Older Games from a Simpler Era Tons of old games had amazing ecosystems of user created content. In the 80’s there was Eamon and Lode Runner. In the 90’s there was Wolfenstein 3D followed by Doom and Marathon. What happened is clear, as games got more complex, the skills to create content grew more sophisticated, and it became unrealistic for non-professional hobbyists to create content. While it was simple for anybody to create a Lode Runner or Wolfenstein map, almost no one can create content for most current games.
Too Simple Some games like Syphon Filter or Halo 3 allow simple user-generated content, but they are basically just allowing users to make minor tweaks to the existing game content.
Too Complex Games like UT3 allow the user a wide range of freedom, but to do something beyond a minor tweak demands large amounts of time, patience, self-management and substantial technical skills. There are also plenty of hobbyist game dev tools such as Flash, Torque, Ogre, or XBLA that face the similar hurdle. There are several success stories, but most of them involve ridiculous quantities of unpaid labor and self-determination from talented programmers and artists.
What’s amazing about LittleBigPlanet
The Tools are Easy Regular game players can realistically make their own levels. Sure, it’s harder than playing a game and it takes skill and good ideas, but this is well within reach of regular gamers.
The user-created levels are actually something that other people will want to play Have you seen the user-created LBP levels that are popping up on the web? Wow! These aren’t just tweaks or new map layouts, these levels have completely original themes, visuals, and animations. They look surprisingly fun to play.
Some of the levels are amazing to play, and a lot are LBP versions of games, i have already played a WipEout level, Mario, and FIFA versions. Others are just fun with puzzles and stuff to solve.
When this gets opened up to the masses and the creative people out there the potential to never get bored is very strong! Imagine playing a new level every time you played the game, thats the potential…… user created content is going to start popping up everywhere following this game, its the next evolution in gaming for me anyway, and Sony have done it first this gen!
My Flipper Madness level was hearted over a hundred times^^ I didn’t even need 4hrs to make it… AWESOME
I used to make levels for Q3A (i.e. recreating local stuff like our trainstations etc.) as a hobby. Nothing professional, but it still was fun. LBPs MAJOR advantage is the ease of use. Q3rad etc. are very complex tools, but they allow you to do EVERYTHING you can imagine. In LBP you can’t… Even materials etc. are prepared, so you don’t need to worry about that.
I cannot wait. SO eagerly anticipated. My question is. Will this spur sales of the Playstation eye since I haven’t heard of any other way to get textures into the game?
Just to add some balance to the comments I must say that the user created levels in the beta so far really isn’t anything to write home about.
At some point there will definitely be levels worth playing, made by a few dedicated user, like in a number of (PC) games in the past, and I’m still buying the game, but only for the levels it’s shipped with.
I was lucky enough to win a beta code over the weekend. I finally had a chance to download it later Sunday evening. I only played the game for a few hours, but the game managed to exceed my high expectations. I have to admit I only played a handful of user created levels, but there were a few gems out there.
The editing tools are easy to use, but the amount of creative freedom is almost over whelming. With some more practice, I think I might be able to create something worth playing myself.
So far we (my son and I) have only played it for 3 hrs.
Yes, it is a creative system. It is by far the best example of that on the console. My 5 and a half year old son was able to figure out the interface and was able to make a level.
Feels a lot better than Home, the only other “build your own world” type game I’ve used on the PS3.
It does have a bit of a learning curve, and the tutorials are drudgery, but once you get past that it is not too bad. So far I have not been able to test the online component, maybe it will work tomorrow (servers must be busy or something)
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Killzone Clan - The Mockers
The Mockers is a Killzone 2 clan for less skilled players. Check out what we're doing and/or sign up. Here's the latest news: The Mockers. Sign up here. We also have a new forum! Please check it out. It's a subdomain of themockersclan.com, which I haven't put up anything for yet. Any ideas?
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JimmyMagnum : found an interesting story, gonna submit it here in a bit
Tosh : Have a Happy 4th of July everyone. May your fireworks light quickly and burn bright.
ehandlr : So on that BC coming back website. thesixthaxis got a confirmation on update 3.0 and its date. Obsviously they wont' disclose it due to embargo, but after checking the email and the IP it was sent from...it was tracked back to a Dutch IP. So take that how you want to on the BC coming back.
Tosh : Yes, it's moderated. And the reason why I ask people to leave a comment on this post - «link» is because that help filters out the spam.
hesido [Emrah] : Thanks Tosh, as long as it is moderated (wouldn't want to lower standards), I'd like to make contributions every now and then!
JimmyMagnum : but if it's going to be $10 like MGS and FFVII, then it's definitely worht it
JimmyMagnum : I haven't played it in a while, but it's really good and should hold up well. It's basically Resident Evil with dinosaurs in more ways than 1, but that's OK. Only thing I'd have to get used to is the controls because they control like the first gen RE games as well.
