The creative director is moving on to new ventures

Mark Healey, a co-founder of Media Molecule who's been with the com?pany for 17 years, has announced his departure from the studio.

Healey co-founded Media Molecule alongside Alex Evans, David Smith, and Kareem Ettouney in 2006. Now, the developer shared on social media that it's time for him to "fly the nest" and head to?? new ventures.

//twitter?.com/marcoshealey/status/1647895186452652032

"From LittleBigPlanet to Dreams and beyond - proud to have played my part and lucky to have jammed with some truly brilliant people - and such a wonderfully talented Community which I will continue to be a fan of," Healey said. "But a strong cosmic breeze is pulling me and my pirate heart is awakened, I'm no??t getting any younger so am going to indulge myself in the winds of my various curiosities for a while and see where they take me.

"So here's to new beginnings, following one’s heart and exploring the unknown - Yo ho ho ?and a bottle of rum - I'm off on a Pirate adventure! (One that involves making games that is)."

Dreaming of new horizons

Healey acted as creative director on big games like Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet and the 2020 game creation tool Dreams. And his departure arrives not long after the studio announced it would be ending live service support for Dreams this coming September.

Hopefully, this isn't an indication of turbulent times at Media Molecule. Dreams is an incredible piece of software that felt like it was waiting for ??its big breakout moment; I've played tons of wild, interesting stuff on it. And in a world where user-generated content is a bit of a buzzword, you'd hope? Media Molecule would have a prominent place in it.

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The LittleBigPlanet got Littler

Sony has shut down the PS3 servers for cutesy online platformer/creator package LittleBigPlanet and its two sequels, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3. Effective immediat??ely, the multiplayer, Community Level, and all other online elements of all three titles are no longer accessible on PS3 or PS Vita. The PS4 ve??rsion of the games remain unaffected.

The sudden news was announced in a statement by Sony this morning, in which the development team addressed a DDOS attack that saw hackers ran amuck throughout the cutesy woolen universe back in May of this year, which lea?d to all LBP servers temporarily closing their doors to all. While the PS4 servers have now been restored, re-opening the world to a huge community of players and some 10 million community levels, it seems that the PS3 and Vita servers will remain offline. The ??news will no doubt come as a shocking and unwelcome surprise to anybody playing on the legacy platforms.

"First, we would like to apologize for the extended downtime of the LittleBigPlanet server and want to thank you all for your patience whilst we worked on this issue," began the statement, posted on Twitter. "The good news is that we have just launched Game Update 1.27 and brought the LittleBigPlanet server (and all 10,000,000+ Community Levels!!) back ??online for PlayStation 4 users!"

"Unfortunately, we need to permanently shut down our online services for: LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS3) and LittleBigPlanet PS Vita. We have no doubt that this news will come as a big disappointment to a lot of you, ultimately this is the best way to protect the LittleBigPlanet community and to help ensur?e that ??our online environment remains safe."

"Thank you for being a wonderful community and for your contin??ued love and support of all things Sackboy."

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Sackboy banana is a go

Playing LittleBigPlanet when it came out was a treat. The playerbase was flowing, level creations actually got some love, and the game itself was pretty fun, especially with a group. I'm glad that the series got at least three main entries and some spinoffs, but I'd really like to see it continued proper again on the PS5. While I muse over whether or not that'll actually happen, we have Sackboy: A Big Adventure now. And the Sackboy Banana costume.

It's actually called the "Sacknana," and it's a fan favorite outfit from the original series: the PSP game specifically. You can actually grab it for free now as of August 20 in Sackboy: A Big Adventure, as one of the many in-game costume options. Oh, and it comes with a dance emote, too! Again, people are really taking to this banana costume, which became a meme in its own? right when it was originally released.

I didn't think I'd return to this game as much as I have since the launch of the PS5?, but here we are. Simple things like tiny DLC costumes were always a motivator for returning to the original trilogy, and now history repeats itself.

//twitter.??com/LittleBigPlanet/status/1424747296411979778

The post You can get a free Sackboy banana costume in Sackboy: A Bi?g Adv?enture now appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm in awe of this community

LittleBigPlanet 3 may be getting on in years, but players aren't done blowing our minds. They haven't even begun to peak! Somehow, some way, LBP user Claptrap9 has created a functional riff on Super Mario Maker inside t????he level-building PS4 platformer. Like, how does one even go about that?

As you can see in this demonstration, it's possible to plop down blocks, pipes, coins, and other familiar elements and then play through the custom level as Mario just like you'd expect from Super Mario Maker on Wii U or 3DS. It's not a perfect 1:1 recreatio??n of the experienc??e, but dang is it impressive.

Here's what creator Claptrap9 had to say: "In celebration of Super Mario Maker 2 being announced, I thought why not remake its predecessor for MAR10 Day? Think of this level as a demo of Super Mario Maker, so if you've never played the game before and you're thinking about get??ting the sequel, t?hen I'd recommend playing this [level] to see what you think of the game!"

