, some potentially fun gameplay seems to lay underneath as you complete various challenges and combo your way to the nearest hospital. Just check out the video below, which runs through the different modes:

[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldVGHRcEztw[/youtube]

It’s all yours for an (admittedly tenuous value of) $9.99.

Otherwise, feel free to entertain yourself with a new Resistance Map Pack featuring Axebridge and Bracknell ($4.99 by itself, $7.99 bundled with the first pack), several new vehicles for Motorstorm including the Lunar-Tec Buffalo BigRig monstrosity, and fresh songs to shred to on both Guitar Hero III (Boss Battles) as well as Rock Band (Bowie Pack + Individual Songs, now how timely was my use of Jareth as a lead picture?). And how could I almost forget to mention the Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles ($29.99)?

Rounding everything out is a Timeshift multiplayer demo and a couple of inconsequential trailers. There’s still no sign of the HOME open beta or LittleBigPlanet. Granted, the year’s not out yet, but it does have us on tenterhooks. December is still hopeful for demos, though, with Burnout Paradise, Hot Shots Golf 5, and Devil May Cry4 all on track for the yule season.

For full information and pricing, see Playstation.blog.