LittleBigPlanet 1.21 update out now, adds major functionality

Posted by Mister-X on November 30th, 2009 at 03:23am

According to an entry appearing on Media Molecule’s official Twitter account, the new 1.21 update (known as Leerdammer) for LittleBigPlanet is now live and available for PS3 owners to download and enjoy. From the tweet:

“LittleBigPlanet’s huge new update 1.21, aka Leerdammer… is now LIVE! Right now! GET! :)”

What exactly do you get in the new update? A whole bunch!

First up is the ability to “create with up to three other players online,” in LittleBigPlanet’s new ‘Online Create’ mode, allowing you to create entire levels with friends or strangers from around the world.

Media Molecule has also improved the game’s networking code and the way the game finds players for you to play with online, searching for players who are closer to you in order to reduce your ping, and therefore solve lag and “other networking problems.”

The LittleBigPlanet developer has also streamlined data and game saving, so not only will you save data faster, but you’ll be able to save “way more stuff.”

In order to facilitate the moving, saving and backing up of your profile and levels, Media Molecule has added two new tools, namely the ‘Profile Backup’ (accessed in the ‘Profile Settings’ page of the Start Menu) and the Level Backup tools.

The Profile Backup tool will do what it says – “create a back-up copy of your profile, progress, and your levels into a folder in the Save Data Utility” on your PS3, which can be used to copy your profile to another PS3. You can also use this tool to import a profile.

The Level Backup tool is also straightforward – you can now back-up individual levels, via a new option in the level options menu when you’ve got a custom level selected, allowing you to back-up and import levels.

The last major addition to LittleBigPlanet is the increase in your individual profile space, essentially doubling “the number of photos and costumes that you can save to Popit.”

Other new LittleBigPlanet features introduced with patch 1.21 include:

If you play a level but do not complete it, a silver Sackboy medal will be displayed on the badge, to get a gold medal you must complete the level.
We made the LittleBigStore a bit easier to navigate and also to download things after purchase.
There is now an option to ‘Auto-Reject’ invitations from other players. The option is in ‘Profile Settings’. If you have this set to ‘On, no one will be able to join you unless you choose to ‘Play Online’. This setting is not saved to your profile and needs to be set every time you play.
Sticker switches have been made more noticeable and give better feedback to the player when attempting to place stickers on them.
Checkpoints can now be activated using switches.
Race Gates can be made thin again!
You can now use the Sticker and Decoration tool and turn Sackboy around while in Customisation mode.
Added the QWERTY keyboard layout to the text chat menu.
Play, Create, Share scores have been removed – we thought these scores were a good idea but they never worked in the way we wanted them to. They may return one day. Maybe.
If you collect a key whilst playing a community level, you will now see the level unlocking for you once the level you are playing has been completed. You can also search for linked levels in the search menu.
Pressing L2 and R2 while browsing community levels can now show you the name or the author of each level on the earth as well as the Heart Count and Rating.