LittleBigPlanet Message Board older than one year ago

We know that it’s been all-too-quiet on the LittleBigPlanet PS Vita front lately, so we are pleased to share some very exciting news with you all…Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to introduce the lovely box art for Sackboy’s latest adventure!

But wait, there’s more! We know many of you have asked for more video footage of the game, so we created a brand new featurette which will give you all a look behind the curtain of LBP for PS Vita. Enjoy!

Remember to follow LittleBigPlanet on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date with all the latest news.

Men in Black Costume Pack Coming This Week!

The Men in Black have an opening for a brand new member for their elite secret agency…and there’s nobody better equipped for the job than Agent S!

The new Sack in Black Costume is joined by a trio of infamous aliens from the Men in Black movies. With Agent S in charge, you can be sure that they won’t be messing with the Men in Black anymore! In celebration of this awesome collection of costumes from one of our favourite movies series, head on over to LittleBigPlanet.com and download this fantastic new movie poster for LittleBigPlanet!

Don’t forget that Men in Black III will be in cinemas soon too, so be sure to check it out to see the original Agents J and K in action!

Mm Picks

The Mm Picks this week include a couple of dark and mysterious platforming levels along with a couple more light-hearted mini-games that challenge your pizza-making and button-pressing skills.

The standout level series featured this week though is the Titanic 100th Anniversary movie that spans across an impressive 10-level series featuring educational and interactive levels, which form together to make a truly touching movie project that pays tribute to the Titanic tragedy from 100 years ago and to the lives lost on that day.

TITANIC 100th Anniversary PART 1 ‘THE SHIP OF DREAMS’ By TITANIC100th

TITANIC 100TH Soundtrack By hugh-es

Embrace of Darkness (Part 1) By papanurgle123

Pizza Party (Move Required – 1Player) By SasukeUchica

ブロック消し block eraser [JPN] By tyutyukoderax

Days Of Revenge part 1 –The Final Judgement– By monstertruckpipk

LBPC Contest Crew – Aquatic Acceleration

The Contest Crew over on LBPCentral.com have just announced their eighth competition! They’re looking for the community to create the fastest, most exhilarating, underwater level that you can imagine.

So put on your scuba gear and get creating for your chance to win a Rare Prize Crown and the LittleBigPlanet Central Pin!

Head on over to LBPCentral.com to find out how you can enter this competition.

Sign-up for the LittleBigPlanet Vita Beta!

Last but by no means least: we announced the LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Beta last week and time is quickly running out for people to register to be in with a chance to be chosen to join our community of bug-blasting Sackfolk!

Head on over to LittleBigPlanet.com now and register for your chance to be selected for the LittleBigPlanet Vita beta, before it’s too late!

Our media friends recently got to have a hands-on play of LittleBigPlanet Karting. Check out this video to see what IGN has to say about Sackboy’s leap into the racing arena!

At the same event, GameTrailers.com interviewed William Ho, United Front Game’s Design Director for LittleBigPlanet Karting — as well as showcase some new gameplay from LittleBigPlanet Karting!

Take a look at just what was said about the LittleBigPlanet Karting experience!

• IGN.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting: A Platformer on Wheels
• GameTrailers.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting Video Game, First Look Interview
• Kotaku.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting And Going Back To The Things You Love
• GameSpot.com – Play, Create, Share, and Then Blow Each Other Up
• PLCC3: Intro – Debriefing, before unleashing his dark side thanks to a magic formula in Another strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

  We see him return to some classic platforming action in Tileboard Trickery and if you’re looking to relax, you can play a nice game of Spot the Difference or take a moment to listen to Comishguy67’s Original Music Gallery containing over 40 songs!

  Best of all, comishguy67 is sharing his music with the rest of the community to use in their own levels! So if you’re a fan of great music, be sure to head to his level and collect those Prize Bubbles!

