“SACK IT TO ME”…Weekly Answers to the LBP Community’s Questions

195 14
Mark Valledor Marketing Manager, SCEA
14 Author Replies

Over the past weeks, we’ve been reading lots of forum posts, comments to blog posts and news posts and even heard questions coming into our consumer services hotlines. To better serve the community, we’ve decided to provide a weekly update on the hot topics and answer the burning questions you all have.

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First off, wanted to introduce “Sam_Protagonist” to everyone. He’s our global community manager for LittleBigPlanet and our eyes and ears for all things community. You can find him interacting on the EU and US forums providing updates to the community. Keep a look out for his forum posts and occasional LBP News Site posts for the latest updates.

So for our first installment of ‘SACK IT TO ME’ – we’ve decided to summarize some of the major topics the community wants answered…

Moderation
The level moderation process is something we’re continually improving. The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool. We never moderate levels that have not been reported in this way. The vast majority of moderated levels were due to offensive material, however we are evolving the way moderation happens to ensure that creators are made aware of why their level was blocked. More to come shortly.

Servers
We hope you’ve noticed that over the past few weeks, we’ve been working away and our servers are now much improved – from the updated scoreboards to the connection speeds. Just know we’re constantly looking to improve the experience and your feedback has been very helpful. Additionally, below are a few online stats for your viewing pleasure:

  • # of user generated (UG) levels = 177,657
  • # of comments = 1,093,491
  • # of times Story levels have been played online = 36,661,881
  • # of times UG levels have been played online = 22,463,892
  • # of levels played online = 59,125,403

Play Create Share stats & Search Functionality
Now that the servers are stable, we’ll continue to improve the “Share” experience. We’ve heard your requests to get better search functionality to find levels and getting the PLAY, CREATE, SHARE stats up and running on the Info Moon and have put this on the top of our list. So stay tuned for a few announcements

In the meantime, there are a few ‘other’ ways to find some cool levels:

LittleBigChallenge: PS3 Second Anniversary Updates
We’ve been excited to see all the posted “LBC1” level submissions for our first in-game LittleBigChallenge, so much that we wanted to share a few of the ones that caught our eye. After reading the forums, looks like we struck a nerve with a few of you thinking these updates are unfair publicity to the selected. Wanted to re-assure you that our intention to highlight a few of these levels, is to celebrate the creation of a variety of levels from a variety of creators – NOT to indicate any frontrunners or winners. Judging is completely separate from these updates and the evaluation of these levels will take into consideration a creators creativity, game design, innovation, use of tools, etc – NOT just “hearts” and “plays”.

As an insight to the evaluation process, we plan to first collect the formal e-mail submissions, list out the levels w/ various stats (on the server side), then have our judges spend a few days to play thru and judge levels and award the top 5 creators for this challenge.

Also, check back on Friday where we’ll list out the submissions-to-date, so you can spend the weekend playing the Challenge levels.

Day 1 T-shirt
Finally, some of you are wondering what happened to the Day 1 T-Shirt mentioned in the past. This was available in other countries for (equivalent of) $4.99, but we decided to hold back its availability in North America as we evaluate if such a unique item (RARE + $4.99 + time-based) is appropriate for our PS Store. There may be other RARE items like this in the future, so check back on future DLC announcements.

… We hope this answers your current batch of questions. Comment away below and let us know what else questions you want answered for next weeks batch…

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195 Comments

14 Author Replies

  • halebound00
    December 2, 2008 at 7:31 pm PST

    Hey….thanks for making such a great fun game. My wife loves it and we play it all the time. I thought she was gonna get tired of it like she did our Wii (sold it after a month) but she plays it more than I do. I can’t even get any quality time in with R2 or Bioshock. I might have to hide the disk this weekend so I can do my God of War fest in peace. I really wish I would’ve gotten to play that God of War level all the way through. It was sweet.

  • Theossie
    December 2, 2008 at 7:33 pm PST

    I love LBP… just love it..

    Something I’ve noticed the other day..

    Can you consider adding a way to go back and look at previously typed messages when playing online with people. If I’m typing a message and someone finishes theirs.. You don’t see theirs as mine would show up.

