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Play. Create. Buy.

Today we announced that we have purchased Media Molecule, creators of the beloved Sony Computer Entertainment. Welcome Molecules!

Michael Denny, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Studios Europe, had this to say about the deal.

The decision was an easy one after meeting four young, talented people with a massive ambition to redefine video games as we know them, followed by a fantastic exclusive relationship that culminated in the launch of one of the most innovative PlayStation games of recent years. Of course, LittleBigPlanet needs no introduction here, as it was thanks to you that it became a best selling PS3 title when it released in late 2008.

The acquisition will enhance the talent pool within SCE, protect past and current investment and ensure a solid base for future investment. Media Molecule have exciting projects in the pipeline and we’re looking forward to sharing these with you in the not too distant future.

The most important thing is that nothing will change from your perspective; Media Molecule will simply continue to make great games. Welcoming Media Molecule into the PlayStation family will allow us to better support their future titles and ambitions.

For more comments from Denny, and a rather exhaustive list of the awards that Media Molecule has earned over the past couple of years, click on over to the European PlayStation.Blog. You can find the press release, with comments from SCE Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida and Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans, directly below.

Sony Computer Entertainment Acquires Media Molecule. Acclaimed developer of multi-million selling LittleBigPlanet™ joins Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios

London, 2nd March 2010 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it had acquired leading game developer Media Molecule, creator of the multi-million selling and multi-award winning PlayStation®3 (PS3™) exclusive title, LittleBigPlanet™. Media Molecule will join as part of SCE’s global development operation, SCE Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS).

In a strategic move to continue to secure excellence in game development for current and future PlayStation® platforms, the acquisition of Media Molecule formalises the successful exclusive relationship with SCE.

Media Molecule, based in Surrey, England, is the award-winning developer of LittleBigPlanet, one of the best-selling titles for PS3, a game that introduced gamers to the unique ethos of Play, Create and Share. Having seen over 2m user generated levels created for the community to download and play for free, LittleBigPlanet has completely changed the way people interact with games, whilst revolutionising the longevity of gameplay.

Having won over 90 awards for LittleBigPlanet, including 2 BAFTAs and 8 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards, Media Molecule brings a wealth of experience and a highly talented staff into the SCE WWS family that will further strengthen the PlayStation first party studio.

”Since they burst onto the gaming scene, Media Molecule have proved to be a truly exciting and innovative studio, who have proved their world-class credentials with the creation of the incredible LittleBigPlanet,” said Shuhei Yoshida, President, SCE Worldwide Studios. “SCE WWS is all about creating ambitious, innovative and ground breaking games, traits that Media Molecule clearly have. To bring them into our family proves our dedication to creating fantastic new experiences that we believe will cement our position as industry leaders.”

“Since Media Molecule’s inception, we’ve had a uniquely close relationship with SCE. Over the years they have consistently shown their dedication to Creative Gaming and Media Molecule, not only through their support of the company, but their willingness to take risks and embrace our often unusual approach and ideas,” said Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule. “What we’ve achieved already with LittleBigPlanet has proved this to us and we’re excited by this new chapter of innovation and creative gaming, for all involved.”

Studios across SCE WWS share technology, production methodology and creative goals to build the best possible experiences for users to enjoy the most from the PlayStation family of hardware platforms and network services. With over 2,500 employees, SCE WWS combines the talents of 15 game development studios in Japan, the USA, the UK and The Netherlands.

#acquisistions Sony liked LittleBigPlanet so much they bought the company, as Media Molecule becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment. More »

A lot of developers have earned publishing deals with Sony this generation, but only a small handful have managed to deliver a real "blockbuster." (Sorry, Lair and Heavenly Sword.) Three million copies, two million levels, and one Game of the Year edition later, Sony Computer Entertainment has decided to purchase LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule. The Guildford-based studio will join the ranks of other SCEE teams, such as London Studio, Guerrilla Games and Evolution Studios.

While Media Molecule is no longer an independent studio, Michael Denny, Senior VP of Sony Worldwide Studios promised to continue supporting the team: "Media Molecule will simply continue to make great games. Welcoming Media Molecule into the PlayStation family will allow us to better support their future titles and ambitions."

The acquisition likely guarantees that Media Molecule will continue to work on the LittleBigPlanet "platform" for years to come -- although we hope SCEE allows the team to explore creating new franchises as well. Of course, considering the ambitious plans the team has for LBP, it seems Media Molecule will have their hands full for quite a long time.

You may not be checking LittleBigPlanet for new levels as obsessively as you once were, but that doesn't mean that junior designers aren't still out there trying to perfect Super Mario Bros. 1-1 or trying to recreate the myth of Sisyphus. The game's community has just reached another big milestone: Two million available levels. It took them nine months to get the first million in late July of 2009, meaning that development isn't slowing down. In fact, it would appear to be speeding up.