  
  PLCC3: Intro – Debriefing by xSLEVENx

  
  PLCC3 – Another strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Art-in-Heart

  
  Tileboard Trickery by Prattz

  
  spot the difference 間違い探し(JPN) by chocopyon

  
  Comishguy67’s Original Music Gallery by comishguy67

  
  

  LBPC Community Spotlight: Episode 84

  Following on from our feature on LiBitsmate last week, I thought that I would take a moment to feature the amazing crew over on LBPCentral.com

  
  LBPC Community Spotlight: Episode 84 by LBPCentralHub

  This dedicated team of hard-working peeps put out a new hub level containing their favourite picks every fortnight! Be sure to pay their latest level a visit to see their newest selection of chosen levels.

  LittleBigPlanet on the Web
  LittleBigPlanet Twitter – @LittleBigPlanet
  LittleBigPlanet Facebook

  LittleBigPlanet Community Team Twitters
  Steven – @StevenIsbell
  Simon – @Syroc_LBP
  Spaff – @thespaff

A Big Welcome to our new LittleBigPlanet Vita Community Coordinator!

Our LittleBigPlanet Community Team has a brand new member joining us from Tarsier in Sweden to help with the community management of the upcoming LittleBigPlanet Vita title!

Please give a warm welcome to Simon as he joins the team and will be your go-to guy for everything to do with LittleBigPlanet Vita!

Head on over to the Tarsier Studio blog to read Simon’s personal introduction to the LittleBigPlanet Community!

Oh and be sure to keep an eye on the Tarsier blog in future for lots more news from Simon about LittleBigPlanet Vita and the friendly folks over at Tarsier!

Celebrate! The Mariachi Costume Returns!

This Saturday marks the American and Mexican celebration of Cinco de Mayo and to join in with the celebrations, we are re-releasing the Mariachi Costume!

This popular party attire is FREE and will be available for one week only, before it’s gone again until next year! So be sure to pick up this costume when the PlayStation Store updates later this week!

Mm Picks

This week’s Mm Picks features two amazingly well-crafted platform adventures, a new Survival Challenge by Nuclearfish, a fun multiplayer mini-game from SingEagle and the chance to live the life of a firefly, as you fly over the swamp and collect plenty of pollen to allow you to shine brightly during your travels!

“Technology in deep space” by ALS_TheGamer

Jungle’s Reasons by GANGSTA-LiGhTiNg

Temple Trials by Nuclearfish

FireFlight by Fotosynthesis1

Spinning Wheel by SingEagle

Community Highlight – LiBitsmates Japanese Community Hub

In an awesome move to help bridge the gap between the Western and Eastern LittleBigPlanet communities across the globe, a new team has been formed by the name of LiBitsmates and each month they will be releasing a community hub level showcasing their favourite levels developed by creators from Japan!

LiBitsmate No.2 ~リビッツメイト5月号~ by LiBitsmateJAPAN

LiBits is actually Sackboy’s name in Japan and this regular release of community levels will ensure that he will always remain firm friends with our Japanese community!

For more information on the LiBitsmate Community Hub, head on over to LBPCentral.com!

LittleBigPlanet on the Web

LittleBigPlanet Twitter – @LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/littlebigplanet

LittleBigPlanet Community Team Twitters

Steven – @StevenIsbell
Spaff – @thespaff

There was such a lot going on last week, that I didn’t really get a chance to properly introduce myself to everyone! My name is Steven, and you’ll be hearing a lot more from me in my new role as LittleBigPlanet Community Coordinator, although some of you may already recognise me from the LittleBigPlanet community by my PSN ID StevenI.

With the release of two brand-new LittleBigPlanet titles this year and plenty more exciting things to come for LittleBigPlanet 2… You can be sure to hear all the latest news and events for LittleBigPlanet every Monday.

You all know we love our community and are lucky to have such a passionate group. With the recent announcement for LittleBigPlanet Karting, our fans have gone wild analyzing the trailer making sure you know about all of the good stuff to come!

FarFromSubtle viewing!

Sackinima Analysis:

LBPK community art FTW:
A special thank you to the PaintingChannel for, by far, our favorite YouTube clip of the week!

It’s time to take another look at the latest selection of featured levels in LittleBigPlanet! Sackboy is an active little fellow, and in Honey World Story we see him running up and down the walls of a honey-covered hive. Then, in Sky Forest, he climbs up ladders and ledges to make his escape. Meanwhile, we have a truly artistic delight from chaogear and his Natural Sky level, and Special_D_ challenges you to save the world from asteroids in his Blackhole mini-game!

