Project Spark - On Opportunities and Waste

While I was writing up a general E3-ender post, I took a proper look at Project Spark and, as I tried to continue the post, I found myself coming back to it over and over again.  Which seems like a good thing!  Except I found that I was coming back for all of the wrong reasons.  Instead of finding interest in the game itself, I find myself simply poking at this and that, going 'hrm' and grunting in annoyance as I move on to the next thing to whinge about.  That is frustrating in and of itself, of course, which just leads to even more frustration over the whole thing and it's just a vicious circle.  All of it is very unfortunate, of course, given the context of it.

I want to like Project Spark, much as it might not seem it.  I have gone on record several times, I'm sure, stating that I'm honestly fine with people cribbing ideas wholesale and adding their own touch to it, which is clearly what's gone on here.  Project Spark isn't "Let's make a game where players can make all sorts of things!", it's "People really like LittleBigPlanet and make some amazing things in it - we gotta get in on that".  Which is fine.  Encouraged, even!  Challenges help everyone grow since one party is always aiming to make a better product than 'the other one' that's out there.  If this means a fully 3D LittleBigPlanet for the next iteration (Which practically writes itself:  "LittleBigPlanet 3:  Now with a 3rd Dimension!") then I'm -all for it- since that's really the one big limitation it has, which has even been circumvented in a sense, in some ways.

I have plenty of issues with what I'm -seeing- of Project Spark, however.  Which, I will admit might be a lot of ado about nothing, considering my (and most people, I would think) only exposure is the above two videos of a game that's clearly not in its finishing stages or anywhere near close yet.  I hope this isn't meant to be a launch title (and nothing says that it is) because it certainly won't be ready for that - in reality, it might not have been ready to show off just yet.  Why not, you might think.  There's videos of it and everything!  Videos showing 'games' that people made using the game itself!  Games that look suspiciously like Limbo and Fez and Geometry Wars and Space Invaders and Fruit Ninja!  Games that are clearly games!

It has to do with the Intro Video, mostly, to be honest.  I got to the part where it was showing off how easy it is to 'make' things in a 3D environment with Kinect, and interact with them and I could not shake my head hard enough, yelling "NOPE".  Once upon a time, you see, I got to play around with 3D software in which you can actually create, you know, 3D renditions of things.  Things that you can rotate and look at and see all the little details and the like.  While this was a few years ago and technology has sure changed, I don't think the real philosophy has, and the philosophy, basically, is that "this shit is fucking hard" because the 3D space begs for feedback, and it's only when you've created the perfect looking rubber ducky that you turn it and realize everything is clipping through it in the wrong way and it looks terrifying and horrible.  So you're going to have to excuse me if I call bullshit on just waving your hand and making a little snow-covered cliff and putting a house right on top of it and not slightly inside of it or completely in the wrong spot because you can only look at it from one angle at a time.

Perhaps it's tool-assisted or something, but all that tells me, then, is that you're working within certain limitations that you don't honestly need in a 3D environment.  Limitations that you don't want in a game that is supposed to task you with creating everything and anything you want.  Limitations that, from what I've seen unfortunately seem to be there if only because of the over-stylized Fable-esque look surrounding every facet of the game, preventing some sort of identity separation from happening even with the games that we are so obviously supposed to see as X and Y existing titles.  Everything, even Limbo, looks like "X, but with Fable".  At least with LittleBigPlanet, despite everything about the look and feel of the game, you -could- establish a striking visual identity if you worked at it enough.  And perhaps that technically is the case with Project Spark as well - I'm just not seeing it yet.

As it is, I'm not impressed with Project Spark, but I suspect it will take a little actual information on the game before I am.  When it's in a proper state, release a "This is how you make a game" fast video like LittleBigPlanet has done numerous times (because, I mean, come on) and let us understand just how 'easy' it actually is.  While also showing off just how much is something you make from scratch (since you can literally build block by block in LBP) versus how much is canned, you-can't-do-anything-but-change-its-color, like that monster shown in the video.  Assuming you can't actually edit it for....some terrible reason.  I cannot stress enough, however, that I want to be impressed with Project Spark.  I want it to be released and be popular so that it helps spur more games of its type.  I long for a world where LittleBigPlanet is not the 'only' big game where you can make literally anything in it.  Because that is a world wherein I will actually make something wonderful eventually.  Maybe.

seriously, again, I say it looks like friggin' Fable and I will continue to say that

My Games of 2012, Runners Up

Here's the first of the last batch before I am finally done with Game of the Year stuff (aside from "Games that Weren't my Games" which I might not do right away because good god) detailing the three games that were not number one on my Game of the Year list.  This was, of course, the hardest part, and I'm sure that'll get across in the way I talk about the games individually since, in most cases, I will be trying to convince myself of why I -didn't- pick it as my Number One, but liked it so much that it was that close.  It's weird to say that any of these games, hell even the last three games before this, could have just as easily been my number one pick.  They're all special and wonderful in their own ways, so it was just a matter of trying to pick the one that I'm going to remember the most down the road.  In that, I think I figured it out quite well, but even still, it's a hard call.

4.  LittleBitPlanet PS Vita

It's no secret that I am a man who enjoys LittleBigPlanet in any and all facets, be they the regular Sidescroller ones or even Kart Racers, so that the iteration that happened to appear on what is rapidly becoming my favorite system ever is one of my most favorite games of the year is absolutely no surprise.  It is probably the antithesis of a surprise, and I am imagining everyone reading this was probably just awaiting the occasion where it would finally come up in numbered form.  That it is in the number 4 position is mostly a surprise to myself, but it's mostly because I didn't spend as much time with LBPV as I would have liked thanks to my profile getting corrupted right before I was going to make a real, proper level.  Game.  Whatever the term you want to use is.

Of course, that was honestly -my- fault, as I'm fairly certain that I closed the game while it was auto-saving more than a few times and doing that is just asking to have your game messed up.  I'm not holding it against the game, but in the same vein, it made me consider just how much I wanted to do all of that again, like I had done with the first title in the series after losing my save/profile there to a PS3 YLOD.  I love the LittleBigPlanet games, and I love replaying the story levels in them, but I love doing them at my leisure, not having to worry about dragging in some random to grab three score bubbles halfway through a level every other level.  It's fantastic indeed, truly, that LittleBigPlanet Vita can support proper LittleBigPlanet multi-player, it really is.  However, I'm not so much a fan of multi-player in general, so I can't help but cringe at the thought of all those bubbles where I will have to, once again, involve others in what is my game and my fun.  Especially when my time is as limited as it is.

Still, I'll do it eventually.  Not only because of my enjoyment of the franchise, but because the story in LBPV might just be one of the better ones of the entire series.  The levels are rich and charming, the aesthetic is clear with each and every one, and they're just jam-packed with fun that comes with a full appreciation of LBP2's inventory of power-ups as well as the few Vita-specific ones.  For certain items, I found myself replaying levels several, several times over and not once was it ever really a chore.  Sure, sometimes it was because I was just trying very desperately to Ace a level and it was so very difficult, but even then, I was never really deterred.  Cautious, sometimes, but never deterred.  I'm not happy that I'll have to do all that over again, but I'm not too fussed either.  My return to LBPV, whenever that is, will be glorious and because I've experienced it before, I know I'll fall in love with it all over again.  It's just clearing the rest of the games in the way so that I may truly enjoy it when I get around to it that is an issue.

3.  Far Cry 3

So, did you guys know that I really like Far Cry 3?  Because I really like Far Cry 3.  I liked it so much that I just couldn't believe it.  As in, I literally could not believe that I liked the game so much and I just knew, I knew there had to be a part where it started to crack, started to fall apart for me, because not doing so was an impossibility.  Unfortunately, I was correct, but even still after seeing some cracks I can't help but marvel at this game.  It went from a relative unknown to something that I had to have when I read a rather glowing review from Chance and there is not a single point that he touches on that I disagree with.  The game is fun incarnate.  You could break off large chunks of the fun Far Cry 3 offers and make an entire other game with it and both of them would still be fun.  Fun, fun fun.

The cracks only started to show when, as Chance said, Vaas left the stage.  Directly thereafter, the larger foe in Hoyt precedes a change in scenery and a change in gameplay, somewhat, as it becomes apparent that the best way to get close to Hoyt is to infiltrate his privateers.  That's not a bad idea in the slightest, except the way that the game executes it is faulty at best.  In order to get a privateer outfit, you have to engage in a forced stealth level where you cannot kill anyone or be seen.  The entire game, you've been honing your craft, your skills for killing and yet now, in the situation where it most makes sense, you cannot make use of that skill in any way for what is absolutely a twenty minute long level if you manage to get through it in a single go.  You will not.  You will not at all.  And you might think, when you get it and look like a Privateer that stealth just got a whole lot easier, right?  You would think that.

You would be wrong.