It's inspired us to dust off our LittleBigPlanet disc and ... oh, wait.

Congratulations to all of the LittleBigPlanet community, as we hit another big user-generated milestone with over two million levels created and posted on the “Share Planet.”

What’s New?
For all of you looking for new levels to play, check out our new widget thingy on LittleBigPlanet.com. We’ve added an “Mm Picks” section highlighting some of the best community levels around. And don’t forget about the Mm Picks page, RSS feed and Twitter feed.

Community Levels
On the PSP side of things, our friend JHKthree has been uploading tons of great levels for all to see. Check out some of them over the weekend:

Scenic of the Leaves by Spark151

Zen by jeffcu28

The Shipwreck of Captain Skull by Lleonard

Workshop of the Week
On LittleBigWorkshop.com, our fans have been holding a “Sackperson Clone Contest.” Great contest guys! We can see y’all had fun with this.

For the Weekend
“A Tale of the Sea” level creation contest at LittleBigNetwork.com – Our friends have started a new contest and have put together a little promotional level, which is pretty cool on its own.

LittleBigPodcast is at it again with a new PS3 commercial spoof…too funny!

Hey everyone, Happy Monday! Mick Perona here with the “download” on downloadable content for LBP across both the PS3 and PSP! (See what I did there?)

Is your SackPerson looking for that savoir faire? Then look no further SackFolk! Check out the new trailer for DLC we offered up in 2009, and remember, this is just the beginning!

I now present to you, “The LittleBigPlanet 2009 Collection.” Ooh-la-la, so chic, so hip, so…oh you get the point

DLC UPDATES: (New this week!)

White Knight Chronicles Costume Kit for LBP PS3 ($5.99) – Characters from the awesome new RPG for the PS3 have come to LittleBigPlanet! Grab all four White Knight Chronicles character costumes in the pack and save, or choose from your favorites for $1.99 each.

DLC UPDATES: (New last week – Don’t miss these for PSP!)

Wedding Costumes for LBP PSP (FREE) – Get two free costumes and get dressed up for the biggest wedding of the year!

Wedding Theme Pack for LBP PSP ($2.99) – Download a new set of costumes and CREATE materials to create your own LittleBigWedding! Wedding Theme Pack includes two costumes, 14 materials, 15 stickers, one music kit and one background.

Savannah Costume for LBP PSP (FREE) – Get a sneak peek of what’s in the Savannah Theme Pack with this free Lion costume!

Savannah Theme Pack for LBP PSP ($2.99) – Download a new set of goodies to create your own Savannah themed levels. The Savannah Theme Pack includes two costumes, 16 materials, 15 stickers, one music kit, and one background.

DLC UPDATES: (Timed Release – Grab em’ before they’re gone!)

Valentine’s Day Mini-Pack for LBP PS3 ($2.99) - If you missed this last year, now’s your chance to get the Valentine’s Day pack for the PS3. With a special Cupid outfit, 10 love themed stickers, lots of objects and 5 different types of materials, you can make enough levels for all your Valentines this year! LIMITED TIME – Hurry, these items will disappear from the store on 2/25.

Chinese New Year Costumes for LBP PS3 (FREE) – In celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year, be sure to download this free costume pack, complete with his/her traditional costumes for this special time of year. LIMITED TIME – Hurry these items will disappear on 2/25.

Geekadelphia, arguably the best Philadelphia-centric tech and entertainment blog around, is hosting a pretty clever contest. The site is giving away a PSP Go and a $50 PSN card to the amateur engineer who can create the best representation of the City of Brotherly Love in LittleBigPlanet. Geekadelphia is accepting entries (limit one per person) until March 10 -- three days later, the site will reveal the winner at a chiptunes dance party at Philly's Studio 34.

Check out Geek's announcement for more information about the contest. Get a move on, though -- we've already started crafting our auto-play music level of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air intro.

Want to flex your LittleBigPlanet creative muscle? Want to a win a prize doing so? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is giving away a PSP Go system to one ingenious inventor that is able to create a specific "contraption": a vehicle that can operate on both land and water.

To enter, log onto LittleBigPlanet (PS3 only) and find the level "CC10 - Template." Copy the level to your Moon, and create a contraption within it. Once you're done, publish your creation with the prefix CC10 in the level title. One winner be selected to win a PSP Go. You'll have to hurry, though: The competition ends on February 28th. Good luck!

Okay, if you're not that familiar with the level designing mechanics of LittleBigPlanet, your domepiece might not explode at the sight of the video above. However, if you have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it is to make creative, functional engineering marvels in Media Molecule's platformer, you'll certainly appreciate the Contraption Challenge entrants' efforts. You can even catch a glimpse of the last Challenge's winner, the "Rusty ol' Bridge Builder," at the 3:27 mark. Keep an eye out for future Contraption Challenges -- Media Molecule promises the next one will be announced soon.