    I would say add a chat box, but I like the message bubbles.. Maybe they can be handled like in Home with multiple bubbles on the screen a one time…

  • rockond
    December 2, 2008 at 7:37 pm PST

    Thank you Thank you Thank you !! I love your game and thank you for unlocking voodoo !! I don’t know why someone griefed it but I am happy to have it back. It may not be much but I clocked in some hours making it. You Rock !! This is the first time I’ve commented on the PS blog and it is good to see you really read these. Have a wonderful evening =)

  • Wuggyboobeaufuf
    December 2, 2008 at 7:40 pm PST

    “The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool.”

    Since when? Nobody I know ever used the Good Grief tool to report a Mario or Sonic homage level.

    Let’s cut the double speak, shall we guys?

    You are censoring, at random, for no good reason. I am *extremely* happy I canceled my pre-order for this game.

  • keegang
    December 2, 2008 at 7:42 pm PST

    i really like this game but it does one glaring fault:there is no officialRatchet costume. Here me know sony, PLEASE MAKE A RATCHET COSTUME FOR THIS GAME!!!!!!!! i have spoken my peace.

  • keegang
    December 2, 2008 at 7:43 pm PST

    PLEASE MAKE A RATCHET COSTUME FOR LITTLE BIG PLANET!!!!

  • rockond
    December 2, 2008 at 7:50 pm PST

    As usual with my luck I was so happy for a brief moment I could at least access it on my moon and just as quickly it won’t load again. It is still missing in the world and I was going to republish it and to heck with the 9 hearts it had =( Please aid a LBPER I love your game and all I want is my voodoo unlocked =( It is a nice and simple level which shouldn’t offend anyone I even made the ghosts in it myself !! My first creature build, I won’t build another level until I am sure this is resolved who wants to spend hours making something just to have it yanked ans its spot on the moon inaccessable =(

  • quine
    December 2, 2008 at 8:16 pm PST

    Please fix the major bugs in the level editor and work on improving it greatly!

    -Copied items often lose some pistons/ropes/etc that are attached to them.

    -Cutting shapes out of others can leave invisible remains that can kill and push players.

    – objects tied to other objects can result in drastically incorrect physics that can kill players. I made a car that, when launched upwards, suddenly would start spinning 10-20x faster simply because something was anchored to it that was somehow affecting its rotation incorrectly.

    I have examples of most of these in case it can help tracking them down. It’d be nice to have an area to report bugs, as the bugginess of the editor is currently preventing me from enjoying it at all. If this is not remedied in a reasonable amount of time I will be selling the game off unfortunately (since I bougt it almost solely for the editor).

    Also, any chance of a PC editor? No testing needed just object placement and automation would be nice. Then we could tweak on the ps3.

  • wbrinkman
    December 2, 2008 at 8:23 pm PST

    A Week One shirt at a $5 equivalent?? Last to my knowledge, that should be 3.64 EUR then. Not 5 EUR. (or 4 UKP for that matter)

  • rockond
    December 2, 2008 at 8:24 pm PST

    My last post I promise. I have it back and now I am shutting off computer. I have republished it =) Rock on !!!!

  • reefrrulz
    December 2, 2008 at 8:50 pm PST

    I’m sure this has been asked but I didnt feel like reading every post.

    When will we be able to create with friends? this is something that should have been ready at launch. I have several friends that would like to work together but we can’t.

    $1.99 for dlc costumes is also a little steep dont you think? I’m sure you would sell more for $.99 or maybe bundle some for $1.99.

    maybe I just haven’t found it but can you make your own stickers? can you upload your own music(or sounds) as long as it isn’t explicit?

    I understand that this is a family oriented game. And I do have alot of respect for you delaying the game because of that song. people can whine (as always) but I feel you did the right thing. from not just a moral but financial stand point

  • acerazer1
    December 2, 2008 at 9:35 pm PST

    Day 1 T-shirt
    Finally, some of you are wondering what happened to the Day 1 T-Shirt mentioned in the past. This was available in other countries for (equivalent of) $4.99, but we decided to hold back its availability in North America as we evaluate if such a unique item (RARE + $4.99 + time-based) is appropriate for our PS Store. There may be other RARE items like this in the future, so check back on future DLC announcements.