There's no reason for you to be wrong to the degree that we all are in thinking this, however.  Obviously, direct aggression against a fellow privateer will make it clear to them that you're not one of them.  That's fine.  Anyone who witnesses it will be aware as well.  That is also fine.  However, what is not fine is that, in a mission fairly soon after you get the uniform you have to infiltrate an area with three captains and kill them to try and find some important plans and documents on their persons.  That, in itself, is fine.  It takes place along the side of a mountain, basically, which is important.  The mission area is very vertical.  The problem I have with the whole set-up is that, if I mess up with the privateers at the very bottom of the mountain, Oblivion Guard Syndrome will kick in and every single privateer in the mission zone will know that I am an imposter.  For a game that pays attention to every single other thing with such incredible detail, this is almost deplorable and it was so jarring that I nearly quit the mission in frustration.  In truth, after I cleared it, possibly a few others, I haven't played it, having focused on AssLib and other things these last few days.

Still, it's just a minor speed-bump in the road that Far Cry 3 runs and it's more happenstance than I haven't played it in the last few days than reasoned.  There's just so much enjoyment to be had in Far Cry 3 that I'll be back soon enough and I'll spend entire days within its confines before I wrest my victories from it.  There's still beasts to hunt, still relics and letters to be found and, certainly, plenty of pirates and privateers to be dealt with.  While the looming 'threat' of Vaas is no longer in it for me, meaning no more fun moments like his "Insanity" speech, the fun of the game is still there and I am looking to grab hold of that and enjoy it as the last throes of the game are shown to me.  I know they won't disappoint.

2.  Binary Domain

I expected to like Binary Domain.  I expected to pick it up and enjoy it for what it was, feel a slight swell of pride for Yakuza Studios for really doing something that they wanted to do, expanding their horizons and move on to other games.  I expected it to be fun, yet flawed and be something that I couldn't universally suggest to anyone as a great game to play.

Sometimes, though.  Sometimes what you expect and what you get are not the same thing at all.

I can say, with certainty, that I love Binary Domain.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but the game is just so wonderful to me that I just cannot say anything less of it than that.  For their second attempt, it's a magnificently done third-person shooter, especially so when you consider their first attempt was Yakuza:  Dead Souls.  Given that they nailed the gameplay, which is the only part you should worry about with a Yakuza Studios game, the rest, as they say, is just gravy.  Production values are sky-high considering, and the Voice Acting in the title is fairly fantastic as is the dialogue.  Despite the themes in the game, the moments of humor that are sprinkled throughout are genuinely hilarious.

Honestly, if I had to say that there was anything that the game doesn't do well, it would be boss fights.  It's not even a matter of them being badly designed or anything, it's just that they go on far too long.  Perhaps that was exacerbated by me playing the game on the 'hard' difficulty, but even still, they seemed to drag on forever and ever which became a bit of a problem when I would die at the end of them sometimes, necessitating that I do the entire thing over again.  When the game plays so smoothly, however, it's not even -much- of a complaint there and is more about the time invested than anything.  Even the multi-player has its own charm from what little bit of it that I played.  The 'Invasion' game mode has you and others clearing a small map of 'Scrapheads' as they flood in, giving you only a limited amount of ammo for every five rounds of survival.  The squad I was in, unfortunately, only made it to the 25th round of 50, and it was mostly thanks to a lack of cooperation (limited ammo means take it only when you need it), but it was a blast regardless.

There's not really a whole lot more that I can say to try to impress upon you how much I liked Binary Domain.  What I've said, plus the second-place rank it took should hopefully be all the recommendation you might need.  It's cheap now in the wild, I'm sure, and it's well worth the price you'll pick it up for.  From the fantastically told story (with the usual Japanese weirdness to it), to the solid gameplay, to the absolutely entertaining cast, it's well worth the second place spot in the list, much like the last few games probably are as well for their own high successes.  Still, I think Binary Domain shone just a little brighter all told, and my hope is that a few more people pick up on it somehow, for some reason.  They won't be disappointed.

LittleBigThings: Welp, Working on Some Stuff

As I sort of imagined, though feared against, I am finding it a little easier than it was on the PS3 to set about actually building a level and getting stuff put down.  Not -much- easier, mind you, but I have a days-worth of progress on something done up versus....well, no progress at all, so that's something.  As is generally the case, that's more or less what I've been doing since I aced the Story Mode, though I have put in some time to actually attempt the whole online thing to get some of the 2-Player required prize bubbles and have met with limited amounts of success.  While I can actually play online as opposed to some games, I'm sure the NAT factor is still in play when it comes to my ability to actually enjoy the online aspect of the game.  Which is marginally strange to me since I apparently have the same on my PS3 but I guess having a cable hooked up makes all the difference in the world.  Regardless, I have taken down about four of the levels with two-person-only Prize bubbles which means great success where I come from.

Create mode in LBPV has been a little bit of a different beast than its console counterpart however, at least in terms of a few things.  Mechanics-wise, it's generally the same aside from a few improvements that I may or may not touch on tonight, but what I'm talking about...well, does sort of matter in that context, as it's about the content available.  You see, LittleBigPlanet 2's big billing thing was "You get -everything- from LittleBigPlanet to carry over!" which means costumes, stickers, bits and bobs, objects, materials, etc. etc. etc.  Everything when it means everything.  Going from LittleBigPlanet 2 to Vita, however?  You get.....DLC costumes that were purchased in either LBP or LBP2 which are appreciated of course, but nothing else that isn't mechanical.  To tell the truth, I haven't really looked, but I do believe that the Paintinator has been completely phased out for the Creatinator which is admittedly basically the same thing but still, that's...something.  Water has been implemented properly, as a core mechanic, so why not bring that along as well?  (I might have overlooked it, however, will probably edit in here after I check when I'm done with the post itself.)

As such, I find it odd, trying to do some things in it as I remember bits and pieces of my excursions with the console versions and the things I used there, only to find that they're simply not here.  Almost disconcerting, even.  To top that, some of the LBP Costumes in the actual storefront on the Vita are for packs that include more than just costumes.....if you buy them on PS3.  For the Vita version itself, you only get the costumes, thought I suppose a theoretical LittleBigPlanet 3 would eventually use all the elements again if you're worried about having to 'go back' to LBP2 to get the full use out of them.  Still, I hold out a little bit of hope that something will be done here in the future to allow us access to the rest of the stuff from the DLC, the materials and the like, though I suppose I will understand if it's just not really possible.  If we're throwing out dreams as well, hoping they are heard by the powers that be, being able to get base things, again materials and the like from LBP 1 and 2 would also be nice, but I'm mostly just concerned with the stickers and materials from the DLC as I would assume they have all the rights they need to bring them over - after all, they were alright enough to tinker with bits of all of them as is.

Anyways, the point was to talk about the creating thing so I should probably do that instead of anything else like whining about not having enough stuff to build with.  Which I suppose is still talking about creating things in a sense but it's a bit heading off the topic an- right, right, moving on.  It's an odd thing, trying to build something in LittleBigPlanet because I have sort of been ruined by the community.  You go into other levels and see things and marvel and wonder at just how the hell they made that, and then go into one of your levels and have a dumpy little outline of a house started.  It's....intimidating to say the least.  I can't help but equate it somewhat to making things in Sound Shapes, where I didn't really -have- that.  Sure, there were nice looking things in Sound Shapes, but the bulk of them were just creative usage of pre-made things.  In LittleBigPlanet, entire levels are literally hand-crafted things and sometimes they are just amazing.  I freeze up just thinking about trying to replicate anything that has the sort of grandeur I've come across or, more importantly, just thinking about what I make in comparison to those other things.  It's.....never pretty.  And unnecessary.  I cannot -not- do it, however.

Still, for whatever reason I have found that it's easier to get past that in LBPV - perhaps because I really don't care about being judged in the same scope as those other types of levels (which I don't think I would, since they're separate entities) or perhaps because I'm getting more confident about being able to make things that look kind of half-decent.  I mean, take a look at the screenshot provided at the top - it's not bad I'd say, for being very early on in planning out.  I have the planters and no idea how to actually put plants in them yet which I can get past, a doormat on the step up, and a doorway with a door that actually has a little detail on it with the knob, the lock and the stickers.  Also in the level is a white-picket fence, a mailbox and a tree with a Tire Swing because -why not-.  It's all very basic yet because...well, that's how you gotta do it.  I have to lay the framework for things before putting anything else down.  Not because I want everything to be perfect because it assuredly will not be, but because I need to try at least, because it's only with trying that you get better and such.

