Boku, Microsoft's 'LittleBigPlanet' heading to 360, PC
by Jason Dobson 
{ Nov 3rd 2008 at 1:30PM }
Following a previous demonstration of the project in 2007, Boku was officially unveiled this week by project lead Matthew MacLaurin during Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. The effort looks to build upon Microsoft's ongoing work with the more complicated XNA Game Studio, allowing players to program their own games using a more inviting set of icon-driven instructions on either the PC or Xbox 360. Sort of makes us want to go back and revisit Carnage Heart.
No official release date has been announced yet, though MacLaurin noted during his presentation that players will be able to start playing with Boku sometime "early next year." Until then, check out a video of it in motion after the break.
[Via Gamasutra]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
FAT MAN @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:36PM
Thats right Microsoft give your audience what they want.
we to make something too:(
Syn @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:33PM
Yeah.. We want to make our own games, because there are no games for 360 to keep us occupied!!!
DiL @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:54PM
you worry about those fighters! ill worry about the towers!
Bigfoot @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:55PM
@Syn, I hope you're being sarcastic. Sometimes it's hard to tell on the internet. :P
Syn @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:02PM
@Bigfoot
Would you rather make a crappy game/play someone elses crappy game or would you rather play a game which was developed by people with experience and a large budget? Example; Gears of War 2 or Boku? lol
Bass Masterson @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:05PM
People always think you're being a fanboy when you say this, but for me there are no 360 games worth playing. And it's not something I celebrate, my 360 just sits there gathering dust.
Bigfoot @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:06PM
@Syn, I've achieved all 1000 points for Jumper, so I'm willing to play anything, good or bad. :P
FAT MAN @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:11PM
but at the same is the GOW2 developer going to be able to take chances and experiment like a Boku developer can?
i think not.
Lars @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:03PM
@Bass Masterson
Come on now, there are TONS of great games out there. Chin up!
Now if you're a multi-console owner, that's a different story. Then I can totally understand. 90% of the 360's exclusives are just "meh" to me. There's a few gems that come along that I can't live without though, which make it all worthwhile (like Castle Crashers).
Terminus0 @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:37PM
Interesting, looks cool.
ANTCEP @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:38PM
it's missing the charm of little big planet
Killjebus @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:46PM
I agree, pretty barebones and generic in the look. I do like the 3D aspect of this "game". It does appear that you could do 3D or 2D with this. Let's see what MS does with this.
LBP for the win!!!!
"That one" for the win!!!
Marty @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:17PM
SO you're saying LBP wouldn't be fun if it didn't have sackboys? That doesn't say much for the game.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:57PM
we all know you hate LBP Marty. thanks.
Gun Barrier @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:31PM
Its up to the creator to add charm to their home made games. This game isn't too comparable to lbp.
Shmil @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:40PM
lol hello world
chris @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:45PM
as usual microsoft bits off the competition. they cant innovate on there own. waste your crap money on dlc. what else is new. microsoft makes me sick. nickle and dime you for every little thing. enjoy the rrod. i already had two.
Killjebus @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:49PM
I don't mind one bit that MS has latched onto console user generated content gaming. The more the merrier. MM and Sony have a console difining winner and I cannot wait for what MM and Sony have in store for LBP2.
FAT MAN @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:49PM
i usually would go off on a rant and disprove everything you just said but today ill just call you foolish and move on.
Tiptup300 @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:51PM
Yeah, XNA is such a ripoff of sony.
sicsided @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:51PM
A world/game creator is nothing new. The only thing microsoft is doing here is making it easier for people who want to get into making games.
Making interesting things for PS3 = good for gamers.
Making interesting things for 360 = good for gamers.
Why the hate? I mean, this just looks like a drag and drop GUI to overlay there XNA.
Duke @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:53PM
Do you cry and slam the keyboard when you type those mini rants? I imagine you as an angry Mr. Peepers.
Snowblind @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:16PM
Do you just skim articles for things you don't like, and then type out massive rants about something you clearly didn't understand?
This isn't really anything like LBP, it's more similar to something like RPG Maker, but for a wider range of games and not just RPG's.
I also highly doubt they've thrown this together in a matter of months to compete with LBP, it looks like something that's been in the pipes since XNA was announced. i.e. before LBP.
Metal Geario 360 @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:57PM
Chris my main man...
The whole industry "feeds" off one another, in terms of design. As with other items, clothing, appliances...
Its been this way for eons, when markets reach a "plateau". ie: Touch screen cellphones. I guess T-Mobile, Verizon, and BlackBerry make you sick too.
:/
kaneda @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:56PM
It's really hard for me to not hate this as I do fault MS for their tenancy to copy idea over developing their own. But this does look to be an order of magnitude greater in terms of flexibility of creation, yet it still has a ways to go in the style department.
I just hope that they don't charge people to play the good community games. I see it as a double edged sword for developers taking advantage of the XNA community thing. I am an XNA developer myself and I'd never publish my product on their XNA community thing because, even though I'd maybe make myself and MS some money (if my games were any good), I'd lose the ownership of my license to MS. Neither Steam nor Penny Arcade's Greenhouse have this caveat. MS is just too greedy for my tastes.
