LittleBigPlanet has been critically acclaimed and sold quite well, but the PlayStation 3's big holiday exclusive has not exactly set the world on fire. Sony is aware of this, and has claimed that at any other time of the year, LBP would have been a chart topper. Damn those other videogames, damn them for existing!
"We're really pleased with the initial reaction to LittleBigPlanet - it has been our highest scoring game ever I believe with a Metacritic score of 95 and a huge list of 10/10s or 100 per cent scores," explains Sony's David Wilson. "We are also pleased with its commercial performance. In other times of the year it would be a clear number one - so you have to put the chart in context. This is an incredibly volatile time of year and the chart reflects that - November 7 saw 47 titles released on that one day alone including many big hitters with Christmas number one aspirations. Look at the chart this week - the top four are all brand new entries."
So, too many new games, that's LittleBigPlanet's problem. Sony isn't unhappy with the game's performance, however, claiming it has "broken the trend" of innovative and critically acclaimed games selling poorly.
"LittleBigPlanet has broken this stereotype by not only being brilliant and original but also by selling really well on a global basis," Wilson explains. "LittleBigPlanet is breaking many preconceptions. There are some games that are hardcore experiences that the kudos lies in getting it first. LittleBigPlanet is excellent on day one but even better as time goes by."
I still think it's a shame for LBP and the PS3 that it wasn't this massive blockbuster. That said, it's obviously doing well and will likely become a huge franchise as time goes by. You can't complain about that.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
9:07 AM on 11.19.2008
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ZING!
The games not really that good. I mean, it's got great personality, and I never played with the design tools (that's not my cup of tea...for platformers at least), but there just wasn't much to the game. But seriously, my biggest gripe with the game was the layers. It looks bad jumping between them, it can make gameplay tedious and awkward, i.e. missing a jump due to layer, switching layers mid run, which stops you momentarily, also is makes platforming a little harder when you can't seemlessly move in a 3D environment.
On another note, I don't see the user created levels as being all that great. Granted, I only saw the beta, and I'm sure as time goes on the community will flesh itself out, but, as a gamer in today's fast pased world, I want it now. I'm not buying potential, I'm buying a video game.
But what it boils down to for me, and I was thinking about this the other day, is that this game isn't all that much different from a RPG Maker XP, or a Fighter Maker, granted with quite a bit more charm and utilizing a platforming formula. In the past these games just haven't appealed to a broad audience, and most of the creations just suck.
Defo a game of the year contender.
In other news, Konami said that Rock Revolution would have sold well if Rock Band and Guitar Hero didn't exist, if it had an option for vocals, if it had it's own guitar peripheral, and if the covers didn't suck ass (seriously, skip to about 2:15 to hear the vocalist impersonation of Kermit the Frog).
With LBP, you will see more women initiating the purchase, and they don't seem to be as time-sensitive as male core-gaming teens and tweens. That's part of Nintendo's success with long-tail games -- not just who plays the game, but who initiates the purchase.
You don't have to worry about getting your arse handed to you by some crazy German on a map you don't quite know yet on LBP.
I got it in a heat of the moment trade-in spectaular on Friday and haven't looked back.
Gear 2 is fucking awesome!
Fallout is fuxking awesome!
LBP is average and pretty!!
LBP is a more "experimental" game so it's expected that it will sell less. But there's more chance that this game is going to change the way some people see gaming and user generated content than GoW2 which is just another big blockbuster that isn't really doing anything new in the industry.
I've never understood why people try to make excuses for games they dig if they don't sell well. In fact, it kinda fits with all the other media I enjoy - like a trend. With the movies I watch, the music I dig - it's never number one on the list. I mean Giallo movies and Tom Waits? Not exactly consumed by the masses, but they work for me. And I never feel the need to explain to everyone why no one has seen "The Bird with the Chrystal Plumage", even though I think it's a great giallo, why do people get freaked out when the game they dig isn't number one? That's the kind of thinking that makes fanboys and flamewars. And neither of those are fun.
Just relax and enjoy it, man.
I think the problem with games is everyone spends a year or more before the game comes out saying how it will outsell game X on a competing console and what have you. I also hope you don't abstain from something that's popular so as to not deviate from your media consumption trend. That behaviour really strikes me as shallow and often conceited.
You completely spun the entire article. You took one statement out of context and made it seem like Sony was being a big baby about it all. 'Wah, competition sucks'.
What I got out of the article was that they were happy with the sales and that they are "honored" that it is doing well in a sea of cookie-cutter IP. Stating that yes, it may have sold well at a different time when you didn't have Gears "2" or Fallout "3" or even Resistance "2", highly established franchised games all releasing at the same time.
They state that it makes it tough to compete, obviously, but they definitely didn't seem to be saying in any way whatsoever 'damn those other games for existing'. They seem happy that it is doing so well IN SPITE of those games releasing at the same time.
No, I wouldn't dislike something because its popular. You miss the point and jump to something negative, which usually happens in comments, so I don't hold it against you.
I was giving examples of things that I like that aren't mainstream and explaining how I never feel the need to justify those musicians or movies, and I don't understand why it would be any different with games. I like giallo films, but I also like the tom cruise mission impossible films - but I wouldn't mention the second one because it has nothing to do with my point. Maybe I didnt make that clear.
I understand that people get excited, but I think gaming in general would be more fun if people weren't at each others throats constantly about numbers and sales.
I'm sure LBP is a great game, it's just not for me and, I think, not for a lot of people out there.