LittleBigPlanet: flexible customization options and the ESRB IS YOU!

Guardian Unlimited UK called up Leo Cubbin, “the Sony bod in charge of the forthcoming social network/game design platform,” to ask a bunch of stuff about LittleBigPlanet. For this post, we’ll focus on one of the questions which refers to customization in the game, because Leo’s answer is highly suggestive of the game’s future features.

The essence of the answers revolving around this topic is that creating content for LittleBigPlanet doesn’t, or might not, even need to be limited to the PS3 at all, thanks to the Sony Memory Stick. For example, saith Leo:

The SixAxis PlayStation3 controller is amazingly sophisticated, but there are also other ways to input into PlayStation3. For example, you can take your Sony Ericsson phone, whiz out memory stick and put it into the PlayStation3, so anything contained on memory stick can be imported into the game. I can take a photo of you on my phone, pop it in and put the photo onto a character’s face.

So it is possible to turn someone into a sock puppet, thanks to Sony Ericsson camera phones. And maybe not even just Sony Ericsson phones, for Leo mentions elsewhere:

If it becomes apparent (after the game has been launched) that they really want some type of offline experience other than on a PlayStation3, like on a PSP or other device, then we’d think about that for the community.

And then, Leo says “you can use your PC as well,” and use either the MemStick or Bluetooth to get that to the PS3. (No standalone PC version of the game, though.)

Dear deity. LittleBigPLanet could unleash an explosion of creativity among the community it will nurture, and based on the laws of statistics, there’s a very good chance someone’s going to be (pardon the crudity) a d**k and create some age-inappropriate content, Guardian Unlimited fears.

Leo’s response was to (a) note that the PS3 has built-in parental controls, and (b) bring up the YouTube analogy common to “Game 3.0” approaches. He speaks of “post-moderation” of content created by players, where the community themselves will judge and rate these user-created content for, again pardon the crudity, levels of age-inappropriate d**kness.

At the same time, he also mentions that Sony will be taking a sort of active role in content management. “There are tools which allow moderation very quickly, allowing Sony to scan a level for images and other content that’s appropriate or inappropriate.” They don’t want to “nip” someone’s creative bud, but they are also fully committed to “protect the users”.

Guardian Unlimited UK called up Leo Cubbin, “the Sony bod in charge of the forthcoming social network/game design platform,” to ask a bunch of stuff about LittleBigPlanet. For this post, we’ll focus on one of the questions which refers to customization in the game, because Leo’s answer is highly suggestive of the game’s future features.

The essence of the answers revolving around this topic is that creating content for LittleBigPlanet doesn’t, or might not, even need to be limited to the PS3 at all, thanks to the Sony Memory Stick. For example, saith Leo:

The SixAxis PlayStation3 controller is amazingly sophisticated, but there are also other ways to input into PlayStation3. For example, you can take your Sony Ericsson phone, whiz out memory stick and put it into the PlayStation3, so anything contained on memory stick can be imported into the game. I can take a photo of you on my phone, pop it in and put the photo onto a character’s face.

So it is possible to turn someone into a sock puppet, thanks to Sony Ericsson camera phones. And maybe not even just Sony Ericsson phones, for Leo mentions elsewhere:

If it becomes apparent (after the game has been launched) that they really want some type of offline experience other than on a PlayStation3, like on a PSP or other device, then we’d think about that for the community.

And then, Leo says “you can use your PC as well,” and use either the MemStick or Bluetooth to get that to the PS3. (No standalone PC version of the game, though.)

Dear deity. LittleBigPLanet could unleash an explosion of creativity among the community it will nurture, and based on the laws of statistics, there’s a very good chance someone’s going to be (pardon the crudity) a d**k and create some age-inappropriate content, Guardian Unlimited fears.

Leo’s response was to (a) note that the PS3 has built-in parental controls, and (b) bring up the YouTube analogy common to “Game 3.0” approaches. He speaks of “post-moderation” of content created by players, where the community themselves will judge and rate these user-created content for, again pardon the crudity, levels of age-inappropriate d**kness.

At the same time, he also mentions that Sony will be taking a sort of active role in content management. “There are tools which allow moderation very quickly, allowing Sony to scan a level for images and other content that’s appropriate or inappropriate.” They don’t want to “nip” someone’s creative bud, but they are also fully committed to “protect the users”.