Snowblind @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:38PM
If you're an XNA developer, then you should probably know that you do NOT lose ownership of anything you publish with it. MS take a (rather large) percentage of whatever you make from it on the 360, but that's it.
The Fatass of Kickassness @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:46PM
Hey, uh, fucktard, Boku was announced the day BEFORE LittleBigPlanet was announced.
ExMcCloud @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:44PM
Looks cool hopefully the creator is ROBUST...seriosuly
But LBP is the most important game of this generation and will breed a lot of children in this industry Congrats MM
And MS your game in no less important this game may open the doors for people to get in the INDUSTRY so pleze do a good job!
Nigeria @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:51PM
Importance is important once importance is attached.
knighty (GT: ZeraKnight) @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:06PM
The last thing the industry needs is a bunch of level designers. It's saturated enough.
Standard level design for most games has little in common with LBP.
Oh and, why the fuck are people comparing this to LBP in the first place? This is a game creation tool, one of the subtools being a level designer that has nothing to do with LBP.
Mr Khan @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:08PM
Careful with that hyperbole, there's still 3 years of generation to go and already that statement is severely debatable
FAT MAN @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:15PM
There source compared it so joystiq compared it.
ExMcCloud @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:18PM
Im gonna stay true to that...I think LBP will launch bring back the 2D platfomer, and since it was the first game in the last 5 years to be this ambitious It can have the title until proven other wise....Most important game of the Generation...And this MS said something about Programming whats that about?
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:03PM
well i have and like LBP and all, but i wouldnt call it the generation definer. i would give that title (so far) to MS's XNA platform. just give that time to develop in the hands of amateur programmers and we will see plenty of amazing games appear on there.
either way, the generation is long from over so there will be plenty of time for other generation defining projects.
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:32PM
I have to agree with McCloud. LBP is the first one this generation to do something completely outside the box that still appeals to a massive amount of people regardless of age, sex, race or culture.
Jakka @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:45PM
Looks definitely more advanced than LBP...
chris @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:50PM
wow it also looks like its being played on the atari. wow. doesnt look like much. but please prove me wrong microsoft even though i hate you.
ExMcCloud @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:56PM
Why does everyone have this undying HATE for MS I don't get it?
Duke @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:16PM
Don't waste your time, all he does is complain about the wii and 360 in his posts.
Marty @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:22PM
The undying hate is something leftover from all the geeks who hated MS for the antitrust suit a decade ago. I've found that most people don't even understand why they say these things, save for the fact that everyone else says them too.
kaneda @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:19PM
You are right that even though people like me say that they hate MS, we probably don't because we still use Windows instead of Linux or OSX. I think what I really dislike about ms is that, even though my PS3 cost me $100 more, I spent more on the xbox for the wireless controller, charge pack, charge cable, hard drive, and a year of live than $100. Plus I can't stream content from any standard media server, nor can take my save games to my friends house on a flash memory stick.
I may play my 360 a little more than my PS3, but I would say the only thing it has going for it is a slightly bigger handful of better games. IMO, between the ps3 and 360, I ended up paying more for the privilege of convenience on the latter.
Xoviet chiK @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:50PM
I'm thinking Atmosphir (http://atmosphir.com/) meets FarCry Terrain editor, and I'm liking the combo. Can't wait to see how this one develops.
Tiptup300 @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:50PM
Seriously people, just go learn to use a real IDE. These games are so retarded.
Xoviet chiK @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:57PM
"Why would I want to learn IDE programming? What's in it for me, what can I make, what's possible and what isn't... ???"
"Oh wow, look at what I'm doing with this "LittleBIGPlanet" game and "Boku" tool. This is really fun, I'd like to look into this and see what other opportunities and technologies are out there for me to explore so I can do more of this."
These games are gateways to the real deal, much like some would consider GH/RB gateways to playing real Guitar / Drums. Don't knock 'em because you were fortunate enough to skip a step.
Tiptup300 @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:02PM
I was kidding I was just doing the whole
"Seriously people, just go learn to use a real guitar. These games are so retarded."
FAT MAN @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:06PM
Whats a IDE? just wondering
Xoviet chiK @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:06PM
My apologies, sarcasm detector is borked. Consider it a preemptive strike!
knighty (GT: ZeraKnight) @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:08PM
Integrated development environment. Basically it's just a program that wraps itself around a language (or sometimes more) that allows you to easily work on a project instead of single files, and they usually include a compiler too.
Evan @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:30PM
When I was growing up, if a kid was interested in playing the guitar, they got a real guitar and picked at the strings. Likewise when I was growing up, if a kid was interested in making a video game, they got a C64 computer and typed in BASIC code line by line.
Guitar Hero and LittleBigPlanet let kids (and adults) feel like they have skills, without actually having any skills. And that makes it an even bigger let down when they eventually pick up a real guitar or IDE and realize that they don't know a thing about the real deal!
Besides, we already have a "gateway to the real deal" - it's called Flash. It's the modern equivalent to typing up games in BASIC. Anything less than Flash is just a game.
knighty (GT: ZeraKnight) @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:38PM
I wouldn't say flash is a good tool to get into game programming....something like Game Maker, Dark Basic or Blitz Basic would probably be a better idea. Personally I found Game Maker -> Blitz Basic -> XNA (c#) -> HLSL/C++/More advanced DX stuff to be a good series of stepping stones.