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Project Spark dreams up October release date
Microsoft's robust game creation tool Project Spark is slated to launch in October, the publisher announced today. The final version of the game maker will arrive on October 7 in the Americas, October 9 in Asia-Pacific countries and October 10 in Europe. The developer, Team Dakota, opened Project Spark's beta up to Xbox One owners in March following its closed beta for PC players in December. During its beta phases, Project Spark went through a few changes, namely in the removal of its "Spark Time" microtransactions. The $40 "Starter Pack" for the Xbox One version of Project Spark will include a host of add-on content, such as the Galaxies: First Contact sci-fi pack, Sir Haakon "Hawk" the Knight, the first episode of the Champions Quest campaign as well as "immediate access" to "paid content, features and add-ons in a single package." Microsoft says the disc-based Starter Pack content will also be available digitally to Xbox One and PC players when Project Spark launches. [Image: Microsoft]
LittleBigPlanet 2 trailer falls to Earth
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/littlebigplanet-2-trailer-falls-to-earth/'; Media Molecule officially took the handmade wraps off its game-sweding suite's sequel, LittleBigPlanet 2. How do you make a full sequel to a game that's already had a sequel's worth of free content updates? Media Molecule appears to have expanded its game-making engine significantly. For example, it is now possible to add AI characters called "Sackbots," with behavior you can record or define. Levels can also be bundled to make a whole game, and those games don't have to be platformers. The trailer above gives us brief looks at racing games (one of which appears to involve players riding mice) and a Space Invaders-style shooter. You can even open use a "Direct Control Seat" to alter controls, allowing you to control objects that are not Sackboy, "and make a game that doesn't even remotely resemble" Media Molecule's foundation. This sequel will even, in a way, act as yet another upgrade to the original: all of the two-million-plus LittleBigPlanet 1 levels will still work. LittleBigPlanet 2 will be out on PlayStation 3 in Winter 2010.