The issue I'm running into with all my levels, not just this basic house one (which will be used as a sort of 'hub' level for my other things) is that I just don't know a whole lot about what I want.  I can't really visualize and I can't really replicate with scale.  Everything looks okay until you put it in contrast with something else.  For example, the planters and the step look a little big when you compare it to the door, and the space of the entry room seems like it might be a little big compared to the door as well, but the door scales really nicely to Sackboy itself - a little taller and a little wider than him, like any good door to a person.  In the end, I'm sure I'll probably just have to not -care- so much about scale since Sackboy isn't really a thing of perfect proportions himself and trying to base around him specifically is something of a fool's errand.  Still, I operate under the theory of doing something right when you do something at all, or at least I pretend I do, so I am trying to stick with that if nothing else.  And I'm not about to publish a level unless I'm mostly happy with it.  And it's done and such.  My House level is pretty good so far for being like 1% done, so small victories here.  When I get some more done with it, I'll do an update here and/or when I start working on the other two projects, I'll do something for them here as well.  With any luck, it will be soon!

LittleBigThings: I Beat LPBV's Story

So, technically I beat the story to LittleBigPlanet Vita (I'm cutting the Playstation part of the title because it's extraneous) a couple nights ago, and since have just been going back into them and trying to Ace them, some with far greater success than others, but I think that added experience has done wonders for my ability to appraise it as a full product.  Not in a review sense, since I really don't think that'd be fair since, in all actuality, the real beef of LittleBigPlanet Vita is not -there- yet in a sense.  Which is not a slight at MediaMolecule or, in this case, Tarsier Studios, of course, because the things that they do are magical, but they are probably cheating a little.  You know that every single Community Level you play is drawing from the exact same set of tools that you yourself have available to you and I'm just not quite sure that the developers have those same tools or those same limitations, particularly on space.  And besides, I think I love LBP a bit too much to offer it a fair appraisal (though I said that about the Yakuza series and I think I did alright there) especially as I play more and more Community Levels (and make my own) because I'll just get too attached to things that aren't necessarily of the game itself.

Even now, trying to think of the actual story missions, just in its own, I'm also considering other things like Bound: Prologue, a capable enough little tech demo for something of an actual sword-n-spell combat system that people have only been asking for since the Paintinator, more or less, and Snatch which is a basic little Escape the Room type game that I happen to have something of a fondness for when they're not completely overwrought.  Also, I'm thinking of my own projects, one of which I've started some very basic preliminary work on, where the other is only a concept for now.  When either of them get a little more accomplished, I'll likely be doing up a Behind-the-Scenes type of post here to show off what I've got going and what I'm envisioning for the rest of the level.  Because it's going to be pretty cool, I assure you.  Or at least, I think it will be pretty cool.

But if anything, I think that helps illustrate my point that I was trying to make.  I could go on and on and on and on about LittleBigPlanet in any iteration without mentioning the story whatsoever, and that is simply because that half of LBP as a series is just so big that it could, in fact, be its own game.  I have a secret hope that, with LBP being a thriving series and LBP Karting coming up (as well as the existence of Modnation Racers) that we will see other genres embrace the LBP-style experience and let us get things out there.  Touching on something I went on about the other week, can you imagine if someone took, say, the RPG genre and did up something like LittleBigPlanet for it?  Having a game with it to show you some of the mechanics, and giving you an opportunity to earn the tools, then having an entire community creating and releasing things for others to enjoy.  Or, honestly just about any genre out there, I think anything could be molded in a way that it would work really.

Anyways, yes yes, I really should be getting on with actually talking about what is there in LittleBigPlanet Vita when you pop it into your Vita in some fashion.  I find it particularly funny that just after talking about it the other night, and mentioning that the touch controls had been used quite nicely that I run into a level that uses the rear touch pad in a manner that I am tempted to call abhorrent, but I won't go that far, because it's really not -that- bad, just disappointing since it makes me look like an ass.  As I do, I went ahead and took a screencap of the level I had in mind and provided it above, so that I can sort of explain what's going on.  Now, it's hard to tell specifically, but that is my Sackboy (Detective Penguin~) on something that is basically a lightning bug or something of that sort by way of controllinator.  So you see that screenshot and probably say "Hey, alright, twin-stick shooter type thing" and you are wrong.  And seeing me say that and now remembering that I just brought up the rear touch pad, I'm sure you're very confused.  As well you should be.

You see, your only method of input for that entire level (which is mercifully short) is, indeed, the rear touch pad.  You touch on a spot and your bug moves towards your finger and that is how you get from point A to point B.  Depending on how far your finger is makes it kind of faster, but that's not really a considering factor, really.  It's unwieldy and it's unnecessary and it's just not a very good idea.  I get that they were probably trying to do something to let you know that you can use the rear touch pad for more than just bumping out platforms, but I'm sure that anyone could have thought of something far better to use as a tool to do that with.  With the other touch controls, some of it is stuff that, well you -don't- need it to use it, like the panels you pull down to bounce your Sackboy up with, but it ends up feeling fairly natural anyway.  But there's really just no excusing using the rear touch pad as a navigation device when you have not one, but two control sticks on your device.

In all honesty, however, that's really the only stand-out situation where it is inherently just poorly used.  Other times, I could mention because it forces use at semi-hectic times, but it's not -bad-, and just takes a little skill, much like any other control method.  Control-wise, that's kind of how the game is; for the most part it's fantastic (same as usual) and for that one level and bits and pieces here it's less than stellar.  Similar is the story, which is more or less what you would expect - charming and light, though to its credit, every region has a genuine reason for you being there which could have been something that would get muddled up more than not.  I was fairly impressed with it, and it was pretty much what you would want.  Perhaps I'll get around to getting into that more eventually since the story isn't quite as spoiler-ruined as most, but there's not really much expansion to do without telling the whole of it, which I don't plan on doing tonight.  No, what I plan on doing is purely getting a little more acing done, and then sleep.

LittleBigThings: LittleBigPlanet Vita is in My Hands - Literally

Greetings from LittleBigPlanet, folks!  As predicted, or rather, as I hoped, I was able to waltz into GameStop today and pick up my copy of LittleBigPlanet Vita with absolutely no hassle and upon returning home, I immediately jettisoned Dynasty Warriors Next from my Vita (I put it in after I finished Gravity Rush in the off-chance that I wanted to mindlessly grind towards the eventual goal of Platinuming the game) and inserted the cart that might as well have been gold-plated for as eagerly as I had awaited it, had longed for it.  There was a minimal update required prior to actually enjoying the game that enabled the Cross-Buy DLC option as well as other little tweaks, but LittleBigPlanet as a series is no stranger to patches (literally and figuratively, what with the sack/fabric motif) and as an avid fan of the franchise, neither am I.  As it was installing, my anticipation was at its peak and the point where I started playing the game was all the better for it.

The game is, in a word, LittleBigPlanet.  Having played 2 not too long ago, it's like I'm playing it again, except there's all new levels.  And that is -good-.  Impressive, even, considering that the series on PS3 is quite pretty to look at, if for the fairly distinct style it carries, but for also the overall 'look' of it.  That is pretty much captured nicely on the Vita with no real substantial area in which it is lacking that I can point out or identify.  The gameplay, much like the visuals, is distinctly fitting in the series' last offerings while adding in its own flair that I will get to in a moment.  That does mean, for better or worse, that it is still a LittleBigPlanet game, and if the controls have bugged you in the past, this game will likely do nothing to change that.  For my part, though, I never, -ever- got the controls complaints and I very much doubt that I will ever understand them, since, after playing other platformers who had their controls described as wonderful and disliking them, I am convinced that my definitions and my expectations are just different.

Yes, being a Vita game, there are touch-based controls for many things, some of them being mandatory.  And yes I get that some people hear that and instantly look for the nearest table to upend, but seriously, do not worry about it.  When done right, touch-based controls are simply natural, feeling like they deserve a place in line next to the X button and down on the D-Pad and such.  And make no mistake, they are certainly done right in LBPV from my semi-limited experience with the game.  You can interact with a few bits and bobs of the environment here and there in pretty natural ways - in the actual 'tutorial' bit for it, you have a block that you can take from a ledge and put it down as a step for your Sackboy to jump on to progress. 

But it's not a simple 'you touch, it does this' process in that you can...kind of just do whatever you want with items that you can pick up and move as that.  Even crushing your sackboy with it or, if you have a very steady hand, carrying them on the platform.  This type of usage is expanded on with spring platforms that allow you to pull it down to launch Sackboy up, rather than having to do those timed jumps some of you might remember from similar platforms in earlier games.  (Like the Wedding section in the first, remember how much of a pain that could be?)  Later examples show off the pushblocks which can be pushed in or out using the front and rear touch screens that will provide passage depending on their usage.  In one, you push back a wall to get by it, move forward jump up and then push it back out to serve as a bridge.  It does not feel forced, awkward, or anywhere near out of place, considering the 'universe' it's in.

