United Front Games (ModNation Racers) have been confirmed as the studio behind upcoming LittleBigPlanet Karting. The game has been rumoured for a few months now, but this is the first time it’s been seen outside of a select few.
“We’ve all seen that UFG has a wealth of racing experience and they’re also intimately familiar with LBP’s cornerstones of PLAY, CREATE, SHARE” said Media Molecule today. “With LBP’s powerful and diverse toolset in their capable hands, LittleBigPlanet Karting is sure to be an adventure that both LBP fans and kart racing fans alike will enjoy!”
“Our goal with LBP Karting has been fairly simple,” said the developers, “provide a fast-paced experience that captures the best of classic Karting gameplay, married with the unbridled creativity of LBP. This new adventure will be accessible to players of all ages and have all of the variety necessary to satisfy both the hardcore and more casual players.”
The game is set in an “entirely 3D world”, and will feature all the usual LBP elements like the toolbox. “Along with fan favorite racing and battle modes,” says the blog, “players will be able to modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges. All of this is wrapped up in a community experience that should have LBP fans feeling right at home.”
The game is locked for a 2012 release.
Tomhlord
Filling ModNation Racers with fabric and blop noises does not make an LBP game, so I’ll be interested to see how this differentiates from other kart racers.
JesseDeya
I think it’s the Create. Share. part that will set it apart.
I’m not nearly as excited for what comes in the box as I am for what comes when it gets into the hands of modders!! MNR was a start, but LBP does creation 100x better.
nemesisND1derboy
If they can get Stephen Fry as an F1 style commentator…
Sold.
bunimomike
Ha, he’d get in such a tizz!
kjkg
Best idea I’ve heard in ages.
TROPtastic
Seconded that would be fantastic! Send a message to MM! (Since they did work with him before)
Jambo
That looks great actually :)
Youles
Agreed, much better than I’d expected to be fair – awesome!!
Germanos
LBP goes CTR ^___^
element666
this could be brilliant , i hope it will as fun as lbp itself . Is it coming to vita as well ?
nofi
wouldn’t have thought so.
doomsday619
That looks brilliant shame just for the PS3 *or is it* would love to play this on Vita too.
bunimomike
Oh good lord, that looks effing awesome! Definitely how I wanted MnR to end up like.
Extra interested.
KeRaSh
Yeah, my initial thought was that this is what MNR should have been like. If it delivers as much fun as Mario Kart 64 in battle mode there will be no way around this.
Bilbo_bobbins
extra interested x2. You’re exactly right, its what everyone wanted MnR to be.
bunimomike
Yeah, it’s weird. MnR looked flawless but seemed soulless and void of that fun factor I so desperately want in a game like this.
Media Molecule will hopefully correct such an oversight.
Origami Killer
Looks fantastic! CTR and Mario Kart gone LBP style.
Germanos
Yep, said the same above :)
Makes me more angry about the PSOne games feature or lack of it, on PS Vita :P
Origami Killer
yeah have no idea why they haven’t implemented it. I have CTR on the PS3 :P
Bilbo_bobbins
ha ha, I have CTR too lol. I love it and this looks like it could be better.
Kevatron400
Definitely looks like it’ll be better than I was expecting – hopefully it won’t quite suffer as much from MNR’s load times or LBP’s online lag.
teflon
Looks great, but disappointing how this basically signals the end of MNR. Can’t imagine that brand going any further now.
mugsybalone
I agree – while ModNation Racers was essentially LBP for kart racing, LBP Karting just makes the whole thing official and renders taking MNR further (as a brand) pointless.
Aquastyle
I’m one of those who’d rather see a new MNR than this, thought the game was great. But I guess from a money-making point of view, the change makes sense.
When it comes to Sonys Play.Create.Share. -genre though, surely this must be a step in the wrong direction, can you really call it its own genre with only one franchise about?