MM is being bought by Sony:
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/03/02/media-molecule-officially-joins-the-playstation-family/
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/03/02/media-molecule-officially-joins-the-playstation-family/
[PS3] LittleBigPlanet Impressions
- Thread starter patsu
- Start date
Mr. Domino
Regular
Man, Sony really got a massive force of developers behind them over the years.
I must say though that it suprises me they bought another developer with the losses they're making left and right.
I must say though that it suprises me they bought another developer with the losses they're making left and right.
I guess it's all part of an investment into their future, to try and guarantee that they won't make those losses again.
A wee bit more details from Eurogamer:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/littlebigplanet-2-will-support-ps-move
No mention of 3D.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/littlebigplanet-2-will-support-ps-move
No mention of 3D.
3D is pretty irrelevant given the likely install base of 3D sets, though I'm sure Sony will want to encourage it. What they really need is in-game creation, as the original game design was. And no floaty, impossible physics making the game hard to play.
Impossible to play is a bit strong! It's just different, but overall I enjoyed it a lot partly because of that - had it played like just another platformer I would have been bored out of my skull.
I'm sure though that if Sony wants this game to appeal to Mario fans, they will have to find a way to allow for more precision besides implementing the Move controller gainfully.
There is no question though that LBP is one of the most obvious candidates for bringing casual success for the move controller, partly because the first one already made such good use of the camera and sixaxis, and partly because of the 4 player coop and cute aesthetics.
I'm sure though that if Sony wants this game to appeal to Mario fans, they will have to find a way to allow for more precision besides implementing the Move controller gainfully.
There is no question though that LBP is one of the most obvious candidates for bringing casual success for the move controller, partly because the first one already made such good use of the camera and sixaxis, and partly because of the 4 player coop and cute aesthetics.
All of the people I know who have played LBP have had moments of extreme frustration with the controls. It doesn't have to be mind-numbingly easy, and I wouldn't go for Mario's rigidity, just not as extreme as the current implementation. eg. Take a few platforms and string them closely together with ropes to form a web. It's impossible to jump up them, because jumping from a 'soft' platform takes away all your upwards momentum. As a game, LBP needs to be more fun, and not a challenging platformer. It needs to be dead easy for anyone to play, with the satisfaction not coming from finally beating that level after the 100th attempts and numerous controllers through the wall, but from working with friends to solve puzzles, slapping them into the fire, building funny solutions to problems etc. As it was originally portrayed! It also needs the creation to be available from the moment you star, instead of needing a couple of hours play to unlock features. I used LBP to do some maths tuition with a kid, but we couldn't just go in and start playing with her account. And when we came to build coop on a friend's PS3, the fact he had to do the tutorials, and then I had to do the same friggin' tutorials, having already done them on my PS3, was just infuriating! The slow availibilty of create and annoying platforming seems to me the reason why my friend the coder and LEGO afficiando who'll waste time creating Booty maps hasn't built anything in LBP, despite it seeming a perfect fit on paper.
wow, you really have big LBP issues! LOL
Here's one for you. Why not buy a new game, have no idea how it plays - let people go straight into editing, with 100s of options - no idea how to use the stuff - nor what all the little differences are. Now, remember this game is aimed at casual gamers and for most it will be their fist attempt at making a 'game' (if you will).
How many people will delve and how many people would just be too scared attempt anything, or never try half the options out because they never knew other ways of doing things existed?
For me (and all my kids aged 5-13 when this came out) - it was perfect, so what if they had to play 3 level before the editing was open to them - this grounded their knowledge of how to play the game and what was/wasn't possible. Then when in the editor mode they were told each and every option and they learned new skills at their own speed.
IMHO this was massively better than leaving it completely open. Oh, and WRT how hard the game is - my 9yo has litterally completed the whole game himself - he just needed help with a handful of levels...and that's just the 'aceing' and odd 'missing items' parts he needed help with BTW.
