To celebrate the release of SackBoy in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds we're putting together the first official LittleBigPlanet golf course where each hole is designed and created by the LBP community.

The best 9 holes and a driving range from North America and the most popular 9 holes and club house from Europe will be form the Official LittleBigPlanet Golf course. So not only can you win individual glory at having your hole selected, but your creation will forever be part of this course!

Every winning entry will be awarded a LittleBigPlanet prize crown, so start drafting up your designs and switch to create mode!  The Challenge has officially begun!

How to take part

To enter simply create and publish your hole or Driving Range in LittleBigPlanet before midnight on April 14 2009 (PST). What makes a good hole? That's entirely up to you - think Hot Shots Golf, think LittleBigPlanet, mash the two together and see what you can come up with.

So that we can easily identify entries and if you live in the US or Canada you are going to name your level in a specific way-

"LBPGolfNA" for US entries and or  “LBPGolfCA” for Canadian entries

You can then follow this name by either “Driving Range” or “Par 3, 4, 5” etc, depending on how long or difficult your level is.

For example:

• “LBPGolfCA- Par 4” is a moderately difficult, average length hole from a Canadian Creator.
• “LBPGolfNA- Driving Range” Driving Range from US Creator.

(Note- Driving Range levels are limited to the US for this Challenge.)

We’ll then have a two week voting period from Tuesday April 14th to Monday April 27th where you can play, vote and “heart” your favorite golf levels. Media Molecule will select the 9 winning holes and driving range for North America from eligible levels that get the best ratings during this time.

Click here for US Terms & Conditions
Click here for Canadian Terms & Conditions

Good luck and we’ll see you on the links!

Thanks for hanging in with us these last few days.  There were so many submissions that we had to spend extra time going thru the top hearted levels and then some.  But in the end, the top 5 hearted levels were truly amazing and we can see why you received so many hearts...so here are the top 5.

PSN	Level Name
Blastroid	LBC1- PS3 Birthday Dreamworld
Antartic Fox	LBC1- <PS3 Island>
Inspace2020	LBC1- The History of Playstation
AmericanPrinceX	LBC1- Royal Celebration
Zookey	LBC1- <Playstation Nation>

Congratulations you have been crowned!!!

Now, out of the hundreds of submissions, there were so many great levels and so many creative entries that we wanted to give "honorable mention". There are 15 of the top hearted, top played, or merely really eye-catching levels that we enjoyed during our review.  Thanks to these Creators for all their extra efforts as well.

PSN	Level Name
Rhuji-kun	LBC1- Happy Birthday PS3
Nintendan	LBC1- < Iconic Commando >
Sonichu	LBC1- CWC's Playstation 3 History
Zevi08	LBC1- Tower of Gaming
RyanardoDaVinci	LBC1- PS3 Birthday Beyond Bash
Griffchon	LBC1- The Party Pooper
Sakster	LBC1- Party Time!
Rylar	LBC1- <MM's unused jumping tank!>
BiffTDB	LBC1- PS3 At Two: A Musical Tribute
Minore	LBC1- <Master Clock>
RockyMelboa	LBC1-<Play the Exclusives: Only on Playstation>
rmedtx	LBC1-1PS3 Birthday Party
Denalin	LBC1-The Forsaken Temple
IronicSuperPop	LBC1-<Happy B-day PS3>
Evilpizzacandy	LBC1-<happy bday ps3>

Now the "super" good news. 
Because of the excitement these levels have brought into our offices, we wanted to show our thanks by providing prizes not to just the top 5 creators but to the 'honorable mentions' as well.  So after several discussions, we've decided that all the levels mentioned above, will receive the new Metal Gear Solid Premium Level Pack!  Filled with tons of MGS-themed "Create" materials like objects, decorations, stickers and more, we hope this prize takes your creations to another level.  