Trev : i'm excited for dino crisis. does it still hold up well to be worth the buy?
JimmyMagnum : correction, 2548
JimmyMagnum : Look at some old reviews for DC2 and it got a lot of 10/10 equivalents and a few more with 9/10+. (IGN gave it a 9.3). I think I still have the first one somewhere, but I'd really like the second one though. The third one came out in 2003, but I think it was for Xbox and was all futuristic. Took place in 2458, never played it though. Didn't get too many good reviews
Tosh : Ya, that's very true, lol.
JimmyMagnum : DC2 was in a more exotic jungle location with a lot more dinos. IMO, it was awesome, but I only ever rented it. I wish Capcom would remake those games for this generation. No other game really has that much action with dinosaurs lol.
Tosh : Ya, I played Dino Crisis 1 but not 2. Any good?
JimmyMagnum : thx for fixing that! Sent in the QuickNews. I wish Dino Crisis 2 would have been included though...
Tosh : I didn't know you wanted access Try now - «link» If anyone else wants to help contribute to PS3Blog.net leave a comment here - «link»
hesido [Emrah] : None of the submission options are available for me :
Tosh : Sorry about that Jimmy, it's fixed now.
ehandlr : cool thanks Seg.
JimmyMagnum : yeah still getting it
Tosh : Sorry my host seems to be having issues lately. I'm looking at moving to a different host. Try it again and let me know if it happens
JimmyMagnum : TDOMF: Bad data submitted. Please reload the page and try submitting your post again.
JimmyMagnum : tried submitting news and got this error:
Segitz : The article says: a german sony service worker said, that bc will be unlocked in the US next week or the week after that... Not much more
Segitz : Looking into it...
ehandlr : Perhaps we can get a good translation from Seg? How much can we trust this site?
ehandlr : German website says BC is on its way back confirmed by Sony employee? «link»
JimmyMagnum : I hate AZ. Been hitting 105+ everyday, and it's monsoon season, so we get a bit of humidity and no clouds. Go outside and you sizzle and bake.
Try now - 
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 am
Some of the levels are amazing to play, and a lot are LBP versions of games, i have already played a WipEout level, Mario, and FIFA versions. Others are just fun with puzzles and stuff to solve.
When this gets opened up to the masses and the creative people out there the potential to never get bored is very strong! Imagine playing a new level every time you played the game, thats the potential…… user created content is going to start popping up everywhere following this game, its the next evolution in gaming for me anyway, and Sony have done it first this gen!
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 am
I have got the LBP beta, and it is AMAZING! ;P Can’t wait for the full game this month ;P
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
My Flipper Madness level was hearted over a hundred times^^ I didn’t even need 4hrs to make it… AWESOME
I used to make levels for Q3A (i.e. recreating local stuff like our trainstations etc.) as a hobby. Nothing professional, but it still was fun. LBPs MAJOR advantage is the ease of use. Q3rad etc. are very complex tools, but they allow you to do EVERYTHING you can imagine. In LBP you can’t… Even materials etc. are prepared, so you don’t need to worry about that.
It will sell like hotcakes over a very long time!
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
I watched G4’s Xplay LBP special the other night, you can do so much with this game it’s impressive. It’s going to keep me busy for a while.
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I cannot wait. SO eagerly anticipated. My question is. Will this spur sales of the Playstation eye since I haven’t heard of any other way to get textures into the game?
October 4th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I sur hope so, mcloki… Not too many people have the Eye
The video chat is great!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Just to add some balance to the comments I must say that the user created levels in the beta so far really isn’t anything to write home about.
At some point there will definitely be levels worth playing, made by a few dedicated user, like in a number of (PC) games in the past, and I’m still buying the game, but only for the levels it’s shipped with.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I was lucky enough to win a beta code over the weekend. I finally had a chance to download it later Sunday evening. I only played the game for a few hours, but the game managed to exceed my high expectations. I have to admit I only played a handful of user created levels, but there were a few gems out there.
The editing tools are easy to use, but the amount of creative freedom is almost over whelming. With some more practice, I think I might be able to create something worth playing myself.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:36 am
I managed to get a beta key today.
So far we (my son and I) have only played it for 3 hrs.
Yes, it is a creative system. It is by far the best example of that on the console. My 5 and a half year old son was able to figure out the interface and was able to make a level.
Feels a lot better than Home, the only other “build your own world” type game I’ve used on the PS3.
It does have a bit of a learning curve, and the tutorials are drudgery, but once you get past that it is not too bad. So far I have not been able to test the online component, maybe it will work tomorrow (servers must be busy or something)