WRT to LBP2 I'd like to see the ability to manipulate certain parts of the levels, let the sackboys have certain editing abilities that the level creator can set - then have it that someone might have to get across a large fire, they could decide how to do that - maybe make something floaty and float across? You do that and you float into poison gas or something...that sort of interactivity would be nice IMHO.
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Billy Idol
Legend
I have the same issues with the game, like Shifty said!!
It is sometimes a brutally difficult game!!
And if I would have not played the game online coop with my buddy, I would have discard the game about after 25% of the SP missions! Sometimes we tried the same scene about one million times (they could have at least give the gamer infinite amount of respawn!!!, After 3-5 deaths, you have to restart the whole start all over again - in regard of this, I think that this game is more suited to the hardcore crowd).
And the reason is the somehow exaggagerated physics, which makes precise jumping sometimes impossible (especially if you are coop-ing: the first who jumps has the "clean" situation, but the second one really needs luck!)
Did you manage to finish all SP missions (especially this wheel of death stuff)?
Wow, I should remind my kids how hard this game is! lol
Seriously, I know a few bit were hard - but it really was not that hard to complete, the hardest bit was trying to ace the game and get all the items - the bunker (the wheel bit you mention) is by far the hardest bit to ace - check out my youtube video on how to do it the easy way (and while you're at it, feel free to try out some of my levels!)...I've now aced the bunker for all my kids
(FTR my now 7yo has completed around 50% all by herself)FTR I have the plat trophy for this game (only other plat is Uncharted 2), the hardest part was getting 30 people to heart you.
I don't begrudge having tutorials, but I do begrudge being locked out of options without sitting through them when for some users it's very obvious what the mechanics are thanks to a sensible design.
This highlights you as being exceptional, finding the game easier than others, and as such you can't really say you speak for the masses. Plenty of people have remarked how hard it is to play this game, and we shouldn't say they are all wrong because some people have managed to get platinum trophies. The average experience is one with moments of considerable frustration - just look at the many remarks as such in this very thread from experienced gamers!
I agree about the tutorials to a certain extent - certainly for a sequel I'd expect a 'I'm a pro, please skip this bit' button - but this was a first.
WRT the difficulty of the game, again, I should mention to my kids how "grown ups" struggle with the game
however I do find it odd that I struggle playing FPSs yet found this a breeze - maybe it's because it's something different and my heart was set to make the added effort, maybe those who are 'stuck' don't get it or the same feeling of love hence frustrations bite harder?
I'm not actually sure if this is true. I can think of so many popular platform games that had worse spikes and difficulty than LBP! You may be underestimating the 'masses'. In fact, 'hardcore' gamers, despite their title of being 'hardcore' tend to invest much less time into a game they purchase than 'the masses', simply because they buy a lot more games.
Could it be also that the masses are more adaptable to some genra of games than others? It's why my kids are doing well maybe? I don't know - I just chucking that out there...it's like I can't believe what my kids can do with the level editor - all without my help - it's pretty impressive stuff and a great tool for getting them to 'play and learn'.
But I'm talking about all sorts of players from kids to adults and not 'core gamers'. LBP's gameplay should not be frustrating to 9 year olds who represent a core part of the overall family demographic. Indeed, this is where sixaxis should have been applied more effectively. You watch players wanting to jump higher instinctively throwing the control upwards as they jump, their arm movements becoming more and more exaggerated as they try to urge Sackboy to do what they want him to do, but the physics engine limits their height due to the huge impact of vertical moment. eg. Walking off a rounded-edged platform as jumping greatly decreases jump-height versus jumping from level, because of the impact of the downwards momentum infered from traversing the sloped edge. Jumping from moving/wobbling platforms was extremely hit and miss. The ideal gamplay would have used casual input to aid control and smoothed out the physical impact of moving platforms, superceding any overall physics calculations. This would have seen the game generate more smiles and less frowns. As it was, the final game hid a few nasty, unexpected thorns despite its beguiling exterior. Version 2 needs to address this to become real progress.
