A few podcasts ago, I questioned the importance and reach of LittleBigPlanet. At that time, I had only seen and touched a few short demos of the game. But after spending a great deal of time with the Beta on the PS3, I am eating my words. LittleBigPlanet is utterly fantastic and will win Game of the Year for 2008.

In the Beta, you get access to the game’s Story mode (but not all of it) and level creation tools. The presentation of everything is beyond amazing. As you start the game, you go through a small level where it gives pictures of all the developers and introduces the game. Everything is narrated by a British man that completely reminds you of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (one of my favorite books/movies by the way). [Update - turns out it is the same guy]. He’ll crack some jokes and keep the mood light, which is very pleasant. You then get to access your Pod, which is a cardboard box that allows you to look out onto the various worlds.

You start off in the Story as the only available mode. After you get through a few levels there, you get access to the creation tools and the sky is the limit. What’s great about LittleBigPlanet is that it is constantly evolving. As you play more in the Story, you unlock further elements that you can use to create your own levels and share with the world. Completing shared levels usually gives you an award as well (determined by the level creator). There’s one created level that mimics Space Invaders and the reward is the Space Invader that the creator made. It’s things like this that will allow you to constantly evolve and change your creations.

It had been stated by a few people previously that creating a fun level would take upwards or 24 hours, which simply isn’t true. You can put together a good level in an hour or so. The more time you spend, the better it can be, but to make something fun that other people enjoy could be done in very little time. The creator is very intuitive in allowing you to place objects, stickers, photos, etc. If you can dream it, you can do it (very corny, I know). There are bugs, as this is a Beta. You can’t expect things to be perfect in such a setting. But what doesn’t work now has already been fixed for the near final code.

Based on the terrific amount of support from the limited Beta community for LittleBigPlanet, I am highly optimistic that this game will be welcomed with open arms and the amount of content created will be astronomical. Just assume that the game sells 500k copies and every other user creates one level. That’s 250k levels available for your play. If you can get through all of them and get bored, you need to find a new hobby.

What really strikes me about LittleBigPlanet is how much is pulls in everyone, not just gamers. My wife is not a gamer. Period. Even getting her to play the Wii is a stretch. But the first time she saw me playing LittleBigPlanet, she sat down and watched for a couple hours and then wanted to play herself. Anyone that sees the game is instantly hooked. Sony has a sure winner on their hands here. I can’t wait until the final game ships in a couple weeks.