Editorial: Xbox 360 Owners Should Hope LittleBigPlanet Sells Well

By Pete Haas: 2008-12-12 12:00:24

Editorial: Xbox 360 Owners Should Hope LittleBigPlanet Sells Well

The arguments between Xbox 360 and PS3 fanboys are usually centered on games exclusive to one console or another. Each faction gets a thrill out of seeing the other console's exclusives tank in reviews or sales. LittleBigPlanet has been sneered at for less-than-stellar sales but for the sake of gaming, even Xbox 360 owners should hope the game rakes in a lot of money for Sony this holiday season.

The centerpiece of LittleBigPlanet is its user-generated content. Other than the cute-but-also-kind-of-creepy SackPeople, LittleBigPlanet's level editor was arguably the biggest selling point for the game. Not only because it promised additional replayability but because it enabled players to demonstrate their creativity; they could be game designers without a single bit of programming knowledge.

Granted, LittleBigPlanet's user-generated content community has faced some difficulties. Sony has been extremely diligent about removing any levels with the slightest references to copyrighted works, often without warning or explanation to the levels' creators. The clumsiness with which Sony handled this situation isn't surprising considered that they're not really accustomed to dealing with this volume of user content for one of their PS3 games.

Level-building tools are something of a rarity in console games, sadly. You might be able to create multiplayer maps (Far Cry 2) in a few select Xbox 360/PS3 games but it's the exception rather than the rule. The best you can usually hope for is being able to pick your character's appearance. Fine-tuning your character's moustache is fun and all but it's not going to make the game any more replayable.

User-generated content is really the biggest advantage that PC gaming holds. There are still people playing the 2002 RPG Neverwinter Nights thanks in part to the robust Aurora toolset that shipped with it. Just yesterday Bethesda released the level editor for Fallout 3...but only for the PC version. Neverwinter studio, BioWare, is planning on including level-editing tools with its upcoming PC RPG Dragon Age: Origins and I wouldn't be surprised if those tools aren't included with the PS3/Xbox 360 versions set to be released months later.

Why the discrepancy? In the case of Fallout 3, the console versions' sales were just as good, if not better, than the PC version. It seems as though developers/publishers don't think console gamers are as enthusiastic about level editing tools as PC gamers - or maybe Sony/Microsoft are simply impeding the whole process. Either way, it seems that more games would arrive on consoles with level-building capabilities if companies were convinced that this was highly-coveted feature among console gamers.

Seeing as LittleBigPlanet touts user-generated content as its central feature, strong sales for the game would send a powerful message to Sony, wouldn't it? Certainly Microsoft would get the idea, too - after all, they've got to match their competitors' steps. While 360 fanboys might lose an argument or two on an N4G comment thread if a PS3 exclusive sells well, the success of the game is in 360 gamers' best interests. Not because it'll result in a game filled with creepy SackPeople hitting their own console, but because it will encourage more game companies to put creation tools into the hands of gamers.

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