There’s a ton of big new releases today for your shopping needs. Assassin’s Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Tony Hawk Ride, God of War Collection, and LittleBigPlanet for PSP highlight the show. Are you buying any the big names today? I’m definitely grabbing Left 4 Dead 2 and the God of War Collection this week. Assassin’s Creed 2 is on my “must-buy” list, but it’s going to have to wait a couple weeks until I have more time.
What about you? Which games are you picking up this week or adding to your Christmas list? Who wants to shoot zombies with me on 360?
LittleBigPlanet was a critical success for Sony, but many players, myself included, have abandoned the game. While user-generated content is a great concept, in practice, it’s not always up to par. For me, LBP was great for the first month or so, until I ran out of enjoyable levels to play. While the game has barely sold one million copies in North America, the upcoming PSP version set for release on November 17th has the potential to open up the game to even more gamers.
The level designs in LittleBigPlanet are very conducive to portable gaming. Short, bite sized play experiences that allow you to hop in and out when you have a free minute, be it on the subway, sitting on a train, or stressing yourself out in a waiting room. I’d personally be more inclined to try out a new LBP level on the PSP on the go than firing up my PS3 for only a few minutes. As long as the PSP version doesn’t have to download large patches every month, it’ll be a great quick gaming experience.
Only time will tell if the PSP version will be as successful as the PS3 edition of LittleBigPlanet. Given the fact that only five or so games have reached the total worldwide sales level of LittleBigPlanet, it’s unlikely sales will match the console version. But in terms of the fun factor, which should be more important to all gamers, the answer may not be as clear. We’ll see next month.
If you’re a fan of Sony’s first installment in their “Play. Create. Share” line of games, you’ll likely be interested in the fact that LittleBigPlanet is receiving a special Game of the Year Edition next month. I’ll explain what is included in that package in a moment, but first off, let me tell you about my experience with LBP. I was fortunate enough to get into the beta, and I absolutely loved it. I played it solid for about two weeks before the beta ended. In the midst of the beta, I went and pre-ordered it. In fact, I didn’t just pre-order it at one location, I did so at both GameStop and Best Buy, only to get the special outfit for my Sackboy, which was different depending on where you pre-order.
Ok, long story short (I know, I know, you think its too long already), I bought it, played for a couple more weeks solid, then stopped dead in my tracks. While the developer-created levels were fun, once that was done…the game lost of bit of its charm. Building your own levels was tedious and took tremendous dedication. Myself, I’m a lazy ass, so that eventually got on my nerves. I had to micromanage and perfect every last piece of my level or else something would undoubtedly not work correctly. Then, I had to test it over and over again. Not my cup of tea. So, I stopped playing.
But, if you’re one of the Sackboy fans who are still chugging along with this innovative title and are willing to throw down $60 come September 8, you’ll be getting a lot of goodies on the disc (unfortunately, some may be content you’ve already purchased from the PSN, but such is the way of GotY edition titles). Hit the jump for details.
A little late on the trigger, Media Molecule is prepping to release a demo for LittleBigPlanet on the PSN. The game shipped in October 2008, meaning we’re roughly 8 months past its release date in North America. At this point, why bother?
My guess is that sales are well below what was expected, even though LittleBigPlanet was a critical success and is nearing 2 million pieces of user generated content. Getting a demo out might get some additional sales. How many that will be is anyone’s guess, but I’m not holding my breath on this one.
Personally, I haven’t played LBP in a very long time. Even though tons of new levels are available daily from users around the world, there just isn’t enough variety to keep me coming back for more. Additional costumes and stickers aren’t my thing either, so I haven’t bought any DLC for the game. I might fire it up again soon to see how things are going in the user created level area.
Sony wasn’t kidding when they said the PSP was going to get some high quality titles. SCEA sent out a press release today detailing some amazing upcoming games for their handheld platform.
In the Fall, we’ll be seeing a PSP version of LittleBigPlanet as well as MotorStorm Arctic Edge. Harmonix will also bring Rock Band Unplugged to the PSP sans peripherals. Two new bundles were announced, including a “Lilac” Hannah Montana Entertainment Pack shipping in July. The big one though is an Assassin’s Creed Entertainment Pack. While no release date has been set, this shows yet another big title coming to the PSP.
Will this huge lineup be enough to catapult the PSP up the sales charts in 2009? I have a feeling it will, especially with the more hardcore audience. Nintendo seems to have cornered the casual market with the DS, so Sony is looking to take the hardcore market. Now if only they’d ship new PSP hardware with dual analog sticks.
I’m not saying that figuratively, I mean it literally fixes nothing. The previous v1.07 patch in LittleBigPlanet did fix a lot of problems, but it also caused a few in its wake.
The 13mb v1.08 download only introduces new textures for upcoming DLC. The forthcoming Edam patch, as it’s being called by Media Molecule, is still in the testing phase. That patch should address some of the problems facing LittleBigPlanet at the moment.
This begs the question, are many of you out there still playing LittleBigPlanet? I played it almost non-stop upon release, but have since put it on the shelf. I anticipate going back to the game every month to check out the new levels, but I’m not really that into designing my own creations at the moment. What about you?
Holy crap this is awesome! Thanks to an anonymous reader for sending this tip in (not leaving a name means you don’t get the credit). Here’s a close to shot-by-shot remake of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by the best singer the world has ever seen, Rick Astley. If this doesn’t show you anything can be done in LittleBigPlanet, I don’t know what will.
LittleBigPlanet players may have been both happy and sad at the same time this week. Happy because new fixes and updates came to the game. Sad because they had to download two separate patches over two days. If you haven’t fired up the game in a while, you’ll only have to get the latest, v1.07. Here’s all the changes:
Patch 1.06 is all about moderation. Your levels won’t just be deleted anymore, which is huge.
Moderated levels will now receive more better information about the reason regarding this action having happened.
The notification message will remain in place on screen, removing the chance that affected users miss the message.
Any moderated level can now be accessed for editing by the creator, whether on or offline.
Additional information is now displayed on the Good Grief screen advising users on how the grief reporting functions, and warns against making spurious reports
Patch 1.07 brings New Search Modes, the “Wheel of Death” bug is now fixed, an In-game store, Improved peripheral support, plus much much more.
So fire up your copy of LittleBigPlanet and join in the fun.
Sony fanboys will have simulatenous love explosions once they see that Solid Snake and Sackboy have become one? Think I am batshit crazy? Just watch. Sckboy is coming to Shadow Moses.
One of the most anticipated games in recent memory made its long awaited debut to a slew of controversy with offensive song lyrics and online server issues. Sackboy is the new face of the PS3 and LittleBigPlanet should be a system seller. You’ve got solid gameplay coupled with the best level creator we’ve seen and an immense social network.
When you fire up the game, you’re graced by the dry, witty humor of Stephen Fry who narrates everything in the world of LittleBigPlanet. The presentation here is just phenomenal. From the game’s intro to the way you navigate menus with your Pod, Media Molecule hit this one out of the park. Graphically, the game looks great. There’s a terrific cartoon-realistic feel to everything and you get great depth to the levels. The background music is amazing and really fits the mood, as well, making this an all-encompassing experience.
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