Winners of LittleBigPlanet Art Game Jam Session announced

10:00 PM on 11.14.2009   |   Ben Perlee

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Earlier this week, Sony made an announcement that they would be holding another LittleBigPlanet Art Game Jam Session, this time for the PSP. Five teams of students from the School of Game Design from the Academy of Art Institute in San Francisco were challenged to create levels based on iconic elements of the city. They had 24 hours to create something fantastic, with the winning creation available day one for LittleBigPlanet PSP.

So how did they do? Well, given the choices of landmarks, the competition was pretty tough, even for new players to the game. The Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the Cable Cars of Powell Street, Alcatraz, and the famous Victorian houses in the city were all inspiration for the teams. Moments after starting the 24-hour long design session, I chatted with some of the teams.

Some of the teams focused on telling a story, such as the the Golden Gate team. Member Justin Romprey mentioned that "[We have] A lot of ideas from Donkey Kong", while his teammate Joe Chung wanted to focus on trying to tell a story. Ultimately, while their creation did not win, their design of magnetic electrical taxis across the bridge was lauded.

In the end, it was the Cable Cars of Powell Street team that took home the grand prize of a PSP Go and digital copies of LittleBigPlanet PSP. Their design, which involved controlling a cable car up and over the hills of San Francisco, convinced the judges. While far from a polished masterpiece, the design showed enough promise that it will be available for download next week. Sony, far from leaving the other teams high and dry, gave every contestant a copy of the game. Sweet.