We couldn't have made LittleBigPlanet for the 360 - Media Molecule

via Games Industry


LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 is one of Sony's key software titles in the build-up to Christmas this year - and while it's a platform exclusive, Media Molecule's Alex Evans has told GamesIndustry.biz that it's not a game that could have been made on the Xbox 360.

That's principally because of two things - the larger capacity on the Blu-ray disc, which LBP is taking full advantage of, and the fact that every PS3 ships with a hard drive as standard.

"With LBP as it is, we couldn't have made it on the Xbox 360 and the reason for that is actually because we designed it around the PS3's strengths," explained Evans in a recent interview.

"In other words, if you're a game designer, from day one you know your platform, and you just cane it on that platform. You're not worrying about cross-platform, you're not worrying about anyone else's hardware design."

But Evans was quick to play down that such a statement was any criticism of Microsoft's console.

"The 360 is an incredibly capable machine, and you could make a user-generated content game on it, no question - just as you could make one on the PS2 or the Megadrive, or any platform," he said. "But because we picked our platform, you go and you use every available bit of space, every little processor cycle."

However, he did concede that the presence of a hard drive on every PS3 SKU was a significant positive factor in allowing the Media Molecule team a certain freedom of design.

"The design decisions on the PS3 are huge, and I'm sure you realize that having a hard drive on every unit makes a difference," he said. "That's another thing - if we didn't have a hard drive on every unit, we'd have to scale back the ambition of what you could save and do. So yes, you could make this game on the 360, but it'd be a different game.

"I love certain things on the PS3, and the hard drive is one of them. And it's not just that it exists, it's that it's on every single SKU."

The full interview with Alex Evans, in which he also talks about the pressure of working on a game that's become a buzzword, and how Sony's E3 press conference nearly ended in disaster, is available now.