LBP Premium Level Packs + Costume Packs (Metal Gear Solid Edition) – on the PS Store 12/23

Just when you thought we were done with the Holiday surprises (Free Santa, Festive Level Pack, LBC1 winners, etc, etc) we have one more announcement up our sleeve…and it’s a dozy. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been biting our tongues, and finally we can reveal our latest offering (originally ‘somewhat’ announced at this years TGS) – Metal Gear Solid packs – Available 12/23 on the PlayStation Store.

Metal Gear Solid Premium Costume Pack
You’ve seen Solid Snake, but have you seen the rest of the cast? (well, ok…maybe you have… ) Meryl Silverburgh, Screaming Mantis & Raiden each have their own costumes from the MGS world. Get all 4 characters for the price of 3 at $5.99 on the PS Store, or pick your favorite and buy it individually for $1.99.

Metal Gear Solid Premium Level Pack
Now that you know about our Festive Level Pack, which fills your Pop-it tool with a ton of “Create” materials, objects and stickers, our Premium Level Packs introduce that and a whole lot more. So without further adeu…lets talk about what’s inside the MGS Level Pack (and this time we mean “Level” pack…)

First off, you’ll get a new Sackboy costume… the Gurlokovich Soldier.

Plus tons of new stickers (72), materials (12), decorations (10), and objects (18).

The objects are especially cool, why you ask…well, in addition to these ‘create’ materials, our Premium Level Packs include new Story Levels and they’re filled these new objects. That’s because, Media Molecule teamed with Konami to create 5 new Story Levels and 1 new Challenge Level for you to enjoy.

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Now we couldn’t just build a level using the basic tools above, we need music, new sound effects, and new elements to provide a true MGS experience. So you’re getting these in the Level Pack, as well:

• 3 new background music tracks
• 1 new interactive music track
• 1 new Metal Gear Solid themed ‘sound object’
• New Plasma Ball ‘danger element’
• New Laser Sight ‘gadget’
• New functioning Searchlight lamp – for those special ‘exclamation mark’ moments

…and finally, the piece de resistance…THE PAINTINATOR (and Paint Switch)

Now, not only will you be able to run, jump, push, pull, swing, etc, etc in LBP, but now you’ll be able to splatter anything that comes between you and the end of any level. Once you equip the Paintinator, you can send sacksized paintballs flying by mashing on the R1 button and using the right stick to aim. Few things about flying paintballs, when Sackboys are hit with them, it feels like a very weak slap. You can also shoot ‘Brains’ from a safe distance and progress thru levels much easier. In addition to the Paintinator, we’re introducing a Paint Switch, so you can attach it to any object and set it to destruct after being splattered with enough paint. Here’s a video to show you the Metal Gear Solid Level Pack in action…

Add to all that, there are 12 new Trophies to unlock (and if you pay attention to the story at all, we’re not a big fan of Trophy Levels).

So now you see why we’ve been biting our tongue on this announcement. Tons of new gameplay, tons of new game-changing objects, and tons of create materials…all for just $5.99 (shesh…did that just sound like an infomercial?). We absolutely can’t wait to see what the community does with this pack and the new types of levels this will bring to the Share Planet.

And wait…there’s more…
So, here’s one of the coolest things about this pack…you guys know LBP is all about PLAY, CREATE & SHARE – well, you’ll be glad to know that this Level Pack holds true to that. For those who buy the Premium Level Pack, you get everything above (and hopefully a lot of fun in-between). If you don’t buy it, you’ll still be able to enjoy the MGS pack goodness. Here’s how:

• Non-MGS Level Pack owners can PLAY the MGS Story Levels by joining a “host” who owns the pack and play the levels online together. Now you won’t be able to keep any objects, but you can have tons of fun just PLAYing.
• MGS Level Pack owners will be able to CREATE levels with any of these items (including the Paintinator) and SHARE them online for everyone to play.

Again, we’re very excited to present this MGS Level Pack to you as a taste of how LBP can and will continue to evolve over time. With the support of our community, whether it’s creating new and awesome levels on the Share Planet or buying our Costumes and Level Packs, we’ll continue to provide more LBP goodness down the road in 2009.

So check back on the PS Store on 12/23 and treat yourself to a present this holiday season :)

Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year