Create your own LittleBigPlanet avatar on Facebook

I'm going to say it! LittleBigPlanet 2, narrated by everyone's favourite polymath, Stephen Fry, is the most charming and creative of adventures for the PS3, or any video games console for that matter, from Sony! And embodies the company's philosophy of make.believe.

LittleBigPlanet's genesis lies in a conversation between Media Molecule co-founders Mark Healey and Dave Smith following a cinema visit to see Howl's Moving Castle by Studio Ghibli. They created a prototype of their idea, a game called Craftworld, a physics-based, 2D side-scrolling game, with a place holder character called Mr. Yellowhead and successfully pitched the idea to Sony. LittleBigPlanet was released in 2008 to critical acclaim.

Play. Create. Share. Who wouldn't be enthralled by LittleBigPlanet 2's infinite world of possibilities? A puzzle platform video game based on user-generated content - its scope only limited by your imagination. A community-made and semi-official level pack named Hansel and Gretelbot was released in February. The series of levels, based loosely on the fairytale of Hansel & Gretel, was created by a team of community members who were approached by Media Molecule and asked to collaborate and attempt to make a set of levels that could match the quality of the game's story levels. The series, created using only in-game tools, features original music, voice acting and prizes.

Now you can create, customise and share the star of LittleBigPlanet 2 with your family and friends on Facebook. To quote Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's television show, here's one I made earlier: Good times!



Why not create a Sackboy or Sackgirl, yourself, and just by using the Facebook application you can enter a competition to win a Sony experience pack, which includes a Sony BRAVIA TV, a PlayStation 3 and a Sackboy plush toy!

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Is PlayStation Plus for you?

A few days ago I decided to knix the idea of investing in Microsoft's Kinect platform! An Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect will cost £249.99 (not including a new games library) and that's money I'd rather not spend during the current economic recession. After consolidating my video game console collection. Enter PlayStation Plus!

When Sony announced its plan to introduce a subscription add-on to its free PlayStation Network (PSN) service, I was reticent about signing up! How much added-value would there be for £39.99 per year? The marketing spiel suggests savings of up £200 on selected products, automatic downloads and exclusive betas and demos...

During the first month subscribers could pick up free copies of LittleBigPlanet and WipEout HD Fury! Many gamers, myself included, already own these games. However, they're both enticing AAA titles and suggest that Sony is serious about taking on Microsoft's Xbox Live in the mid-to-long-term.

In its current form PlayStation Plus is difficult to recommend as a "must-have". There's risk involved with any subscription; you can only play free games for as long as you're a member and there's a chasm between the US and European offering. For example US members received an extra 3 months free for signing up to the annual tarif.

4oD will be joining BBC iPlayer on the XMB in the coming months. Sony should consider its brilliant BRAVIA Internet Video as a PlayStation Plus exclusive! This should be in addition to cross-game chat, which has yet (if ever) to be announced.

I'm delighted with free PSOne games (PS3 and PSP compatible), exclusive content, and now toying with the idea of repurchasing a PSP! Despite having a love-hate relationship with Sony's portable gaming platform, PlayStation Plus makes it much more compelling.

The best is yet to come...

20 million users is a new PSN milestone

Remarkable Milestone Achieved in Only 2 Years and 3 Months Since Its Launch on November 11, 2006

Tokyo, February 25, 2008 - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that the cumulative number of registered accounts on PlayStation®Network worldwide has exceeded 20 million as of February 20, 2009. The registered accounts on PlayStation Network reached 5million in 1 year and 2 months, 10 million in 1 year and 8 months, and exceeded 20 million in only 2 years and 3 months from the service launch on November 11, 2006*1. The number of users connected to PlayStation Network is ever growing, thus successfully building a robust network business platform.

PlayStation Network is a free to access network service for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, that has more than 70 million sell-in units*2 around the world both platforms combined. Directly accessible from PS3, PSP or PC, users are able to enjoy a broad range of on-line content and services, including on-line gaming, video chat and text messaging with other PS3 users on-line, as well as many games and video content downloadable from PlayStation®Store. Since its launch, PlayStation Network has expanded its services to over 55 countries and regions around the globe, gaining strong support from users for its breadth of entertainment content available for both PS3 and PSP systems in addition to its free to use basic features and services.

To offer more fun and excitement to users, PlayStation Network is continually enhancing gaming experience through online game features such as online battle and team play, as well as adding more and more downloadable game items. More than 600 titles incorporated with online features have been released for the PS3 system worldwide, including Resistance: Fall of Man™, Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue and LittleBigPlanet™ from SCE.

