All three big console makers put forth strong showings at their press conferences, but one of my favorite moments from all of E3 so far was the stage demo for LittleBigPlanet 3 on PlayStation 4. Where all other presentations come across as scripted and somewhat phony, down to the awful jokes and one-liners the presenters throw at the crowd, the demo for LBP3 was spontaneous like a group of friends really sitting down to play the game together, with players who were messing up, dying, falling off ledges, and generally in need of a helping hand to catch back up with the group. Everything that is so great about LittleBigPlanet simply shined through and reminded me again why I love the series and gaming in general.
All this joyous fun stemmed from the game’s new cast of Sackboy sidekicks, including OddSock, Swoop, and Toggle, each capable of unique talents. The dog-like OddSock is quick and agile enough to perform wall jumps. Toggle can switch at will between a large or small form, allowing him to use his extra girth to weigh down pressure plates or shrink in stature in order to squeeze through tight spaces or run on water. Then there’s Swoop, a sack-bird capable of flying wherever it needs to go, often toting a comrade in knitted burlap after missing a jump and falling to the platform below.
Sackboy’s got some new moves as well. He can climb and use a new power-up tool called the Pumpinator which enables him to use air to push or pull objects. Another neat thing on the user-creation side of the game is the fact that players will be able to build their own original power-ups for the first time ever. That should open up all sorts of new level creation possibilities.
And speaking of the create and share side of the game, all user-crafted levels from the two previous LittleBigPlanet adventures will be fully playable in LittleBigPlanet 3. Thanks to the extra power of the PS4, these old levels will even be updated to the new game engine and appear with enhanced textures.
Media Molecule may no longer be in charge of Sackboy’s destiny, but new developer Sumo Digital and Sony’s XDev studios appear to have great things in store for the cute little fella. LittleBigPlanet 3 will be available this November on PlayStation 4. (It appears that a PS3 version may also be in the works, but I haven’t seen direct confirmation of this by Sony.)
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
