My favorite thing videogame related besides crafts is food and the best site for videogame food is Snack or Die. The owner, Jocelyn has been very busy making yummy creations for us in her kitchen and I just wanted to show off a few of my favorite recipes.
For the Rapture fans, there's Big Daddy Cupcakes from BioShock. These yummy treats are made with licorice, M&Ms, and lots of chocolate icing.
For the Sony Fanboys, there's Sackboy Cupcakes from LittleBigPlanet. So cute you want to gobble them up. These cupcakes are made with dobs of chocolate icing and M&Ms.
For the Lucas Arts fans, there's Purple and Green Tentacle Cookies from Day of the Tentacle. These are sugar cookies made with royal icing and apple jacks.
These are just a few of my favorite new recipes from Snack or Die, check out the whole site for a ton of great recipes to serve at your next LAN party.
Game with Best Character Name - Mirror's Edge (Faith) Any game with a character that shares the same name as me has to be mentioned. Best of all, I didn't even have to bride anyone at EA or DICE to get a character named Faith.
Best Indie Title - World of Goo Getting to spend hours making structures with little balls of goo that make cute little noises is pure ecstasy to me and I'm happy to see this little title make it big. Best Mashup Title - Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe I think we all laughed our butts off when this game was announced but despite a lack of fatalities this game is pretty cool to play. I've already finished the DC storyline and plan to tack the MK side soon. Best New Game Character in Need of Merchandising - Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet) This character screams make a plushie out of me and while we're on the topic, how about a LittleBigPlanet TV Show, breakfast cereal and "How to Knit" series of books.
Best Revamp of a Series - Prince of Persia Personally I hate the Prince of Persia series and could never get pass the few couple of levels in any of the game series without giving up due to boredom or frustration, but the newest installation in the series is amazing and I love its Assassin's Creed feel. The art style is also a wonderful new change.
Best Use of Colour - de Blob This game was addicting as it was fun. Both a colourful and enjoyable game to play, de Blob was a great third party title on the Nintendo Wii which was a hard thing to find this year amongst all the hundreds of garage titles.
While we're on the topic of music, I just wanted to say that this was the year for videogame and technology music, whether it was in game or in their commericals.
From the always awesome iPod or iPhone ads which always have the best music featured in them to the truly moving to my personal favorite of the year, the theme song for Mirror's Edge, "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky.
The Nintendo Wii Fit commercial rocked with "On Board" by Friendly Fire and the Prince of Persia commercial had the very unique and exotic "Saeglópur" by Sigur Ros which is featured above in the video.
Then there was pretty much the entire LittleBigPlanet soundtrack which is available on iTunes and the always good Gears of War 2 commercial which had the moving "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa.
If you have any to add to the list for the year from videogame soundtracks or commercials, or even some tech commercial, leave me in the comment field. I'm always looking to add stuff to my play list.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Media Molecule Available on Playstation 3
While Nintendo has held the attention of the young at heart gamers for quite a long time now, Sony has finally thrown their hat into the ring with their own delightful child-like, yet challenging game, LittleBigPlanet. Media Molecules’ long awaited Playstation 3 exclusive platformer finally came out this October into the hands of all the eager Mario fans wanting to test out the different side-scrolling fun and to all the creative artists looking forwarded to diving into the level design features.
Diving into the world of LittleBigPlanet, you are given a little Sackboy to journey through all 51 levels in story mode as well as all the user content levels and your own created levels. This little Sackboy is yours to dress up as you see fit in the outfits and accessories provided by the game. New outfits can be found in later levels or downloaded and purchased from the Playstation Network each week. You can even make your Sackboy show emotion or move his arms and head if you wish to give more life to him during your journeys. How cute!
The story mode levels have you running through themed platform areas collecting bubbles, stickers and items for points, all while racing against the clock towards the end of the level. A certain amount of points are awarded at the end of level depending on how well you completed the course. Each level has you running, jumping, falling, and working with the physics of the level in order to survive all the traps and obstacles that lay in wait for you. Some levels even have race points worked into them which awarded you items based on how quickly you finish them.
Though you may think by looking at LittleBigPlanet that this is some cute little kid’s game, be warned that it was created for young at heart and not the actual young. The levels were designed to be difficult and the obstacles hard to survive. I spend hours and hours just trying to get past the first level on the third garden, all because one spring board kept falling over on me. Timing was everything and I didn’t have it.
The level creation is where the game gets even more complex. While I have seen some of the most creative levels ever designed by gamers on LittleBigPlanet, it took me 2 hours just to get through the tutorials alone and I can’t even fathom how many for my actual level which was created and deleted in the beta version of this game. Yeah, imagine my pain when I found out my level would be deleted after the beta closed.
The level creator for some people has been the cat’s meow and all you need to do to see that is log on to the user created levels and play a few. Some are absolute pure genius but for the artistically retarded like me, the fun was all in the story mode and playing the user content. Honestly though, I might have enjoyed the level creator more if I had more time to put into it, instead of just designing by the seat of my pants.
I did have some fun decorating my pod which is the little tree-house building where you can choose what area of the game you want to play in. Here you can use all the stickers and items you’ve found throughout the game to decorate the pod any way you want. I covered mine in fabric flowers and sea shells.
Stylistically this game is a design student’s wet dream as each level is covered from start to finish in the stuff dreams are made of. No one object is created from just one material; its almost like someone robbed a junk yard to design all the items in this game. Being that this game is just so beautiful to look at, I almost hate that the level designers decided to make the game so difficult to finish. How could they make something so wonderful in so many ways, so frustrating to play? They made my Sackboy cry!