Finally if you just want to chill out and relax in LittleBigPlanet, then you’ll want to head to Hug-Of-War’s music gallery to listen to the large collection of compositions from this talented musician!

Honey World Story (Platformer)

by yu-kamone

Natural Sky

by choasgear

Sky Forest (One Player Only)

by iBreezyBrezo

Hug-Of-War’s Gallery of Musical Music

by Hug-of-War

Blackhole (Hard)

by Special_D_

Have you just published your latest creation that you want all of LittleBigPlanet to see?
However you just don’t know where to begin with getting your level noticed? Well then, perhaps you should head on over to the LittleSigPlanet website and pick out a wonderful signature to display on your favorite LittleBigPlanet forum!

Just use the very friendly Signature Wizard by putting in a link to your LBP.me profile or level, select your preferred style and theme for your new signature and then just click on the Get codez button to create your new signature in an instant!

[Example Signature Below]

It’s as simple as that! Sharing levels on your favourite LittleBigPlanet fansite has never been easier.

This wonderful gift to the community is definitely Awesomesauce-approved! So for their awesome contribution, we will be awarding the creators of the LittleSigPlanet website, the rarest and most elusive Secret Pin in LittleBigPlanet…

The Awesomesauce Pin!

It’s time to venture down the rabbit hole in LittleBigPlanet with the release of the new Alice in Wonderland Costume Pack based on Tim Burton’s movie adaption of the classic story, starring LittleBigPlanet’s very own narrator Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat!

Costumes include Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen.

Each costume will be available on the PlayStation Store individually, however if you purchase the full Alice in Wonderland Costume pack you will also receive some bonus Alice in Wonderland Stickers.

The LittleBigPlanet community is a huge collection of talented and dedicated creators! So much so, that we simply cannot ignore the amazing levels that continue to be published and populate LittleBigPlanet. So to celebrate this hive of creativity, we’re re-launching the Mm Picks to be released on a regular basis.

Just head to Community in-game every Friday and select the Mm Picks to check out the latest selection of our favorite levels published in LittleBigPlanet or to browse through our previous Mm Picks!

Electric momentum [1 player ONLY]By SlurmMacKenzie

Be sure to come back each week as we feature new levels and creators…

And who knows? Maybe one week, you will even find one of your own levels being chosen as one of our featured levels for the week!

This week saw some classic platforming action from three creators, a multiplayer tank battle extravaganza and a spooky board game for two to four Sackplayers!

Vinewood SwampBy grayspence

Violet SundownBy RacingCreed

Wood in space (Platformer)
By Tropical_guner

I LOVE TANK [1P~4P] (Single player support) By mebaru_san

Boardgame: Ghost CastleBy BOIA

Earlier this year, we cut some cake and popped some champagne to celebrate Media Molecule’s sixth birthday! We’ve had an awesome time during the last six years, seeing how the experiment we started here in Guildford has grown, giving rise to a thriving LittleBigPlanet community. This year will be no different, filled with DLC, plus new experiments from the LBP family for you to play with.

You already know about the fantastic LBP work that Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven Studios are doing on LittleBigPlanet for PS Vita, and now we are delighted to announce today a new LBP collaboration with the hugely talented team at United Front Games who will be leading a new project called LittleBigPlanet Karting! We’ve all seen that UFG has a wealth of racing experience and they’re also intimately familiar with LBP’s cornerstones of “Play, Create, Share.” With LBP’s powerful and diverse toolset in their capable hands, LittleBigPlanet Karting is sure to be an adventure that both LBP fans and kart-racing fans alike will enjoy! We are eager to see what you think of this union and especially excited to see what happens now that you can create in a 3D environment — it’s the start of a whole new LBP world! Have a look at the debut trailer to see for yourself.

Thank you so much for your continued support of LittleBigPlanet! Lots of love!

