Sonic is headed to LittleBigPlanet next Thursday!

Sonic the Hedgehog, along with Sonic’s alter-ego beast form, the WereHog, his pals Knuckles and Tails, and his nemesis Dr. Eggman have come to LittleBigPlanet to break some sound barriers! You can get all five individual character costumes for SackBoy, but you’ll want to be sure to pick up the Costume Kit that not only includes all five costumes, but also a selection of retro stickers based on the classic Sonic the Hedgehog adventures. This way you can make your own Sonic levels with Sonic style!

and speaking of Sonic levels….

Here’s an awesome level made by the extremely talented Creator Curator Kiminski. The level is called Sonic the Hedgehog: Greenhill zone and you can play it right now!

SackBoy is extremely excited about this weeks launch of God of War III exclusively for the PS3 system! He’s been all nostalgic about the event by going back and playing his favorite God of War themed community levels in LittleBigPlanet!

Be sure to join in on all the glorious Kratos action and grab the Kratos Costume and the God of War Level Kit on the PlayStation Store.

LittleBigPlanet PSP – It’s contest time!

Over at LittleBigWorkshop, you can enter in their first contest for the first PSP version of LittleBigPlanet! Head on over and get creating!

Check out the trailer!

I wouldn’t be able to talk about this great game without mentioning SuperVillain Studios (SVS). They are the developers that met the challenge of bringing Fat Princess to the PSP, making it a faithful game that stands on its own, and adds so much more than the original did. I would like to introduce you to Todd Morgan, the Senior Producer from SuperVillain Studios that helped bring Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake to life.

Todd, let’s talk about what SVS has brought to FP: FoC. What new and exciting things will we see in this new title?

Hi Matt! First of all, thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak about the game. We are very excited about game, and think that everyone else will be too! First off, we have added six new maps to the game. Five of these news maps will be showcased through the newly expanded single player mode called Legend of the Fat Princess. The sixth map was created specifically for one of our new play modes that we have created for our version of the game. In total we have added 4 NEW play modes to the game. These new play modes are integrated into the single player story mode, but can also be played as stand alone play types from the main menu. We added six new music tracks created specifically for each map, in order to stay true to how the PS3 version was made. Lastly, since this game is so multiplayer friendly, we made sure to make this game support both Adhoc play and Infrastructure play.

How did you get all of this extra-good cakey-ness onto the PSP?

Lots of hard work! I’m kidding, good question. For the most part we took what was already there with the PS3 version of the game, and then by hand remodeled and resized all of the existing maps and characters in the game so that they would fit onto the PSP. All the while making sure that the game still looks as close to the PS3 version as possible. We also had to make tweaks to the in-game UI and FX’s to again fit with in the PSP hardware. The additional game modes took a bit of work, but were a lot of fun to add to the game. We had to re-sample the audio, but again this was just necessary in order to fit onto the PSP and to sound as best as possible.

Fat Princess is a great online experience. What is the number of players we can battle, and in what modes: Ad Hoc, Infrastructure?

Adhoc will support up to 8 unique users to be able to connect and play together without having to be signed into a PSN account. Infrastructure will support up to 8 unique users logged into PSN. Both play types will have the ability to have up to 24 characters onscreen during gameplay. We’re very excited about this. We worked really hard to make this happen for the integrity of the game.

I can’t wait until everyone gets their hands on Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake! It’s been a pleasure getting to work on this with you guys. Anything else to add before we sign off?

Working on Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake was a lot fun for us here at SuperVillain. We really enjoyed working on the game, and would definitely like to give credit to Titan Studios for creating such a fun game to work on. I would also like to thank you and Deb Mars, and SCEA Santa Monica Studio for giving us the opportunity to work on such a fun and creative game. We are very excited about the work we’ve done, and think that everyone else will really enjoy it as well.

Thank you, Todd!

Well everyone, there you have it! We’ve got a great game heading your way for the PSP very soon! We’ve had a blast making it, and we are very proud of how it’s all come together. I think you will be thrilled with this game, no matter if you are a fan of Fat Princess on the PS3, or even if you’ve never played Fat Princess before.