So to our LBC1 winners and "honorable mentions" - we'll be in touch with you soon, check your e-mail boxes early next week and prize vouchers for the Prize Crown and the Metal Gear Solid Premium Level Pack will be delivered before Christmas.  Now that you are on our radar, we'll be looking to see what other great levels you create....and hopefully spotlight you again in the future.

Again, congratulations to all who won and thank you to all who participated in our first LittleBigChallenge. 

(Any recommendations on the next challenge?)

:) 

The LittleBigWorkshop has been a great tool for the entire community to get together and Play Create and Share.  And it's also been an amazing source for us to maintain updates and announcements with our community.  Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reading a lot forum posts and noticed certain rooms have become increasingly congested, making it difficult to sustain the amount of traffic and info pouring in.  

This has inspired our LittleBigChallenge of this week – Your LittleBigWorkshop Forum.  We want the LittleBigWorkshop forum to be YOUR destination for all things LBP, so it only makes sense to have you guys tell us how you’d like the message board to be.  We've came up with a new structure to help with the amount of traffic coming in, but we need your help to tell us if this is what you want.  

So have fun, and get together to tell us how we should better organize the LittleBigWorkshop forums.  We'll be sure to pay attention to your ideas :)

THE POD

• General Announcements - your one stop shop for all news and announcements relating to LBP.  
• Off-topic – intended for off-topic discussions
• Wishlists – want Mm to create a new costume, level or object for LBP.  Share your ideas here

PLAY

• Story Level Discussion - need help getting past a Story Mode level, this is the place for you
• Collector's Corner - get advice on where to get certain items, objects, costumes, stickers, etc
• LittleBigNetwork - a place for players to meet other players

CREATE

• How-to - Want to learn how to do something, post here and let the community help you out
• Tutorials - Feel like sharing your knowledge to the community, post here or link to you workshop page and help make the Create community a better place
• Community Creation Brainstorm - Talk about what you want you want to see other people make.  Want to see more levels designed for kids?  Want to recommend some unique concepts for others to build...this is your forum

SHARE

• Level Discussion - talk about the some of your favorite levels
• Promotion Zone - Now that you're done creating your level, tell the world what, why, and how you created your level

We know all eyes are on us, but we’ve been overwhelmed with the sheer amount of submissions our community has created and as much as we’ve tried to select our winners for LBC1, we won't have any announcements today.  With so many more amazing levels to play, we are spending every waking moment, judging each of the creations submitted by the community.  We're hoping to announce the winners on the News site next week, so stay tuned!

For the time being, check out Mm’s blog for their Creators picks of the week and news on a Designer Sticker Pack available online. 

As I’m sure most of you remember, back in September, we held a little contest – LittleBigChallenge: Costume Contest – to see if any of you can help outfit Sackboy and Sackgirl in some new and original duds for their new game.  With so many talented and very creative submissions, we -- with the help of Media Molecule -- were able to pick three of the world’s best designs.

You already saw the very cute Sack-eating plant costume from Europe.

And last week, we introduced Sack-in-the-Box from the US.

Which leaves us to our third and final winner of the LittleBigChallenge = Kabuki Actor.  LittleBigPlanet fans will now be able to add a little Japanese flavor to their own Sackboys and Sackgirls with the new community downloadable costume. 

All costumes are FREE and are currently available for download on the PLAYSTATION store, so come and check it out!

Happy downloading!!!

We hope you guys are having fun participating in our latest LBC1 – PS3 Second Anniversary.  Keep those submissions coming as 12/9 in less than two weeks away

Also be sure to come back this Friday as we’ll provide the entire list of entries on the News Site to ensure no LBC1 level gets missed.   And you can spend the weekend hearting your favorite levels...

Here are a few more levels that we noticed spring up...

Equipped with a fully interactive PS controller and PLAYSTATION EYE, CEEWALKIN creates a Happy Birthday PS3 level experience by having a SackBoy through run and fly through a PlayStation world.  We really like how CEEWALKIN took full advantage of creating his own style of background, and especially the various creations of dedicated PlayStation hardware pieces.    

