Little Big Planet gadgets coming to UK/Europe(?!) in October!

We read a big deal about Little Big Planet sackboy based gadget at the beginning of the year and actually there was huge demand for anything sackboy based since Little big Planet is one of Playstation greatest exclusive (and a must-play for any gamer) and an innovative and awesome title featuring awesome graphic and very cute character. And honestly some LBP gadgets are long overdue.
While I understand MM (we make games it's their motto) and Sony are more into making games and hardware the LBP brand could probably be a huge success in the toy market and definitely not just appeal gamers (it's also a great chance for successful cross-promotion).

The first Little big Planet gadgets were previewed back in February:
playstation blog announcement

Then they hinted that there would be some cool merchandise VERY soon just after San Diego's Comic-Con (July 2009)
playstation blog post

... and then, while I was checking some stuff on Play.com today I found out that the first official Little Big Planet sackboy gadgets will be available in UK (and presumably the rest of Europe!?) no later than by the end of October.

Play.com in fact is already listing them for purchase and will ship them starting from the 26th Oct.: LBP gadgets on Play.com. Beware though, Play.com will only ship gadgets to UK addresses :(.

Otherwise you can go the DIY way if you can knit or crochet (or have some beloved one that can) and, honestly, one can really get some awesome results!
Check what people have come up with:
Article on Media Molecule's site
Maggie Wang's sackboys
and find a pattern here (but it isn't the best result I've seen) for free:
free sackboy pattern.

or just buy some handmade ones through etsy (lots of talented artisans/artists there:
sackboys on Etsy
(this is a great looking pattern!): Best sackboy pattern.

PS3: your HD is linked to ONE PS3 so remember to make full back-ups!

Truth be told I never thought about doing PS3 back-ups for a couple of reasons:
1st: I think the PS3 is a brilliant and solid piece of hardware
2nd and most important: I've got my 250GB hard disk installed so in case I'll just mount it on a new machine...

I discovered just too late that no other PS3 will read my hard disk unless I format it (that means all my data will be erased).
As for some data the PS3 hard disk is linked to only 1 PS3 and will not work on any other PS3.

So, basically, if your PS3 breaks for any reason even though you have all your precious saves and data on your hard disk it will be useless because you cannot read/transfer them on any other machine.
At least... that's what I've experienced.

What I'm basically suggesting is: do your bi-weekly or monthly full back-ups (using the PS3 back up utility) to make sure you won't loose your stuff!
The full back-up will take quite a while (1 - 2 hours so plan it for when you won't be using your PS3 for gaming :)).
Check here for instructions: http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/backuputility.html

You will not lose trophies information in any case since they are linked to your account outside your PS3 (but remember to syncro them every once in a while, if you care).

Happy gaming!
Ivy

Why a serious gamer MUST own a PS3

Well, the very reason is simple: because many PS3 exclusives, true PS3 exclusives, are never going to show up on any other systems, be them an XBOX360 or a PC.

And are these exclusives worth the purchase of a system? Sure thing for someone that is serious about gaming (and let's face it, a PS3 is not expensive for what is offers, how much did you pay your last PC video card or you cell phone? But that's another article...).

So let's put speculation apart and check out the list (newest first). I'm no listing ALL exclusives but "only" the ones that make it worth buying a PS3 and are most impressive:

Wipeout HD (+ Fury)
InFamous
Killzone 2
Resistance 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
Valkyria Chronicles
Little Big Planet
Flower (PSN a unique poetry made game)
Grand Turismo Prologue (GT5)
the PixelJunk series (PSN)
Warhawk
Ratchet and Clank
Uncharted

and not to forget the forthcoming:
Fat Princess (sooon!)
Heavy Rain
Uncharted 2
The Last Guardian
Ratchet and Clank
God of War III
EyePet

Worth it?
I definitely think so and for a complete list (I, for one, also loved the atmospheres of Folklore) check this complete list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS3_exclusives
A serious gamer really cannot miss this goodies!!!

Let's GAME!
Ivy

What trophies are missing: progression bar

I'm playing a few games at the moment and, although I could live without trophies, the truth is they are a nice feature and they certainly are stimulating.

I mean, when you are enjoying a game you DO want to not only beat it but beat it as best as possible by doing all the cool things that could be done, by achieving records and so on, that is being great at it. Therefore when you beat a game and then check the trophies section to find out you did not even reach 50% that means you'll have to try harder!

The PS3 is my console of choice but I also have an X360 so I do know how achievements work and although I'm not much into them because I only got my 360 or GOW2 and Fable 2 there is something I like of achievements more than Trophies: the progression bar.
By and large I prefer trophies over achievement for how they are implemented, their features etc. but the achievements' progression bar is really a MUST have for this feature.