    What the fudge does that mean, we’re never getting it?

  • caliblue15
    December 2, 2008 at 9:37 pm PST

    I just want to know why my level was moderated.

    Level Name: Truck Mountain v0.7
    PSN: caliblue15
    Offensive Material?: No, Was shown on neogaf, blu-ray.com and your very own review crew.

    I would love an explanation of why it was moderated and what you guys are going to continue to do to fix these problems.

  • Pablo0620
    December 2, 2008 at 9:44 pm PST

    I have a problem where I THINK I might’ve skipped a tutorial and now I cant get the Trophy for completing all the tutorials…and im a trophy whore so…please do something

  • leetfoo
    December 2, 2008 at 9:49 pm PST

    Are you ever planning on supporting scaled 1080i/p output so those of us with TVs that don’t do 720p can play in hidef?

  • Jeigh
    December 2, 2008 at 9:49 pm PST

    And that whole time I figured I was going to get that Week One T-Shirt for FREE for buying the game so early. I have to say, for such an amazing game, the launch was handled quite terribly. Even the servers, which I had assumed were stress-tested to a massive degree,aren’t running at all well. I could only catch the image of myself dying nine times through the lag before I gave up.

    Still, it’s a good game and it will get better with time. Just wait ’til you see my fire level! :D (I’ll wait a bit to post it so this whole moderation mess can sort itself out.)

  • ephracis
    December 2, 2008 at 9:51 pm PST

    Yay! I got a free t-shirt with the game when I bought it. No extra charge. Bought it from GAME in Sweden. :)

  • FoxKit
    December 2, 2008 at 10:05 pm PST

    Thanks guys, this helps. n.n
    Can we maybe see some music as DLC? I’d love to have some more songs to play around with.

  • WHAT
    December 2, 2008 at 10:05 pm PST

    Why did they kill the narrator so early in the game? They had a chance to tell a story through him but failed at an attempt to even tell a story in Story Mode. One of the most fitting voices in the history of gaming tossed in the crapper after five minutes. I can only do a board or two and then I have to shut it off cause it has no ultimate goal to achieve. Get to the end because it’s the end, doesn’t really cut it for me.

  • FoxKit
    December 2, 2008 at 10:07 pm PST

    @Pablo0620
    Under the tools screen, if you press square, you can select to do the tutorial again for that piece. Do you remember which one you skipped?

  • gbovo
    December 2, 2008 at 10:52 pm PST

    Mark, remember our chat about LBP’s marketing and when SCEA would be kicking it up a few notches, you said not to worry that SCEA would do good on LBP’s marketing. Looks like you weren’t very truthful seeing as LBP’s marketing in the US has been utterly disappointing since the game launched. Hardly any TV ads on any of the big TV networks. No online ads on Gametrailers /IGN/ 1up. No billboard signs around the country, and overall, a failure for SCEA to truly bombard the mainstream gamers senses with LBP. You all failed to put LBP in the face of everyone when it launched, hoping that early adopters would do your job for you (for free), through word of mouth, instead of stepping up and spending the money needed for the game to sell the millions of copies it deserves to. I’m sure you’d like to give the excuse of LBP being a new IP releasing in the busy holiday season, and facing stiff competition, as the reason for the game’s less that spectacular sales. But Assassins Creed was a new IP last year, that ended up selling 6 million copies (2 million of which were on PS3), because Ubisoft spent lots of money marketing the game and putting it in everyone’s. So that excuse doesn’t make much sense.

    • Mark Valledor
      December 2, 2008 at 11:49 pm PST

      Wow…this came from left field, maybe you just didn\’t see enough to your liking. I won\’t go into everything we did (which is a lot) but I will state the facts…

      TV – confirmed on MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Spike and others (Oct – Dec)
      Online ads – confirmed on GameTrailers and IGN – and a whole lot more sites
      Billboards (Big and Little)…check – confirmed in LA, NY, SF, Dallas, Minnesota.