Ahh… what’s a party without a Party Pooper.  Griffchon presents an innovative concept where an evil SackBoy has escaped the world of LBP, and wants to crash the game servers to ruin the PlayStation Birthday Party.  Will he succeed?

Brought to you by LeonSpike, the SuperSack Adventure explores the world of LBP in search for the ultimate prize, the PS3!  He must overcome fire, electricity, a bit of horrible gas, and worse of all... The Collector!  Be sure to check out the end of the level for a big

The LBC1 is off to a great start, and we couldn't help but to share some of the ones that caught our eye.  We love the fact that some of the submissions included creative commentary and even personal insights on how the PS3 has changed their lives.  A true inspiration to all the great creators within the LBP community.   

So without further adieu, here are some creations that caught our attention:

Blastroid creates a brilliant level with a creative storyline of SackBoy waking up for the PS3 birthday party.  Full of unexpected traps, fire pits, and destructible objects, SackBoy must be able to avoid a series of obstacles before making it to the party.  He has to hurry though, or else there won’t be any more cake when he gets there!



Brought to use by Sonichu, his PLAYSTATION 3 History level is a definitely must see.  Complete with a series of mini-games and innovative mechanisms, we were enthralled by the amount of content and PS3 features the level was able to highlight.  We especially like how Sonichu took full advantage of the PLAYSTATION Eye by presenting a detailed lineup of various movies and games from the PLAYSTATION / BlueRay family.
 


Lights! Camera! Action!  Inspace2020 really shows up how a neon lighted level should be done!  With full interactive lights and switches, inspace2020 takes us on a historical beginning with the original PlayStation.  Be sure to catch the tail end of the video for the big ending!

When you’re playing LBP over the Turkey Day weekend, be sure to do a search for “LBC1” Challenge levels and be sure to heart for favorite levels.

As you've seen on our own PS Blog, we've decided to celebrate PS3's B-day with an Official 'relaunch' of our LittleBigChallenges.  Now, and every LBChallenge moving forward, we'll have certain themed challenges for our fans, with opportunities to win the coveted LittleBigPlanet Prize Crown.

To participate, make sure you read and follow the exact procedures within the OFFICIAL RULES below (US participants only)

***And don't forget to promote your level on our LittleBigWorkshop and Forums***

Be sure to check back on 12/11 when we announce the winners.

---------------------------------------------

Contest Rules

Click here to Download Official Contest Rules:

The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and D.C. only and shall only be construed and evaluated according to United States law.  Do not proceed in this site if you are not a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or D.C. at the time of entry.

The LittleBigChallenge: PS3 Second Anniversary begins on November 18, 2008 and closes at 11:59am PST December 9, 2008. 

To Enter: 

1. Create an original LittleBigPlanet level (“Level”) celebrating the PLAYSTATION 3 second anniversary. 
2. You must name your Level using this format.  “LBC1-<YourLevelNameHere>”. 
3. Publish your Level to the LittleBigPlanet online server. 
4. Send an e-mail submission to community_support@playstation.sony.com. Please use your level name (LBC-1<YourLevelNameHere>) in the subject line.  Include your PlayStation Network ID along with the name of your Level in your e-mail submission.  (LBC1-YourLevelNameHere).
5. You may publish your Level at any time up until 11:59am PST December 9, 2008 when the contest closes. 

**Note- Community Voting begins as soon as you publish your Level.  Balance your entry by weighing the quality of the Level vs. time for community members to play and vote for your Level.

6. Your Level will be judged by the LittleBigPlanet Community.  Community members will be able to vote on multiple Levels by adding a “Heart” to each one they like.  They may only add one Heart to any particular Level. The top five qualifying Levels will be selected as the winners.