Something that I certainly do want to touch on (ha!) before I forget is something that specifically has an all-new sort of excitement welling up in me.  You see, it seems that after beating a boss, you are granted access to one of the levels in The Arcade, which features, from what I can tell, something of greatly expanded-on Mini-games.  Mini-games that bring something into LBP that I have not seen in any fashion before and something that I've often lamented it lacks:  persistence.  Now, when I say persistence, I mean it in a game fashion, as in, you do something and it persists.  Specifically, the first Arcade game that is opened is Super Conductor, a puzzle game where you send a pulse from a source with the ultimate goal of getting it to where it needs to go, a task that leaves you to alter pipes and such as it goes.  If I'm believing right, it has 20 levels to it, and I'm stuck at....17 or something.  The thing that I am excited for is the fact that when I open LBPV up again and go back into the Super Conductor level, all of my progress is still there.  Levels 1-16 are still beaten.

It seems like a little thing to laud, but it's really not, considering that it's more or less something that hasn't, likely couldn't, be a part of LBP in the past.  I'm not even really sure how they manage it - if there's some sort of special programming that cannot be done with the creator (which would make me sad) or if it's just an honest-to-sack new ability that the game has managed to include in the editor.  But if it's in there, it's going to be huge for people not content to make levels that intend for you to get from A to B once and maybe do over again with a sticker that you only get at the end to open a second path.  Because it means that you'll be able to take these elements already provided, the 'overhead camera' for isometric-type games, the sackbots, and make a true, actual game, which has been the mantra of the series since 2, building on the idea that you were merely making 'levels' in the first.  I am highly skeptical that it's something available to us, but only because I'm tempering my hope, since I cannot imagine what people could do with persistence on top of the other amazing things that have been made in LBP and LBP 2 already.

Bonus Post: LittleBigPlanet Vita Being Sold Early

So, there were rumblings throughout the internet speaking to the possibility that LittleBigPlanet Vita had its street date broken, quite a bit moreso than usual for a release game (not considering that it's two weeks early) and it was more or less proven accurate by a statement made by Sony's PR Manager, Eric Levine, who made a little post on the Playstation Blog about it.

Hi everyone – production on LittleBigPlanet PlayStation Vita was completed earlier than expected, and due to the excitement from our retail partners, some have decided to put it on shelves as soon as the product was received. You’ll still be able to fully enjoy all the offline features of the game, but the servers will not go live until September 18th. We apologize for any confusion this may cause and will keep you posted on any further updates.

That statement is basically saying "GameStop broke street date because I don't know, and we're not going to go after them because it means they're selling our game and that's pretty cool at least", which is a rather nice way to handle it, really.  They also point out that because the game was being sold, again, two weeks early that the servers weren't online and won't go online until a week before.  This is probably customary procedure, as not only do companies tend to try and stress test them, but so that reviewers can partake in the online offerings of a game for the purpose of the review.  Again, this is a pretty cool move to say "Just so you know, the servers are going up this day" instead of....well, just not mentioning it, or even worse, trying to deter people from playing it online on the 18th.  Which, if the Sound Shapes release is anything to go by, would probably be alright, since it would likely have the effect of having people slowly ween themselves to them when it becomes 'more okay' with each passing day, instead of slamming them day one, ensuring that the traffic makes it difficult to play.

I don't generally advocate looking into the comment sections of posts I link to because they are generally a sinkhole of idiocy and this is really no different.  However, I have gazed into the eyes of madness and if you should choose to do so yourself, you'll see that a lot of people are unhappy about this for reasons that....are quite silly, really.  Namely that Sony wasn't prepared for GameStop to break the street date by two full weeks and, as such, aren't releasing the digital version of the game early.  Since clearly, clearly all you have to do to release a game digitally is flip a switch, right?  RIGHT?!  It can be done whenever because Digital Distribution is just magical like that and when the switch is flipped, you can pay for it with unicorn farts and sunshine nuggets.  Because this is imagination land, you see.

For my part, I'm just going to brush that off because I know that the 19th, not the 25th, is the day that I will have LittleBigPlanet Vita in my hands, and thus the 19th will be a glorious day.  Unless GameStop shennanigans occur which would be a surprise, as I've never been on the receiving end of one of these 'horror stories' that float around out there when it comes to GameStop as a whole.  I'm not figuring that I will be, but there is a fairly sizeable amount of weirdness going on already.  Namely that they told me to come in on the 19th to get it which is A) not the release date and B) a Wednesday when games are generally released on Tuesday.  Still, a call to the store before I go there will likely save a lot of hassle on my part, so I'm none too worried.  And I'm certainly excited to have it that much closer to the horizon since I'll be jumping right into the creator after I get enough pieces to put a decent level together.  And it will be glorious.

Bleh Post - Some News and Whinging

You might have noticed, but for the past few weeks, I've just been in a constant state of 'bleh' and I'm not quite sure why.  Well....I could produce some very sound theories, of which include Summer troubles, allergies (or possibly being sick on-and-off) and all sorts of other stuff that I'm not getting into, but that's not really the point.  The point is that it's kind of been affecting my writing, I believe, in that I find it a bit harder and harder each night to come to the table, as it were, and put down something that I'm happy with.  When posts normally would take me a few hours, they've taken in excess of five on a few occasions this week, and with such prolonged writing times due to not being able to focus, I'm sure it's shown a little.  Knowing that I'd probably not be able to get out of this slump without acknowledging it, I'm going to go ahead and do that so it's not something weighing on the back of my mind with the hopes that it'll let me move on.  So yes, apologies if the quality seems to have suffered (when I actually get a chance to write instead of feeling miserable or storms making it impossible to do so) and with any luck, just coming out and throwing that out there will help me get out of it.

In a further effort to raise my moods, I'm pointing out what is basically a superfluous news point about LittleBigPlanet Vita to reaffirm to myself that the game is a thing and will be coming out at the end of next month and I just cannot wait.  If messing around with the Sound Shapes editor has taught me anything, it's that I can be a real perfectionist when I have, essentially, all the time and ability to be, as I do with a handheld, so hopefully I'll be able to effectively branch out beyond just writing a thing every night in terms of content creation on a broad scale.  Not that it isn't great to be able to do this, but I sometimes feel myself withing I could do something a little more tangible - something like a Let's Play which is just beyond my means.  Making a -thing- and showing the inner workings of it (As I have attempted to do with my game that is still being worked on, I swear) is that next step of things to bring in under the umbrella as it were, and I can imagine getting further and further along with that when it comes around.

Now, that out of the way, the piece of news here is that LittleBigPlanet Costumes are going to be cross-compatible, even moreso than simply LittleBigPlanet 1 costumes working in LittleBigPlanet 2.  You see, not only will you be able to use most of the costumes from LBP2 in both LittleBigPlanet Vita and LittleBigPlanet Karting as a way to stay comfortable in the game, or just make your style choices 'known' if you become 'big' in the community or such.  The costumes that won't make the cut, it seems, are the Assassin's Creed costumes (Ezio from AssRev and Ass2) and the April Fool's Costumes, but the only thing mentioned is that they will not make it to Karting with no mention of Vita.  The April Fool's Costume, I can understand as it has a specific animation attached to it that simply won't work in a Kart, but I'm not quite sure about the Assassin's Creed costumes.  Maybe the wristblades get in the way of the wheel or something of the sort.  Again, I can't tell if not making it to Karting means it won't make it to LBPV either, but I suppose we shall see.

The costume migration won't be immediate, of course, as there are a -lot- of costumes at this point, so they'll have to be rolled out gradually after they've been remade and such.  Something else that is a bit up in the air is whether it's simply DLC costumes, or if we can expect all the costumes, ala LBP1 -> LBP2 that we've gathered to show up.  (As in, costumes you simply gain by completing the main game)  Perhaps with a little save connecting or the like, we might see it, or if that sort of thing is flagged server-side, then it is possible, but I really have no idea.  I will be slightly sad if I don't get to use some of the vanilla costumes from LBP1 and 2, but between the Sony Licensed Costumes I have (Metal Gear Solid, God of War, etc.) and the others that will be in the game proper, I won't worry too much.  I'm sure I can find -something- that I like to have my Sackboy run around in.  Regardless, it's good to see that the things that people have actually -bought- for one game continue to make it across to the newer games in the series; something that other franchises should really take heed of.

Speaking of Sound Shapes' editor (as I did a couple paragraphs back), it shouldn't surprise you to know that I have been working rather extensively with it, tweaking and perfecting little bits here and there of a level that I am working on.  When it gets to a state that I'm pretty happy with, both in look and sound, I'll be taking some pictures, publishing it, and writing up a little post about the whole of it.  My experience making it, stuff I figured out, possibly showing you the 'preferred' method of getting through it and the like.  Not that it will be something amazing or even close to it, but it will be something that I definitely worked on and in no small form - I have been wracking my brain for hours trying to figure out what comes next in the musical part of the game, and figuring out how to make it mesh with the level design I have.  It's....a balance, to say the least, and I think that will be a little more clear once I can shed a little more light on it.  With that said, though, time to get back in it; borders that you can stick to aren't going to make themselves, after all.

