Little Big Planet 2 Move Pack Downloadable Content: Preview

When we last heard from Media Molecule on Little Big Planet 2's upcoming Move-based downloadable content, we were told the studio had "taken the Move controller, opened up the guts...just to explore the possibilities." Now, with its September release date nearly upon us, the Move Pack is coming into focus, and we were shown what those possibilities mean: player-made Move games, in effect, that harness the Move for various types of games and control systems. For those less interested in user-generated content, the pack also includes a new story mode.

The creation tools enabled by the Move controller include an animation recorder and a paint tool. With the former, players can create natural-looking, puppet-style animations by waving the Move wand. With the latter, players can create images with Move-controlled brushes, spray paints, and stamps, where previously LBP players/creators had to use in-game stickers and the PlayStation Eye camera to design their own imagery. With the animation recorder and paint tool combined, players can, for example, draw and animate their own game sprites. Besides using the Move to create content, players can put Move-based control into their own LBP levels and games. We were shown a couple of simple applications: a rocket vehicle with its steering hooked up to the Move pointer with a simple bit of wiring in creation mode, as well as a shooting gallery game with the Move cursor as a crosshair.

More advanced applications of the Move features can be found in the story mode, Rise of the Cakeling, such as level Fast Food, in which the Move controller's tilt sensor is used to create a kind of marble run minigame. There's also a new toy for Sackboy in the shape of the brain crane: a headband that confers (Move-operated) Jedi-style Force powers on the LBP mascot. With the brain crane, characters can manipulate large objects that would be otherwise too large or beyond reach. We saw it used to pick giant fruit from a tree and to pick up and lob other Sackboys around. If you were feeling helpful and playing with less-experienced players, you could equally use the brain crane to save them from falling to their death or help hover them across tricky bits of platforming.

Also in the Move Pack are six more costumes that are themed on famous artists as a nod to the new paint tool. Catch the pack from September 13 in the US and September 14 in Europe.