      As for your Assassins Creed callout…your sales numbers about 1MM off, AC did 1MM on the PS3 (OCT 08 TRSTS report)

      Anywho…I realize this response probably won\’t make a believer out of you, but I can tell you I sleep very well at night knowing the work our marketing/advertising teams did (and is still doing) is top notch.

  • Mark Valledor
    December 2, 2008 at 10:53 pm PST

    Time for bed.

    Thanks for the comments (both praise and criticisms) and taking the time to ask more questions, hope answering a few on the comments section helped too (didn’t want to answer them all because we need fuel for the next post)

    Til next week…

  • Rob
    December 2, 2008 at 11:10 pm PST

    I would like to have 3rd party controller support back. Is that ever going to happen? I only have one original PS3 controller. :(

  • Enforcer_X
    December 2, 2008 at 11:28 pm PST

    Well lets get that T-Shirt available this week? I’ll pay!

    I am trying to get the 150 levels played trophy so I would like to know if the play create share numbers are counting even if they are not updating on my screen. I am thinking yes since someone already has 100% trophies.

    Also when is the update for online team create mode coming? It was said that feature was coming in a patch. I guess a better question would be IS this feature still coming?

    One more thing, can the lag issues be fixed? Are they a server issue or does LBP use some form of P2P?

    Thanks, and keep making LBP better! Love it!

  • grashopper
    December 2, 2008 at 11:28 pm PST

    @Mark Valledor: Yes I do know there are free outfits but $5 bucks for a shirt for a video game character is a rip off…I bought the animal pack costumes already and I’m okay with the pricing there but your price for that specific item was just wrong. Your exploiting your early adopters (the ones you should be thanking) because its rare.
    Look at what $5 bucks buys you on the store…especially now with the fall sale. Even without it you can buy full games like Elefunk , Cash Gun Chaos, MK2…and so on for the same price. Hell PS1 games are only $6. Out of every LBP outfit release thus far I’m sure that one took the least amount of work, yet it carries the highest price tag? All your doing is creating a nickel and dime name for yourselves.
    I am thankful for the free and reasonably priced content you have put up but can you honestly defend that shirt as anything other than a total rip off?

    • Mark Valledor
      December 3, 2008 at 12:00 am PST

      I can argue both ways, but since we\’ve never released a costume for $5 on our store, not sure if you can get riled up at us for something we didn\’t do.

      IMO…in life, there are some things I can afford and somethings I can\’t. Nice car, cool clothes, big house, those military grade night vision goggles…all belong in the latter category. But some people, if they wanted it bad enough, can. I see commonalities here…if you want it buy it, if you don\’t, don\’t.

  • mobiletone
    December 3, 2008 at 12:17 am PST

    until you fix the play/create/share issue and the pointless moderation i’m not playing it again, one person ‘griefs’ a level and it gets pulled? totally unfair! sort out the search function too so it works.

    • Mark Valledor
      December 3, 2008 at 12:56 am PST

      Moderation doesn\’t quite work like that…griefing is only the first part of the moderation process. Just because its griefed, doesn\’t mean it gets pulled down. Again, we\’re improving the system and your other issues are being worked on, so hope to see you back playing and online soon.

  • yourhero24
    December 3, 2008 at 12:18 am PST

    what ever happened to the ICE HAZZARD??? I WANT THAT BACK!!!!!

  • lgetpaidto-
    December 3, 2008 at 12:21 am PST

    this is great really it is but what is going on with the co-op create online? was this just a rumor started because of the lan and split screen co-op or is it something in the making.

  • grashopper
    December 3, 2008 at 12:45 am PST

    Mainly riled up because the only way you can release it is at around $5 bucks or you risk getting Europe and Japan in a lousy mood. We have seen it before…
    The fact that any region thought that was acceptable seems quite poor.
    There is a slight difference to comparing this to a nice car or night vision goggles (wouldn’t mind a pair myself) It would be like Ford saying Green and Blue cars are 15k but if you want Red…thats gonna be 45k.
    Getting something similar (IMO worth less) and paying 2 1/2 times as much (Using the Resistance and Motorstorm ones as a example) seems ridiculous.
    As a company Sony and Mm (whoever decides $) should at least have some idea as to value for your money.

