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User-generated content is all the rage these days, helped in no small way by LittleBigPlanet taking player power to the masses with its high profile PlayStation 3 release. Microsoft seems to have taken note, and has chosen now to remind us all of Boku, a game that, like LBP, is all about making your own game content. No, I don't recall it being announced last year either.

Straight plagiarism this most certainly isn't, although the comparisons have already started. Boku allows you to create racing games, puzzlers and your own variants of classics, such as the Frogger clone seen in the above clip. However, with a character referred to as Stickboy and the emphasis on child-friendly content building, this can easily look like a less-than-subtle attempt to ride the coat tails of the biggest game to hit the PS3 this generation.

This is being billed as more of a tool than a game in its own right, and it certainly looks interesting even outside of whatever LBP comparisons could be made. That said, am I the only one who doesn't really care about user-generated content? There is a reason that I, and many other gamers, are not game designers ourselves.

I prefer to leave my game making to the experts. I'm never crafting something as brilliant as Half-Life 2, and I don't need to be reminded of the fact.


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46 comments | showing # 1 to 46

BS3 Owner's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:07
BS3 Owner
I officially, Don't want a 360 because of this game. (( Not a system Seller... Unless you only have a 360. ))
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:10
Palidi
I thought Microsoft already had one of these.

the XNA toolkit...

Anyhow, it doesn't seem to have the same charm that LittleBigPlanet does.
UglyDuck's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:16
UglyDuck
Looks nice. I like user generated content. It can be quite unexpectedly good at times. It's like youtube in that for every 10 videos of a persons cat, there will be at least one video that is actually entertaining, and it is worth it for that.
MrSadistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:17
MrSadistic
Looks kinda boring.
CypherVR's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:25
CypherVR
looks very intersting me, says the man in the vattican J/k

but cereal, it looks interesting to me - it has a twinge of 8-bitness. Retro aprecianados would be all over this.
CypherVR's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:27
CypherVR
^^^Aficianado^^^

..sorry, i made up a word there
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:34
mix
it look ok.

I guess they have to crank the graphics down so they can have fully 3d stuff in there.

I like the looks of LBP more though.
BulletMagnet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:37
BulletMagnet
I have to personally agree on the "user-created content's not a factor for me" point...not so much because of my inferior design skills (though that's certainly true), but because I simply don't have enough time to devote to creating something decent - the people who design video games do it for a living, while I'd be squeezing in a few minutes here and there to try to cobble something together. It ain't happening.

Granted, as was said, some users come up with impressive stuff, but it stands to reason that their schedules, alongside their innate talents, are quite different from mine.
dmgi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:38
dmgi
It's definitely not as cute as LittleBigPlanet and I have to disagree with you, Jim. Although I agree game design should be left for the professionals, I think level design is outsourced to the community because they can come up with ideas that a room full of 10 guys would have never thought of or have been able to apply. I think that it's great that lots of games are doing the same, it gets you a constant stream of content for free and it is usually always different, granted that a majority of them are crap there are still some really good ones.
Shin Oni's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:58
Shin Oni
meh. Are we really that desperate now that we have to completely copy ideas right after each other?

I personally don't mind user generated stuff like in LBP....just as long as they're good. I hate people who look as if they don't try and then put it out there for all to see, expecting it to be huge or liked. Creativity completely wins my heart on those type of things.

Boku....lol. I'll still take LBP even though I don't have a PS3 yet.
moshakirby's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 14:58
moshakirby
Doesn't look interesting, also I expect a name change of game I cannot pronounce.
Electro Lemon's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:07
Electro Lemon
To be fair- this isn't a game, and they've been doing this since before May 0f 2007.

http://research.microsoft.com/projects/boku/
Infinite Obscurity's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:22
Infinite Obscurity
What Lemon said. Little Big Planet is an actual GAME, with a focus on level editing. This is a game-making tool.
NotAZombie's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:26
NotAZombie
I liked the look of it but Lemon's right, it's not a game and shouldn't be treated as one.
Jim's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:28
Jim
ahm, excuse me - this looks nothing like LBP?
pedrovay2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:30
pedrovay2003
User made content on the 360? I highly doubt that'll work, seeing as how their track record is so bad with that kind of stuff. XNA is one thing, but they would never do anything like LBP.
junglistgamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:42
junglistgamer
The point isn't about the quality of the games, undoubtedly there will be some great user-generated levels for LBP. It's the idea that professional design has so little value, a games entire replayability can be based on user-generated content. If Bungie and Infinity Ward can, eventually, provide us with free professionally designed content for the multiplayer modes of their games, why can't Media Molecule? As far as i'm aware there has been no announcement of professionally designed bonus content and thats the concern. If the user-generated stuff was supported by quality-assured content coming direct from MM it wouldn't be an issue. But i get the feeling that we'll get the basic single player game, the creation tools and then be completely left to our own devices.

