Boku, Microsoft's 'LittleBigPlanet' heading to 360, PC

Little Big Planet captured players' hearts and free time with its unmistakable mix of ingenuity and cute. Now it appears that Microsoft has its own plan to tap into players' creative wellspring with Boku, a new XNA project billed by The Seattle Times blog as a "visual programming language for kids." Hello World.

[FBl]

I predict Flopku will score a 4.5/10 across multiple credible gaming websites

[AuToFiRE]

wow, very generous of you

[TheColbertinator]

@AutoFire

Holy crap! I never seen you comment on the main site

[NaiNaiNai]

who ever called LBP innovative. i have one game in mind.

super mario brothers.
-nai-

[AuToFiRE]

holy crap! its steven colbert! yeah i dont visit the main site very often, it just got very slow in the forums so i maxed out my contributions today

[Pennywise]

Are people STILL comparing this to LBP?? Get over it.

[AuToFiRE]

only xbots compare it

[DJ]

3D vs. 2D movement. Simplified Game Engine vs Simplified Level Builder. The comparison makes no sense.

The Lego-like visuals also leave a lot to be desired from an aesthetic standpoint, and may even impede the design process for users due to physics issues. But I do like the fact that you get to control every aspect of the gameplay.

Let's see if other developers attempt something similar.

[FCC]

This is no where close to LittleBigPlanet... One's a game, one's a program. They both have colorful pallets and that's where the similarities stop.

This was posted awhile back.

posted my outlawwife
8 -
"**** "A Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) researcher demonstrated Boku, an educational game designed to help children as young as five years old exercise their brains by doing programming." *****

I think it is funny that this has been around for a LONG time but nobody noticed it until one guy in a Seattle newspaper labeled it as "Microsoft's answer to LittleBigPlanet" A few days ago to fill some space.

It isn't meant to be an answer to LittleBigPlanet and never has been, the Boku project is a basic programming interface that may or may not even show up on 360 and PC in the future, rumors are that it may show up in 2009 but nothing is firm.

I can't help but laugh at people who are grasping at straws trying to make this into a "OMG MS copied Sony"

The Boku project was first publicly shown in March 2007(coincidentally almost the exact time LBP was announced), Lord knows how long it has been in development before then, and that video is the same one shown in 2007... Nobody even knows where this thing is going or has gone since then

It has always been stated to be a tool for kids first and foremost

Anybody interested in what the project actually is can get the basic rundown from when it was first shown in 2007

http://www.informationweek....

There was an identical article to this one on N4G last night, same video, same uninformed idiocy all stemming from the same Seattle newspaper article.

People need to stop buying everything they read...especially on N4G and articles from 3rd rate gaming sites nobody has ever heard of."

Agree(4) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply

EDIT: Been posted before down there. Sorry Daz lol.

[Daz]

be posted twise already :P

[soljah]

just goes to show the fear ms has about sony/lbp. that are so worried that they need to announce some half baked program just to say ME TOO. what a joke, what a desperate co. if xbox 360 is so strong believe in it mircosoft. don't go trying to rain on some one else parade.

[Elimin8]

How dare they even utter LBP, Bokuchoo and microsoft in the same sentence... Beetches please.

[Megatron08]

Well FCC pretty much got it right. Its not even like this is a new idea they had the "build your own" type games back in the 16 bits days maybe even before that

[TOO PAWNED]

copy cats

[lowcarb]

Copy cat or not I just want to see the potential of XNA. There's alot of potential here, and for all we know XNA might be part of the PS4 just like bluray might be a part of the 720. Also I edited my comment after reading what Daz typed below. This is not a clone and has nothing at all to do with LBP.

[pp]

Definite LBP killer possibilities are endless and fun which you'll only find on xbox360 .Jump in before its to late.

[AuToFiRE]

umm dude, one little thing about that, i can play halo, GeoW and most other games that are on the 360.. on my ps3 and GeoW2 wont be exclusive to the 360, just like every other 360 game, they will goto PC

[TheMART]

Uhm no. They triggered PC gamers with Gears 1

PC gamers like the game. They bring Gears 2 to 360 only. PC owners want to play, but don't get it for their PC. So they buy a 360 for Gears 2.

That's plain good marketing. Get a group of gamers into your machine that otherwise wouldn't stepped in so quickly.

[steck67]

No thanks, ill jump in when MS actually creates something innovative like what Sony and MM did with LBP. Boku looks like a game that should be only played on PC.

[thor]

Their strategy is to release their games as timed exclusives on 360. If you don't pick up a 360 for gears 2 within a year, there's no reason they _wouldn't_ release the game on PC to try and make a bit of extra cash - both from those without a 360 and from those who want superior graphics etc.

Of course they won't _announce_ the game for PC so that people buy a 360 for it. Remember that most people aren't "in the know" and wouldn't assume it was going to PC. (It still might not).

