Is LittleBigPlanet on its way to the PSP?
The world was delighted last month when Sony and Media Molecule released the heavily hyped LittleBigPlanet, finally bringing Sackpeople into the living rooms of gamers all across the globe. Of course no company would be happy letting such a flagship franchise sit around dormant, so we all started wondering what Sony would do next. From the looks of things, the answer is take the experience and ship it on over to the PSP.
According to EGM’s Quartermann (via Kotaku), "The LBP universe will also continue to evolve next year with the release of the PSP version: Q-Mann hears it’s fantastically ambitious and will further flesh out the PS3 LBP experience." Not a lot to go on there, but apparently the handheld version of the game is not being developed by Media Molecule, but by another studio entirely.
This one’s a bit hard for us to swallow considering both the sheer amount of effort that went into creating the PS3 version of LittleBigPlanet, as well as the idea that the studio behind it all won’t have a hand in the project. Still, if LBP does for PSP sales what it has done for the PS3, Sony would be crazy not to find some way to work it into the rotation. We’re going to go ahead and keep a healthy skepticism about this one for now, but we’ll see what’s in store as the holidays creep closer.
TGR Verdict: Rumor Somewhat Unlikely
Is Silicon Knights on the Ropes?
Canadian developer Silicon Knights is a constant source of interest here at TGR, especially company honcho Denis Dyack. Just this week we posted our very own interview with the opinionated game maker, and his riffs on the industry are nothing if not insightful and entertaining. Trouble may be brewing though, as rumor has it one of the company’s games is in big trouble, and may be looking for a new publisher this very moment.
The title in question is an unannounced project which Silicon Knights was developing and Sega was set to publish. Things are different now though, as it appears that Sega has backed out, and is leaving the game to fend for itself out in the wild. All we know about the game was that it was slated to be a "third-person action/psychological thriller," leading some to believe that it may even be the long-rumored Eternal Darkness 2.
Whatever it was, it appears to be gone now, though we’re still waiting for some sort of official comment from Sega. If the story turns out to be true, it’s just another blow to the studio which saw Too Human, meant to be a magnum opus, be met with middling review scores and so-so sales. With the intended blockbuster reeling and another game sitting around without a publisher, this could be quite a trying time for Sir Denis and his dashing cadre of Knights.
TGR Verdict: Rumor Likely
Is Activision looking for testers for Guitar Hero: Metallica?
Even though a lot of gamers are just getting their feet wet in Guitar Hero: World Tour, it seems as though Activision may be in the late stages of bringing Guitar Hero: Metallica to the masses. The game, the second in the franchise’s set of band-centric releases, is set for a 2009 launch, and it looks like the company may be looking for folks to come test out the upcoming title.
It seems as though Activision is holding an open call via Craigslist to find a few "heavy metal fans" to test out a new game. The ad promises to bring gamers in and compensate them with both cash and a finished copy of the game if selected. Definitely not a bad gig, though if it’s like any other testing job, you may not want to actually play the game ever again once your work is finished.
But why are we speculating that this an ad for the new Metallica game if neither the title itself nor Activision is mentioned in the post? Well it’s mainly because the location of the position is listed as Santa Monica, which just so happens to be the home base of Guitar Hero series developer Neversoft. So while we aren’t 100% sure that this is definitely a job concerning Guitar Hero: Metallica, we really don’t know how it could be anything else. So if you live in the Santa Monica area and want to really rock, you may want to give the ad a hard look, and then thank us when you land that awesome new job.
TGR Verdict: Rumor Very Likely
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