LittleBigRegionLocked [Updated for Sony crossed wire shenanigans]

9:39 AM on 08.23.2008   |   Jim Sterling

55 comments

In news that is sure to disappoint our European and Australian readers, Sony has confirmed that LittleBigPlanet's user generated content will be region locked, meaning gamers in PAL territories won't be able to download levels created by their friends across the pond and vice versa. This is a clever thing to let happen in the age of the Internet and the global gaming market, by the way. Oh, and that was sarcasm.

Thanks to Sony using regional servers for content uploaded by gamers to the PlayStation Network, it's simply not possible to share your work with a global audience. "We've got regional servers," explained a Sony rep. "But we can move levels around on servers whenever we want. But you won't have access to the Japanese servers."

I decided to check up on Sony's past boasting about LittleBigPlanet because I was certain they had previously promoted this game on the basis that you could share your work globally. Guess what I found, boldly nestled in a prior press release:

Build, move, create, collaborate – then share content with friends or publicly by inviting the whole world to come and visit your own location on LittleBigPlanet. 

Yeah, looks like the above statement is now bollocks. Seriously, this effectively guts LittleBigPlanet's biggest draw for a lot of people. Restricting the game's most dominant feature to territories is the kind of sh*t I'd expect from Nintendo, not Sony, who I thought had a grasp on the Internet and the worldwide market. Ridiculous and disappointing.

[Updated after the jump, The update basically makes all of the above bollocks. I am adding this bit here because apparently it is BAD JOURNALISM LOL to not put the full update before the jump, even though there isn't even any room. Hopefully this will make everybody screaming about the BAD JOURNALISM feel a little better. Also, bad journalist is doing a bad journalism.]

A dude at the Sony EU forums has stated that LittleBigPlanet's senior producer got it wrong when he stated that LBP would be region locked and has since cleared up his confusing statement:

Hi all, as many of you may have heard already in an interview at Leipzig the senior producer for LittleBigPlanet announced that the game is region locked. This is in fact not the case, and all shared levels in the game will be available worldwide. The confusion arose out of regional differences in how moderation will work as there are different legal rules each region have to play by, and at one point this looked like it may require the game to be independent in each region - however this has been worked around and there will only be one region for the game.... a LittleBigRegion.

Apologies for any confusion over this issue, however I'm pretty sure you're happy with the result.

That's much better. I'm aiming to be out of England by the time LBP hits, but if I wasn't able to force Wardrox to buy it and then send him levels called "your mum's vagina," I'd remain bitterly disappointed. Thank fuck then, that my plans of international insulting peduo-pornography have not been scuppered.