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LawyerBigPlanet

Added by Jeff Gerstmann on Nov. 3, 2008

Would you file a suit against this sack?

Well, it's finally happened. Actually, it seems to have happened late last week, or perhaps over the weekend, but LittleBigPlanet's servers seem to be up and mostly functional. I'm still getting the occasional "failed to load level" error, but that seems to be temporary.

Actually, there's one "failed to load level" error that I couldn't get to go away. It came from a level that was named Super Mario Bros: Level 1-1 and had a fat picture of Mario as the level label. It had me start to wonder if Sony and Media Molecule were starting to police the servers for copyrighted content.

And make no mistake, scanning in pictures of Mario and remaking 1-1 has got to be some sort of copyright violation. But it's not just Mario. It seems like every popular classic game and current hit is going to get some sort of LittleBigPlanet treatment. There's a cool 2D version of the demo level from Mirror's Edge out there already. Some evil genius in Japan managed to recreate the first level of Gradius, complete with a shot of the Vic Viper. Gears of War, Batman, God of War, Ninja Warrior, Takeshi's Castle, Gladiators, Final Fantasy... the list of Other People's Property is nearly endless.

The level "Final Fantasy theme song" is especially cool, because it's not really much of a game. It uses a vehicle, driving past different triggers to simply play the music from the game. In fact, there seems to be a handful of people just going nuts with music. Right now, I'm watching my sack dude sit on a vehicle while a crude and awesome version of Guns 'n' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine is playing. It's madness! Sweet madness!

At some point, some lawyer's going to come downstairs and shout "WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THIS USER-GENERATED CONTENT THING HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO" at Sony and/or Media Molecule. It'll be a disappointing, but legally necessary clampdown, I guess. It's just cool to see what kind of cool homages to other games, movies, and music.

The other legal issue over LittleBigPlanet is the ownership of the levels you create. Sony's EULA says one thing, executives have said something else in interviews. I guess my personal feeling is that it'd be great if users owned their own levels, but I can't think of a good reason why Sony would allow users to actually sell their own levels in the game. A big, user-run marketplace that Sony gets a piece of would probably be awesome... but they're going to need to clean out all the copyright violations first.

Joystiq's regular series on legal matters in games covered the topic of user-content ownership in LBP today, and if you're the sort of person who's concerned about this sort of thing, I recommend you give it a read. And watch a couple of blatantly awesome LBP "homages" below!

49 Comments

Broman6015 on Nov. 3, 2008

Servers good enough to review? Any time this week?

Coltonio7 on Nov. 3, 2008

Already? Huh...

Fr0Br0 on Nov. 3, 2008

I hope this doesn't constrict the limitations of the level creating. Some of the stuff on there is amazing and deserves to stay up regardless of the whole "Well it kinda looks like this so we will sue you" crap.

Spencer on Nov. 3, 2008

That Mirror's Edge level was pretty cool. I don't want that kind of content to just go away; I can see myself going back to this game years from now to see what titles are getting the LittleBigPlanet treatment. Odds are good Sony will crack down on the Microsoft and Nintendo brands, but I wouldn't think there will be a problem with the awesome God of War level I played earlier today.

Milkman on Nov. 3, 2008

So, when's the review coming?

BurningChimaera on Nov. 3, 2008

Yeah, the server's are working well now, I've had some fun with co-op. I managed to stick a third eye on to my friend( There's a trophy for doing that, I'm not just a douchebag), and he couldn't figure out how to get it off.

I hope they don't go crazy with the copyright thing, though. Most of the levels that are actually fun happen to be related to some sort of movie or game. I would be much happier if they would patrol LittleBigPlanet for boring levels, instead of copyright infringement.

Deltico on Nov. 3, 2008

I finally played some of the "custom levels" and the ones made for strictly for getting multiple Trophies in under 30 seconds felt way cheaper than any janky imitation level (that someone who's not even payed to work on the game) wastes their time with. Boo! Having said that... if it was on the 360 then it would help with my local points war. Don't judge these levels as you're ruining the magic by doing so.

yellownumber5 on Nov. 3, 2008

I remember back when I was a kid in the eighties I had these grim images of the future where everyone is policed ,our freedoms are stripped, and big brother is always watching. Sure maybe the reality now that I am here in the future its not as bad as I thought, but stuff like banning people from making doodles of levels from their favorite games still puts a sour taste in my mouth. Makes me feel all sad inside.

Next up we raid seventh grade classrooms and burn notebooks that have drawings of Ratchet and Clank.

dtran1212 on Nov. 3, 2008

playing co-op in this game is so fucking fun! its a shame this is happening becuase some of the user created levels are pretty awesome

Chainblast online on Nov. 3, 2008

It's unfortunate that a legal battle will likely erupt over the recreation of popular games, but I think the creation of these levels is more novel than anything else. In a few months I expect such things to slow and creators to be more comfortable with making completely original ideas and themes. I've already played a couple smokin' hot levels in the week I've had LBP. As for Sony owning levels which users create, it doesn't bother me so long as credit for said levels creation is given (and it is) and no profit is received (the very concept behind LBP would suggest this to never happen).

Now I got to go play me that Gradius level you wrote about, thanks Jeff!

Death_Burnout on Nov. 3, 2008

Yeah this was bound to happen, no questions asked really, its unfortunate to say the least. Give people creative tools and well, yeah you know the rest.

Im not interested in other peoples level's unless its from some other game, so im kinda screwed, however, i do find certain levels from other games to be a step too far sometimes.

Looking forward to picking it up this wednesday, im gunna make hella caves fool!

SynAzrael on Nov. 3, 2008

The thing is....making parodies of other IPs isn't illegal. I wonder if these types of treatments would fall more in that category rather than straight up copyright violation.

Media_Master on Nov. 3, 2008

Interesting, although Mario wasn't present!

coonce on Nov. 3, 2008

he's too cute... never!

jangofett88 on Nov. 3, 2008

The Final Fantasy Song level was my 'oh snap' moment with this game.

Preacher on Nov. 3, 2008

You don't suppose any of the tribute levels would be considered under the laws regaurding parody and fair use? Plus, it's not like Sony is directly charging money for other companies' IP. I'd really like to see more video games get "Sweded" like this in LiitleBigPlanet.

Alaska_Gamer on Nov. 3, 2008

Oh well. I'll enjoy the levels while they last. I especially enjoyed the takeshi's castle levels.
Oh, and thanks for the heads up on the Gradius level, Jeff. I'll be sure to check it out.

Erock on Nov. 3, 2008

Those mario levels are uninspired drivel! make something original you slobs. But the God of War level is freakin sweet. And that side scrolling shooter one is pretty awesome how it was done. But thats more interesting than remaking a super old side scrolling platforming level in a game that easily does side scrolling platforming. its the other stuff that matters!!

radion_null on Nov. 3, 2008

I personally like the ninja warrior level. Although seeing that mario 1-1 level was quite awesome.

Bill_Hickz on Nov. 3, 2008

Man I really underestimated this game. Does anyone know if this is coming to PC or if there is a program like this at the moment that has gone under my rader. Is there any Vote Obama/McCain, Coca-Cola, Xbox 360 advertising levels out there yet lol. Oh yeah, Americans GO OUT AND VOTE, you get fined if you dont vote in my country and some countrys dont even have that right, so stop being ignorant of the freedoms you have and vote.

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