Eurogamer recently got its eyes on a few "PS3D" tech demos at a Sony preview event held at Motorstorm developer Evolution Studios' offices yesterday. While most of the titles demoed there had been shown to press before, one new 3D-enabled game popped out: LittleBigPlanet. Media Molecule's D.I.Y. platformer was panned by some critics for the three planes of depth players could navigate, which led to a lot of missed jumps and, well, death. However, Eurogamer's Richard Ledbetter claims that "stereoscopic 3D puts an end to that, ensuring each of the parallax elements occupies its own distinct area within the 3D space." While we're not fluent in Tron-speak, we're pretty sure that means "3D makes the game better." That's wonderful news!

Providing further proof that LittleBigPlanet is more than just an engine for the creation of rocket-propelled genitalia, Media Molecule has released a video showing off the finalists for its latest Contraption Challenge. This time around, entrants had to build the most convoluted machines they could think up in order to cross hazardous gaps. The developer's favorite bridgebuilders can be seen in the video above. Check out the video after the jump, and think about how much more interesting your morning commute would be if these people were real-life civil engineers.

We searched high and low for five user-created levels that rock our socks.

A super team of foundations has assembled with one goal in mind: Giving you fat stacks of loot. OK, it's not entirely about that, but you could win $50,000, just from creating levels in LittleBigPlanet. Basically, Sony (in cooperation with the MacArthur Foundation, the ESA and the good ole US of A) is holding the "Game Changers" competition, a contest that charges players with creating levels that teach America's youth about science, technology, engineering and math -- you know, the STEM initiative. Basically: Edu-gaming. Now, before you start having flashbacks of horrible dance routines and long division space battles, know you're on the clock right now! The official submission page will start accepting applicants' levels on January 15, so you better start coming up with ideas. For more info, hit up the "Game Changer" page here and best of luck! [Via PlayStation Blog]

It's rare that creator curators in the LittleBigPlanet community are rewarded for their homebrewed platforming projects -- a policy Media Molecule seems to want to reverse. Over the past few weeks, the developer has been handing out awards in various categories to the game's wide base of level designers. In a recent PlayStation.Blog post, the studio wrapped these awards up into a single presentation, cheekily titled the "2009 Sackies." Check out the PlayStation.Blog post to see the full list of winners, including "Roll Over Beethoven," which we think we can all agree is just the coolest thing ever.

Just missing the opportunity to become the ideal -- and stuffed -- stocking stuffer, the first official line of LittleBigPlanet plushies is now available on Amazon.com. This two-pack bundle from Senario includes one naked Sackboy and one white Sackgirl for $20. Unfortunately, the online retailer won't have these dolls in stock until the December 30th, so you'll have to take Amazon's prohibitively pricey "One Week Ago" time-travel shipping option. [Via PlayStation.Blog]

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Wait, it is Christmas Eve, right? These PSN updates always come on Thursdays, and Christmas is on Friday so ... wait, it's Tuesday? Well, it looks like someone at Sony Europe pressed the "Release Stuff onto the PSN" button a bit too early. Either that, or they didn't want to work on the 24th. No, Europeans usually have an unflappable work ethic -- this must be some kind of mistake. Regardless, there's a whole bunch of savory morsels in this week's update, including the LittleBigPlanet Pirates of the Caribbean pack, Vagrant Story and the Adhoc Party application. Check them all out after the jump! Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Alas, we've gone yet another decade without a single jetpack, hovercar, hoverpack or jetcar. We've got high hopes for unimaginable technological advancement in the 2010s -- for instance, if a recent advertisement for a bundle of LittleBigPlanet-branded PSP accessories that ran in MCV's latest "Digital Edition" is any indication, we're thinking that a new model of the old-school, UMD-equipped handheld might not be out of the question. Proudly printed on the ad is a lineup of PSP models the accessories are compatible with -- including the PSP-4000. Now, this could just be a mistake on the ad designer's part, or it could be an accidental hint of things to come. Maybe not things as awesome as sky-based personal transportation, but hey -- we'll take what we can get. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

As rumored last week, LittleBigPlanet will receive a massive chunk of DLC just before Christmas -- the "Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit." This pack includes the highly anticipated Water update, along with the tools Sackboy will need to navigate said fluids (scuba tanks, air ducts and the like). In addition, the pack includes five pre-made Pirates-themed levels, four new audio tracks, a new background, a free "Cannibal" costume, and a whole mess of decorations, stickers and materials to collect. The pack will land on the PSN alongside a six-pack of Pirates costumes, which include Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Will Turner and other characters from the movie, on December 22 for $5.99 each. Check out the pack's aquatic, buccaneering offerings in the trailer above. [Thanks, Casder.]