I started a sentence with 'But'.
Apologies.
DJDuffy 's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 15:56
DJDuffy
To me this looks just like Game Maker, but in 3D and very polished. It has the same sort of commands and functions that Gamemaker has. So I'm all for this!
Queasy's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 16:36
Queasy
The programming logic screen reminds me more of the LEGO Mindstorm programming logic. I think this game has more in common with that and other apps like game maker than LBP.
ShadokatRegn's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 16:38
ShadokatRegn
ya know, after all of my fiasco crap with trying to buy a PS3 and LBP, then magically not having the funds...I am really excited for this game!
AwesomeToph's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 17:09
AwesomeToph
Now we XBox owners can know the joy of making our own penis-themed levels. Should be wangtastic.
OhJAM's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 17:26
OhJAM
How's about MS dropiing all of this "create content" bullshit and shoving a foot up Rare's ass to get them to make a new Battletoads? I'm just saying... :D
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 17:46
RonBurgandy2010
That character looked like Rocket the Robot, from the Rare game of the same name on the N64.
Rosseh's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 17:47
Rosseh
Pfft, user generated content, I've been doing that since 1994.
Behold it's might!
Anyone else remember this? It was crappy, but I remember making my own micro machines levels and a weird top-down science fiction adventure where you had to collect atoms.
jediyoshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 17:57
jediyoshi
More like Microsoft can expect blog posts making e-drama over Boku. Also, weird name.
Ninjasnake's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 18:05
Ninjasnake
High five for originality microsoft! NOT!. Try to make something that you came up with yourselves for once. A lot of windows features that were called "new" were already available on MACS years ago and they called those original too.
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 18:22
Kyousuke Nanbu
I see ninja snake last reading comprehension skills.

I do think its funny when this sort of things pops up, if Nintendo does it, OMG SO ORIGINAL, if MS does it, YOU SONS OF BITCHES, STOP RIPPING PEOPLE OFF.
fetusmilk's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 18:57
fetusmilk
this looks gay
faultymoose's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 19:36
faultymoose
I couldn't tell what I was watching :/ Looks like a nebulous mass of random.
Kalmah's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 19:50
Kalmah
Wee Wee Boku

French much?
mrplow8's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 20:03
mrplow8
I think LBP is going to be looked back on as the most influential game since Mario. People don't accuse anyone of ripping off Mario, even though billions of games have.
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 21:21
DinnertimeNinja
Well, this is certainly interesting, but I'm not sure if it'll really sell at all. (it IS being SOLD right?)

Reason being, even if the creation tools are great, LBP has a face that could launch a thousand ships (sackboy) and this game really just looks like an indie tech-demo.

I'm sure someone will create something crazy awesome with it, but I'm not really interested myself.
lastSKYsamurai's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 22:16
lastSKYsamurai
looks nothing like LBP, And would play totaly different. I look forward to it.
Alexradl's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/01/2008 22:41
Alexradl
Is this a concept or an actual game they are planning to release? It doesn't look very good if you ask me.
IronPikeman's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 00:04
IronPikeman
I can't really say it doesn't look good, but it really doesn't make me want more. LBP has that cute (yeah, I said cute; wanna fight about it?), friendly look + Stephen fry. Overall, this game could be good, but it won't appeal to a large audience.

Also: stickboy is very ripped off.
FinalFist's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 01:47
FinalFist
Why do you love Microsoft so much?
bart999's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 08:09
bart999
I might be able to agree with Sterling about not caring about user-generated content...if I could actually connect to the LBP servers on a consistent basis, and thus have the information to formulate an opinion. Sadly, LBP server connectons are as hard to come by as a blow job at a Nunnery.
Tuxy's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 08:25
Tuxy
This looks really cool.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 08:28
B-Radicate
I don't think it looks anything like LBP... or exciting whatsoever.
DR EGG's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 09:10
DR EGG
If it can import JPGs from my USB stick - I'm sold.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 09:16
Holyetheline
@Rosseh

Dude check out my blog. I have a write up about Klik&Play.

This game looks like a lot of fun to mess around with. I look forward to building some things with Boku.
exodus1925's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 12:06
exodus1925
To be honest, I'm not that interested in LBP. Therefore even less interested in this game.
Capn Birdseye's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 16:58
Capn Birdseye
I agree totally about user created content. I have no interest in it at all, and don't really understand the fuss.

It might be amusing for about 5 minutes, but I am betting that LBP will be empty in a month or two, just like what will happen with this Boku thing.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/02/2008 18:20
TrailerParkJesus
I'll be keeping an eye on this. I'm definitely interested
hjd uk's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/08/2009 05:42
hjd uk
WITNESS ITS GLORY
S.E.U.C.K
Varcal's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/11/2009 06:36
Varcal
I like how some of you are acting like microsoft ripped off sony even though user content has been on pc for a long time also I'm pretty sure this isn't meant to be a game like so many of you are calling it
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