Thank you to everyone at Media Molecule, we greatly appreciate the warm welcome into the LittleBigPlanet family. The team here at United Front Games has long been huge fans of LBP and all of the exceptional work done by everyone at Mm. Sackboy has become one of the iconic gaming characters of this generation and to have the opportunity to make a LittleBigPlanet game ourselves is truly an honor.

It has been a joy to collaborate with all of the folks at Mm. Since the project’s inception, they have been great partners in getting to where we are today. Looking ahead, we can’t wait for all of the LBP fans out there to get their hands on LittleBigPlanet Karting. The LBP community is unparalleled in the gaming world for the passion and creativity they bring and it’s going to be exciting to see where they’re able to take this new journey for Sackboy.

Our goal with LBP Karting has been fairly simple – provide a fast-paced experience that captures the best of classic karting gameplay, married with the unbridled creativity of LBP. This new adventure will be accessible to players of all ages and have all of the variety necessary to satisfy both the hardcore and more casual players.

This is an LBP game, so we could never talk about it without mentioning the Create tools. LBP Karting is set in an entirely 3D world that will enable players to create rich and varied gameplay experiences. Tons of familiar LBP gadgets will be present, along with a new toolbox specifically tailored to allow for building in LBP Karting’s 3D world. Along with fan-favorite racing and battle modes, players will be able to modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges. All of this is wrapped up in a community experience that should have LBP fans feeling right at home.

Well, that’s all for now, but we’re looking forward to sharing more news on this exciting new game in the coming weeks so stay tuned for more info and get ready for the new world of LittleBigPlanet Karting in 2012!

The LittleBigPlanet franchise now has over 6 USER-GENERATED MILLION GAMES & LEVELS!!!
Something magical recently happened in the world of LittleBigPlanet – thanks to our awesome community, the LBP franchise now has more than 6 million user-generated games and levels that have been created by fans and uploaded online to the PlayStation Network! As always, we’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone contributing, whether you’re creating, sharing, or just playing. Here are a few nuggets we found over the weekend:

SPEED CREATE by Mnniska
A new fan-created video series called SpeedCreate. Love the new approach and helpful tips/ideas passed along to the rest of us. Thanks!

LittleBigPodcast – Episode 156 and Muppets DLC
Thanks for keeping us updated on the latest!

The Muppets Invade LittleBigPlanet!
Speaking of the Muppets, the new DLC is available NOW! Here’s a look at our recent trailer…

The 2011 Sackies – Nominations Needed!
With the Golden Globes behind us and the Oscars coming up soon, awards season now here in full force, so it’s time for our own special LBP awards, called The Sackies – and we need your help. Check out how you can help nominate the best levels out there via LBP.me – just find the level and look for the special Sackies nomination feature at the top of each level. Nominations will be closed on Feb 6th, then voting will begin and go until Feb 20th with winners scheduled to be announced the week after. So, nominate your favorite levels now!

Other LBP News…
LBPCentral’s Community Spotlight, Episode 76
Thanks for the round-up. This episode highlights a handful of new games uploaded recently:

• InterKinetic
• The Hollows of Thronwood Thicket
• Super Special Awesome Christmas Level
• A Christmas Tale: Santa ClaWs is Jelly
• Escape from the Mines!
• Sealed Fate – Chapter 1
• Aeon Quest
• El Guero’s Disembodied Genius
• The Cillian Saga part 2
• The Ruins of Kalahr

Exciting Times at Media Molecule
-Happy belated Birthday to Mm (Jan 4th) – click on over to the Communities’ B-DAY card and add your own special message to Mm.
-Mm Podcast 15 – New Years Resolutions

…More Thank Yous…
And a special thanks to everyone in the community that act as our eyes and ears on the interwebs for the rest of the community to enjoy, including LittleBigLand, LBP2Blog, LittleBigPicks, RocketCheetah, and many many more!

Happy third birthday, LittleBigPodcast! Three years ago, our friends Daniel and Austin started a small podcast dedicated to LittleBigPlanet. And now, 146 episodes later, The LittleBigPodcast has a special birthday episode, and a special “Sack-it-to-me” video just for us…

This weekend, be sure to play the lastest “Mm picks” chosen by Media Molecule themselves..