The music in this game is a mixture of different artists from around the world and the soundtrack will probably have you seeking out some of the songs on iTunes before long. Luckily you’ll find the whole soundtrack available for download which I highly recommend. I love it when a game studio takes a risk and inputs new music into their game; it’s even better when it pays off for them too.
I know the gaming market has been a flood of hyped game titles over the past few months and with the lack of money in everyone’s pockets right now, purchases are more frugal than ever but I can’t stressed how great and important a purchase like LittleBigPlanet is. Company’s like Sony tend not to publish games like this and if they don’t sell, they tend not to publish them ever again. Games that spark the imagination and bring the community together like this are worth making and worth buying, so for once put down your first person shooters and fighting games and trying something different. There’s a lonely little Sackboy out there that will love you for it.
I've been writing for the Pulse Niagara for about a year now and this week I got the best Christmas present from my editor ever.
My Lego Batman game review got front page coverage and not only was that the coolest thing in itself but the art design was incredible too. They did it up in comic book and Lego lettering.
I love Batman and this was so special. A Littlebigplanet cover would have been cool too though. I love that little Sackboy. :)
I promise to post my Lego Batman review this week.
This is the best card I got in the mail this Christmas. Sure the family ones are nice, but who can beat a Christmas card with happy little Sackboys and girls on it?
Sony Canada was kind enough to send me holiday wishes this year with a custom Canadian LittleBigPlanet card. HOW CUTE!!
I've seen quite a few Sackboy made by different crafters so far, but this little lemon loving guy has to be the best so far. Look how happy he is. He's such a perky little sackboy.
Created by Em-En from the I Like Lemons blog, this clever little guy comes complete with a hat and scarf for those upcoming winter nights.
Unfortunately this sackboy is not for sale, nor is the pattern available to make your own. Em-En really wanted her very own sackboy but she doesn't want to step on anybody's toes at Media Molecule. Though sad is her decision, I only hope her love and ours will produce some official sackboy plushies for sale in the future.
Or I may have to enlist another crafter's skills to create another videogame plushie for me. Ubisoft forced my hand Media Molecule, don't you push me too!
While I was completely impressed with one user's creative use of the LittleBigPlanet level creator to make a level that played a small portion of Guns & Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" as you used your Sackboy to run a small motor vehicle across a bunch of perfectly placed sound points, Kirathian's level rendition of "To Zanarkand" is much better on a huge scale.
He actually created the entire song with the sound points and though he had his Sackboy pull a block through the entire song to set off the notes, it was worth working the little guy like a mule.
So pre-order details have finally been released for Little Big Planet. We know what items are coming with the pre-orders but just not what retailer will be carrying what item yet.
Here's the full list of items:
The Official “LittleBigPlanet Creator” MiniGuide by Brady Games - This exclusive digital guide is a primer for LittleBIGPlanet’s CREATE tools and provides users with a quick tutorial to begin developing their own levels.”
LittleBigStickerBook - For those of you who love to customize - this item is for you! This exclusive sticker book contains some of our favorite LBP imagery for you to apply your own ‘mash-up’ to your favorite possessions. Or take something else you own and make it your favorite!
LittleBigPouch - Keep your LBP game safe and protected from the elements with this exclusive burlap pouch. Its so unique and stylish, it would make a SackMother proud.
Exclusive Nariko SackGirl - SackBoy’s beware! Nariko SackGirl has been known to keep other SackBoys (and SackGirls) in check. This exclusive downloadable costume features our favorite heroine on the PS3.
Exclusive Kratos SackBoy - Nuff’ said. Yes…the forum rumors were true - but the biggest question remains “why didn’t this guy smile?” Seriously, this is another exclusive downloadable costume that will elevate your SackBoy status to godlike proportions.
I don't know about you, but I truly think this will be another Sony Playstation 3 console seller. Metal Gear Solid 4 was the first one and this will seal the deal for the people on the fence.
Microsoft and Nintendo can keep their charts and graphs, because Sony had the best presentation of them all with their Little Big Planet Level Press Conference Presentation.
Instead of having a boring power point presentation, they had the developers behind Little Big Planet create an entire level in the game that would show the current sales numbers for Sony as well as their projected numbers for the future.
I don't think I've ever seen such a creative use of a videogame. I actually didn't nod off during all these boring facts and numbers. Congratulations Sony! You rock.
Spore, Tiberium, Little Big Planet ... Xplay can't wait to play the full versions when they release some time this year and I agree. This is the year for games. I personally am looking forward to the new Civilization Revolution, The World Ends With You, Grand Theft Auto IV, Resident Evil 5, Too Human and anything SquareEnix puts out.
OMG! I so want one of these. This real knitted Sackboy is the creation of one of the artist's mothers over at Media Molecule. She even made him a little Chinese Dragon suit to wear.
I'm really looking forward to playing Little Big Planet. Sony's finally playing to the Nintendo crowd with this one.
Other than MGS4, Little Big Planet is the only game that makes me want the PS3. This cute little game is much like the cutsieDS games that I love so much and it will definitely be on my "To Buy" list. With customisable creatures and amazing graphics, I think this could be the game to nab the attention of the dedicated Nintendo market. This blows Animal Crossing right out of the water, people.
My favorite thing videogame related besides crafts is food and the best site for videogame food is Snack or Die. The owner, Jocelyn has been very busy making yummy creations for us in her kitchen and I just wanted to show off a few of my favorite recipes.
For the Sony Fanboys, there's Sackboy Cupcakes from LittleBigPlanet. So cute you want to gobble them up. These cupcakes are made with dobs of chocolate icing and M&Ms.
For the Lucas Arts fans, there's Purple and Green Tentacle Cookies from Day of the Tentacle. These are sugar cookies made with royal icing and apple jacks.
