You heard correctly:LittleBigPlanet Karting is finally launching today! All of us at United Front Games and Sony San Diego Studio have been hard at work on this game for nearly two years, so we’re very excited to finally see our fans get their hands on Sackboy’s new karting adventure.

In LittleBigPlanet Karting, visitors known as the Hoard have arrived from far, far away on speedy go-karts and seek to steal Craftworld’s most precious prizes. Now it’s up to you to hop in a kart, beat back these otherworldly invaders, and reclaim Craftworld once and for all! Before you take the wheel, though, we have some launch goodies to share with you.

In celebration of LittleBigPlanet Karting’s launch, we have a brand new trailer we’re ready to show off. From a new single player journey, to racing and battling online in the multiplayer mode, to creating and customizing your own levels with an expanded set of unique creation tools, it’s clear that LittleBigPlanet Karting offers players a virtually endless set of gameplay possibilities. Not to mention, for the first time ever in LittleBigPlanet’s history, Craftworld is now expertly re-created in a stunning 3D world. Don’t take our word for it though; check out the trailer to see for yourself.

No LittleBigPlanet game is complete without a rare week-one shirt, and LittleBigPlanet Karting is no different! This time around, we’ve opted for a design that celebrates LittleBigPlanet Karting’s Canadian heritage, designed by Karting’s Canadian based developer United Front Games.

This jersey will be available for one week only (starting today) at $4.99, so don’t forget to snag yours before the opportunity is gone for good!

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you might want to consider a trip to Target. The North American retailer is offering a special exclusive free gift with your purchase. When you buy LittleBigPlanet Karting at your local Target (or online!), you will receive a Target-branded racer costume and kart as a free download and then you’ll be off to the races sporting Target’s iconic red bullseye. Remember, this DLC is exclusive to Target only – you won’t see it anywhere else!

That’s all from us today. We’ll see you all online and we can’t wait to see all of your amazing creations once you start experimenting with all of the create tools. LittleBigPlanet Karting is available now across North America. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for? Pick up your copy today!

On the last few days of the visit, we took the opportunity to document their experiences and get their take on LBPK as a whole, so that we could turn their impressions into a video and share it with our fans. So, in honor of PAX Prime this weekend – a show designed for the fans – we’re happy to present the finished product with all of you. Enjoy!

LittleBigPlanet Karting’s November 6th release date is coming up fast — don’t forget that you can pre-order the game now! Those who pre-order at GameStop will receive the exclusive Headstart Pack, which unlocks over 900 items – karts, costumes, materials, and music – as soon as you boot up the game. This way, you can start creating and sharing amazing levels without having to collect every item. With a new 3D LittleBigPlanet Karting world, there will be no end to the unique content you can invent! Also for GameStop preorders, fans will receive a United Front Games General Costume and an Arcade Cabinet Kart. These pre-order items are in addition to the previously announced Kevin Butler Sackboy Costume and Executive Golf Kart – pretty cool!

If you find yourself in Seattle for PAX this weekend, come visit the LittleBigPlanet section of the PlayStation Booth for some major Playing, Creating, and Karting! We will be showcasing new race and battle courses in LittleBigPlanet Karting, and our lucky and loyal fans can score a PAX-exclusive, fan-created, LBPK T-shirt chosen from last month’s PS.Blog contest. It’ll be a LittleBigParty weekend — you won’t want to miss out!

It’s obviously not the end of our time with the world we spent over five years piecing together, but it definitely marks a turning point – the time when we release a game once named Black Lotus, then True Crime: Hong Kong and finally Sleeping Dogs to you. From here on Sleeping Dogs isn’t living inside a bubble, but instead exists as a part of gaming’s ever-growing cultural canvas. How big a part is in your hands – rest assured we have poured our hearts and souls into making our protagonist Wei’s world one we feel you will enjoy.