My favorite part is that it's now possible to recreate World 1-1 in Mario Maker in LittleBigPlanet.

World 1-1 made in Mario Maker made in LittleBigPlanet. pic.twitter.com/G1Xd3Sg0mi

— Steven Isbell (@StevenIsbell) April 3, 2019

This accomplishment gives me even more hope for what fans might make with Media Molecule's next ambitious creation game, Dreams. We'll se??e soon e??nough when the Early Access period begins.

Super Mario Maker (SMB Style) 2019 [LittleBigPlanet via ResetEra]

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PlayStation's greatest gals

Sony has followed up on last year's International Women's Day PS4 theme with another fantastic piece of art, celebrating the amazing ladies that ??hea?d-up some of PlayStation's smash-hit franchises.

The star-studded theme - perfectly captured by Guerilla Games' artist Choro Choi - includes Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn, Kara from Detroit: Become Human, Chloe and Nadine from Uncharted and Kat from Gravity Rush, who was conspicuous by her absence last year. Of note, Freya seems to be using magic ???to aid her playing. Shenanigans.

The Last of Us' Ellie is also along for the party, as is Atoi from Tearaway, Little Big Planet's Sackgirl, and even some imps from Dreams. Most amusing of all has to be Lady Maria from Bloodborne, who manages to ?maintain her sombr?e air for the occasion.

The free 2019 theme should be rolli?ng out across PlayStation Store in all r?egions today.

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We're through the looking glass here, people

Media Molecule's creation game Dreams is intricate and expressive enough that the studio was able to make an in-depth tribute to LittleBigPlanet. That may not sound impressive, but this is one of those seeing-is-believing situations. The designer even convincingly recreated LittleBigPlanet's pre-level hub!

It's the series' 10th anniversary, so the timing is intentional. Well that, and it's a wise idea for Media Molecule to leverage the LittleBigPlanet name as much as possible to bolster awareness of Dreams.

I think most everyone who's seen Dreams even in passing is sold on its potential as an outlet for creativity. At this point, we're just waiting for the game to launch in 2019 so the community can let loose. Thinking back on homemade calculators and the like in LittleBigPlanet, I expect greatness.

If we don't regularly hear about mind-boggling creations once Dreams is out, something's off.

The post Media Molecule recreated a slice of LittleBigPlanet ??inside Dreams appeared first on Destructoid.

The PS3 is dead! Long live the PS3!

_{[We ran this in February, but we loved it so much we bumped it again for those who missed it. Enjoy! -Niero]}

The figures are out, and the PlayStation 4 is already close to catching up with the PlayStation 3 when it comes to lifetimes sales. We're reaching peak PS4 time, with huge releases such as Monster Hunter: World and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus coming to the console in the past few months. ??To be fran??k, we're drowning in good current-gen games, so it's probably time to sell old consoles to buy extra games, send slightly battered models off to the scrap heap, or simply leave them untouched, gathering dust, on the shelf. 

Hold it right there, though! Now is absolutely not the time to be even thinking of getting rid of your PS3. I would even argue that now is the perfect time to buy a PS3, if you missed out on that era of games. There's still life in the old gal yet, and what's more, it's becoming a very cheap console to collect for. I play my PlayStation 3 probably about 60% of the time I'm gaming, while 30% goes on my PlayStation 4 and a measly 10% goes on low-res adventure and point-and-click games on my battered old l??aptop. And I can't say I've got bored yet.

So, why should you rush out and get a second-hand PS3? And how do you make the PS3 an exciting, useful console in 2018, when you have a PS4 al?ready sitting in your cabinet? Let me discuss why I think the PS3 still has legs, and what to do to fall back i?n love with the console.

Why now?

Right now, we're in that collectors' sweet spot where the PlayStation 3 is distinctly unfashionable. It's not old enough to be attractive to the retro crowd – the PlayStation and even the PlayStation 2 is starting to go that way – while those who want to play the most up-to-date games have tossed it aside. Furthermore, sellers want to get rid of their old PS3 games for something new, and want you to take the games off their hands. And, unless you're going for something quite rare like a Katamari game, they don't tend t??o want much money for parts of their collection.

Since mid-2016, I will often bid 3 euros each on a bunch of PS2 and PS3 games on eBay, and see what I win. Very often, PS3 game bidding won't go much above that, and through this practice, I've built a 40-strong PS3 boxed disc collection for the cost of two or three Day One PS4 releases. It's been pretty horrendous for my backlog, but great for those laz??y Saturday mornings where I can browse my collection at leisure and pick something out at random to pop in my console.

Furthermore, the PS3 is not THAT outdated that it is a pain to use. It's composite cable and HDMI friendly, meaning it will work without too much hassle on any TV. This is unlike some retro consoles, where having a 4k HDTV will require a lot of fiddling and adapters. Also, as I'll talk about below, PS3 games were getting pretty polished and beautiful towards the end of the console life-cycle, so unless you have a top-notch TV ??(which I most certainly don't), the games will actually look very good, despite being "older" games. There are also a lot of games that are now only playable if you have a PS3, so the console is a must if you want access to as many games as possible that were released over the past 12 years.

