Arcade Berg aka. "Learning Game Design with Arcade Berg"

LittleBigProblem

It's just silly... But I respect it.

This is the weekend I was supposed to be playing LittleBigPlanet. I pre-ordered my copy a while ago along with a LittleBigPlanet T-shirt.

As many of you already know; the game was delayed due to that in one song from one level in the game, two lines of the lyrics may be offensive to some...

We learnt yesterday that there is a lyric in one of the licensed tracks which some people may find offensive, and which slipped through the usual screening processes. Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously. LBP should be enjoyable by all. So within 12 hours of hearing about this issue involving a lyric (in Somalian, I believe!), Media Molecule had prepared an automatic day 0 patch and had a new disk image ready; however a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support of people with no on-line was to replace existing disks. They assure us that they are doing everything in their power to get things straightened out as fast as possible, and will announce dates soon.

Media Molecule Blog (17/10-2008)
http://www.mediamolecule.com/2008/10/17/and-in-other-news/

I understand and I respect the decision as they do put up some valid arguments. But for me, the unoffended guy in Sweden, it sucks!

Penny Arcade recently published a great comic about it all:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/10/22/broken-clock/ (25/10-2008)

Gabriel: I don't really get the LittleBigPlanet recall. Some of the stupid songs is the least of their problems.
During the beta, I played a level where you fly a plane into the Twin Towers.
That shit is going on the evening news.

Tycho: It's user-generated content, though.

Gabriel: You think your mom cares about that? Nobody knows what that even means.
Chris Hansen is going to come on, and show a level where Sackboy bombs his school.
When that happens, we are all well and truly fucked.

Not only will I now have to wait untill early November to get a chance to play LittleBigPlanet but it will also greatly collide with me playing Bethesda's Fallout 3 (please god, let it be great!).

I've been a huge fan of LittleBigPlanet since the first video was released a couple of years ago and my interrest has grown over time. However it's not just the content creation elements that I like. Sure, they might be great but I'm deeply in love with the art-style as well. A technical impressive plattformer is also a selling point for me. Plattformers are among the most fun game genre (btw, I don't like to use "genre" when it comes to games, but more about that some other time) to play if it's just simplistic fun you're looking for.

I'd buy the game even if it was released without the creation tools.

"The game is soooo Games 2.0!"... That's what a lot of people are saying and I hope they're right. I want it to be all it can be but I see it more like a step in a good direction. Obviously, not all the players will create levels and only a very small amount of the ones who will, will continue doing so for a long time to come. But I believe the game will sell quite good and if even  only 1% of those people will keep creating levels, there will be more than enough content to play.

My hope is that all the reviews out there are right; that the game without the creation part alone is great!

I talked to a collegue yesterday who's had the change to play it (bastard!).

It was the first time I really felt I wanted a Playstation 3. That game alone is worth the money for both the game and console.

And to that I say: Thank you! That's exactly what I wanted to hear!

I like what I've seen of the editor so far. It seems easy enough to use and let's you create some inzanely crazy stuff! There's a guy who've created a calculator that can add and subract, god damn it! I know I will spend many, many, many hours creating content, both myself and along with friends. I'll do some artsy levels, some experimental, some totally random, some... Well, pretty much all I can think of. However, I'm afraid the lifetime of this thing won't be nearly the same as with the "real editors" used in the modding communities. There's nothing strange about that though. Unfortunately I don't think the PS3 controller is the optimal input device for creating. The PS3 can handle both a mouse and keyboard, why not let us use that if we want? (Or do they? If they do, just ignore me.) Although I don't have a doubt in my mind that the tools are greatly adopted for the controller at hand, so don't get me wrong.

As a level designer, I know how to use several editors, including Valve's Hammer, Epic's UnrealEd and Grin's internal editor and quite frankly;  I wouldn't want to use any of them with a 360 or a PS3 controller.

Well, I guess all I can do now is wait and try it out once it arrives.

I hope you'll try out my levels!