Up to now we’ve seen a lot of focus on the systems we have crafted – the combat, the driving, the social hub – but we’re most excited to see how people receive the story. Wei Shen’s triad odyssey is the glue that holds all these other tasty parts together. With it, Sleeping Dogs goes from being a collection of cool, well-executed elements – some we like to think have never been fully explored in an open world game – and it transforms into what we hope you will agree is a truly deep, rewarding narrative journey.

There have been challenges along the way. Nothing of worth comes without considerable effort, especially with a game like Sleeping Dogs. Many of our team have invested half a decade to reach this point. We’ve grown together, shared some rocky times, and ultimately found a way to make the game we wanted to make. We may not have lived life in constant fear for our safety like Wei does, but we too have faced significant obstacles to get to this point. The result is something I’m proud to be a part of.

I like to think Sleeping Dogs will function on multiple levels: open world game, undercover cop story, and an homage to Hong Kong cinema. However, the one thing all the United Front Games team hope it functions as above all else is a dramatic, enjoyable experience. We’re really looking forward to seeing your comments about the game – you can be sure we’ll be paying attention.

There’s a fun new Minipack on the Store, which includes the long sought-after Clu Costume. Originally a pre-order bonus for LittleBigPlanet 2, Clu is now available to everyone on LittleBigPlanet in the Tron: Legacy Minipack!

Clu is joined by Quorra and Gem in this Minipack and there’s also a collection of Tron: Legacy themed Stickers to add to your collection.

LBP.me Gets Some New Features!

Recently we rolled out a new update for LBP.me, which introduces a couple of exciting new features to our ever-expanding hub for the community.

Sackboy Gets Sorted with Lists!
The first of these is our new Lists feature, which enables a creator to compile a list of up to forty levels entirely of their choosing. If you consider yourself to be a super organised Sackperson, who likes to keep all their levels all nice and sorted, then the new level lists will be right up your street!

Take a look at my very first list featuring last week’s Mm Picks to see just what I’m talking about!

Oh and be sure to keep an eye out from future lists from me, which will showcase some of the greatest levels on LittleBigPlanet!

Sackboy Shows Off His Pins!
The other big update on LBP.me is the ability to see everyone’s hard-earned Pins. Finally you can show your Pins with pride and let the community know how much of a dedicated player you are and what your top skills are.

So good luck with completing those Pin collections!

For more information on the new features, head on over to LittleBigPlanet.com.

If you want to show off your brand new Lists or your Pin collection, drop a message into the comments. I’ll love to see what kind of cool lists that are being put together by the community!

LittleBigPlanet E3 Goodies!

Sackboy had a very exciting time at E3 and we’ve got a couple of new trailers to show you, fresh from his trip to E3!

To begin with we have the lovely new videos of our exciting new games to show off to you all!

If you’re excited for Sackboy’s new portable or karting adventures, then you will definitely want to check out these new vids!

Play, Create, Share has never looked brighter for LittleBigPlanet and we cannot wait to get these great games to you, later this year!

Mm Picks

Finally this week, I’m no stranger to level lists since we have our usual batch of Mm Picks that feature some of our favorite levels.

La Casa de las Rosas by L1GhTmArE

Sweets Fantasy by white_rabbit_0

BloQ (1 Player) by hotalbi

Press ‘em! By tevlon1

Shoot ‘em Up [1 Player] by Angel-Box

LittleBigPlanet on the Web
LittleBigPlanet Twitter – @LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet Facebook

LittleBigPlanet Community Team Twitters
Steven – @StevenIsbell
Simon – @Syroc_LBP
Spaff – @thespaff

New from developer United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios is Sleeping Dogs, the stylish tale of undercover cop Wei Shen and his journey through the murky world of the Hong Kong Triads. Executive producer Stephen van der Mescht of United Front Games took time out at E3 2012 to explain how Bruce Lee and PlayStation 2 classic Bully have helped shape this extremely promising title, and why we’re seeing gaming leave its teenage obsessions behind.

What is it about Hong Kong that inspires?

