14 DAY TRIAL // Little Big Planet for the PlayStation Portable will never have multiplayer, according to Sony senior producer Mark Green. Green explains why Media Molecule and SCE Cambridge Studio could not and cannot ever include a multiplayer component in the PSP version of their hit puzzle-platformer, in an interview with Spong. The horse power of Sony's handheld console can't accommodate the resources needed for the game to connect to the Internet and allow players to interact.
Asked why is there is no multiplayer included in Little Big Planet PSP, Mark Green has responded, “It's a real tricky one with multiplayer, in that on the PSP, as soon as you turn the Wi-Fi on, you lose a third of your processing power. You lose a third of your available system memory for the libraries and what have you. So, we were looking at it and we think it might be feasible to do something the size of the mini-games in multiplayer. But something of the complexity of most of the levels just wouldn't be possible.”
Green has continued to comment that a choice had to be made between keeping the physics engine and the tool set that would give Little Big Planet fans the possibility to create and share levels and adding a multiplayer option to the game. He has concluded that, in the end, they were happy with how the handheld version turned out to be.
The PSP version of Little Big Planet launched near the end of 2009 to extremely positive reviews, becoming one of the key titles for Sony's handheld device. Except the multiplayer component, this version contains all the most important features of the PlayStation 3 version, including the users' ability to create, upload and download new levels for the game. Little Big Planet 2, the sequel to both versions of the game, is set to be released at the end of 2010, as a Sony exclusive.