OK, Deadly Premonition isn't the best example of the PS3's graphical crispness.

Maybe I've convinced you to dig out your old console, or you're counting your pennies? to pick up a refurbished model. How should you proceed?

Original PS3 versus Slim versus Super Slim

The PlayStation 3 didn't quite have the massive, systemic problems that early Xbox 360s had, with the "Red Ring of Death". Sure, there was the "Yellow Light of Death" common to original consoles, but levels of outrage about faulty hardware were somewhat lower. The age of hardware is still something you'll want to factor in when making a purc??hase.

Original PS3s have the added benefit that they are PS2 backwards compatible (with some exceptions), but this addition was removed, in p??art because it was expensive, in part because it was an unstable addition to the console. Because these consoles were the first produced, the model you get your hands on is likely to b??e from an early production cycle and so will need more extensive age-related refurbishment to run properly. 

The Slim model has no PS2 backwards compatibility but has a plethora of advantages: 1) was released more ?recently, so you're more likely to get one in good nick, and 2) it's much lighter? and much more energy-efficient (but still a pretty big bugger, in my opinion).

A photo from Sam Hughes of his ginormous original PS3.

If you w??ant something you can carry around with you, get the Super Slim, but then upgrading the hard drive will be absolutely necessar??y if you want to play more than a handful of games. 

[The article previously said that swapping out the hard-drive on non-Slim models was difficult. Apparently this is not the case, and I've been corrected in the comments. Sorry for the misinformation, folks! – CC]

Buying the console

If you're lucky, your local electronics superstore may still be selling off new PS3s cheap. I seem?? to remember that my local Saturn department store was sti?ll selling them a year ago, but a year is a long time in games.

However, I didn't get mine new - I got my 120GB Slim PS3 in July 2015 from Rebuy, bundled with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and LittleBigPlanet 2, plus one real DS3 and one crappy third-party controller, for 115 euro?s in total. Rebuy tells you exactly how close to new the console is, and puts a 18-month warranty on all consoles, regardless of the state they're in. I would advise looking for something similar wherever you live – 18 months is a fairly reasonable amount of time for old hardware to last, so I'd be willing to eat the cost of buying a new console if it broke after then.

The first thing you should do...

...is upgrade that flippin' hard-drive. Unless you already have a 500GB or higher model, then you can probably manage. If you want to play a lot of chunky digital-only games like Yakuza 5&nbs?p;or, say, lots of JP-only downloads from the PS Store, you're going to need a large hard-drive.

Get your hands on (ideally, a new) 2.5" hard drive. SATA will do; no need for a more expensive SSD, since performance boost seems to be minimal at best. You can find instructions on how to open up your Slim or Super Slim console to swap out the hard-drive here; the n??ewer the type, the less fiddly a job it is.

Be warned! Opening up the Slim is a tricky job, and the screws holding the drive to the mounting bracket are extremely fragile. Make sure?? you have a very small Phillips head screwdriver to hand, because if you try to batter away at it with a bigger tool, you'll end up stripping the screws to shreds.

It goes without saying that doing this voids any warranty, but any Sony-specific warranties are useless by this point. Whether you want to void any resale warrantie?s or not is entirely at your own discretion; I upgraded my hard-drive after my resale warranty had lapsed. My PS3 is a lot noisi??er and has freezed a couple of times since I upgraded, but again, I'm willing to eat the cost of getting a new PS3 to Frankenstein by this point.

Optimising the PS3 for modern use

So, let's talk about the things you do not need from your PS3 right now, and that's the apps. Speaking from an EU user perspective, Spotify hasn't worked proper?ly the entire time I've had my console. Netflix worked the last time I tested it but runs much smoother and loads quicker on the PS4. I would say that overall, this is not a console you want to use for streaming TV or any other side-ops; this is what your most modern console, laptop, Amazon Fire stick, etc. is for. Delete apps where you can. Of course, some people report using their old consoles as dedicated streaming boxes, but that's not worked out super well for me so far.

What you should have to get the most out of your PS3 is a PS Plus subscription, even if you don't go online much. I can say I've never been disappointed with PS Plus service (well, some months are better than others) because I own all the consoles Sony releases games for on this service, except for the PSVR. Very often, pretty impressive games for the PS3 will come out on the service because people aren't buying them in droves anymore, such as the port of Syberia (the less said about the awful port of Syberia II, the better), Darkstalkers Resurrection, Child of Light and, of course, the aforementioned Yakuza 5. Sure, there's a lot of PS3 shovelware pushed out on the service, but you're more likely to stumble across something?? you really, really like if you have the fu??ll breadth of consoles served by the online shop.

