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Media Molecule up there with Naughty Dog as the best of Sony's studios? Why no love?
- Thread starter Coulomb_Barrier
- Start date
PirateKing
Junior Member
If you play LBP by yourself, you're doing it wrong.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
No game is loved as much as one with a good narrative.
outunderthestars
Banned
Green Wiggly
Member
This. I finally caved on Tearaway due to GAF hype and that BestBuy sale and am having a blast with it, despite not liking the demo. It's obvious that MM puts a lot of care into their games, and when they focus on the gameplay they can totally nail it.
Nightengale
Member
They insist in staying small.
I think they prefer to have a smaller team. If you ever checked their website, they were looking for a specific gameplay programmer for more than a year. Being that picky about their position makes me think they just want a small and coordinated team.
A lot of Sony's other studios have tons of employees, so I highly doubt they don't have the option to expand their studio.
I was referring to Tearaway
ArcaneFreeze
Member
They make amazing games, I feel they get vastly overlooked though because their games don't fit Sony's style. They seem more like they'd be a Nintendo developer with the likes of LBP and Tearaway.
I like they're with Sony though because they can give you that Nintendo flare on something on something other than a Nintendo console.
I like they're with Sony though because they can give you that Nintendo flare on something on something other than a Nintendo console.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Not hating on GG's here or anything because I love those guys and their technical brilliance.
But how come they have 270+ employees when MM's funding only allows them to employ 47?? It can't be to do with sales:
Little Big Planet - 5.4 million ww sales
LBP2 - 3.2 million
Killzone 2 - 2.9 million
Killzone 3 - 2.6 million
But how come they have 270+ employees when MM's funding only allows them to employ 47?? It can't be to do with sales:
Little Big Planet - 5.4 million ww sales
LBP2 - 3.2 million
Killzone 2 - 2.9 million
Killzone 3 - 2.6 million
LegendofDragoonLives
Member
There are 4 fantastic, top tier studios. SSM, MM, PD, ND. Everyone else is rated to good to very good but not in that tier of caliber from WWS.
MM is basically something you expect from Nintendo's studios, a team that makes games full of charm and wonder. Studio Japan does this sometimes, but that studio has been a clusterfuck and hopefully having a new supervisor the past 3 years can make them more efficient. Definitely gives Sony more variety. Frankly, I don't get why GG gets so much love and funding compared to every other studio not named SSM, NG and PD, but Sony must see something most of us don't in them. They surely need to fire their writing team and whoever is lead designer for gameplay to stop with the generic shit we have to endure.
DanteSparda504
Banned
Because all they have done is LittleBigPlanet. There's Teraway, but it's on the Vita...and a good game on the Vita is like that old saying "If a tree falls in the woods, but nobody is there to hear it, does it make a noise?"
Where as Naughty Dog has Crash, Jak, Uncharted, and Last of Us on their resume.
Where as Naughty Dog has Crash, Jak, Uncharted, and Last of Us on their resume.
My best experiences from this game came from co-op. I loved both games. Wish I had a Vita so I could get Tearaway.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
If they attempted something more mass market like a Fable clone, I bet they would get a lot of love.
Femmeworth
Banned
Media Molecule makes tools with games as an afterthought. (I assume Tearaway is the exception.) It's rather self explanatory why their appeal is limited.
LegendofDragoonLives
Member
It's one of the best games on Vita. I don't see why it's on Vita, it diminishes their capabilities.
LBP is stupid.
Its like half a game. We play 2d platformers to stomp on enemies. Or to hit things.
Sad as that sounds...
And LBP never lt you do anythign more than jump and grab bubbles.
I duno. I wish it would be Sony's Mario instead of Sony's ...w/e the f it is.
Its not terrible. But it could be a lot btter.
Its like half a game. We play 2d platformers to stomp on enemies. Or to hit things.
Sad as that sounds...
And LBP never lt you do anythign more than jump and grab bubbles.
I duno. I wish it would be Sony's Mario instead of Sony's ...w/e the f it is.
Its not terrible. But it could be a lot btter.
They are my favorite Sony studio.
The second LBP was a better product, but it lacked the element of surprise that characterized the first.