Stephen: So many things. Its history in cinema, in martial arts, kung fu, everything as far back as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, John Woo. What’s interesting for us is seeing those older action movies and the new wave of Hong Kong cinema like Infernal Affairs and that shift towards more serious story telling.

There’s such a richness there and, from a gameplay standpoint, you think about doing it in an open world where there are so many possibilities. And then there’s Hong Kong itself. Geographically it’s a very interesting place, especially Hong Kong Island, which is where our game focuses. The different neighborhoods are so unique and distinct, there’s a rich mix of tradition and technology. It really lends itself towards different gameplay styles, such as street racing and free-flowing combat. That’s what really attracted our attention.

So it’s open-world?

Stephen: Yep, sandbox gameplay, go wherever you want, in whichever order. There’s a whole narrative drive and lots of side quests, favors that you do for people, mini-games, even things like cockfighting, which is part of the world we’ve created.

How faithful were you to Hong Kong’s city planners?

Stephen: We took 35,000 to 40,000 reference photos and hour upon hour of video footage, but it’s not a street for street depiction. It was important for us to capture the essence of city. Lots of the landmarks are there, many of the names are similar yet, first and foremost, we wanted to make that space fun to navigate around.

How do you research each aspect of such an expansive game?

Stephen: There’s a lot of literature around on Triad hierarchy and structure. We wanted to be as authentic to that as possible. We weren’t interested in doing caricatures and stereotypes. We were fortunate enough to have a few contacts in Vancouver, where we’re based. There’s a big Chinese community there, lots of people from Hong Kong, and we managed to talk to the former head of the Hong Kong police force’s organised crime bureau. He’d been there 25 years orchestrating undercover operations so he knew the ins and outs of the local Triads, from the pettiest crimes all the way up to the high scale stuff.

There was also someone we became chatty with who gave us insight into how Triads work within their stamping grounds. It’s not how you imagine it, Triad culture. They’re not always thugs who hang out causing trouble. They’re well integrated into their local communities, and to summarily remove them would cause those local societies to crumble.

What has the expertise from former Need For Speed developer Black Box Games brought to United Front Games?

Stephen: The core of the studio was set up by those guys. We’ve been in operation now for five years, and there’s obviously a strong driving pedigree running through the game. We’ve taken a lot of time to optimise our vision of Hong Kong for driving around at stupid speeds. We have these high speed road networks that fit into the city very organically.

We also pulled in a lot of people from Rockstar who’d been working on PlayStation 2 game Bully as well as guys from Radical, so there’s a whole bunch of expertise there. Open world games are hard to develop and from the very start we wanted all of our bases covered with the talent we have. Our strategy’s been quite simple – we wanted to create a game where it felt like the core mechanics could stand up on their own.

If you try the combat system, it’s quite deep for an open world game. The ability to seamlessly move from that into gunplay and crazy fast driving maintains that sense of big screen action. You can jump off the back of a car or a bike, so you can see we’ve tried to maintain that cinematic action movie feel.

How closely do you look at similar, rival games like the Yakuza series and LA Noire?

Stephen: We always look at competitors and try to figure out what we can learn. For us, we looked at those kinds of games, but to be honest we paid more attention to Hong Kong cinema for our fighting styles and to nail that reactive sensation. It’s a number one priority of ours to try to make something feel different from games that might occupy a similar space.

Was PlayStation Vita integration something you considered?

Stephen: Sure, we thought about it, but we didn’t want to do it for the sake of shoehorning an extra feature into the game. I feel you really need a strong idea to really tie different devices together, with a unique experience delivered on each of those devices. I don’t like it when people try to fit a PlayStation 3 experience into PlayStation Vita. I like the idea of a different take that feeds back into the main experience.

Did you look to any particular cases or storylines from your research to include in the game’s narrative?

Stephen: Well, the plot was built from scratch but we were heavily influenced by a lot of references. Look at movies like The Departed and Donnie Brasco – they both had an element of truth in them, which came from the stories they discovered by talking to people who were actually in those situations. The important thing for us to get across was that dual world of a cop pretending to be a gangster, and the stresses that come with that, of having to live this lie.