[Note: since this article was first published, Sony has announced that PS Plus will stop offering PS3 games from March 201?9 onwards. Enjoy this extra PS Plus perk while you can! – CC]

And it goes without saying to hook it up to your TV with a HDMI cable. My console arrived only with composite cables. I don't know about you, bu?t my HDMI cables seem to reproduce with each other, and the cables are cheap nowadays, so this sh??ould be a pretty easy upgrade.

Which PS3 games should I focus on?

There is something there for everybody with the PS3. OK, if you want to play only the most modern fighting games, then you're going to want to eschew older consoles and get good on Tekken 7/Street Fighter V/pick your p??oison. Same goes for sports games, if having an up-to-date roster is importa??nt to you. But for almost everyone else, there is something there.  

(Note: this is where you might be yelling, "but what about PS Now?!",? given this allows you to stream some PS3 games to your PS4.?? Well, some regions don't have that service at all – Germany doesn’t – and not all of us have a great internet connection. So that's not a solution for everyone.)

There is a range of PS1 and PS2 Classics that is for the PS3. Aside from the fact that you can still only play Persona 3: FES on a PS2 or a PS3, there are a handful of other Shin Megami Tensei releases available, if JRPGs are your thing. If you want a hard time of it, see if you get far enough to meet Dante in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Aside from this, the entire swathe of Final Fantasy PS1 games are there for the taking on the PS Store, if ?you have a PS3.

The same applies for horror fans. Sick of waiting for news on a remake of Resident Evil 2? Why not play the original on your PS3 to tide you over? It's there on the store for dirt cheap, alongside the DualShock version of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3. If you're not a fan of Crimson He?ads and Lisa Trev??or, then the former might be for you; if you're missing your old paramour Nemmie Boy, the latter might be your bag.

So it goes on and on. LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 still hold up remarkably well; I would never say no to a cheap copy of Borderlands on which to play the single-player campaign; if you never played the Arkham games, then this is your chance. Whatever your tastes, you can find something to entertain you on a snowy Sunday afternoon. Here are my favourite purchases ??for my PS3 that are actual PS3 games:

• L.A. Noire. Yes, it's since come out remastered, but you can get a much cheaper copy for the PS3. While it may not be 4K, the facial animations and detail is still amazing. There are some games where it's worth getting the remastered version, such as Resident Evil 5 and 6 and the Bioshock collection, and some games where you may as well get the cheaper original. This is one where I would advise that the original is still an excellent game.

• Atelier Rorona. A super relaxing JRPG with inventory management and potion-making components. I used to play this with the sound off while listening to podcasts, as my post-work de-stressing ritual. It comes in a three-pack with Atelier Meruru and Atelier Totori, which was well worth the 12 euros I paid for it. An enhanced version is also available for sale on its own, titled Atelier Rorona Plus.

• Tales of Xillia. OK, this game absolutely whooped my ass and I'm currently stuck in a forest area. It's a grindfest, sure, but the story absolutely had its hooks in me until I came unstuck during a boss battle. Worth it if you want a challenge.

• LittleBigPlanet 2. Surprise, surprise, I have a soft spot for the game that came with my console. But it's timeless platforming, and who can say no to a bit of Stephen Fry?

• XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I'm still pissed that I lost half my team during an ill-fated zombie-fighting mission. Word of advice: don't name your teammates after friends or relatives.

• Steins;Gate. If you don't have a PS Vita and fancy playing Steins;Gate on the couch, get it for your PS3. You won't regret it - it's the best VN ever made, in my opinion.

***

Overall, I think there's value in looking backwards, as well as looking forwa??rds, when it comes to games. There are many people who can't afford to keep up with modern gaming, and I was one of these people until just a few months ago. Also, unless you spent every waking moment gaming in the past ten years, you're likely to have missed something.? If you want a thorough overview of the development of modern gaming, it is completely worth taking a glance back at the previous generation. And what a generation it was.

Do you still have a PS3? What advice would you give to people who want to get into PS3 gaming at this stage? Do you have any similar advice for budding Xbox 360 fans? Let me know in the comments down below!

Want to read some more great stuff from our archives?  This stuff is golden

The post ??Getting the most out of your PlayStation 3 in 2018 appeared first on Destructoid.

Greatness is exiting

Sony will be shutting down the servers for ModNation Racers and LittleBigPlanet Karting on the PS3 this July. The former game will run its final lap on July 10 while the latter will hit pole position on July 2. Not only that, but Gravity Rush 2 is still scheduled for a shuttering of its online services on July 19 and the cross-buy enabled CounterSpy will be going silent on June 1.

I wonder if this will also be affecting the Vita entry Road Trip. I know the website specifically states PS3, but then the list of decommissioned games has Gran Turismo 6 and Killzone 3 listed?? as PS4 titles. Either way, thi?s is your warning to get some final races in.