Story levels didn't have the same charm either. Voice acting was an odd choice.
Sometimes I forget I'm on Neogaf...
Doug Heffernan
Member
Overrated.
They made one game, a sequel, a vita game and now they're making a Move game.
Yay?
They made one game, a sequel, a vita game and now they're making a Move game.
Yay?
You stomp on enemies and hit things in both LBPs. To me the point of a platformer is the traversal and the environment. Enemies are an afterthought.
So... they've made four games, one of which is a sequel?
This has to be the laziest dismissive post I ever saw lol.
Perhaps Mm doesn't want to work with any more than that. They're an efficient little studio.
What a bizarre post.
MisterGrey3000
Member
Yeah, compared to what most of Sony's other studios create they're the odd man out. :/
MM is a "Nintendo-like" developer stuck on systems where most of their games are niche products.
It kind of makes sense that they don't get talked about in the same way that Naughty Dog is talked about.
:/
CitizenCope
Member
Floaty.
Neither of those games thrive off realistic physics.
I still don't see the problem with the jumping physics. The variables are necessary because create mode requires all objects in the game to have adaptive gravity/motion physics, otherwise everything feels too much the same in the long run. How would grabbing a rotating sponge wheel and then let go to launch yourself even work if the physics couldn't adapt to your speed/acceleration/direction all at once i.e. "be floaty"? The silly joys of "Shark survival" wouldn't be had then, which is fun just for the crazy survival factor and feeling at mercy of the forces around you.
outunderthestars
Banned
Me too.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Yup. They're an amazing studio. One of the best in the industry, IMHO.
I'm sure their next game is going to be incredible. Tearaway proved just how legit they are, it's easily their best game and it was only done by a small team.
I'm sure their next game is going to be incredible. Tearaway proved just how legit they are, it's easily their best game and it was only done by a small team.
I have no idea why it would dampen hopes, unless it was completely misread. The 3D sculpting world creating thing combined with the sort of stuff they've done in the past with LittleBigPlanet sounds amazing. I think the presence of the PS Move confused some people, but I'm pretty sure it would exist just an optional tool/controller, as it does in LittleBigPlanet 2, though perhaps to a more useful extent.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
LBP is far from niche in terms of sales and appeal. I get that Tearaway was dealt a bad hand, it really needed to be bundled and that release date was awful, but that doesn't make the studio niche. Also Tearaway was made by a very small team, so the risk on that game was likely low. The critical reception for that game at least provides a big boost of confidence in that team to deliver on the PS4.
Media Molecule's next big project is pretty much the only first party thing I'm looking forward to at Sony's E3 conference. Really want to see if they'll go the route of the last demo we saw from them or something more in line with LBP (or something else completely).
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Either this is a really sly way of dissing Sony's studios, or you're really generous when it comes to awful platforming mechanics.
It was. The potential of the tech they showed went right over the audience's heads. If Media Molecule had said, "our next game will have 3D creation and we're going to show how that works" it would have gathered so much more hype, but it didn't, even though that's still exactly what they showed.
MisterGrey3000
Member
LBP as a franchise isn't niche, but the genre it's in definitely is on PS3/4.
jeremy1456
Junior Member
I've never enjoyed LBP. It is far too floaty and unresponsive. The gameplay mechanics just simply are not interesting. Charming set up, but it feels like that's where they put all of their effort into.
Tearaway was good, but with no challenging obstacles it felt like an elongated tech demo.
Tearaway was good, but with no challenging obstacles it felt like an elongated tech demo.
MaximumSpider
Banned
W..what am I reading..?
krypt0nian
Banned
Reductive and frankly shortsighted.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
How come when it has sold several million? That genre is not the definition of niche to me seeing as that is the case.
If anything I see LBP appealing to a broad spectrum of gamers. Something Sony could do more of on the PS4.
broncobuster
Banned
He or she might be using overrated as a complement.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
That's the problem - they could have done something more groundbreaking, but they likely don't have the resources or the man-power to make something as potentially ground-breaking as that.
Which is partly why I am confused why Sony don't put more investment in them. They are clearly very talented.