Latest news with #LittleBigPlanet
Metro
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Sony drops iconic mascot from PlayStation Productions line-up
Getting the sack? (Sony/YouTube) A staple PlayStation character appears to have been shoved to the side, as he disappears from a trailer ahead of the Until Dawn movie. LittleBigPlanet was once a key franchise for Sony during the PlayStation 3 era, but its prominence has dimmed over recent years. The last entry was 2014's LittleBigPlanet 3 on the PlayStation 3 and 4, which was the first mainline game not primarily developed by original creator Media Molecule. Since then, protagonist Sackboy has had his own platformer in 2020's Sackboy: A Big Adventure, along with a 2023 mobile game you probably didn't know existed called Ultimate Sackboy. If it feels like Astro Bot has taken over as Sony's default family friendly mascot, and that appears to have been confirmed in a new PlayStation Productions trailer. As highlighted by X user realradec, Sackboy has been scrubbed from the opening PlayStation Productions video at screenings of the Until Dawn film adaptation. 'I don't like this era of Sackboy erasure,' they wrote. A screenshot of the character line-up in this version shows Astro Bot, Ratchet & Clank, Nathan Drake, the Psycho from Until Dawn, and others, but there appears to be no reference to Sackboy at all. Sackboy prominently featured in the 2022 PlayStation Productions trailer (as seen below), which was played before screenings of Uncharted starring Tom Holland. It's unclear why Sony would drop Sackboy from the line-up, but the character has popped up elsewhere recently. Last year, Sackboy briefly appeared in an episode of Amazon's Secret Level, so it's possible this lack of representation is just an oversight. However, Sony hasn't treated LittleBigPlanet fans with much respect over recent years. In 2024, Sony permanently shut down the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers on PlayStation 4 after it was targeted by mods which threatened the game's security, wiping out access to millions of user-generated levels in the process. This came after Sony switched off the PlayStation 3 servers for LittleBigPlanet 1, 2, and 3 in 2021. An evolution of the user-generated levels concept was the basis of Media Molecule's 2020 title Dreams, but despite positive reviews, it failed to find an audience, and support for the game was dropped in April 2023. It's unclear what Media Molecule is working on next, and if it will see them return to Sackboy, but the studio was hit by layoffs in October 2023. Sackboy's last major outing – will it be his last? (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: GTA 6 release date announced and it's the worst news possible Arrow MORE: The Elder Scrolls 6 is still on the way – here's what we know so far Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Will all video games be £80 from now on?
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hey, PlayStation, If You're Putting Games On Switch, Here's A Few More Ideas
One of the more surprising announcements from yesterday's Nintendo Direct was that not one but two more PlayStation series are coming to Switch. No, it was nothing quite as colossal as God of War or The Last of Us coming to the handheld console, but a remaster of the first two Patapons and the next game in the Everybody's Golf series will be available on Switch. Both are coming to the system through a partnership with Bandai Namco, which also recently brought the cult Vita RPG Freedom Wars to the system earlier this year, but Sony also brought Lego Horizon Adventures to the system on its own in 2024. At the moment, Sony only seems to be putting 'smaller' titles on Nintendo's platform, but if PlayStation is open to sharing more of its catalog with Switch owners, I can think of a few more that would fit right in. The Ape Escape series got a bit of a spotlight again last year as one of the games featured in Astro Bot. PlayStation fans still have a soft spot for the long-dormant platformers, and their simple loop of chasing and catching apes is much better suited to a handheld like the Switch than a big-box console these days. If Sony were looking to test the waters for bringing the series back, putting something on the Switch, which has a much larger audience of young players than other platforms do, seems like a solid business plan. It's easy to forget that Gravity Rush started out as a handheld game, but the original open-world action game was a Vita exclusive for three years until Sony remastered it for the PS4 in 2015. Gravity Rush and its sequel are two deeply underappreciated gems in Sony's catalog that deserved better than they got. The gravity-bending mechanics are an incredibly clever way to handle open-world traversal, letting you 'fall' from one side of the map to the other rather than just using straightforward flight. It requires you to pay attention to physics in the environment, and you also use it to collide with your foes. It's such an interesting spin on how we move through video game worlds that it's a shame more people haven't played it. Just port 'em to Switch, Sony. Sony seems ready to abandon its platformer/level creation suite, so I don't have much hope that LittleBigPlanet will make an appearance on PlayStation consoles again, much less on Switch. But the entire premise of this list is pie-in-the-sky requests. LittleBigPlanet's platforming is floaty, frustrating and doesn't hold a candle to better games like the Mario series that are readily available on Switch. However, its level creation tools are still some of the best on the market. LittleBigPlanet PS Vita already demonstrated that the series is well-suited to handhelds, so a Switch version seems like a no-brainer. I wouldn't have thought there was any hope of LocoRoco making a comeback in 2025, but after seeing Patapon remasters announced for Switch, I can dare to dream. The PlayStation Portable series was built to be on a handheld. As you tilted the world with the shoulder buttons, it felt like you were controlling a world inside the device's tiny screen. Sure, the same control scheme applies to the PS4 version on your TV, but it still feels most natural on a handheld. If we're bringing bite-sized cult classics like Patapon to Switch, LocoRoco should be in the running as well. The Medievil series deserves a new entry on PlayStation 5, but I will settle for seeing the existing games brought to the Switch. To this day, there's no simple way to play Medievil 2 unless you've got a spare PlayStation lying around, though the original spooky hack-and-slash game was remade for the PS4 in 2019. Sir Daniel Fortesque's Tim Burton-esque adventures have gotten more chances than most of Sony's original PlayStation gems to re-enter the public consciousness after being remade for both the PlayStation Portable and PS4, but I simply don't think twice is enough. The third time's the charm. Put our haggard hero on Nintendo's handheld, Sony. I simply don't think there is an excuse for Parappa the Rapper not to be on every platform imaginable. The PS1 and 2 rhythm games are hardly demanding for any modern device to run and the original has already been remastered for the PS4. A new generation of players needs to hear Chop Chop Master Onion teach karate by way of hip-hop. Why deny the millions of Switch owners the experience of rapping their way through their driver's test or rap-battling their teachers in the line for the bathroom? Now I'm pulling up YouTube videos of all these songs, and they're all bangers. Like Medievil, it's time Parappa got a new game, but in the meantime, put these tracks on Switch, Sony. Alright, here's the real reason I made this list. I'm here to put Sly Cooper propaganda on your screen. Fans are still holding out hope that Sony will one day greenlight a fifth game in the heist platformer series that will resolve the cliffhanger ending of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, but in the years since, the Vita has still been my go-to place to play Sucker Punch's PS2 trilogy, and I gotta blow an inch of dust off that thing if I ever want to see the Cooper Gang. That could all be changed if Sony would put the games on the Switch. I still think the Sly Cooper games are some of the most timeless games in PlayStation's long history, which makes it a real shame that Sucker Punch and Sony stopped investing in them during the PS3 era. Yeah, Thieves in Time was a passion project from Sanzaru Games that was divisive but nailed the smooth and simple stealth mechanics that made them so successful back in the day. Sony, if you ignore everything else I have said here, don't ignore this. Put Sly Cooper on the Switch. And PC. And hell, put it on Xbox while you're at it. Have you considered a mobile port? For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
