It's a simple formula that is winning a lot of support for Sony. Microsoft, Nintendo, you guys should really pay attention...
Ok, so players using developer tools to create their own levels, maps, missions, whatever, is nothing new to PC gamers. Communities of modders have existed since the days of Doom back in 1993. All Sony really did was bring the concept to the console world.
The difference here is that (for instance) Valve is not marketing Left 4 Dead as a game in which players can create their own maps, just as an awesome shooter in which you kill zombies. But, the tools are there for PC gamers who gladly make use of them. This, in turn, can help Valve sell copies for PC. I know a lot of people who love to buy PC games because of these modding communities. These communities can keep a game alive for years, so long as people continue developing for them. The original developer doesn't have to do anything else.
Sony is marketing their games on this concept. While the 30 levels that come with LittleBigPlanet2 are tons of fun, they are not what is being sold. In fact, when you play through those levels, they mostly serve to teach you what it is that you are capable of doing. The product being sold here is the levels that the players create.
This sounds like a crazy idea, but it has worked. When you really think about it, what is happening here is they are selling a game for $60 that is dependent on a thriving community of user-generated content - who aren't getting paid for their creations. Their only incentive is the praise and adoration of fellow gamers. But apparently, that was enough. The original LBP saw over 2,000,000 user-created levels.
With the releases of ModNation Racers and now LittleBigPlanet2, gamers have proven that they want this. Console gamers can do the same thing that PC gamers have been doing, only without all that mucking about with software code.
So why hasn't Microsoft or Nintendo picked up on this idea? One could argue that Bungie had been doing this long ago with Halo 3's The Forge, but the important difference here is that players ability to create their own map was severely limited. Super Smash Bros. Brawl had a level editor, but really... it's nothing compared to the level of creation offered to players of LittleBigPlanet or ModNation Racers.
So there we have it. Throughout all of Sony's blunders with the PS3, there is at least one thing they are doing better than the competition, and that is nurturing their very own community of gamers willing to create content so that Sony can sell more games. That is something people cannot argue.
6 comments:
This is very Nintendo-like idea that Nintendo, because of their horrible online strategy, is not capable of executing. This is probably why I like it.
"One could argue that Bungie had been doing this long ago with Halo 3's The Forge, but the important difference here is that players ability to create their own map was severely limited.", I'm sorry but did you play Halo 3? Forge mode was not very limited at all, in fact with the "restrictions" that were given to the gamers in it, I would say the creativity of the Halo players far surpasses LBP2's. LBP2's was made for creative so the fact that they have a variety of content is not surprising, however halo's forge mode was made for making maps, and what people eventually did, was make sports game types, racing maps, pac-man variants and so much more with just a map creator. This is why Halo's forge mode was the first to bring the creativity concept to consoles, modern consoles that is. The Forge players were just more creative.
Sony's marketing scheme might be working for you, but LBP2 has only sold 710,000, in a month, in America and Europe, that may be good for a game people have not heard of, but for a console exclusive? I'm sure it's not the numbers Sony expected. LBP1 was a good idea, but I just can't justice paying for a game hat I will end up building. It's like paying for a toolkit.
Halo 3's Forge was great. I spent a lot of nights looking up game variants and playing with friends. That was very well done. But you CAN'T alter the terrain. You can't build a mountain, you can't build a building, you can't place rivers... You can only work with the maps Bungie gave you. If anyone managed to do otherwise, I never found it, or I sold my XBox before someone discovered how.
I did say that Sony brought the concept to the console world, that is wrong. However, Sony did raise the bar on user created content. If you want to argue over the first game to bring the "creativity concept" to consoles, though, then we can go all the way back to Excite Bike on NES.
I never claimed that people on LBP were more creative. I simply said it had better tools.
I also never claimed the game was huge and sold a million copies, so I'm not sure what sales figures have to do with anything. Besides, who cares? It didn't sell well, and therefore, it's not good? Call of Duty sells millions and it does absolutely nothing revolutionary, it's the same game every year they release it.
But let's pay attention to one of the big points I make. Sony is, in fact, selling a game that is dependent on the community. I stated this was crazy. Without a strong community, the game will fail no matter how good the tools are. But there is a dedicated community, and it WORKS. Not just for me, but for the other 710,000 players - and growing. It may not be huge, but it works.
LBP is a game built around a community of creators who put time into building levels, and PLAYERS who play the levels and leave feed back. I'm one of the latter. I have never built a level, but I love playing other people's levels, and I leave feed back.
I hear you, A. It's a huge rip off that Sony would charge it's users $60 for what practically equates to a miniature PS3 developers kit.
You've inspired me to take this one step further. I hereby call for Adobe to make it's Creative Suit product line free! I demand Microsoft give away it's Office line of software tools! Apple is ripping off it's customers by charging for Final Cut Pro! I'm tired of paying for tools!
Of course, this is ridiculous. A, people pay for tools. And when you consider that a PS3 developers kit cost thousands of dollars and Sony is giving you one, although a miniature one, for $60 is extremely reasonable. And comparing Little Big Planet to Forge isn't really fair to either platform. Forge has sparked a lot of really awesome talent and great game types. But, Forge exist, not to create new levels and weapons and entirely new games, but to make new game TYPES and layouts of already existing maps. No matter how much time is spent within Forge, no one will ever be able to make a game that isn't a first person shooter or some racing variant. Someone with enough time and energy could recreate Halo within Little Big Planet. Forge and LBP exist for two completely different reasons.
Both communities are fantastic. Both communities are very talented. Both communities are similar in that they both exist to create. But both communities use very different tools and exist to accomplish very different things. Both communities are valid.
Besides, this post is obviously not meant to compare the two communities. It's a look how awesome Play. Create. Share. really is.
"You've inspired me to take this one step further. I hereby call for Adobe to make it's Creative Suit product line free! I demand Microsoft give away it's Office line of software tools! Apple is ripping off it's customers by charging for Final Cut Pro! I'm tired of paying for tools!"
Do Microsoft, Adobe and Apple try to market those editing programs as games? No. The point is LBP should be an attachment to a full game, much like forge mode is. And yes sure, so companies charge for there development tools, but what about the gaming companies that don't? Forgot to mention those didn't you? Dragon Age and many other PC title have tool kits FOR FREE that allow players to make mods of the game.
Lets be honest if LBP was exclusive for the Wii or was not exclusive at all, it would not get the attention that it receives. In fact it would be looked over, just like the other lackluster games out there. Why play a LBP version of Halo when I can play the real thing? Why play a LBP version of Limbo when in reality it well never capture the feeling of Limbo,and I can play the real game? LBP is a novelty at best. However if it was attached to a full game, things would be different.
LittleBigPlanet is a full game. Believe it or not, thirty levels in a main story mode is a lot for games these days. That's longer than a Call of Duty game, and I've already stated how over rated those are.
I want to say you have never played LittleBigPlanet, or ModNation Racers, from your take on it. The games are complete. I've spent as much time playing the offline story modes as I have online. It is not just a tool kit.
Take a look at the original content people are creating on LittleBigPlanet some day. You might be amazed at what some really creative minds are doing with the game. And players like me are more than happy to enjoy them.
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