    Its more the idea that bothers me…the way the DLC for the game may be heading.

    Anyway…thanks for replying man arguing has been strangely fun :) Add me on the PSN at the same name if you want to continue on LBP…at least we can smack each other there :) kidding…I’ll be good.

  • SinsToJudge
    December 3, 2008 at 1:31 am PST

    Thanks for the article Mark, but please, please, PLEASE fix the moderation system as soon as possible. My level was moderated and I have no idea why. It did NOT include any offensive material, I did include a PS3 sticker in one of my prize bubbles but considering it’s a Sony owned IP, I would’ve have thought it was a problem. The level is called ‘Failed Construction’ if you ever get around to reading this.

    Secondly, please let us update/amend our moderated levels. My level was hardly amazing, but I put a great deal of effort into itand for it to be moderated without any chance of me changing the level, is a giant slap in the face.

  • Stinkin Mushroom
    December 3, 2008 at 1:49 am PST

    Please answer my next question:

    Are you guys or MM working on a patch for a new way to share the levels.. The way it is now is just demotivating.. Reublishing the levels so that it doesn’t go page 4528 is just annoying. Please work on some new ways to display the levels. For example:

    Show levels by:

    1. Newly added
    2. Heart/View ratio
    3. Most played this week
    4. Most hearted this week
    5. Popular levels
    6. totally random (would pick a random level of the new ones that week)
    7. Best Rated (so that the star rating has a purpose..)

    Thank you :)

  • lifeRPGs
    December 3, 2008 at 1:50 am PST

    Good morning, i have few questions.

    1) Will we see any interaction between Home and LBP in the near future? A LBP Game Space for example? Plushes to buy from the stores maybe?

    2) It appears LittleBigPlanet PSP is true after all. WIll we experience the same type of gameplay, or will you make a game adapted specifically to the PSP mechanics (thinks locoroco)?

    3) I have read that some Street Fighter LBP costumes are coming. I believe it hasn’t been officially revealed yet, so could you please give us an official statement on that the clear up the situation?

    4) LittleBigPlanet is nearly a month old, so could you please release some official sales numbers ?

    5) Last but not least, will it be possible in the future to be able to play with more than 4 players online?

    Thank you.

  • eid3tic
    December 3, 2008 at 2:15 am PST

    Oh hey, since you guys have answers, I’ve got a question,

    WHY ARE THE LBP SERVERS STILL GARBAGE!?

    …ridiculous, ruined a great game for me.

  • adamska2020
    December 3, 2008 at 2:27 am PST

    Hopefully this game will get better with time because I am tired of having to go online, check out which levels are good by searching around on google, and then going on little big planet and searching for them. I haven’t published a level yet but I can only imagine how frustrating it is to have a great level on the 30th or so page and getting no coverage. On the other hand there are less than five levels that actually deserve to be on the front page not even counting all of the stupid trophy levels. By having this system in place at launch many gamers like myself will probably find it very hard to come back to the game when and if they fix these issues. The DLC has been extremely disappointing because I thought that Media Molecule and sony was above this kind of transaction. But hey, you got my sixty dollars so you win after all I guess.

  • Clice
    December 3, 2008 at 2:29 am PST

    I have one question, I have friends in other parts of the world, can lets say Europe and US play together?

  • Makasu
    December 3, 2008 at 2:30 am PST

    Hello mark! & thanks for making an awesome game. I have only one little big complaint.

    When you guys started showing videos of the create play share concept the main selling point was a series of sortable lists alá youtube where you could easily find the best levels, the most played, levels, the newest levels etc. Without this feature the online part gets too much of stab in the dark, i know you can use the size of the icons as an indicater on how popuplar it is, but but still scrolling through planets with L2/R2 is tedious and super unuserfriendly. When are you planning to implement this (again?)

  • JordanBlack68
    December 3, 2008 at 2:51 am PST

    What about http://www.sackbook.com, this site gets data from the LBP Servers, you should check it out, its pretty impressive.

