Sony make.believe is about fans using their creativity and imagination to do something amazing, and bringing their dreams to life. Earlier this year, Sony gave fans the opportunity to be a part of one of the most popular game series ever, by becoming a character in UNCHARTED 3‘s multiplayer mode. They were sent to “Training Camp” to compete in a series of three online challenges, held in the US and Europe. The winners of these challenges were flown to Los Angeles in true VIP style to compete in a live multiplayer tournament event.

UNCHARTED 3 meets Training Camp – The Online Challenges

Sony provided a truly make.believe experience to the competitors as they converged on the Sony Pictures lot, where they engaged in a day of once-in-a-lifetime activities. Not only did they get behind-the-scenes access to Sony, they also received training by the UNCHARTED experts themselves — Nolan North and Emily Rose — the actors behind Drake and Elena! The experience culminated in a final audition, judged by the Naughty Dog team and the UNCHARTED actors. The contestant who demonstrated his or her best adventure hero qualities would be forever immortalized as a character in UNCHARTED 3’s multiplayer.

The Final Event

After much deliberation, a champion emerged and claimed the ultimate prize: a day at Naughty Dog Studios to become a multiplayer character in UNCHARTED 3. The winner? Jeremy “Spyder” Gallant.

Jeremy spent the day with the creative team at Naughty Dog, where he provided input into the all the aspects of his character: the look, moves, weaponry, costume, voice… and, of course, his signature backflip taunt. Jeremy suited up in motion-capture gear and received one-on-one training with Nolan North (aka Nathan Drake), as well as character direction from Amy Hennig, creative director of UNCHARTED 3.

Jeremy sums up his experience:

“Designing a video game character is unbelievable to me, yet simultaneously it has proven to be completely tangible. I wish to share the feeling with everyone who has ever felt incapable of accomplishment or below the standards of the society around them. Put everything you’ve got into what you truly love and believe in, and you will be rewarded in spades. I am thrilled, grateful and overjoyed with the opportunity I received, and ultimately winning the prize of a lifetime. I’m in a video game! Thank you Sony and Naughty Dog! Stay gold!”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Take a look at Jeremy’s story, and be on the lookout for the release of his multiplayer character in UNCHARTED 3’s next patch, 1.13, releasing in early August!

The Winner’s Day at Naughty Dog Studios

Spyder in-game

Experience imagination made real at Facebook.com/Sony. Check out the Sony make.believe tab to relive the UNCHARTED experience and take a closer look at the creativity and imagination it took to make one person’s dream a reality.

During the past several weeks, Sony make.believe presented ”The “LittleBig Creation,” giving the community a chance to vote on every aspect of a new, custom-created make.believe level for LittleBigPlanet 2.

The polls have closed and your voices have been heard! You can find The make.believe Adventure here.

We asked you which genre and environment you wanted to see, and you chose an action-adventure level set in the jungle. The storyline, also chosen by you, involves Sackboy’s quest to find the mysterious “dot” that will help unleash the world’s creativity. It won’t be easy, as he’ll need to navigate treacherous terrain, solve puzzles, and avoid deadly enemies including some particularly nasty tigers (thanks to your votes!). Everything from the music used in the level to the name (the make.believe Adventure) was the result of community polling.

You can still visit the Facebook.com/Sony page and click on “make games” to view the poll results and watch videos of the level creation in progress. Those of you who visited the site during the program and submitted your votes were automatically entered into a drawing for prizes such as a PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, a PSP and a grand prize trip to this year’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles. The winners will be announced shortly!

Even if you voted for the shooter genre instead of action-adventure, an urban environment instead of the jungle, or snakes instead of tigers, we think you’ll enjoy the end result. Look for “The make.believe Adventure” from “LittleBigPartner” online in LittleBigPlanet 2 and see just how Sony make.believe helped turn your ideas into reality.

Sony make.believe brings you “The LittleBigCreation,” which gives the community the chance to vote on every aspect of a new, custom-created make.believe level.

Here’s what you need to do to let your voice be heard:

Visit the Facebook.com/Sony page and click on the “Make Games” tab. Each week, you’ll be voting on design elements including genre, environment, characters, storyline, music and name. Each week, Sony make.believe will be giving away great prizes such as a PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move and more…just for voting! So make sure to come back to the Facebook.com/Sony page each week to get a glimpse of the level as it is being created and for more chances to win. If you are chosen as the Grand Prize winner, you’ll win a trip to this year’s E3 in Los Angeles.

And, of course, when the contest ends on March 31, you can download and play the make.believe level within LittleBigPlanet 2 to see just how Sony make.believe helped turn your ideas into reality.

It’s no surprise that Naughty Dog’s unique combination of storytelling cinematics, frantic action sequences, challenging traversal and tricky puzzle solving has been recognized across the industry and worldwide. Last evening in Las Vegas, UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves took the Interactive Achievement Awards by storm, grabbing ten awards, the most for any one title. It also won “Overall Game of the Year” for 2009, which is the second time PlayStation has been awarded this coveted honor by the academy. UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves has also garnered more than 150 other industry awards, has over 1.5 million online users worldwide, and has surpassed 3.5 million copies sold worldwide – the fastest selling first-party title for PlayStation. Not to mention, it’s established a new standard for games developed on the PS3 platform.

We’re incredibly excited to see all of the continued innovations and platform-defining games that will come from the creative minds at Naughty Dog. Giving consumers a reason to be excited about video games is our “make.believe” promise and we’re thrilled to have Naughty Dog to help us make this a reality. With that, I’d like to share with you Christophe’s “make.believe” story from his point of view:

For more stories like this, and more Sony Electronics news from CES, head on over to Sony.com.
Of course, we’ll be providing gaming highlights right here on the PlayStation.Blog. And for those joining us tomorrow afternoon – see you there!