LittleBigPlanet Vita Officially Coming September 25

Can you hear the hype train?  You should, because the hype train has officially fucking arrived, my friends, and I'll be riding that train til September 25th when it brings me back home with a copy of LittleBigPlanet Vita that will probably not leave my Vita for a good clip of time, or if it does, simply for small bits here and there assuredly.  Assuming you're a faithful reader, or can take a hint from the "LittleBigThings" post tag on the right side (I really should update those....), you realize that I am a huge LittleBigPlanet follower; I just friggin' love the franchise in ways that would make my family members and my ex jealous of.  So to -finally- have a release date as an official thing brings me immense satisfaction, and is honestly just a good thing which I have rather needed lately.  But I'll get into that on another day or not at all since whatever, this is about happy news, excitement or other such things.  Which finally having a release date for LBP Vita is all of those things, certainly.

Unlike several others, apparently, my Vita has not been at a lack for games, though admittedly it's not all been Vita-specific gaming I've been doing on it in the fleeting moments that I have actually managed to play it, rather than dealing with -things-.  Between Treasures of Montezuma Blitz, Gravity Rush and the handful of PSP games I've spoken of (As well as Hexyz Force which I haven't truly gotten around to talking about because I haven't actually played it all that much yet) to make no mention of the upcoming Sound Shapes which I'm sure will be a steady play-every-now-and-again game when I want to have some fun with music, I'm pretty covered in regards to Vita gaming, and this is, of course, without dipping into other things that I really want (Touch My Katamari, Mortal Kombat Vita, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection to name a few), so I don't really get the "Hurr, about time, Vita needs games, etc" rhetoric flying around beyond the obvious fact that a lot of games are nice to have.  But not apparently vital, if you look at the 3DS library against its sales, but hey Nintendo is special blah blah.  Still, the game is a more than welcome addition for reasons that are fairly obvious at this point, I'm sure.

Just to help, however, I would like to point out that the creator used in LittleBigPlanet Vita is apparently quite close to the one used in LittleBigPlanet 2, so you will have access to that wonderful complexity in the palms of your hands.  Or at least, it's confirmed that you can make movies in LBPV, which requires Sackbots and Microchips at bare minimum which are, again, the rather complex things LBP2 has to offer in terms of the creator.  Having not spent a lot of time with it in LBP2, or at least, not a lot that I could remember, and the fact that there will be new additions to play to the Vita's controls means that it will likely be a little daunting at first, but I think it's quite a bit easier to commit to given the portability factor, as I find myself a little lost with my Vita whenever I don't have an internet connection (either because I don't have power for six days, the router explodes or, like a normal person, I'm simply away from my home) but this certainly gives me something to do whenever regardless.  If I'm not doing things that don't require internet, of course, like....playing the other games and such.  It...made more sense in my head, I assure you, and I hope you get what I'm getting around, which was mostly that the creator mode will likely just be fun to mess around with to learn it, which I haven't honestly done a whole lot of with the previous games.

It's honestly one of those times where I'm just too excited (perhaps overly so, admittedly) where I can't even really think of much constructive to say.  I could mention in an off-handed fashion that pre-ordering it seems to give access to two Costume packs (maybe, there seems to be a little mixed signalling going on at the moment) one of which is a Bioshock-themed costume set with a Big Daddy and Little Sister that look....just fantastic.  It's a little thing, certainly, but I can imagine what interest it might have to -some- people who might catch this, so I wanted to point it out, if just to tempt, even a little.  I am doing my duty as a LBP lover with that, at least, since I certainly want this game to succeed.  I can't see it being a -bad- game by any measure which hopefully isn't going to be jinxing the thing.  I haven't heard any impressions from the Beta which I unfortunately didn't get in on (I would've loved it) and probably won't pay attention since I...really don't care what some random person says about a game I have an interest in.  Like random youtube people talking about the Private Beta for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  When you do ever trust Random Youtube Person?  Never.

Hopefully we start getting some story trailers or creator videos or something as it comes closer to release, since I should like to talk about it again between now and release, but I'll need something resembling content to do so.  Speaking of content, with any luck LittleBigPlanet Vita won't follow in the footsteps of Resistance:  Burning Skies and disable the screenshot function since....well, that would just be a silly thing to do.  If it -doesn't- disable that, then I'll be able to take pictures and it'll be that much easier to talk about things on here, as in things that I make in the creator because I will actually probably make things.  If just a prototype or what have you of my 'real-time' day/night tool that probably will not work but it would be totally cool if it did.  It's a thing to try, at the very least, and if nothing else, I can try out just making basic things, like a 'house' level if you will to store links to levels that I -actually- make eventually maybe hopefully.  Levels that I will totally make, maybe, I don't know.  I guess I'll just wait til I actually have the game and get to have all sorts of fun with it first.

Creativity Is a Churnin'

So, for as much as this is "yet another LittleBigPlanet Vita" post, this will actually not be so much -about- LittleBigPlanet (Vita or otherwise), but rather creating something from nothing.  Partly because I'll be talking more about an idea I have and the way I could likely work it with the tools, which I plan on trying of course, and partly because I don't even mention it so much as making an LBP level/game, so much as it's just something conceptual that you could just repurpose for some other type of programming of the like.  Which is all a fancy way of saying that this is going to be another one of those posts where I nerd on for a bit and make less and less sense as I go along, but at least this time it's not with numbers.  Still, if this isn't your cup of tea, and I can understand why it might not be, then maybe move along for tonight and check back to see if I have something more interesting to talk about.

So, back before we knew what Project Happiness was going to be on I had high hopes of being able to play it on my Vita because for Harvest Moon-type dealies, I'm basically stuck with picking up Innocent Life which I already have played a bit, Harvest Moon:  Boy & Girl which I also own and played the hell out of when it was called Harvest Moon 64, or Harvest Moon:  Hero of Leaf Valley, which is one of the "you have an endgame" types that I don't particularly care for in my chill game.  It is not exactly the library I'm looking for, especially when playing one on the Vita would cost $15 where I've already bought and played the two that interest me.  And knowing that, I sighed and told myself, "Well, if only I could make my own Harvest Moon game.  But, ha, what's coming out that let's me make thi-Oh My God, LittleBigPlanet."

And on just that conceptual level, it sort of works, even, because you can shift the 'camera' to a top-down view, ala Harvest Moon games with a little wizardry, and you can certainly create a big, enjoyable area to explore, as well as make NPCs to hang about and do things.  Of course, when you get in a little deeper, you start to see where the overall idea at least wrinkles, if not completely folds.  Harvest Moon works on a day-to-day, Morning-to-Night cycle that actively -runs- the game, as there are things you can only do on certain days, as well as certain time-frames within which you have to work.  On top of that, the big thing is growing your own crops, raising your own animals, and befriending the locals, even to romance one of the ladies (or men if you're playing as a girl) to actually make a 'fulfilling' life for your character.  And just that on its own makes it rather difficult to envision even any one of those aspects working, much less all of them.

As you can see by my lovely bit of concept scribbled out on a couple post-its, I have put a little beyond basic thought into this which is 10x the amount of thought one -needs- to put into something like this.  Because it is likely a fool's errand, but regardless, there it is.  The first bit is me posing a question to myself that I don't really know the answer to/have been too lazy to look up, in wondering just if the Day-Night tool can be set to slowly cycle through Day and Night or if it's a switch that means it goes from one time to another and perhaps back at the flip of that switch.  Obviously, the idea there would be to time it out so that you have something resembling 'real-time' (in game terms at least) so that every pass from day to night to day takes X amount of time, maybe 12 minutes.  Then, when you have that figured out, and this is the bottom part of the first post-it, you have a wheel with seven sensors on it to roll at the particular rate/speed with which it will pass.  So 24 minutes pass and that's enough time to take the sensor from 'Monday' to 'Tuesday'.

Then, if you're working on a timeline that is constant, 'programming' your NPCs becomes that much easier, since you have a set time-frame with which each one of them works within.  I don't know the finer points of how you can set your NPC/Sackbots behaviors, but I know it involves Microchips and you can 'record' actions for them, not only as standard (say, a patrol route) but as well as reactionary (the player getting within a certain distance of them) and with a little remapping via those Microchips, you could technically set up something that is like "Press X to talk" for your character's sackbot that will only function within a certain vicinity of one of these Sackbots.  And on the opposite end of the spectrum, with microchips, you can make sure the Sackbot has something to say upon being talked to.  Potentially with triggers, you could make sure that they have -two- things a day to say and default to the second thing after the first has been said so you don't just stand there and hear "Oh hi, great day today!" again and again.