Decommissioned servers [PlayStation.com]

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But not the rest of the world

[Update: Steven Isbell, the community manager for LittleBigPlanet, notes that there are no plans to shut do?wn services in other ?regions. Great news!]

It's a sad time for LittleBigPlanet.

Sony has announced that in Japan, all services for the series, which includes every game (even the portable editions and Karting), will be entirely shut down on July 31??, 2016. Of course it will still be playable, and you can re-download all your DLC from Sony's servers directly, but online play and the server browser will be out. There hasn't been an announcement yet for the rest of the world, but I wouldn't be surprised to see services wind down by the end of the year.

I always felt like I was one of the few people who absolutely adored LittleBigPlanet. From the very first moment I saw it in a magazine with my wife in 2008, I wanted it, and when we played it toget??her it was like magic. We strived for a 100% completion rate, played great levels online, and shared our own. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was one of my favorite new IPs of the past decade, and if it's really meeting this fate outside of Japan, I'll have to pour one out for it.

LittleBigPlanet [Sony Japan via Siliconera]

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'Visceral'

LittleBigPlanet developer Sumo Digital has taken over development of Dead Island 2.

Publisher Deep Silver severed links with the original deve??lopment team at Yager after citing it d?id not wish to make &ldquo?;compromises” with the sequel.

Within weeks of losing Dead Island 2, Yager filed for insolvency.

“It’s an honour to be charged with the evolution of such an important franchise in Deep Silver’s catalogue,” said Sumo’s COO, Paul Porter (via MCV). “We’re looking forward to exceeding fan expectation with an ambitious design that we’re confident will take bone-crunching, visceral, zombie action to a? whole new level.”

“Sumo showed so much understanding of the brand, had creative ide?as and an excellent, vision t??hat was aligned with our own,” added Koch Media’s Dr Klemens Kundratitz. “It just made perfect sense for us to move the project to them.”

“We will reve?al more details at a later stage, but for now I&rsqu??o;d like to say that we are obviously super excited about the progress that we are making with them.”

The post Sumo Digital takes over development of D????ead Island 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Spyro, Crash, Tearaway, and more

Whether it's games, movies, books, whatever, I love listening to creators talk about their craft. It can be enthralling to hear how the creative process differs between not only mediums, but individuals. One video series I'm fond of is Devs Play, a show put on by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions where seasoned?? developers chat about their games and share fun old anecdotes.

While the first season touched on a bunch of genres, season two is centered on platform-action games. Specifically: Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed II, LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway, Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter.

With that last episode now on YouTube, I figured a roundup was in order. I'm only a few minutes in and Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin has already spoken about how he split his time during development (half management, half partic??le systems) and how Jak was designed by committee, with different regions in mind, while Daxter had more of a ??singular vision. So, pretty good!

That's it for the main season, but there is going to be a bonus episode with a mystery guest soon. Their identity will be unveiled once the crowdfunding campaign for Psychonauts 2 wraps up.

The post Devs Play season two has over five hours of game ??????????????????????????makers chatting appeared first on Destructoid.

Or, you can pay $200 for it

You know how teleportations sometimes go wrong and the result is a mangled mess of horror that just needs to be killed as quickly as possible? You know how in Alien: Resurrection, Ripley finds a room?? of failed ?clones of herself, and she's so aghast that she incinerates the entire room and puts these freaks out of their misery?

Yeah, that's what this The Order: 1886 x LittleBigPlanet statue is like.

LittleBigPl??anet: The Order 1886 Premier Scale S??tatue [Triforce]

The post This Little?B?igPlanet-style Order: 1886 statue needs to be killed with fire appeared first on Destructoid.

Also, Octodad, Velocity, and Thomas

Sony is still coasting along, supporting LittleBigPlanet 3 with plenty of costumes and level-packs. The last content drop was based around Adventure Time, but the next one will give some indie games some love -- specifically, titles that call Sony platforms? home.

On May 15, Octodad and Velocity 2X (Lt. Kai Tana) will arrive. May 19 sees the release of Thomas Was Alone, and May 26 will get a Don't Starve costume pack. All of this looks great, but I'm definitely going all-in for Don't Starve.

LittleBigPlanet 3: Sackboy Loves Indies! [PlayStation Blog]

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The fun will never end with Sackboy and Friends

Hey adventure lovers, are you looking for more content to shove into your copy of LittleBigPlanet 3? Fancy dressing Sackboy up as Finn, Jake, Fionna or the Ice King? Well, Sony is probably able to he??lp you out there.

There's an Adventure Time costume pack and level kit on its way to LittleBigPlanet and it looks to capt?ure much of the charm of the show.

Adventure time, come on and grab yo?ur frien??ds. Let's go to very distant planets!

The post Adventure Time content coming to LittleBigPla?net 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

Cute

LittleBigPlanet is a pretty special franchise to me, and I'm glad Sony has allowed it to stay around for so long. Compliments of LittleBigPlanet 3's new engine, you can get a quick look at some other Sony franchises like Twisted Metal, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War in the form?? of a 20th anniversary celebration.

