LittleBigPlanet (often abbreviated to LBP and developed under the working title The Next Big Thing) is an puzzle platformer and world creation video game for the PlayStation 3, first announced on March 7, 2007 by Phil Harrison at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. It was developed by Media Molecule, a British company founded in part by Rag Doll Kung Fu creator Mark Healey, it's published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and is now avalible all over the world and now has a spin-off for the PSP also named LittleBigPlanet.
Gameplay[]
In LBP, players control small characters (nicknamed either "Sackboy" or "Sackgirl", owing to their material and appearance), each of which can jump, move, and grab objects. Players can use their abilities to shape and develop the highly manipulatable environment to build custom spaces either individually, collaboratively, and/or competitively. Levels focus on co-operative, physics-based gameplay, and players can use mechanisms such as cogs and blocks to build anything from small level parts to large, complex worlds. The game will also allow opportunities for players to acquire new skills and tools.
A major focus of LBP will be on the global community features through the PlayStation Network for players to interact and share their "patches"–levels and other modifications–as well as online play.
Players can navigate their way through the world by jumping, pushing, grabbing, running to overcome numerous puzzles provided by the game's robust physics engine. Players will also face physics-based enemies ranging from the small such as burning logs, to big "bosses" built around one of six AI "brains" available in the player's toolset. In addition, harmful objects can be placed in the game, such as pits of fire and being "squished" or flattened by an object that cause the player to restart that section of the level; players pop and roll out of restart points nearby.
A scoring system is also in place, in the form of a time trial with a start and end gate and players collecting world items such as sponge. Scoring is based on both time and execution of the level.
Multiplayer[]
LBP 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, the ability to create levels with up to four players online will be added in and update at some point after the game's launch. How multiple users play with each other 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. Each local player will also be able to sign in to their own PlayStation Network account and individually collect trophies for their own account. This is the first time such a feature has been included in a PS3 game.
Development[]
Marketing[]
Both Sony Computer Entertainment and Media Molecule have undertaken a robust marketing campaign in the run-up to the game's release. In North America, SCEA have partnered with several of the major online retailers including Amazon.com, GameStop, Circuit City, Best Buy, and Game Crazy to offer unique bonus gifts to customers pre-ordering the game from the selected retailers. These gifts include codes to access additional in-game characters, a sticker book, a burlap pouch for storing the game disk in and an official game guide published by Brady Games. The game's developers have also created retailer-specific trailers for Amazon.com and Wal-Mart. These videos feature in-game footage of levels featuring the retailer's logo built using the in-game toolset and have been embedded into LittleBigPlanet's product page on their respective websites.
In the UK, SCEE have partnered with Play.com to offer a downloadable Nariko character to customers who pre-order the game. Also, a temporary shop has been set-up in Manchester's town centre where people will be able to play the game before its release.
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. Original announcements pointed to a full release early in 2008, but Sony later said that the game had been delayed until September 2008 in the UK. During the Sony PlayStation Day on May 6, 2008 in London, Sony announced that the game would be delayed by one month, and was finally scheduled for release on October 24, 2008 in North America, October 22, in Europe and Australasia, October 24 in the UK and Ireland and October 30 in Japan. In the UK Pegi rated it a 7+, and in USA ESRB rated it an E.