In terms of specifics, we referenced a lot of Triad crimes using newspaper cuttings. The game follows this guy becoming more intertwined with this world and we see his morality line get blurred. So yes, there are direct references to stories we discovered from the research we did.

Were there any ideas that you had to filter out?

Stephen: That’s one of the constant processes that you go through. There’s always iteration and from that some ideas fall by the wayside. Some things don’t make sense, but the general themes for us seemed to fall into place quite naturally. Women for example are a strong theme throughout the game. The principal character loses his sister at a young age. He’s grown up with just his mother around, and it’s interesting to explore how he interacts with women. There’s no love interest though, funnily enough.

There’s a big loyalty riff throughout the game as well. He’s a cop but he actually starts befriending some of these gangsters, he starts to actually like these guys. I guess it’s like Stockholm syndrome. He even helps to plan one Triad’s wedding.

With a game like this, which has a very strong plot along with defined gameplay elements, what leads – story or mechanics?

Stephen: It’s a very organic process. Those two standpoints grew together, although at the very start we focused mainly on mechanics. They can be fun, there’s a lot of opportunity and then you think, “Well these parts could all lend themselves to something set in the criminal underworld”. A lot of the time while we were writing the story we were picturing scenes, the situations we wanted gamers to see. For instance, we wanted to have a big Chinese wedding, so that led to us then working out a way of blending the right gameplay segments into the scene.

I imagine it’s a little like writing a song. Sometimes the tune comes first and you drop some lyrics in, while other times the words come first and a tune naturally builds up around them.

What I don’t like is making a game to fit a story. The two elements have to grow and feel right together, and that takes time. If you start to come up against a barrier, it’s probably time to try a different tack. Some ideas pan out, some don’t. That’s the thing about developing games: sometimes you’ve got to walk away from ideas that look great on paper but don’t quite work.

Do you think that with the technical challenges of building games overcome, more resources can be poured into pushing content in new directions?

Stephen: I definitely think so. You look at The Last of Us, Beyond and the Uncharted series and they are the result of developers wondering how to get the best out of all this technology. Also, people are looking to be entertained on a different level now. The average age of gamers is creeping up, and you see life being reflected in these games now. You could almost call this hardware cycle the adolescent phase – it’s maturing, broadening its horizons and becoming aware of adult issues. There’s been a phase – and this is no fault of the industry, it’s just the way business works – of repeating successful games. But there’s no mistake, we are definitely seeing games, the stories they tell and the experiences they deliver evolve faster than ever before.

With E3 less than a week away, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a quick update on what you’ll be seeing at the show in Los Angeles. We’ll be unveiling our multiplayer mode, which supports one to four players offline and one to eight players online, and I’m sure you’ll be reading plenty of hands-on reports from the press during E3 week. I can tell you that it’s addictively fun — you won’t want to put the controller down! We’ll also be showing off more of the single-player campaign that users will be able to explore, as well as some of the additional non-racing experiences that are unique to LBP Karting, so get ready!

Secondly, I wanted to quickly thank our friends in the press who have spoken highly of Sackboy’s newest karting adventure. As IGN put it…”LittleBigPlanet Karting is already an incredibly promising step up and a great new direction for the LittleBigPlanet franchise.” To give you a sense of the recent impressions out there so far, here are a few links— Chicago Tribune, Forbes, IGN, 1UP, Kotaku, Game Informer, GameTrailers, Destructoid, Digital Trends, GameSpot, Games Radar, Polygon, GameFan, etc.

Lastly, I wanted to pass along a quick reminder about our pre-order bonus offer. Those who pre-order the game through Amazon or GameStop will receive a bonus voucher code that grants access to the Kevin Butler DLC Pack, which includes the Kevin Butler Sackboy Costume and Executive Golf Kart. Here’s a look…

Next week we will be releasing a brand new Starhawk Minipack containing a trio of costumes from the amazing game by the awesome folks over at LightBox Interactive.

