Jon

Two of the five or siz games I was considering getting a 360 for? On PC? Get in!! :D

I agree with the above. No one cares. My gameplaying friends haven't even brought it up. My non-gameplaying friends probably didn't even notice.

"The only people who are even slightly offended are the people who go to church, which in the UK is a very very small minority as the Hollyoaks omnibus is on sunday mornings"

So true :D

Hmm... I find the Vista hate faintly bewildering. It's been 6 years since XP was released, people! I have Vista on my game machine, and I've not had a single problem playing a game yet. A couple of installs where you have to select "run as administrator" but no showstoppers. I know some drivers aren't available yet, but my box upgraded smoothly enough.

Of course, this doesn't excuse having "Vista-only" games at this stage - bad move.

The game looks good, but I still can't get over how the guys just stand around waiting to get shot in Crytek games...

I mapped my school out in Duke Nukem 3D back in the day. I never knew I was a terrorist...

I'd remortgage my house for LittleBigPlanet.
If I had a damn house.

Holy crap! Wii doesn't have a high level shader architecture! Run for the f***ing fields!

"Gameplay > Graphics >>> Storyline"

I would contend that gameplay is always number one priority, but that graphics and storyline are always relevant. Great gameplay is achieved through the utilisation of graphics and/or storyline - and with neither, there is no game.

All of my favourite games are heavily narrative-based. It's just what flips my switch. I prefer dialogue-based puzzles and texture in a game over pure play, but...

Games do not require a story.

Little Big Planet looks amazing, and it is the kind of game that will benefit from not having a story. Story is far from an essential element in gaming, and often it can be detrimental.

Still, there is a lack of appreciation for what narrative can bring to a game, and the recent focus on graphics and physics doesn't help.

In my view, hiring writers doesn't solve this fully. Narrative gaming will not move forward until developers acknowledge that character and plot development deserve to be integrated into games - they are not just filler, they are not there to create back-story. They are more important than that: They can *be* the game.

I want to see more games that create game mechanics around dialogue, that delve deeper into human nature in order to pose challenges to the player, that move beyond basic physical interaction with the game environment into something more.

In that respect, games have been gimped for years.

Nice article.
My dog will be called Guybrush, no contest :)

This is the first thing that Sony has done right in a good, long while. It's brave, innovative, and the first thing that usefully differentiates the Playstation 3 from the 360. Personally, it's the first thing that has even made me consider buying one.

Of course, actually making the thing work is not going to be an easy task, but the concept is very solid, and I believe it may just be Sony's saviour.