And as you can see, the second Post-it is me trying to think out just how you could potentially partition up a Microchip or perhaps even have Microchips within microchips that would govern behavior based on the day that the sensor reads.  Like, being able to make NPC 1 go from Point A to Point B on Monday, but making that same NPC go from Point A to Point C on Tuesday....but far more complex than that, of course.  That's proof-of-concept thinking at least.  The way it would work is simply by tying each Microchip to the day sensor which only trips when it's active.  Considering you can only have one day sensor active at a time, it would potentially work, I think.  At least, I can't conceive of a reason why it -wouldn't- work unless you simply can't do Microchipception with chips inside of chips inside of chips.  I guess I'll find out when I grab the game on Vita since the tools are more or less supposed to be the ones from 2 plus some Vita-specific ones to take advantage of the touch screens and the like.

Of course, the thing about a version of Harvest Moon on LittleBigPlanet that I didn't realize until I had thought about all of the above for -far too long-, is that it simply won't work on principle.  This is because the whole point of Harvest Moon is to have a persistent world/game which is something that LittleBigPlanet simply cannot offer in the creation of a level/game/what-have-you.  It starts and ends at definite points upon being opened and is not something that you can drop in/drop out of on a whim after a save.  The only thing I could imagine to combat that would be a password system but that would be....yet another level of complexity that I cannot even comprehend.  Because the most 'simple' version I could come up with would be having everything down to statistics and assigning a letter/number to everything depending on your progression.  As in, if you were getting cozy with this NPC, that's "X" level, whereas if you haven't even talked to this NPC, that's "Y" level.  With as many things in such a game (number of animals, crops, etc.) that would get quite lengthy and you just would get people who don't care enough to enter a password -that long-.

Still, it got the creative juices flowing and that is definitely a good thing.  LittleBigPlanet isn't the only thing in those terms that I've been thinking about, but I'll save those for another day.  Since I've rambled on and on enough about this and taken far too long to do so.  Still, it's nice to actually have -something- to present that makes me look like I actually think about things instead of parroting off information as well as my opinion.  I mean, obviously, I have more than just that type of post but sometimes I really just like....well, it's not like I'm teaching anything, but that I'm putting something out there.  With any luck, I'll be able to pull this off as a proof of concept for...perhaps not a Harvest Moon type of game, but -something- of that sort.  Because I'm figuring if my derpiness can create something like this, the geniuses out there can take the idea and make it shine.  We'll see!

I Pre-Ordered Five Games Today

In the extended campaign of assaulting a rotting horse, I am once again going to stake just how goddamn confused and worried I am about 2012.  Last night, knowing that I would be heading into GameStop today, I put pencil to post-it to leave a little reminder for myself on what games I'm looking out for that come out this year.  That list comprised of seven games, and that fact still does not fail to amaze me because of how most years go for me, as you might know if you read this blog fairly regularly.  It's not that I am very very picky, it's just that I usually narrow the games that are coming out to things I absolutely want, since the rest can usually be picked up later for less (even as a New product, which I try to buy when I can).  So, come Game of the Year tally time, I end up scraping my purchases together to produce a list of ten or twelve games that I bought that year to rate, rather than being games that I could hand-pick from my acquisitions and rate.  I'm not sure that I'll have that option this year.

The list, for those of you who are curious (though you might know it already) is:  Sleeping Dogs, Lollipop Chainsaw, Resistance:  Burning Skies, Gravity Rush (pre-ordered before today, hence why it's not on the receipt), LittleBigPlanet Vita, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and Persona 4: Golden.  You might notice Sleeping Dogs and LittleBigPlanet Karting are absent from my pre-order receipt and this is both so that I didn't spend $35 in one swing just pre-ordering games, and because I don't know if I'll have $60 to throw down both times for the games when they come out.  Make no mistake:  I crave them, but slightly less than the other games, which means that they rest on the precipice of purchasing, rather than falling from it to my waiting arms.  If I can swing it, there is no doubt that they will be mine, especially Sleeping Dogs, since as you might know I am kind of excited for it.

Now, the more observant of you might also notice that the above receipt contains a game that was not on the list I wrote up before heading to GameStop.  Ragnarok Odyssey, which I have also expressed desire for was pretty far from my mind when I was thinking up this list, purely because I am only now familiarizing myself with the idea of being able to buy it.  Yet, while going down my laundry list of pre-orders for the Vita, I asked "Can you take pre-orders for Persona 4: Golden yet?" to which the clerk, Leo, replied "Oh yeah, I got you covered there."  He then went on to say, "We're also taking pre-orders for Ragnarok Odyssey, if you're interested in that." to which I said, "Oh, Leo you're killing me.  Yes, put money on it, please."  Suddenly, my list had eight games on it, and then something flashed through my head, letting a chill of dread climb down through my spine.  "Do you have a release date for Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance yet?", I inquired.  "Yeah...let's see.  Actually exactly a month from now."

Ffffuuu-  I grit my teeth against the news and as he asked if I had anything else to pre-order, perhaps Revengeance after all, I heaved a heavy little sigh and shook my head.  "No Leo, that's all for today.  I'm already cutting games off my list and I didn't even remember those two before now."  After I pre-ordered the five games only (knowing that Gravity Rush, already ordered, made six), I shared the rest of the games with him and he chuckled a little, saying "Yeah, this year is just brutal in releases."  It's only about now that I can wonder just how people who have a 360, Wii, and/or 3DS as well keep up with it all since it's all I can to to keep up with my Vita and PS3, both monetarily and where it concerns time.  God help us all if one of Sony's E3 reveals is a, no -the- firmware update that allows PSOne Emulation because with Final Fantasy 7, 8 and Xenogears already on my account, plus a desire to jump into those, I will be fucked.  In a way, I hope they do that since it'll quiet a lot of complaints and be a big deal (always a nice buzz generated when you get to say "Presto!  New functionality right now!  For free!") for the Vita and Sony both, but I dread such a time terribly.

I've pretty much run out of words at this point.  Between what I've bought already, and the nine games that I will get, provided I have the scratch to do so, I'm already ready for Game of the Year time; my list will be no challenge in filling up.  (Ordering yes, but still)  And yet, this is only for games that I know about.  Games that have been announced and are in my mind at least semi-regularly.  I shudder to think that there are other games that I for-Goddamnit, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is slated for the Holiday season.  Ten.  Ten goddamn games.  And yet, through it all, even as I, someone who barely buys a lot of games, pre-ordered four Vita games (with a fifth one done already) that will likely be out sooner rather than later (LBP, Gravity Rush in June, P4G in the 'Fall', likely with Ragnarok, Resistance this month), and in fact, turned down pre-ordering others (Warrior's Lair for instance) people continue to smugly state that the Vita has nothing coming out for it and is totally doomed despite being out for only three months.  Some fuckin' people, I tell you.

LittleBigThings: LittleBigPlanet Vita Beta Sign-Ups Live!

You all know I loves me some LittleBigPlanet, so a chance to play it early and free (legally) is a chance that I am entirely too enthralled with trying for to pass up.  And such a chance is available now, with the LittleBigPlanet Vita Beta sign-up form that was so conveniently offered.  It's rather light on details of course, but if the recent printed publications are anything to go by (Playstation:  The Official Magazine and Game Informer) then that June release date for LittleBigPlanet Vita is more firm than I would like (yet at the same time I love it since it's not too far off), so the window for an effective Beta period is shrinking.  Still, nothing's set in stone and we'll just have to see when it's officially announced, patiently or otherwise.

The sign-up form couldn't be easier:  "What's your basic info (Email, PSN, DoB)?  What LBP games have you played before?  Do you have a Vita?  Have you ever created and shared a level in a LittleBigPlanet game?"  That's it.  Literally, those are the only things required; it takes somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple minutes and can, thankfully enough, be filled out -on- a Vita's internet browser as I found out.  Since I saw it on LiveTweet and simply -had- to do it right then before I forgot.  Which reminded me about the handy little exploit you can use with LiveTweet and the Internet Browser - If you open a page through LiveTweet, it'll open the Web Browser and go to the site....whether you have a game active or not.  So you can search whatever you want in that one window, but of course, tabbing out of it and then trying to re-enter will provide the "The Following Applications Must Close" screen, so you better get the info you want and make sure you know it as it's not exactly quick reference.

It's a strange prospect to me, that of being involved in a Beta of a game, since while I have been in quite a few, I never really had anything of an attachment to them.  I was in the Beta for Uncharted 2's Multiplayer mode, both Modnation Racers Betas (PS3 and PSP) and the Invite-Only Playstation Home Closed Beta (which seems a little cheapened now that it's been in open beta for...years.) off the top of my head, and with respect to the games mentioned, I've never cared much to the end of it or beyond.  Outside of my strange obsession with Home that has admittedly died out after the bad situation I had with it months back, meaning that I haven't gone back to it since.  Still, I find myself wanting to hop back into it every now and then to sate my decorating needs, or even hoping that something similar will come out for the Vita, but that's neither here nor there.