To celebrate this release we have put together a cool new wallpaper for you all to enjoy!

Eagled-eyed blog readers will have noticed that there are only two characters on this wallpaper…Stay tuned later today for a post from our friends at LightBox Interactive, where they will reveal the third and final costume to be included in the Starhawk Minipack!

Mm Picks

This week’s Mm Picks include a delve into the platforming fun that is Water Caverns, the chance for Sackboy to have an out of body experience as he becomes a spirit in Ghosting and a few awesome mini-games for you to challenge your friends against!

Watery Caverns by ThePurpleWaffle

Ghosting (1Player Only) by PacJonno

Tiles by tevlon1

Bricker by DJD2010

Colortrain NEO [1-4 Player] by DeKa1357

Community Highlight – The Weekly Planetarium

Every week the incredibly dedicated folks over on LittleBigPlanetarium.com work hard to release a newsletter updating the community on absolutely everything that has been happening on LittleBigPlanet throughout the week!

There’s not a single news post, video or quote that they miss from the week’s news and they even have time to put together their own features and articles to make this awesome newsletter truly unique.

So head on over to LittleBigPlanetarium.com to read the latest scoop on LittleBigPlanet!

Our media friends recently got to have a hands-on play of LittleBigPlanet Karting. Check out this video to see what IGN has to say about Sackboy’s leap into the racing arena!

At the same event, GameTrailers.com interviewed William Ho, United Front Game’s Design Director for LittleBigPlanet Karting — as well as showcase some new gameplay from LittleBigPlanet Karting!

Take a look at just what was said about the LittleBigPlanet Karting experience!

• IGN.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting: A Platformer on Wheels
• GameTrailers.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting Video Game, First Look Interview
• Kotaku.com – LittleBigPlanet Karting And Going Back To The Things You Love
• GameSpot.com – Play, Create, Share, and Then Blow Each Other Up
• Shacknews.com – How LittleBigPlanet Karting is different from ModNation Racers

Mm Picks

This week we see Sackboy being given superpowers as Agent 11.7 in PLCC3: Intro – Debriefing, before unleashing his dark side thanks to a magic formula in Another strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

We see him return to some classic platforming action in Tileboard Trickery and if you’re looking to relax, you can play a nice game of Spot the Difference or take a moment to listen to Comishguy67’s Original Music Gallery containing over 40 songs!

Best of all, comishguy67 is sharing his music with the rest of the community to use in their own levels! So if you’re a fan of great music, be sure to head to his level and collect those Prize Bubbles!

PLCC3: Intro – Debriefing by xSLEVENx

PLCC3 – Another strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Art-in-Heart

Tileboard Trickery by Prattz

spot the difference 間違い探し(JPN) by chocopyon

Comishguy67’s Original Music Gallery by comishguy67

LBPC Community Spotlight: Episode 84

Following on from our feature on LiBitsmate last week, I thought that I would take a moment to feature the amazing crew over on LBPCentral.com

LBPC Community Spotlight: Episode 84 by LBPCentralHub

This dedicated team of hard-working peeps put out a new hub level containing their favourite picks every fortnight! Be sure to pay their latest level a visit to see their newest selection of chosen levels.

LittleBigPlanet on the Web
LittleBigPlanet Twitter – @LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet Facebook

LittleBigPlanet Community Team Twitters
Steven – @StevenIsbell
Simon – @Syroc_LBP
Spaff – @thespaff

The easiest part of showing off LittleBigPlanet Karting is just getting to play it outside of United Front Games. We don’t make fun, fresh, addictive games just for ourselves. We make them for you, your friends, your brothers, your sisters, Little Timmy and even for Crazy Uncle Larry. So it’s incredibly important for us to get the game in the hands of real people — real gamers — like we did in Los Angeles last week.