FreeFallin’ (3D Skydiving)
Add it to your Queue: http://lbp.me/v/7vdd14

Losing Things
Add it to your Queue: http://lbp.me/v/0e6hdm

Dark Force (Co-op sword action-RPG)
Add it to your Queue: http://lbp.me/v/06y4zb

And thanks to aoinko2012, MrShuanji and GameplayFlicks for capturing these vids.

Speaking of picks…

Check out LittleBigPicks’ latest guide on other new levels you have to play this weekend. Great stuff, guys!

Be sure to support LittleBigPlanet 2 in this season’s GAME OF THE YEAR nominations (but only if you think we deserve it…)

Spike VGA’s Best PS3 Game.

MMGN’s Best PS3 Exclusive of 2011.

Actiontrip’s Game of the Year 2011 – People’s Choice

We’re pleased to bring to you a new costume from our friends over at Oddworld Inhabitants . With the PlayStation Store update later today, you can dress your Sackboy up as the crossbow-wielding, poncho-sporting bounty hunter with a deadly secret (and deadly breath). Introducing the Stranger…

If you’re looking for more wallpapers, check out the latest featuring Ezio Auditore Sackboy!

For the goodness of science, congrats to the winners (and all participants) of the LittleBigPlanet Central Crown Contest!

Our friends over in LittleBigLand have a new segment of LBP “A week in pictures”. Check out this week’s snapshots of levels you SHOULD be playing!

LittleBigPlanet and LBP2 enabled PS3 players to play, create and share custom-made levels and game modes online for all to enjoy. Now, with the upcoming PS Vita game harnessing the handheld’s plethora of inputs and sensors for playing and creating, Sackboy’s new adventure will be the most accessible – and empowering – LittleBigPlanet yet.

We’ve seen glimpses of what PS Vita adds to Play starting at E3, when SCEE’s Pete Smith demonstrated how the touch screen, gyroscopes, and rear touch panel helped Sackboy navigate levels in all-new ways. At gamescom, Smith was joined by Tarsier Studios designer Richard Meredith to show us some more Play possibilities and tools you’ll use to Create new types of games.

Even the “Super Oval” shape of PS Vita is giving the development team novel new possibilities. Smith turned the Vita vertically to demonstrate a gravity-based game where players rapidly sort colored balls into the right chute – reminiscent of a touch-enabled version of PSN game Droplitz.

Next, the duo demonstrated an air hockey game where two people can play at once by each grabbing one side of the PS Vita. The demonstration made clear that, much like in LBP2, Vita’s LittleBigPlanet will allow for games far outside of simple side-scrolling platformers. Add in PS Vita’s tilt sensors, front and real touchscreen, cameras, and microphone and you’ve got a powerful but intuitive suite of control options for playing and creating levels.

Of course, if you see it in the world of LittleBigPlanet, you can also create it yourself.

Meredith took the controls here, showing how the most basic functions of creation can now be mapped to the intuitive touch screen. He first painted a simple stickman with his finger. As he dragged the completed scarecrow around the screen, the game automatically recorded the movement path. When he let go, and the little man danced along the path all on his own. Sorcery!

Smith then shared an anecdote about how development team members were tasked with making a complete game in about three minutes. Meredith re-created the experience by selecting a Swiss cheese texture and drawing a maze with his finger, dropping in a few pitfalls to make things interesting. Then he snapped a photo of someone’s mouth with the PS Vita camera, which he placed as the end goal of the maze. Drop in a ball, assign tilt controls to steer, and you’ve got yourself a game! Meredith also showed a more advanced version of that level, which took him a couple of hours to create. Though it packed far more detail and polish, it was essentially the same game he created in just a few minutes.

When it comes to the third element of LittleBigPlanet, Share, the team is working on a seamless connection between the PS Vita and PS3 community, including LBP.me compatibility. It seems clear that finding new levels to play will be as easy on PS Vita as it is on PS3. Perhaps most importantly, the simplicity of the new Create interface should entice countless new players to contribute to the millions of levels already living in the LBP ecosystem.