See you on the battlefield, and remember: Cake for EVERYONE!!

Mat from UFG here to end your week on a high note with our latest trailer and a peek into some of the thought behind the sweet racing action we’ve built into ModNation Racers!

First and foremost when developing a racer, the key thing to outline is what the experience needs to be. As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, we worked through how we wanted the core driving experience to feel. Many development team members here at United Front Games have worked on several different racing games. Our focus is quite simple –- we wanted the handling to be tight and fun but allow the power of the PS3 to take kart handling to the next level with a more physical driving model. While we appreciate the simple arcade handling, we soon understood that if we were going to deliver the best race experience with our Track Studio tools, then we had to give the player a deeper handling model.

Drive Well & Get BOOST
While we developed our core handling model we also realized we needed to offer other race mechanics that were familiar with all types of racing fans, but offered something deeper than what we had seen previously in the genre. We decided to go with a player controlled boost meter, which in turn is filled by driving well.

Drifting
The major skill the player needs to perfect is the ability to drift – a staple for most kart racers. Our mechanic is simple in the sense that the better the drift, the more the player is rewarded with boost. We also added a few nuances, such as the longer you drift, the player will actually slowly speed up over time, which rewards the user with an overall better speed but comes with consequences too.

At higher speeds, it is hard to avoid objects so maintaining the drift becomes a game in itself. The other key element with our drift is the ability to still steer and influence the direction of the drift. The player can do this with the basic steering controls, giving them full control over the drift. Finally, one of the coolest features with our drift is the ability to maintain the same drift even when the player jumps into the air. If the player drifts off a ramp, as long as they continue to hold the drift button, they will continue the drift when landing. This makes for some amazingly satisfying race moments on even the most challenging race tracks!

Some other race skills implemented in the game include drafting and air play. Drafting opponents is incredibly easy – simply drive in behind an opponent and try to maintain your position behind them. In addition to gaining a speed increase, the longer the player stays there, the more points they will accumulate. When a draft ends, those points are tallied and converted into boost. When in the air, the player will be rewarded in two ways. Firstly, the longer the player stays in the air, they will automatically be rewarded points and the larger jumps such as drops from launchers will give the player points. When the user lands, these points are tallied and then converted to boost.

When in the air, the player can also attempt spins. Using the right stick, the player can spin their vehicle. Every successful rotation will be rewarded with additional boost on the landing. The key thing to note however is that in order to be rewarded the player has to land the spin and face in the direction of travel. It is always fun to try and squeeze in one last spin to bag more points! What does the player do with all this boost when they have it? Well, obviously the player can simply press the L1 button and start boosting. The system is fully analogue meaning that the player can tap the boost for small bursts or hold it for long periods of sustained boosting. For some really hard advanced driving, players can try drifting and boosting at the same time!

We have created what I consider a racing experience that can appeal to everyone. You can pick up the game and enjoy the frantic gameplay but if you spend time with ModNation Racers you will become an expert by using all the strategies the systems bring. We feel very proud of the ModNation race experience and look forward to our fans playing it!

Another great offering from the Quantic Dream crew, The Taxidermist chapter provides an additional backstory to Heavy Rain and features one of the main characters from Heavy Rain, journalist Madison Paige, on one of her early leads from her investigation into the Origami Killer. In a similar manner to the unique, cinematic gameplay style of Heavy Rain, you will play Madison, and be presented with a number of tense situations and decisions, as she digs further into the case, which of course, will determine one of many different outcomes.

To give you an idea of what we’re talking about, check out the trailer here:

Also, check out what IGN had to say about The Taxidermist right here.

There is definitely more to come on Heavy Rain here on the PS.Blog, so continue to check back in with us!

Check out the clip below for new release The Fourth Kind. Did you know this movie was based on actual case studies of alien abduction…FREAKY!

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10. 2012

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4. The Office | Season 6 - St. Patrick’s Day
5. Family Guy | Season 8 - Extra Large Medium
6. Sports Illustrated: On Location with 2010 Swimsuit Models | Season 0 - Sports Illustrated: On Location with 2010 Swimsuit Models
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