Thanks to everyone who came from the four corners of globe to get hands-on time with LittleBigPlanet Karting. Merci, France! Gracias, Mexico and Spain! Spasibo, Russia! Cheers, Australia! No worries, Canada!

It was great to see smiles for every drift and every jump, every big air swing with the Grappling Hook and every on-the-spot slapfight. Our new Battle Mode was definitely a hit. “Garden Grip”, a race course that lovingly pays homage to the very first LBP level, opened everyone’s eyes to how beautiful Craftworld can be in full 3-D. And “Future Perfect,” a race course that captures the joy of flying, showed that the Imagisphere never stops expanding. We hope that everyone saw for themselves that LittleBigPlanet Karting promises to be a great new karting adventure.

The hardest part of taking part in events like these is not having enough time to talk about every single cool thing in LittleBigPlanet Karting. I think the fastest I’ve ever talked about the game’s entire feature set in one sitting is one hour and forty minutes. And I had to talk *fast*. There’s a lot of stuff for even the most seasoned LittleBigPlanet veterans to absorb.

So over the next while, my teammates and I are looking forward to revealing more of LittleBigPlanet Karting’s secrets and surprises. Stay tuned for answers to burning questions like:

• Can I really make any karting adventure I can imagine? I have a pretty good imagination…
• Can Crazy Uncle Larry play LittleBigPlanet Karting with me? He hasn’t played a video game since 1994…
• I’ve always wanted to shoot my friends with heat-seeking cows that spew green gas. Can I put that in a race? Please? Pretty please?

You already know about the fantastic LBP work that Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven Studios are doing on LittleBigPlanet for PS Vita, and now we are delighted to announce today a new LBP collaboration with the hugely talented team at United Front Games who will be leading a new project called LittleBigPlanet Karting! We’ve all seen that UFG has a wealth of racing experience and they’re also intimately familiar with LBP’s cornerstones of “Play, Create, Share.” With LBP’s powerful and diverse toolset in their capable hands, LittleBigPlanet Karting is sure to be an adventure that both LBP fans and kart-racing fans alike will enjoy! We are eager to see what you think of this union and especially excited to see what happens now that you can create in a 3D environment — it’s the start of a whole new LBP world! Have a look at the debut trailer to see for yourself.

Thank you so much for your continued support of LittleBigPlanet! Lots of love!

James Grieve, Sr. Producer, United Front Games

Thank you to everyone at Media Molecule, we greatly appreciate the warm welcome into the LittleBigPlanet family. The team here at United Front Games has long been huge fans of LBP and all of the exceptional work done by everyone at Mm. Sackboy has become one of the iconic gaming characters of this generation and to have the opportunity to make a LittleBigPlanet game ourselves is truly an honor.

It has been a joy to collaborate with all of the folks at Mm. Since the project’s inception, they have been great partners in getting to where we are today. Looking ahead, we can’t wait for all of the LBP fans out there to get their hands on LittleBigPlanet Karting. The LBP community is unparalleled in the gaming world for the passion and creativity they bring and it’s going to be exciting to see where they’re able to take this new journey for Sackboy.

Our goal with LBP Karting has been fairly simple – provide a fast-paced experience that captures the best of classic karting gameplay, married with the unbridled creativity of LBP. This new adventure will be accessible to players of all ages and have all of the variety necessary to satisfy both the hardcore and more casual players.

This is an LBP game, so we could never talk about it without mentioning the Create tools. LBP Karting is set in an entirely 3D world that will enable players to create rich and varied gameplay experiences. Tons of familiar LBP gadgets will be present, along with a new toolbox specifically tailored to allow for building in LBP Karting’s 3D world. Along with fan-favorite racing and battle modes, players will be able to modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges. All of this is wrapped up in a community experience that should have LBP fans feeling right at home.

Well, that’s all for now, but we’re looking forward to sharing more news on this exciting new game in the coming weeks so stay tuned for more info and get ready for the new world of LittleBigPlanet Karting in 2012!