  • morbo1803
    December 3, 2008 at 3:11 am PST

    I really really really really really REALLY love LittleBigPlanet. As a matter of fact i am planning to use it for my oral term-test in school next friday… i only have one proble, i cannot connect to anyone online :( i keep getting “failed to load player profiles” or “connection failed” or things like that :( please please fix this….please

  • Mr_w00t
    December 3, 2008 at 3:21 am PST

    Hi Mark.

    Ive been reading this Playstation Blog since day one, and i had to register just to say this.

    You guys have done a fantastic job with LBP, i mean, ive never had so much fun playing a game before! It easily went to my number 1.

    What annoys me, is that so many people are saying negative things on here! Not enough people are praising you for the amount of effort which has been put into this game. Its evident that a lot of people are annoyed about the prices of the costumes. I agree, they are high, but i imagine there are factors way beyond your control which prices these items. I didn’t buy any, but i think the free costumes that you added were great!

    Playstation users don’t have to buy these, and i wish it wouldn’t put people off the game… Have you seen the prices for the NFS:U content??

    Anyway, this game is awesome and i want you too know that there are people like me which really respect your continued support for the game and new updates and features. Thanks so much for posting this blog and answering questions :)

    Before i end my ramble, what is that play create and share thing on this info for? Mine just says 0 all the time.

    Thanks again, and i hope you read this.

  • BigRon3400
    December 3, 2008 at 3:30 am PST

    @ Mark. Hey man I have a quick question. I have a level that has never loaded. It has never been played, not even once even though all my friends have tried it. I have tried contacting Media Molecule but I never get a response. My PSN:BigRon3400, My level: Duckrollmobile FTW!

    Any way you could help me out?

  • blkant
    December 3, 2008 at 3:32 am PST

    Are you guys going to fix the Failed to load all player profiles bug or not? You didn’t respond to my previous post about this.

  • beerboyone
    December 3, 2008 at 3:33 am PST

    the week one shirt should not be released. It was supposed to be a rare item for the people that got the game the first week it was available.

  • gilowyn
    December 3, 2008 at 3:41 am PST

    I actually appreciate the update; and of course it’s less straight-forward than it could be, but this is marketing we are talking about… :)

    I actually have a week 1 shirt for 7$… of course it won’t play on my US LBP, but hey – I enjoy spending loads of money and getting into useless fights with customer support.

    Other than that. I STILL want a crown for having the first sackboy tattoo worldwide! :)

  • herb420
    December 3, 2008 at 4:01 am PST

    I have no problems with the dlc so far. The LocoRoco, Chimera, and Motorstorm costumes were a personal pass for me, but not bad additions. It comes down to what you like I guess.

    I would, however, love to see some sort of actual game content outside of just “dress-up” options. Playing “dress-up” could still be fun though.

    You should license big time movie things.
    Example: Darth Vader, Yoda, Jay And Silent Bob, Robocop, Spawn…

    Game characters are great, but so are movie characters.

    PSN: HerbertFortoon

  • thefjk
    December 3, 2008 at 4:12 am PST

    Game’s doing good… but moderators need to cross reference everything they see from the Good Grief sent by users with the Terms Of Service. My guess is the moderators so far just clicked Delete the second a level was flagged!

    And not only should the level creator get an explanation on why their level was taken down, but a chance to rectify. Especially if it’s a minor thing.

  • the_icon
    December 3, 2008 at 4:31 am PST

    Thanks for the answers.

  • Nitrowolf2
    December 3, 2008 at 4:42 am PST

    Ok im having a problem with the glue in the game. Why is it when i unglue one part from another it unglue’s the whole thing? It shows the to part and yet it unglues everything, and then it glues other the things that i dont want glued .

  • StalkingSilence
    December 3, 2008 at 4:47 am PST

    Mark,
    Thanks for all your feedback (I thought the communication from you about LBP was going to say “HEART ME PLEASE!!!” haha).

    I’d like to someday see those Killzone 2 Helghast costumes at some point. But it’d be even cooler to tie in cross-game characters with trophies (platinum trophy on another game -> LBP character). I know there’s probably a “bigger picture” surrounding trophies, just thought that might have been cool.

    Thanks for answering some of the more challenging questions on here and I am looking forward to all of the LBP going live and some future LEVELS as DLC from Media Molecule (with more character customization unlockables?).

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