LittleBigPlanet Vita's Beta, should I get into it, will likely be the first Beta I get into that'll really leave a lasting impression on me.  I say this all the time when it comes to LittleBigPlanet-related things, but I really, really intend to make use of the Level maker with this and since I'll have no worries about using it for an extended period of time, as well as being able to use it whenever I want, I'm sure I can squeeze in some actual work into it.  Even if I don't, I'll be rather delighted just to get the actual game when it comes out and work with it and, thankfully, the Vita Snapshot feature will offer a little incentive for me, odd as that might sound.  I think that being able to actually throw down some Behind-the-scenes shots here easily would be something that will give me that little kick of incentive to keep at it.  As well as being able to just sort of share work with others to get advice perhaps.  I see a lot of potential for lasting appeal with the Vita version of the game, is what I'm getting at, and I sincerely hope that everyone else sees that as well, considering what an important franchise it is to me.

Upcoming Purchases: April-June

As I have pointed out several times, to the point where it's almost a running theme for 2012, there are simply just too many games out already, as well as games that are -going- to come out.  While I've barely weathered the storm of games that are out (indeed, I missed Binary Domain, which I hope to grab at some point, as well as the whole Warriors Orochi 3 fiasco), there's still a veritable juggernaut of games as a collective on the horizon, both near and far, and, much like trying to play Shadow of the Colossus on a time limit, I'm not sure just how many of these things I will be able to encounter and conquer which is a bit worrisome.  It's a completely different scenario from last year, really and I'm not quite sure if too much is better than too little or vice versa.  Still, that's not the matter at hand; that matter being deciding just what games to get, what's a necessity, which of these colossi that I -must- slay, as opposed to the ones I can let wander for a time when I -have- time.

For several reasons, the Vita is the beast that I look to feed first, and Resistance:  Burning Skies looks to be the first game in line to do just this.  Wikipedia states that it's going to release on May 29th, GameStop says the 30th, but either way, it's slated up first in way of something that I 'need' to get.  It -haunts- me that I never made time for Resistance 3, nor have I secured a copy for myself, but in my defense, I had to be a little spendthrift at the end of the year (and still do, really) and because of that and the other titles I'm looking forward to, I just couldn't really fit it in.  As I've said times before, the Vita's portability and reliability (at least, the reliability I feel when I play it for extended periods of time without worry) make it my preferred gaming machine, and the Resistance series is one of which I am certainly a fan.  Were Resistance:  Retribution for PSP available for purchase on the Vita, I likely would have snatched it up by now, but that it isn't is a blessing still.

I don't know a lot about Burning Skies, nor do I need to.  The Chimera are on Earth at a time between Resistance 1 and 3, but not necessarily during 2's events and our protagonist in alien slaughter is a firefighter, as is denoted by the expert usage of a fire axe; a crucial element of the game, apparently.  This is basically all I know, and this is pretty much all you need to know about Resistance:  Burning Skies, much less any -other- FPS out there, because you're looking at, in a best circumstance scenario, a game where the story evolves over the course of the game to become more than simple or, in a worst case scenario, a half-hearted reason for indiscriminate destruction.  Either or works just fine, I assure you, and whether Burning Skies offers the former or the latter (I would bet on the former, of course), it should be a fun little romp as 1 and 2 were for me.  Especially so if anyone who worked on 3 has a hand in the Vita's incarnation, as 3 is apparently the best of the bunch, which makes it all the more painful to not play.

If Wikipedia and/or GameStop are to be believed, June is exactly what I didn't want, and as I type this I feel a very real sensation of fear for that month.  Not only is the game above, Lollipop Chainsaw, slated to release on June 12th, but so is the next game I want to talk about, where GameStop also places the last game I'll talk about for this go in the month, though it is assuredly not official yet.  Regardless, I suppose I'll simply have to suck it up and manage, somehow, because of all three games, I'm definitely not going to skip any of them, and assuredly not Lollipop Chainsaw.  You might know if you're a faithful reader, but if not, then let me paint a picture:  I am really, really excited for this friggin' game.  Not for the obvious reasons of course, but for the simple fact that this looks like one of the most absurd things to come out this year and I am all over that shit.  That it involves zombies which I am admittedly on a kick of lately is pretty much just a happy accident; after all, I wasn't doing much talking about Dead Souls way back in August.

I pretty much just love everything I've seen about the game individually as well as a whole.  Juliet Sterling, a cheerleader for San Romero High School, seems to be the only hope of the local life.  Armed with a chainsaw adorned with pink decorations and hearts, the true spirit and moves of a cheerleader, and the voice talents of Tara Strong, she seems to be the best bet San Romero has against the zombie outbreak.  And of course, not only is she deadly, but she's very stylish as well, which is quite evident if you watch the Debut Trailer in one of the above links.  (Seriously, go do that now.  I'm waiting.)  Also she gets a grenade launcher (among other attachments, presumably) for her chainsaw at some point.  No matter what, I cannot reiterate that point enough times - a chainsaw with a grenade launcher.  There is absolutely no reason I could fathom not wanting this game, and I only fear my ability to play it when I get it, rather than waiting for the embrace of Fall.

Slated to release the same day as Lollipop Chainsaw, as I said above, Gravity Rush could not be more different.  Though they both tout quite nice, different art styles and female protagonists, that's where the similarities end as Gravity Rush trades Lollipop Chainsaw's campy, absurd approach to unabashed violence against the undead for something more serious and game play that revolves around the ability to control gravity to combat, solve puzzles, and just get around.  It's uniquely interesting on several levels and I've commented on it before, so to say I'm interested in it is restating the obvious in such a way that stating the obvious is obvious is-nevermind.  People who've messed around with the demo say that the useage of the gravity mechanic is a good one, and it's certainly one I look forward to bending to my own whims to explore whatever amount of world they give me to do so.

Like with Burning Skies, I don't know a whole lot about Gravity Rush beyond the basics, so playing it will assuredly be a gem as it begins to unfold for me.  Since I -want- this type of game to succeed that's what I hope it will do; I hope that it will offer a presentation so slick, combined with a good story that I won't want to put it down.  I hope the mechanics are solid and enjoyable, that they don't make ridiculous usage of the Vita's extra features but rather implements them in fairly natural ways as many other games have managed to do so far.  And I hope that it creates characters that are compelling and well-written, so that when I get it and play it, I can say as much here so that maybe it'll sway someone else into buying the game, because this type of game will sell on word of mouth alone, I'm sure.  Am I hoping for a lot?  Assuredly, but I am excited for it and use that to justify it; hopefully that level is well-placed.

I'm sure I don't have to say anything beyond "It's LittleBigPlanet.  On the Vita."  It's apparently out on the 27th of June, according to GameStop, but that's not solid in the least, and I would put money on it being a quite different date.  At least, I'm hoping for it.  Because all of my money, etc. etc.

So that is the foreseeable future in terms of my gaming purchases.  I'm sure there's plenty of others that could be on here, and it certainly doesn't include games that are already out, but there's a whole lotta game for this year, even beyond what I've featured here.  With any luck, we'll see the other games and a window for them as well, so I can make yet another post lamenting the overflow we're all suffering from.  Also as a random side-note, this post is late because halfway through it, my internet cut out.  I'd set it back to 11-something to make sure it hits yesterday, but I'm going to post tonight too, so it'll be fine.

LittleBigThings: Start Your Engines!

The above image, showing off Racing, one of the new styles of games you could make in LittleBigPlanet 2, might have been fore-telling something yet to come as LittleBigPlanet Karting is officially a thing, though details beyond that are scarce.  Literally, that's about all we know about it, as in we're not even sure on a developer just yet, but we're promised details of these things "soon", whenever that is.  This all follows some rumors that started towards the start of the week stating that LittleBigPlanet Karting was a thing and might even have some sort of Move integration, going so far as to having a Move Wheel peripheral mimicking that of the Wii Wheel used for Mario Kart.  I honestly don't like the idea of that, nor do I really have an idea of just how that would work (the Move Wand has a more organic, thus harder to mold, shape and the whole ball thing too), but I honestly wouldn't be surprised by it at this point.

You might be wondering, just as everybody else, "Why LBP?  Modnation Racers already exists!"  In fact, Chance wondered this exact thing and it is a really, really valid wonder to have.  I myself had it at first, but I had a little think about it, and I've got at least an idea of what could be the reason behind it all.  Just bear with me here for a moment.  The original Modnation Racers was made for PS3 as we all know, by a little studio called United Front Games who, as you might also know, has been a little busy lately.  Modnation Racers was initially something that a lot of people were looking forward to...until they got to play the Beta.  Gripes about controls instantly came out and even with some tweaking, the general opinion of the internet was a little unfavorable.  I'm sure it didn't set the sales charts on fire, despite all you could really do with it unfortunately, and the end result is that I don't think it's been seen as a 'franchise to look out for', like some of the other things the PS3 has that have started on the PS3 itself.