To Qualify:  Levels must be received no later than 11:59am PST on December 9, 2008 (“Closing Date”). Limit one entry per person and valid PlayStation Network ID for the duration of the Challenge.  All entries will be considered made by the authorized account holder of the email address used to create the PlayStation Network ID.  Subsequent entries will be disqualified. 

Winner Selection: Five (5) winners will be selected among all qualifying entries received by 11:59am PST on December 9, 2008.  Qualifying entries received will be judged by the LittleBigPlanet community.  The top five qualifying Levels with the most hearts that meet the entry requirements as stated in the official rules will be selected as the winners.  The winners will be notified by email within 2 days of the Closing Date. 

Since the beginning, the LittleBigChallenges has been a great outlet for us to connect with our LBP community fans and to have them participate in the development process leading up to launch.  Time and time again, you guys continue to amaze us with your dedication, creativity and many sleepless nights in putting together your astounding designs.  

We know we owe you guys some updates on previous LittleBigChallenges, so we wanted to take a moment to highlight all the great designs that our LBP community created.  

So without further adieu, here are all the updates from previous LittleBigChallenges.  

LittleBigChallenge 004 - Print Ad 004
The Print Ad challenge proved to be one of the most difficult to choose from as we received over 100 original designs from the LBP community.  What impressed us the most however is that most of everyone wrote their own headlines, copy, and feature highlights that was truly original and unique to the designer.  It’s been a difficult to choose our top favorites, but here they are:

LittleBigChallenge 007 – Create a SackBoy Scene!
When we first created this challenge, we had no idea what to expect from our LBP fans.  After seeing the submissions for LittleBigChallenge 007 however, we can’t help but be astonished with the content you guy put together.  Each of these videos had an element of story, creativity and above all, a unique design that conveys an incredible amount of depth and well thought out planning.  Keep the creations coming!  Be sure to use the LittleBigWorkshop and show off those levels and objects.

LittleBigPlanet Machinima – The Orange

 

Boat Trip to the Island

LBP 007 Level

 LittleBigChallenge 008 – LittleBigBillboards
Ahh…the LittleBigBillboards.  First off, we love the fact that "razredge" took pictures and mapped out each of the location where the LittleBigBillboards were found in the United States.  It would be great to see more photos and marked locations on the map especially since we don't even know where these billboards have appeared. 

The LittleBigBillboards submitted was truly inspiration as each had it's own style and creative design.  Not only were these billboards designed with assets provided by us, but also from original content generated by you the fans.

LittleBigChallenge 009 – LittleBigHalloween
Halloween came and went again this year, but the LBP Halloween Creations that you guys put together will forever be remembered.  We were ecstatic to see our LBP fans get into the holiday season by creating their SackBoy costumes and most likely cut many fingers by carving out LBP pumpkins.  There were so many entertaining creations, we couldn’t help but share them with everybody.

Costumes

Pumpkins

LittleBigContest - GamePro Wins!
And finally... one more challenge that you may not be aware of, be sure to visit the PLAYSTATION Blog to see the game winning design level that GamePro submitted for the LittleBigContest.  Congratulations to GamePro and their AIR, SEA and LAND submission.  

Halloween is upon us again and we’ve been seeing a lot of wild and wacky images of LittleBigPlanet jack-o-lanterns and Pumpkin headed SackBoys. With so much talent and originality shown in these creations, we can’t help but to ask ourselves; How do you guys come up with this stuff?!?!

So in the spirit of this holiday, our LittleBigChallenge this week is- Show off your "LBP-inspired" Halloween creation! It can be a SackBoy costume, LittleBigPlanet jack-o-lantern (like the ones that Mm posted on their site) or just decorations. We’re sure a few of you have even created things in the game; if so, SHARE IT!!! We can’t wait to see what crazy and wacky levels or objects you guys have put together. Be sure to share your images through Flickr or post any videos you may have on YouTube, and label it LittleBigChallenge 009 so we can highlight our favorites.

By the way, in case you've missed it, check out what Mm did to get into the Halloween spirit =)