Yes, I was going to write a bit on my impressions of the beta last, last night, but well, it’s LittleBigPlanet, so I’ve been playing, and it is good.

For those of you who don’t know, LittleBigPlanet is the upcoming game from Media Molecule. The game is a cute (or whatever you want it to look like, see left, more on that in a minute). What comes on the disc is a whole collection of levels for you and three friends to play together in, plus a sack load of materials and tools for you to make your own levels with (thus, Halloween Sackboy over there), complete with moving parts, hazards, enemies, and pretty much anything else you can think of. The tools provided in LBP are surprisingly robust. Once you’re done making your masterpiece, you can upload it to be shared with the millions of LBP players that are sure to be out there through a very suitable looking spherical interface.

Now, a lot of talk surrounding LittleBigPlanet, outside of those who already worship it, has been about whether or not there’d actually be any quality user generated levels to play after one has exhausted the 60+ premade levels that come on the disc. I was a bit concerned myself in that regards, but having spent the last two days playing other people’s levels, I think it’s clear that there is no need to fear, because we’ve got geniuses out there. This one guy, or girl, Geosautus, has created levels of such variety and scope that I find it very hard to believe that they’re not directly from Media Molecule. One level he’s / she’s made, entitled Rocket Man! starts off with an exhilarating, high speed, rocket-powered skateboard ride up a ramp to the stars, followed by a perilous climb down atop googly-eyed, rubber jet planes and glass zeppelins. The whole thing just gives off a great sense of verticality. I did get stuck in some places and it’s not perfect, but I think it’s a great indication of the wonders to come. You need this game.

Speaking of wonders, it looks like PS3 system improvements may be coming soon. I noticed that right now, when you view a person playing LBP’s profile on your XMB friends list, not only does it show them playing LBP, but it also shows how many people he or she is playing with. Join game feature coming to the XMB, perhaps?

That might just be speculation, but a feature that’s most surely part of the LBP full release is the ability for each player on a console to use his or her own PSN account. I have two accounts on my PS3 right now, and when a friend wants to play, I can use my main account, and she can use my other account. Why is this a big deal? Well, for one, progress, costumes, and something of a favorites folder for storing "Hearted" user levels, are all tied to accounts, so with separate accounts, we don’t have to have ours all mixed together. People with younger brothers, sisters, or roommates will be able to appreciate this.