Pirates of the Caribbean is set to invade Sackboy's world.

According to CVG, the recently teased Pirates of the Caribbean content pack for LittleBigPlanet was not only recently confirmed by Sony, but also given a tentative launch window: "We're expecting it to launch just before Xmas," an unnamed Sony rep explained. If the prospect of platforming as a dreadlock'ed Sack Sparrow isn't exciting enough for you, CVG is also reporting that, as you probably assumed, the Water expansion will be arriving simultaneously with the Pirates pack. Well, of course it would. Can you imagine how much shorter those movies would have been if they didn't have any water? We reached out to Sony and Media Molecule to get confirmation of the two packs' imminence first-hand, but only received a "we don't comment on rumors and speculation" from the former. We'll let you know when we hear more!

[LittleBigPlanet Central] It's been nearly a year since Media Molecule created the Metal Gear Solid level pack for LittleBigPlanet. A recent Trophy leak shows that the PS3 platformer is finally getting an official MM-developed playable add-on -- this time, inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This partnership was first teased at E3. We presumed the partnership would result in nothing more than a downloadable costume, and we were wrong. The open seas should provide a fitting setting for the impending addition of water to the LBP universe. The various playable challenges Media Molecule have created should provide inspiration for LBP authors, thirsty to have their water-filled creations hit the PlayStation Network. See the new Trophies after the break. [Thanks, Stargateheaven!]

The wait to try out Sega/Platinum Games' over-the-top, demon/angel-slaying action title Bayonetta is finally over. The demo for the title is the highlight of this week's European PSN update, joined by a whole bunch of DLC for Fight Night Round 4, an Ezio Auditore costume for LittleBigPlanet and roughly 17,000 Rock Band tracks. That's just a quick estimate, but we think it should be pretty accurate. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Since the game's launch, LittleBigPlanet fans have only been able to create new levels offline. Over a year after initially promising a patch, Media Molecule is finally ready to unveil its online Create mode. Coming in the 1.21 "Leerdammer" patch, online Create works exactly as expected: you'll be able to invite friends to your Pod and work collaboratively on new levels. The most important improvement over the offline Create mode is the camera: each player gets his or her own camera, allowing them to work on different parts of the level simultaneously. For veteran creators, this should speed up the process quite significantly.In addition to the online Create mode, "Leerdammer" also rewrites LBP''s network code for improved performance and smarter matchmaking. The LBP save system has also been revamped, allowing players to store more community items than ever before. Finally, a slew of minor tweaks are also included in the patch, which you can read about after the break.[Thanks, Pumapayam!]

Unsatisfied with simply winning the "Artistic Achievement" category of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards earlier this year, Media Molecule and its charming, customizable platforme, LittleBigPlanet, took the BAFTA's Children's Awards show by storm last night. The title took top honors during the ceremony, beating out Boom Blox Bash Party, de Blob and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise for the coveted "Best Videogame" award. Media Molecule's Mark Healey teased GamesIndustry about the future of the infinitely award-winning title, saying, "LittleBigPlanet has a lot more room to absorb a lot more things before we say goodbye to that one. I think every year from now on should be a big year for LittleBigPlanet, hopefully." With the Online Create mode patch out today and the Water Update coming soon, we think the studio's got plenty of big ideas to keep the Planet turning for a long, long time.

This past week has been one long LittleBigDisappointment for early PSP Go adopters due to unforeseen technical snafus which prevented SCE Studio Cambridge's adorable platformer from jumping onto the PSN. Fortunately, the latest "Sack it to Me" news update brings word that the game will finally be available to download tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 24. Perhaps even more newsworthy than that is the fact that the studio has already launched a patch for the title which "will improve the performance of some of the physics and tools in the Create mode." To download the game-specific update -- a fairly new feature on the handheld -- make sure you're connected to the internet, select the game's icon on the XMB, press Triangle, and select "Update." Now, sit back, and prepare to witness unthinkable technowizardry in the palm of your hand. Or hands, should you still be using the original double-wide PSP.

Perhaps you've been playing an online session of LittleBigPlanet and seen a Sackboy (or Sackgirl) with his (or her) head stuck inside of a turkey. You're probably curious as to how this bold fashion statement came to pass. Were they searching for a lost meat thermometer? Had they been the victim of a cruel practical joke? Were they afflicted with the rare, but deadly Meleagris Oblongatus virus? As it turns out, the real source of these turkeyheaded individuals isn't really that scintillating. Media Molecule handed them out free of charge last Thanksgiving -- and, according to a recent post on PlayStation.Blog, the offer stands this year as well. Hop onto LBP to get your fowl chapeau from the LittleBigStore, but act quick -- it'll only be available for "a limited time."