I mean, I'm playing Flower... how long till I get the 10000 flowers: I do want to get them and get all Flowers trophies but at this point, after beating the game and playing it again I coould have reached any number of bloomed flowers... and the same is for the Helgast kills in KillZone 2 and so on and so fort.

Introducing any sort of progression bar that would hint the players how long till they reach the trophy objective would really be cool and enhance the trophies experience :)!

Greets,
Ivy

The perfect valentine game-gift: Flower

Valentine is coming and as a gamer this year it's your chance to be traditional and original at the same time as far as the gift for your beloved one is concerned.
Rather than buying your girlfriend or wife the usual bunch of flowers buy her Flower, the just released PSN game by That Game Company.
Flower would obviously be the perfect Valentine gift for a chick gamer but not only, even though your sweetheart is not a game fanatic (yet) you can still purchase Flower for her.

Just create her a personal account on your PS3 and buy Flower, then buy a pad and some lovely gift wrap to make for a nice, tangible, present (unfortunately there are no pink nor red pads yet!). Turn your PS3 on and make her play your gift. It may be a lovely way to incline her to be interested in video-gaming if she's not and a sweet way to say "I love you" to a chick gamer.

Flower does not require much experience with the pad since it makes use of the Six-Axis movement feature and it's very intuitive and easy to play.
It does not require any button pressing either (just hold any button to go on, at least in the first levels) and it can really appeal a girl: beautiful graphic, lovely environments, lots of flowers and a gentle background music (the flowers you catch also emit notes).

A really romantic way to make for a non-traditional present to your girlfriend, wife or someone you'd like to be more intimate with ;) whether she's already interested in gaming or not!

Happy *play-full* Valentine!
Ivy

My 2009 Games

I should probably have started this the 1st January but actually had not thought about it :). I want to keep a list of the games I play to have a record of my background as a chick gamers :). 2009 games (most recent are on top):

Red Faction: Guerrilla (just started)
InFamous (story finished both good and evil, missing stunts for Platinum)
Killzone 2 (story mode to finish, online with the new maps)
Assassin's Creed
Plants VS Zombies (!!! great game!)
Sims 3 (quit after a while, not so exciting after all, much poorer than I expected :()
Heavenly Sword (not finished)
Resistance 2 (only multi)
Loco Roco 2 (playing)
Dawn of War 2 Beta (co-op campaign finished)
Mirror's Edge (story mode finishes, playing Time trials)
Prince of Persia (finished, started in 2008)
Gears of War II (story mode and horde finished)

2008 Games
LBP
Force Unleashed (not finished)
Fable II
King's Bounty the Legend
Spore (:()
Castle Crasher
GTA4
Gran Turismo 5
Everybody's Golf 5

Ivy

Heavenly Sword, a game with two chicks as main characters

Well, it's been out for a while but I got it only recently: it's a platinum title and I thought it was a shame not to have played it and I was totally RIGHT!

All in all this really is a CHICK game, with two beautiful girls (Nariko and Kai) as main characters. Nariko is actually the star but one gets to play Kai as well and also quite a lot which is really fun as one jumps between their two combat styles (melee and ranged) both with their own, very nice, peculiarities!


What's Heavenly Sword? It's a beautiful action-packed game with a great movie-like feel.
The cut scenes really seem a movie, the characters expressions are REAL, the characters are vivid and lively. Each one of them has got a very strong personality (Nariko, Kai, Shen, Flying Fox and so on) and their peculiarity is present in every aspect: expressions, behaviour, movements, way of talking, voice!
What is mostly amazing while playing are the beautiful, large vistas/panoramas and the great cinematic feel/cut of everything, the cinematic is great!
On the "behind the scenes" one of the creators mentions they developed a fighting engine that could handle up to 2000 enemies in the scene and in fact such scenes are really cool, so many people they look like a giant wave of fighters.
The animations are amazing (beautiful and fluid) and combat is very varied and funny, simply spectacular to watch and perform.
There is a great mix of moves, all very dynamic Hong-Kong-movies-like. They took a bit of something of many different martial arts to create a style that is unique and over-spectacular.

The characters are really excellent, on some details one can spot too few polygons and joints don't always look awesome but overall they are really great!
The detail on the skin/textures and the shaders is great, they are just like beautiful renders moving in a very fluid way.

The story is also quite nice, with bits and little revelations discovered while you go on, it feels like you're in a epic movie, like you're driving your own epic battle (which was the developers' goal).

I also really enjoyed to watch the behind the scenes, very insightful and interesting (and a few chick in there too ;))!
I'm really curious to see what Ninja Theory have up their sleeves next since I'm sure they can produce something even more stunning and beautiful after the Heavenly Sword experience!

Want to know more?
Official Site: http://www.heavenlysword.com/
Wikipedia (look out for spoilers!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Sword
Ninja Theory site:
http://www.ninjatheory.com/
& http://www.ninjatheory.com/games.php (check there for images!)

Love & Play!
Ivy