LittleBigPlanet is supposed to be the PS3’s saving grace this holiday season. It’s meant to push the way that players interact with their games, allowing them to create and share their own masterpieces. Many gamers, including ones on Destructoid, have stated that this is the game that will sell them a PS3, but I have no idea why they want the game. I’m not denying that the game shows a near limitless potential, but I’ve only seen this assertion in theory, never in practice.
It doesn’t help that gaming blogs (including Destructoid) and professional sites such as 1UP do little to endorse the games versatility. Quick searches of Destructoid and Kotaku
pulled up multiple posts about a tribute to other games using LBP. Isn’t this counterproductive? In its review of the game,
Kotaku stated that “This is a game of potential, a jumping off point for a great journey and it's up to the gamers not the developers to see how it turns out.” Likewise,
Destructoid posted that “The game is going to continually grow and hopefully evolve as the designers get a better grasp of what is offered in the game.” Despite these claims, I have seen absolutely no evidence of this evolution. I’m sure these instances of great design exist, but gaming sites do nothing to foster this. The only LBP posts I see are about someone recreating
Super Mario or
Metroid or some other shoddy remake.
Congratulations, gaming community. We have the versatility to create a
rudimentary calculator and
GNR covers. Mission accomplished.
The lack of publicity when it comes to LBP originality is frightening. Anyone who spends time online knows that the internet moves at a breakneck pace. Glitches are reported also simultaneously with a game’s release, flame wars ignite and then burn themselves out, and trends arise every single day. Sure, every game can expect a Mario remake, but after a month of being available to the public, we should have moved past this point. The
LittleBigPlanet evolution seems like a bust. I long for the day when levels more than
thirty seconds long are celebrated for their design, not just a shallow joke.
People don’t buy camcorders so that they can shoot remakes of
The Godfather, nor do they buy guitars so they can rerecord
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Maybe these are unfair comparisons, but I hope my notion is coming across loud and clear.
LittleBigPlanet, in its current state, is nothing but broken promises. People are downloading and rating levels within the game, but outside of that, gamers have done absolutely nothing to communicate how versatile the game is, and I’ve grown jaded because of it. I hope for the day when gaming sites will stop rewarding the continual reuse of the same concepts over and over again. It is probable that this
LittleBigPlanet situation speaks to a larger problem with the gaming community as a whole: even as we try to move forward, we keep living in the past.
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Look at Microsoft and Valve for instance. Halo 3 was heavily marketed, and I can't walk ten feet in NYC without a bus passing by with a L4D ad on its side.
Where are the commercials? Sony could easily do a time lapse level building commercial. That would really build some momentum for the game.
I don't think the average gamer visits enthusiast sites. It up to Sony and Media Molecule to beat the drum for their game. Reading about it on Dtoid or Kotaku is like preaching to the choir.
True, but even within the gaming community, not the general public, the aversion of genuinely original levels is frustrating.
Does LBP have a record -> export to YouTube function? If not, it should.
Also, I think gaming website may be averse to putting more LBP videos on the front page after they blew their load on Mario, Sonic, Gradius, Duck Hunt, etc. videos.
But hey, what do I know, I don't have a PS3.
Gamers are too heavily influenced by the icons: level 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, etc. Non-gamers without that baggage won't have that to fall back on.
LBP is still fairly new; I have no doubt the cool, original stuff will come. It'll just take awhile.
Gamers are too heavily influenced by the icons: level 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, etc. Non-gamers without that baggage won't have that to fall back on.
LBP is still fairly new; I have no doubt the cool, original stuff will come. It'll just take awhile.
PREACH, BRUTHA'!
Personally, I think we're going to see a flood of the simple tribute levels and song covers before some really unique and interesting stuff turns up. Just like pretty much every kind of user-generated content, you have to wade through a lot of crap to find the gems. As time goes by and people become more familiar with the game, the original levels will come.
I think I meant saving grace. Wooops. Edit incoming.
I think most people are just struggling to get through the games right now and will go back to the more lasting games after 2008. Or not :)
If it's any easier, I've gone and bought the game for my mum and dad and it'd be interesting to see what they make of their Christmas present.
Because it's fucking fun, you idiots.
That's the problem LBP is facing, its not that much different from PC games, mods are a dime-a-dozen but how many of those are actually good.
LBP is pretty much screwed, its solely dependent on its community for content and its a very niche game, don't be suprised if the community dries up pretty soon.
It would be nice to see some cool, innovative levels get more pub on gaming blogs.
Like, no one pays Garry's Mod anymore.
No one said that the game wasn't fun. The point of the article is to show how gamers and writers are too caught up in the remakes to find original creations. However, I don't think it would be out of line to predict that an LBP remake is nowhere near the quality level of the original.
In short, the game looks fun to play, but it doesn't look very interesting from a design standpoint.
Not trolling, I just have a bad grasp of the word "ironic" . . .
With regards to the first, I think that there are things going on in terms of both content creators and content users. As many have pointed out, it is possible that at this point in time, there simply will be far more creators focusing on such remakes in order to iron out their skills and play around before they work on any giant masterpieces.
From a content user's point of view, it is not hard to say that it is probably easier to be attracted by something you are used to as opposed to a completely original IP. At the very least, playing something based on original IP gives you some baseline indication of what to expect.
Of course, I cannot help but feel that this goes back to what I feel is a design flaw in LBP in that it does not do a good job of either leading you or allowing you to easily differentiate between the great games and the crap games. I threw in LBP yesterday after neglecting the game for weeks and I literally found nothing but the same stuff that you mentioned above. About the only two games I saw that I liked was a very clever MGS remake and an original game called "Jail Break." If there is indeed tons of great original content that we are all ignoring, I cannot help but feel that this is in someway the fault of MM and their product's inability to easily highlight such games.
I don't have the game and that's part of the point I'm trying to make. It's not a system seller for me when the most celebrated levels are remakes. LBP was predicted to be a big leap for gaming even outside of its particular realm, and yet no one has reported on any of the best user-created levels.
@AgentMOO
Not a responsibility, but leading up to its release, you couldn't turn around (figuratively) without hearing someone talk about how LBP would lead to a new era in gaming. This doesn't seem to be the case; all hype and no tangible results, essentially. The potential is there, but no one has made an effort to shine a spotlight on any of it.
Personally, I think the dwindling love for LBP is due to the season. There's so much competition around right now, and a lot of gamers would rather be shooting terrorists than building sets. The week delay on the release didn't help either -- it may sound silly, but it certainly took away some of my anticipation for the game. When it did finally arrive, I wasn't even too fussed any more.
Sony's no-excuses moderation is also hurting the game as well. Sure, a lot of them are rubbish, but that doesn't mean that the author hasn't put time and effort into creating it. Deleting it without so much as a heads up is a disservice to the fans, and is no doubt putting people off from making more.
Your analogy makes no sense, you can do way more with Garry's mod than you can with LBP and Garry's mod isn't regulated either.
Also the moderation is bullshit. I played a level yesterday that might be copyright infringement.
If you want to know about the game, go to the official forums. I'm sure there's lots of people there talking about cool user made stuff.
P.S. Halo and Gears of War ads have almost nothing to do with the games. At least whenever I see an LBP TV ad it at least has some level creation and co-op platforming gameplay.
Well played! It didn't make m buy one either . . .
Come to think of it, didn't Y0j1mb0 have a grand c-blog about how important and amazing this would be . . .