There's a lot of good stuff in there, and I'm hoping that more than a few of the franchises seen here aren't done -- like PaRappa.

The post LittleBigPlanet ?3 celebrates the Pl?ayStation Anniversary appeared first on Destructoid.

You can hear the cry of the LittleBigPlanet

I love Final Fantasy VII as much as the next guy, unless the next guy is Jamie Colliver. More than two years ago we featured his work in LittleBigPlanet 2 as he had remade Final Fantasy VII up through the Temple of the Ancients. Now, after more than two years, the project is complete just in time for LittleBigPlanet 3. It follows Sackboy Cloud from that first bombi??ng mission in Midgar all the way thro?ugh to the repelling of Meteor.

The project encompasses 31 levels, each lasting quite a while with all of the boss battles, dialogue, music, and locations represented in the three-plane 2D platformer. A playlist full of YouTube walkthroughs is up, and over 1500 photos of the pro??ject can be downloaded. The experience does seem to suffer a little from the limitations of the engine, but the she??er volume of content on display is pretty incredible.

The post Two years worth of work went into this Final Fantasy VII recreation in Littl?eBigPlanet appeared first on Destructoid.

Sackboy rides again

Back in 2008, LittleBigPlanet was a staple in the Carter household for a good year. It was tough to put down as we earned a full 100% completion rate, and creating levels for each other was a joy. Floaty physics hate be damned, not every level was a Super Mario Bros. clone.

When the sequel hit though, it didn't have a whole lot that was new about it to entice us further, and it fell by the wayside. Similarly, LittleBigPlanet 3 doesn't shake things up from the core?? formula, but the sheer commitment to keeping the level-building platform intact after ?all these years is something special.

LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS3, PS4 [reviewed])
Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released:  November 18, 2014
MSRP: $59.99

This time in Sackland, Sackboy is put up against an evil Hugh Laurie (a light bulb person named Newton), and is tasked with saving the world of Bunkum as he teams up with his new friends, Toggle, Swoop, and Oddsock. That's the story in a nutshell, for better or worse, as you're not going to get much more than that. In my mind it edges out on the side of better, as it resembles one giant Wallace & Gromit episode, complete with wacky antics and a fairly talented voice cast. Visually on the PS4 the game looks very smooth, but it definitely feels like the PS3 was the le?ad platform here, gi?ve or take a few lighting effects.

The narrative is secondary to the actual story experience, which is basically a teaching tool for all of the new character mechanics and the gadgetry and platforming you'll inevitably use while playing online. It's the aforementioned new characters that bring welcome changes into the world of LittleBigPlanet, even if they aren't exactly groundbreaking.

Toggle has the power to change his shape with the press of a button, allowing him to morph from a lumbering hulk to a teeny sack that can run on water and go through tight spaces. Oddsock is a frog-dog thing that can hop at a greater height than other characters, as well as hop off walls. And Swoop...man my boy Swoop, he can fly. He's sort of broken ??that way, but the Swoop-sp??ecific levels are designed around his abilities. It's also really fun to carry people (except Big Toggle) as Swoop.

The problem is finding things to actually do with the whole gang. While the story allows for each of them to briefly shine in their own way, you're only going to get a taste of the new characters every so often, and it isn't until the game's conclusion that all of them are available at once. Also, playing online can present problems with the new characters as many levels have lo??cks on them that force you to only play as Sackboy. If you have the patience you can already find levels online that accommodate, but Sumo Digital should have added more in the base package. As it stands it is adequate, but I ??expected a bit more.

Since you're going to be seeing a lot of Sackboy, gadgets are back, including a vacuum that has a dual blow and suck function, as well as a jetpack and other power-ups. You'll have to flip between one gadget at a time as you go, but earning a new upgrade truly feels like you're getting somewhere, even if the need to play as the other characters will no doubt eclipse your love of gadgetry. Yes, the physics ??are still "floaty," but the new characters (when you can play as them) will help alleviate any concerns you have, especially if you spring for Sw??oop or Oddsock.

If you're feeling less action-oriented and more puzzle-savvy, you can also spring for the "Popit Puzzle" mode, which stars Larry Davinci from LittleBigPlanet 2. In short this is an extra mini-campaign that lets you don a hard hat and move platforms around to get through smaller stages, just like Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves minus the PlayStation Move device. It's a nice diversion but it didn't catch my attention like the other characters or even the aforementioned Prehistoric Moves.

The import process to bring in your content from LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 is painless, and only takes roughly 45 seconds to bring in hundreds of outfits and objects. But the real key here is the commitment to building one giant world dating all the way back to 2008. Upon booting up LittleBigPlanet 3 and going to the creation planet, I found my old levels that I created six years ago still intact. My Mega Man 2 Crash Man stage, my Oceans 11 heist remake, they were all there and read??y to play. All of my hearted (favorited) levels are also still there, which is ?incredible.

