Every LittleBigPlanet level created by the game’s fans will soon get its own URL. That means gamers would be able to more directly promote their levels, send them to friends etc. “Rather than saying, ‘Please search for my level,’ you can just say, ‘Here’s a link’,” said Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule, the development studio behind LittleBigPlanet.
Tagged ‘user-generated content’
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Except in LittleBigPlanet, where it’s copyright theft and will be moderated (i.e. deleted), thus sending thousands hours of effort from dedicated fans to the digital scrapyard. It may be necessary, presumably to prevent Sony HQ from being besieged by angry legal threats, but it’s now threatening to seriously damage the phenomenal buzz surrounding LittleBigPlanet. Fortunately, something is being done about it.
In a case that’s getting weirder and weirder, it has emerged that “Victor Vezina” the Second Life avatar who is being sued over alleged trademark infringements is none other than Victor Keegan from The Guardian newspaper’s technology team.
Google has announced that at the end of this year it is to cease running its Second Life copy – Lively. Lively, a virtual world with user-generated avatars and content, rather cleverly allowed you to import content from other Google applications – pictures from Picasa, video etc. But that hasn’t stopped it from the chop because Google wants to “prioritize resources and focus more on core search, ads and apps business.” And that got us thinking – about how much I hate most user-generated content in gaming. Here’s five reasons why you shouldn’t make content for their games:
Despite being a little late to get behind the whole Internet gaming fad, Nintendo US’s President Reggie Fils-Aime has pledged that his company will “keep pace” with the changing face of games, and specifically the emerging trend for user-generated content. Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference, Fils-Aime showcased four Japanese titles to back his words.
Sony and Media Molecule are planning to take LittleBigPlanet’s user-created content to a higher level of customisation by Xmas. Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans has revealed that a patch will soon allow you to upload images from your PS3 hard drive and use them when designing and building your own levels and items. Those errant Qur’an references might soon be the least of LBP’s worries…
The levels created in the public beta test of Little Big Planet will appear in the final game, Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule Studios has confirmed. Thousands of players have had access to both playing and editing levels from the eagerly anticipated PS3 collaborative platform game releasing this month. And the result has been thousands of user-created levels that will now be available in the retail game too.