Then you have the PSP version that did even worse, mostly by virtue of it being a PSP game, which certainly didn't help the brand along at all.  That version and the up-coming Modnation Racers:  Road Trip for the Vita were done by SCE San Diego rather than United Front Games, so it just sort of reeks of "We already made this, might as well try and get it to sell." despite never really getting a lot of chatter.  Being that it's been a while since Modnation Racers came out, it's probably about time for a proper sequel to it, but the originators probably aren't too fussed at doing one and a sequel is likely a bit too much work for SCE San Diego who aren't really known for doing a whole lot aside from the criminally underrated Mark of Kri.  So if you can't do a sequel of a not-so-hot game, but still want to have another new racing game that has a broad appeal, what do you do?

Take the concept that worked (The Race, Create, Share philosophy that UFG put out there to mirror LBP's own Play, Create, Share), add it to a franchise that worked (LittleBigPlanet) and hope for success.  Everyone sort of looked at Modnation Racers as the "LittleBigPlanet" of kart-racing anyways, so why not make it official, yeah?  Sackboy already has a fairly broad appeal, as far as audiences go which is almost money in the bank right off, and the natural linking with making, tinkering with your own courses, racer and kart only makes it seem like more of a perfect fit.  Really, if it weren't for Road Trip coming out, Modnation Racers would probably be out of the general mindset already, so LittleBigPlanet Karting would be a little easier to accept.  LBP Karting even has Modnation Racers as an example case to look at; take the good, leave the bad.  As it stands, it just seems like the next step up if you sort of take apart all the ideas and look at them separately.

We'll see how it works out when the eventual reveal comes out, likely sooner rather than later.  I expect to see some footage of it by E3 and hopefully whoever's developing it (I doubt it's going to be Media Molecule, but we'll see) will be able to work something out with MM for some type of integration.  Figuring on the racers themselves being Sackboys and girls that you can customize, I'd hope we would be able to import our favorites from LBP 1 and 2 in to design karts around, rather than having to start from scratch - especially if they're planning on selling costumes for other Sony Franchises (as they did with Modnation and LBP both) to prevent having to double-dip for a Cole Sackboy racer.  (Which yes, Cole can't drive, blah blah, let me dream, okay?)  Here's hoping for at least a developer reveal in the coming week or so, since I'm pretty interested at face value.

My Games of 2011, Part 3

With numbers 5-3 on my list, I tackle three very different kinds of games, not only in their genre and presentation, but in the way I could think about them.  One game really resonates with me, one game left me feeling like a neglectful friend for the majority of this year, and the final one left me feeling like I needed to defend it, which left me dumbfounded at the fact that I felt as much, since I expected it to fair quite a bit better in the collective of the internet.  So, for various reasons, these three games are quite a bit more personal for me, which is why I felt the need to group them together as such.  Not that any of the other games on the list aren't personal in some way, but...well, you know what I mean.

5. Catherine

Oh boy, Catherine.  I wrestled for about an hour last night when I was writing up the previous post about how to explain this one.  In all honesty, if I hadn't split the numbers like I did for the reasons I did, the fact that I just couldn't think of anything would've caused a split regardless.  In the end, I figure all I can do here is be honest since, well, what's going to happen?  Not a lot besides me looking dumb for posturing so much, really.  Though I'm sure it's at least a little obvious why I'm mincing words so much with this one, as it's quite a bit personal.

The core of Catherine's story, very obviously, is relationships - not only the one between two people -in- a relationship, but the relationship between men and women in general, the relationship between friends, and the ways all they can get a bit muddled between themselves.  Anyone who cast even a cursory glance towards Catherine could see that, and I'm trying to make sure I don't spoil anything for anyone here.  By extension of that core value, Catherine also revolves around how relationships can sometimes go bad which is something that can resonate with you if you're in a relationship that isn't going so hot.  I'm sure I don't have to explain any more than that, but at the same time, I should clear up that I can't draw many more parallels than the most basic one I mentioned which is likely a good distinction to make for anyone who knows how the story goes.

Aside from the story is, obviously, the gameplay, which at first sounded like something one would have to just stomach through to get into the real meat and potatoes of the game.  The oddity of that statement is not lost on me, however that really seemed to be how it was billed.  That was all to my surprise when the gameplay of Catherine proved to look interesting, complex, challenging and, best of all, fun, which I still think is a feat worth nothing less than absolute surprise whenever it comes up.  It almost seems like it would be either too simple to be fun or would end up too difficult to be fun, yet it (from what I saw) manages to mostly be right in the middle - challenging, but not overly so, meaning it actually manages to be fun, or at least looks like it.  Trying to think of ways I would go about getting up was fun at least!

4. LittleBigPlanet 2

Despite my constant use of European box art, I am American.  Figured I should say that at some point.

LittleBigPlanet is a series that is very near and dear to me, as anyone who has read this blog should know, so the sheer excitement I had for LittleBigPlanet 2 was nothing short of sky-high levels.  And when I got it, it was glorious, everything filled to the brim with charm and fun, and at the time it wasn't just me enjoying that but on several occasions, my younger nephews who absolutely loved the game as much as I did.  The inclusion of the ability to make little movies and such provided no end of laughs for them since a lot of people took to doing little clip-shows akin to Robot Chicken with quite a few of them being actually funny.  It surprised me too, honestly, much as the quality of a lot of LittleBigPlanet 2 levels did, custom or not.  What also surprised me was how I treated the game which was, in a word, poor.

Maybe it was due to my inability to really devote time to making levels, or maybe it was due to the fact that I had a lot of games that I needed to play (and still do), but after I was 'done' with LittleBigPlanet 2, I moved on to other things, saying "I'll come back to it, I'll come back to it", though I never did.  For what it's worth, I still fully intend to get back into the game, but I'm not quite sure how well that'll go; I still have a mountain of unplayed games after all, and LittleBigPlanet Vita will allow me to have my LittleBigPlanet fix anywhere, worry-free (Since blah, blah, PS3 paranoia, blah blah) without sacrificing quality as far as I can tell.  I'm not sure just how much of LBP2 the Vita version will actually be able to hold, but I would suggest that it's "a lot", and hopefully am proven correct because LittleBigPlanet 2 offered quite a lot of fun among other things.

Still, while I was playing LittleBigPlanet 2, I can attest to always displaying something along the lines of 'giddiness', since that's just how charming the game was.  Every new addition to the game was fantastic and contributed a lot to the experience overall, since for every smart usage MM implemented in the base levels, creators in the LBP community found about five more, ensuring that the 'smart' levels in the user-created territory were just that, if not brilliant.  And it's pretty much for that reason that LittleBigPlanet 2 can manage to be viable at various stages in its life, as all it takes is a community interested in making levels.  As far as I know, there is still a community there, which perpetuates yet other communities to exist, which keeps the game new and interesting in ways that even MediaMolecule couldn't have figured on.  So maybe that's why I feel secure in knowing that the game will still be there when I get to it, even if that's going to be quite a ways down the road.

3. Uncharted 3:  Drake's Deception

Depending on where you look on the internet, opinion of Uncharted 3 seems to range from between "Game is definitely worthy of the Uncharted pedigree" to "Game is not as good as Uncharted 2 which means it's instantly bad" and everything in between.  I have spent quite a lot of time, possibly too much time, trying to justify just why I am in the former camp above, as I very, very honestly found very little wrong with the game.  There were a couple things I didn't care for (similar to Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3 doesn't devote enough screentime to certain characters), but the common complaints never got to me, leaving just an extremely polished cinematic game, just as Uncharted 2 was before it.  And it's for all those reasons that I find it difficult to retread the statements I've made in the past

On Crushing (which is one of the ultimate tests of any game, how well it plays on hardest difficulty), every battle in Uncharted 3 is an intense, calculating conquest and not a simple firefight.  Taking stock of what you're against, deciding when the best time to pop out and fire is, making sure you're utilizing all your moves properly (including the steel fist) and figuring out the best place to get to and how during every fight requires thought and precision and the game happily offers you both, but only if you know when and how to take it.  It's a harsh teacher that I think many were not prepared for, but it's a fair one despite the willingness several people would like to display in calling the enemies "Bullet Sponges".  Any veteran of Uncharted the first (and by proxy the second, but less so there) knows that you aim for the head unless you're running up on them to finish them off with a mighty punch.  Aside from that, the locals are gorgeous, the acting is never dull, and the charm of the characters still hasn't worn off...for me at least.

I decided this year that instead of saving number one for it's own post, that I'm going to put my top two picks together in a single post.  This is mostly because I honestly, literally sat for half an hour or so trying to figure out just which game deserved the number one slot which I think suggests that they both did.  Still, only one game can win and in the end, I did have to pick that game, but for any reason, and at any other time, they could be almost interchangeable as my favorite game of the year, which is what I suggest personal Game of the Year lists are for.  So I think it's only fair that I talk about both games at the same time to really show that off, that they're both deserving of that high praise.  Because there is going to be a whole lot of praising going on, I can assure you of that.