Creating levels is still a fairly niche activity as the entire process could be described over multiple guidebooks, but Sumo Digital does a decent job of acclimating new players to the basics. New layers, buttons, AI, and top-down camera options are the highlight of this year's edition, but if you've already?? played the best and brightest stages from the first t??wo games over the course of the past six years, you're going to have to wait for the good stuff.

There aren't a whole l??ot of "new" stages out in the wild as the game has just launched, so as always, you're at the mercy of the community to help keep you playing past the initial launch week. Nothing is guaranteed, and I only found a handful of stages so far that I'd recommend to people. Unlike the previous iterations to some extent, the story mode isn't?? strong enough to assuage that wait.

With all of the innovations LittleBigPlanet 3 brings with Toggle, Oddsock, and Swoop, it's a shame they aren't allowed to show off their stuff on a regular basis, because they are the best thing to happen to the series in years. It would be nice to see them return in a big way in a potential sequel, but for now hardcore LBP fans sho?uld have enough creat?ion options to last them until that point.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Videogames are officially better than reality

Sackboy was one of the best things to come out of the PS3 era. Most marquee PS3 games pushed for "realistic graphics," but when it came to replicating the human form, they landed in the uncanny vally more often than not. One of the big exceptions to that was LittleBigPlanet. Taking a cue from Toy Story, the developers at Media Molecule didn't aim for higher t??han the PS3 tech could rea??ch, and hit the bulls-eye in their goal of bringing the world of inanimate objects to life. 

Maybe they did a little too good of a job. Sackboy looks so real in the virtual world that the real thing can't keep up. Nothing about this free pre-order bonus Sackboy plushie looks bad, but he does look a bit world-weary and lifeless compared to his in-game counterpart. The same can be said for most of the initial line up of Nintendo's Amiibo. 

It's only a matter of time before real human beings don't look as lifelike as their videogame equivalents. Maybe living in the Matrix wont be so bad. 

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Now I'm remembering all those horrible Mario recreations in the first game

We're just two weeks away from LittleBigPlanet 3's November 18 release, but it doesn't feel that way. I think it's become its own thing, propped up ??by a community that has created millions of levels, all of which are grandfathered in, playable in the new game. 

Those folks have been playing the beta for two weeks, too, and this video is a highlight? of some of their cre??ations. 

There's a Symphony of the Night level in there. Also, Oddsock in an alligator outfit loo??ks like a Totodile. 

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That Miller costume is fabulous

I'm still freaking out over this weekend's big Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes news -- that you can capture and raise a wolf pup and it'll grow up to one day wear an eye patch. The best.

This LittleBigPlanet news isn't on that level, obviously, but it's cute/cool too: there's going to be a Ground Zeroes costume pack for LittleBigPlanet 3 including Skull Face and Miller outfits.

No word on when ??this? stuff is supposed to hit, but the game itself isn't releasing until November 18.

LittleBigPlanet 3: MGS an?d The Order: 1886 Costumes En Route! [PlayStation Blog]

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Just like Fat Princess: Piece of Cake

Just like how Sony brought over Fat Princess: Piece of Cake to mobile platforms in addition to the Vita, so to is the upcoming Run Sackboy! Run coming to iOS and Android. It's a runner, and of course, it's free-to-play -- you can also earn costumes for LittleBigPlanet 3.

All things considered this looks like it has enough charm to transcend the gen??re. We'll see soon enough in October?.

Run SackBoy! Run!?? ??Coming to PS Vita, Mobile Devices [PlayStation Blog]

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Go check!

Over the past few days or so numerous PSN users have been reporting that they have been granted access to a special private beta for LittleBigPlanet 3. The invites seem to be rolling out for "creative" people who have previously played a LittleBigPlanet game.

Information is going to be kept close to the chest, as part of the stipulation of the beta is a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits talking about it outside of a private community forum. Go check the email associated with your PSN account if you haven't alread??y!

"You're invited to join the LittleBig??Planet 3 Pr??ivate Beta Test" [NeoGAF]

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Sackboy and friends take things to a new level with enchanced user content

After the runaway success of the first two LittleBigPlanet titles on PS3, fans had been clamoring for a follow-up on Sony's new hardware. With the announcement of LittleBigPlanet 3 at E3 coming to both PS4 and PS3, the LBP community got just wha?t they wanted and much more.

We got the chance to check out some new stages that utilize new physics and new playable characters, OddSock, Swoop, and Toggle. Speaking with producer Daimion Pinnock, the creative minds behind the game are excited to see what what the community has in store for the LBP 3.

"LittleBigPlanet was one of the first games that incorporated user-generated content," said senior producer Daimion Pinnock. "With LittleBigPlanet 3, we've taken ??thi??ngs to a whole other level in regards to the robustness of what you're able to do with the levels and design. There's a lot more depth you create, which adds a whole new element to the gameplay."