PlayStation Store offers more than 14,500 diverse digital content, ranging from exclusive on-line games, downloadable version of UMD™ titles, game demos and items, and titles from “Game Archive,” through which legendary and popular titles from the original PlayStation are made playable on PS3 and PSP, to more than 5,900 movies and TV episodes that are available through Video Delivery Service*3 that started in the United States in July 2008. To date, more than 380 million pieces of content*4 have been downloaded, with total sales exceeding 180 million US dollars*5, and the business scale is rapidly expanding.

PlayStation®Home launched its service in December 2008 and in less than 2 months, the number of users has exceeded 4 million. Within the ground-breaking 3D environment, users are able to meet, share gaming experiences, and enjoy communication with each other. Collaborative initiatives with various game titles and franchises are underway to offer more new fun on games in the world of PlayStation Home as it evolve over time, adding new spaces, features and functions to create a living, growing platform for the PlayStation community.

Additionally, the number of users enjoying Life with PlayStation® has now exceeded 2.6 million*6. Life with PlayStation offers users a new way to obtain information on a TV monitor in the living room by connecting it to the network via PS3. With “time” and “place” as keywords, Life with PlayStation will add more channels to enjoy content on the internet and broaden the world of entertainment beyond the realms of games that is made possible through connecting PS3’s vast computational power to the network.

SCE, along with content providers and users will continue to further expand the entertainment experiences with PS3, PSP and PlayStation Network to create a new world of computer entertainment.

*1 Launched in Japan on November 11, 2006.

*2 PS3: 21.3 million units as of December 2008, PSP: 50 million units as of January 2009.

*3 Launched in July 2008. As of February 2009, over 1,400 movies and 4,400 TV episodes are available for download.

*4 Includes free of charge content (downloadable demos and promotion videos).

*5 As of February 2009.

*6 As of February 2009.

Review of the Year 2008

An irreverent Review of the Year. And the prizes go to:

*Web - Twitter. There's so many reasons! Join now and see for yourself! Runners up: Adobe AIR and RSS.

*Application - Adobe Photoshop CS4. Tabs! Runners up: Boxee and Flash CS4.

*Gadget - iPod touch. A paradigm shift and the future of portable gaming! Runners up: Nintendo Wii and PlayTV.

*Video Game - Valkyria Chronicles (PS3). Runners up: Mario Kart (Wii) and LittleBigPlanet (PS3).

*Album - Out of Control (Girls Aloud) Runners up: Chasing Lights (The Saturdays) and Circus (Britney Spears).

*Single - The Promise (Girls Aloud). Runners up: Take A Bow (Rihanna) and Up (The Saturdays).

*Movie - Wall-E. Runners up: HellBoy II: The Golden Army and Batman: The Dark Knight.

*Blu-ray (formerly DVD) - Sleeping Beauty. Runners up: Wall-E and The Incredible Hulk.

*Television Drama - Dead Set. Runners up: Battlestar Galactica and Lost.

*Television Sci-Fi - The Big Bang Theory. OK! It's a wonderfully written sitcom about a group of geeks obsessed with Doctor Who, Star Trek and Halo. Runners up: Doctor Who and Torchwood.

*Merchandise - Star Wars New Millennium Falcon. Even better than the real thing! Runners up: Doctor Who Classics and Transformers Crossovers.

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LittleBIGPlanet

Of all the AAA titles being released during the upcoming holiday season, LittleBigPlanet promises to be as unique as it is compelling!

Imagine a world that's yours to shape, build and explore. Imagine the possibilities, then jump head first into the reality. LittleBigPlanet puts the power of absolute creation into your own hands. If you can see it, you can enhance it. If you can't see it, you can invent it.

The LittleBigPlanet experience starts with players learning about their character's powers to interact physically with the environment. There are places to explore, creative resources to collect and puzzles to solve--all requiring a combination of brains and collaborative teamwork. As soon as players begin, their creative skills will grow and they will soon be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings--the first step to sharing them with the whole community.

Characters have the power to move anything in this glued and stitched-together 3D landscape; they have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to view and play. There's no complicated level editor; all of these skills can be learned by simply playing the game. Creativity is part of the game play experience and playing is part of the creative experience.

Fathom out ways to overcome tricky obstacles as you interact with the surrounding environment, or compose inspirational locations and objects that are totally unique to you. Immerse yourself in an organic world that's just waiting to be personalized.

Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet community to come and explore their patch--or can go and explore everybody else's.