The key things to remember about LittleBigPlanet for PS Vita:

• It’s not a port: this LBP features an all new campaign and Vita-specific features
• Your previously purchased LittleBigOutfits will transfer seamlessly into LBP for Vita
• Sackboy looks 72% cuter on the OLED screen

Producer Pete Smith from SCEE Liverpool has been working on the LittleBigPlanet series since the original, and is therefore well qualified to show off what’s new for LBP Vita.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this LBP is that the Create tools are kind of like a Vita dev kit. You can access the touch screens, accelerometers and more to make a levels that take full advantage of the handheld, and are unlike any previously created in the LBP universe.

200 cardboard bricks are en route to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime to send a message. It's part of a "Defective by Design" campaign from the Free Software Foundation calling attention to Digital Rights Management (DRM) and fighting against what it considers unfair DRM policies. The campaign generated headlines last week for pointing the finger at Nintendo's policies for 3DS.

All hardware and software comes with legal copy that most skim past, far more interested in consuming what they paid for. Hell, South Park just lampooned society's disposition towards passively accepting whatever corporations put in front of us, as long as the product is good enough. It was hard to take Defective by Design seriously, given it's an advocacy group with a clear agenda. Nintendo has an agenda, too, but is it anti-consumer? I'm someone who clicks "I agree" like most of you, but I also wanted to know more.

Defective by Design was upset for several reasons, including Nintendo claiming massive rights over content created by users on 3DS, including photos and videos. Here's the passage about copyright, lifted directly from the 3DS' End User License Agreement on Nintendo's website:

User content, in Nintendo's words, means "messages, images, photos, movies, information, 3DS user names, Mii, Mii nicknames, names of creators, and other names." It's a broad scope. In laymen's terms: Nintendo has a license to the content you've created and do, well, stuff with it.

"The Nintendo 3DS is a useful target for our campaign because the Nintendo Terms of Service state so clearly what kind of power they believe they deserve to yield over a user," explained Defective By Design campaign manager Joshua Gray to me in a recent email. "This does not make them any better or worse than Apple, for instance, but, Nintendo does make our job a little easier in some ways, since we can simply quote their own Terms of Service to show the world just how awful they are. This is an important aspect of the Defective by Design campaign--making as many people as we can aware of DRM technology and presenting our case as to why we believe it needs to be eliminated."

Legalese seems scary because it's tough to understand what it means. What sounds strangely demanding may have more to do with the company in question covering their ass--and yours. Or maybe not. Maybe corporations adopt such strict and impenetrable language to allow themselves more room to enforce rules as situations call for it. I'm not an expert, just a reporter shooting from the hip. Luckily, it's not that hard to get in touch with people who know much more than I do.

Defective by Design is attacking Nintendo and others for many reasons, but since so many games incorporate user content, to make better sense of this, we're going to focus in on the rights of corporations over the content you create within their experiences, hardware or software. There is a significant difference between "own" and "use," as a gaming versed lawyer I spoke to clarified.

"The initial issue is separating copyright ownership from a copyright license," said Andrew Ehmke, an attorney at Haynes and Boone. "The ability to use the content (a license) is different than owning the content (the owner can stop other people from using). Most terms of service that cover user-generated content will include language that effectively states that the company can use the user-generated content--although, the extent of the use will vary significantly."

Ehmke said I'd find similar language in both Microsoft and Sony's own user agreements. And?

Yup.

What if you make stages in LittleBigPlanet...?

...or make a game mode in Halo: Reach's Forge mode?

That all sounds awfully intimidating. No one could blame you for not knowing what the hell the above statements actually means, wondering for a moment if game companies are tricking you into giving up your rights, and deciding to just move on and play the game you just bought.

"How often do terms of service that address UGC [user generated content] then also include language giving the company the ability to use that UGC?" asked Ehmke. "The answer is almost all of them."

Still sounds scary, but as Defective by Design suggests, are companies taking advantage of you?

"I agree also that the contractual language within the ToS [terms of service] of not just the 3DS but most gadgets are somewhat scary when translated into laymen terms," said Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich. "However, some of the suggested implications made in regards to the 3DS ToS are pretty farfetched. Nintendo is not going to steal your pictures for their own use. I don’t care what the language says, Nintendo won’t conduct in such a manner."