With the inclusion of four playable characters, dynamic weather, enhanced physics, and the ability to play on all past LBP levels with enhanced visuals, Sony is hoping that the community will go nuts and create even more levels that will push the limits of what LittleBigPlanet is capable of.

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Sackboy's back

LittleBigPlanet is coming back to a Sony console, with LittleBigPlanet 3 coming to PS4 on November 18.

Sackboy is back and he's brought some new f??riends with him -- Oddsock, Swoop, and Toggle -- which will hopefully mean ?we'll see unique characters used in co-op games, instead of lots of Sackboys (cute as they are). Check out the new trailer above.

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Lots of pre-order options

Sumo Digital has announced a November 18, 2014 release date for LittleBigPlanet 3? on both PlayStation 3 and PS4. Levels created in the prior games will be compatible (and look better on PS4) and there are new characters to play as beyond the series' iconic Sackboy.

With such an extensive line of costumes available for LittleBigPlanet over the years, there's naturally going to be several pre-order options for LBP 3. My favorite is Amazon's PlayStation Favorites Costume Pack with Patapon, Journey, and Tearaway costumes. Simply adorable. The PlayStation Blog has a rundown of what's available where.

Mont??hs later, I still find that new quadruped character OddSock unsettling.

LittleBigPlanet? 3: Pr?e-orders Announced! (Plushies, DLC, and PS3 – Oh My!) [PlayStation Blog]

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Sacktue of Liberty

Since 2008, MediaMolecule has been running promotions for free LittleBigPlanet costumes -- usually on holidays -- which is pretty impressive. On July 3rd of this year, anyone who owns the original two games or LittleBigPlanet Vita will be able to partake in purchasing the re-released "Sac?ktue of Liberty.?"

In fact, anyone can pick it up even if you don't own the game -- just load up the PSN, search for newest add-ons (or LBP add-ons) and grab the license. 

LittleBigPlanet Update: Team Picks, Free DLC and an LBP S??tory [PlayStation Blog]

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More on the new characters

I'm team Oddsock forever. It's just a super cute dog sack. I love it. I could take or leave the rest. Particularly a bird that makes platforming irrelevant. I guess LittleBigPlanet has always been creat??ivity and co-op first, platformin??g second. 

Anyways, there is a lot of Sonic Boom sort of talk of distinctive silhouettes in this behind the scenes look at the creation of new playable characters, which needed to be distinct, ?but not so distinct that players couldn't trick them out in all sorts of patterns and clothes. 

There was a Sackworm at one point, too. "Early on we had loads of different ideas. I was ??looking at some of the concepts the other day actually. ??The Sackworm didn’t last too long before he found himself on the cutting room floor!"

RIP in pieces, Sackworm. 

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In addition to the previously announced PS4

LittleBigPlanet 3 looks amazingly adorable with Sackboy's three additional friends, and I enjoyed the fact that the E3 demonstration was a real demo and not staged. As far as we knew based on E3, LBP3 woul?d support old leve?ls from previous games, and it was only announced for the PlayStation 4 -- until now, that is.

According to LittleBigPlanet's community coordinator, it will also be arriving on the PS3. No details have been given as to the differences between the two versi??ons, but more news will come later.

Steven Isbell [Twitter]

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Over 8.7 levels made, all will be playable

Sony has some LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4) footage and the bigg?est change in the series is the introduction of new character types alongside Sackyboy.

Oddsock runs on all fours and quickly. It?? can wall jump and burst through certain walls like Wario with his elbow. Toggle is a slower, stronger, heavier character, though it can make itself small with the push of a button, which sometimes allows you to spring Toggle upwards. The last, Swoop, seems to sort of break the idea of a platformer with the ability to fly and carry other characters.

Over 8.7 million LittleBigPlanet (1 and 2) levels have been created to date and all 8.7 million will be playable in LittleBigPlanet 3 at launch, with "improved graphics." LittleBigPlanet 3 is slated to come just in time for Christmas ?and ?looks delightful, if familiar.

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You said 'surreal," so now you have my attention

Tarsier Studios did an excellent job on LittleBigPlanet Vita, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Their new project Hunger looks like a decidedly different affair, a much more mythical story with sombe??r t??ones and stealth elements that make it a completely different sort of game entirely.

Hunger is a third-person 3D action-adventure game that incorporates stealth and exploration elements as it follows nine-year-old girl Six during her time in The Maw. We're not talking about TwistedPixel's game here -- The Maw is actually an underwater "resort" where prisoners work to ma??ke the wishes of the elite a reality. Six journeys through the strange w?orld of The Maw and, from the look of this concept art, takes in some pretty bizarre sights.

This will be Tarsier's first original IP since The City of Metronome, back in ?2?005. It looks deliciously disturbing, doesn't it? It'll be interesting to see how Six is able to interact with her environment and vice versa.

Hunger is the new adventure game from LittleBigPlanet Vita's Tarsie????r Studios [AllGamesBeta]

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