Naturally, Defective by Design holds a lightly more sinister view of the situation.

"The 3DS is not all that different from other mobile devices that rely upon a combination of legal and Digital Restrictions Management technology to force users to give-up control of their device," said Gray.

You've run the gauntlet with me, reader.

What are we to make of this? It's complicated. In Europe, for example, the laws do not allow companies licensed rights to user content--photos, movies, whatever. That's not the case over here, but that doesn't implicitly mean every company that includes what's obviously boilerplate legal language is up to something sinister. Little of the evidence points in that direction, but I have to imagine Defective by Design would take issue with such a cavalier response.

There's little reason for status quo change unless consumers demand it. That doesn't tend to happen until a company grossly crosses the line. Campaigns like Defective by Design hope to call attention before bad things happen. If South Park's right, though, we'll all keep clicking "I agree."

After promising to earn back some goodwill with the community through a little thing called "free stuff," Sony yesterday detailed its "Welcome Back" plan for the return of PlayStation Network. There are some terrific games being made available at no charge, but if you already own all of them, that's a bummer.

The head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's communications division, Nick Caplin, actually responded to a fan who expressed their disappointment over this very issue on the PlayStation Blog.

"I’m really sorry tha [sic] there is nothing there that you want," explained Caplin. "We’ve tried really hard to put together a list of high quality BD [Blu-ray disc] games, rather than simply offering cheaper PSN titles. The average metacritic rating for these games is over 84%, so these are high quality games. Unfortunately with a user base of 77m people, it is really hard to offer something for everyone."

If you've already forgotten what games are in the "Welcome Back" package, I've got you covered.

PlayStation 3

• LittleBigPlanet
• Infamous*
• Wipeout HD/Fury
• Super Stardust HD
• Dead Nation

PSP

• LittleBigPlanet
• ModNation
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

PlayStation Network is mostly back but the PlayStation Store is not; Sony's still working out the kinks there. In the meantime, it looks like we're about to learn how Sony's proposing to gain back our trust with free stuff.

PlayStation Blog has published a list of what content will be part of the "Welcome Back" program when the PlayStation Store is back up.

In other words: what free PlayStation 3 and PSP games are up for grabs? You'll get to download two PS3 and two PSP games, so four in total.

The games are mostly on the older side but it's a nice lineup:

PlayStation 3

• LittleBigPlanet
• Infamous*
• Wipeout HD/Fury
• Super Stardust HD
• Dead Nation

PSP

• LittleBigPlanet
• ModNation
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

The lineup's a little bit different in Europe:

PlayStation 3

• LittleBigPlanet
• Infamous*
• Wipeout HD/Fury
• Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
• Dead Nation*

PSP

• LittleBigPlanet PSP
• ModNation PSP
• Pursuit Force*
• Killzone Liberation*

Asterisks can be a scary thing, but in this case, it's only scary if you're from Germany, where Sony's swapping those games for a few others, most likely due to the country's stringent content restrictions. inFamous and Dead Nation are placed with Super Stardust HD and Hustle Kings, while Killzone Liberation and Pursuit Force transform into Everybody's Golf 2 and Buzz! Junior Jungle Party.

As already announced, you'll also gain access to 30 days of PlayStation Plus. Existing members will simply receive an additional month. Sony will also have a lineup of "On Us" movies available to watch, too. If the lineup of games available is anything like the movies, it's reasonable to expect Sony-produced flicks.

PlayStation Home users are in for something, too, though Sony isn't saying what.

It's worth pointing out again that this lineup is for European customers and could differ in the US.

We’ve been keeping a secret! We’ve challenged 12 community members to create an EPIC storyline and playable levels in LittleBigPlanet 2. We wanted to see if they could create a full game experience within LBP2 – filled with cut-scenes, bosses and even mini-games. Great news is they’re almost finished and we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what they’ve been working on. Introducing…’Hansel & Gretelbot.’

Stay tuned when the levels will be available for your playing pleasure. Click here for the whole story directly from Media Molecule.