[AuToFiRE]

Thats why microsoft is so powerful, they copy everyone else and claim it as their own, they did it with the KDE interface

[soul899er]

Dont forget Real Player.. We all know how that story goes :/

[Xi]

2007. How the hell is it copying if it was shown before LBP?

[thewhoopimen]

Wait wait guys, you forgot MacOS, Netscape Navigator, and oh oh Microsoft Office (from Lotus 123, Notes).

[ultimolu]

AGAIN WITH THE COMPARISONS!

*headdesks repeatedly*

Are you serious...

I'm off to play LBP. -__-

[steck67]

Why do they even try... Besides, both games arent that similar to each other. The similarity I see is that in both games you can create your own levels.

[Daz]

8 -
**** "A Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) researcher demonstrated Boku, an educational game designed to help children as young as five years old exercise their brains by doing programming." *****

i think it is funny that this has been around for a LONG time but nobody noticed it until one guy in a seattle newspaper labelled it as "microsofts answer to little big planet" a few days ago to fill some space

it isn't meant to be an answer to little big planet and never has been, the boku project is a basic programming interface that may or may not even show up on 360 and PC in the future, rumors are that it may show up in 2009 but nothing is firm

i can't help but laugh at people who are grasping at straws trying to make this into a "omg ms copied sony"

the boku project was first publicly shown in march 2007(coincidently almost the exact time LBP was announced), lord knows how long it has been in development before then, and that video is the same one shown in 2007...nobody even knows where this thing is going or has gone since then

it has always been stated to be a tool for kids first and foremost

anybody interested in what the project actually is can get the basic rundown from when it was first shown in 2007

http://www.informationweek....

there was an identical article to this one on n4g last night, same video same uninformed idiocy all stemming from the same seattle newspaper article

people need to stop buying everything they read...especially on n4g and articles from 3rd rate gaming sites nobody has ever heard of
Agree(4) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply

ITs ment for kids unlike lbp which is a different style of game.

[ngg12345]

Boku the littlebigplanet for xbox 360 is a mere director simulator. It isn't like you are creating your own game, more like moving a cow 3 feet to catch a frisbee.

[Ju]

Is that another viral marketing strategy form MS or what? Try to sell "Boku" without mentioning LittleBigPlanet. Good luck.

[gumgum99]

"Now it appears that Microsoft has its own plan to tap into players' creative wellspring with Boku, a new XNA project billed by The Seattle Times blog as a "visual programming language for kids."

If you say so. It just looks so intimidating with the whole "3D" thing going on..and I'm 20

[SACKSTATION 3]

i doubt it will be better than lbp, but i hope it does o.k.

[steck67]

At least your honest unlike the [email protected] poster #5 who likes to play with little boys sacks.

[Deadman64]

I no desire for this game nor LBP

[Nikkelz]

this game has 0 thats right ZERO resemblance to little big planet....yes they both promote user creation,but on 2 different ends...one (lbp) promotes level creation and therefore is a game while on the other hand this is a tool to teach programming and game creation on a grander scale albeit on the entry level end....and by entry level i mean its for our children and if they truly are the future then i think this is beneficial in its own right,but please no more comparisons to little big planet....its just lame to fish for hits this way

[Kight]

God, EXACTLY. I'm so sick of these pot-shots at LBP just because of how many people would ignore the game otherwise. I wish games wouldn't ride off of other game's hype when they're so dissimilar.

[Kight]

Sigh, game journalists, twisting everything till everyone kills each other for existing.

This barely even resembles LBP, its a freaking dumbed down programming interface. LBP has a brilliant logic to its own like an in-depth reality but easily configurable.

Whatever, this doesn't mean anything towards either market.

[aiphanes]

I am just saying....nothing...and I mean nothing touches LBP...

Now just think if Resistance 2 or Gears 2 has a cool level editor like LBP???

hmmmmm

[dkgshiz]

First hd dvd, 2nd avatars, now boku. Microsoft sure likes to rip off lots of things.

[TheDesperado]

To kill the people who say this is MS's LBP, that is.

This is NOT like LBP. Stop making the comparison because you're too stupid to describe it with other words.

[tk]

The media decided that it is the MS copy / answer to LBP. Same as that they will try and compare Killzone with Forza because happen to have some sort of a vehicle.

[outlawlife]

glad to see my comment from the other boku thread is getting a lot of airplay haha

but seriously all of this is stemming from one guy in seattle who knows squat about anything gaming claiming that this is something MS scrambled together to have their own LBP-esque game

the only similarity is the fact that user created content is shared

well you can share user content on far cry with its amazing map editor, forza 2 with it unparalleled livery interface , and even halo 3 to some extent with the limited but functional forge...does that make them competitors for lbp?

every pc game out has been modded by some one somewhere and they have shared their content, is that a competitor to lbp?

motocross madness 2 for the pc had one of the most robust if unstable map editors(armadillo) ever released with full integration and compatibility of industry standard tools like 3d studio max, leveller, and POV ray...is that now a competitor for lbp?

not to take anything from sony or media molecule, but what lbp does is just what people have been doing with pc games for years, they were just able to package it in such a way to make it super accessible and ultra marketable with the sackboy

LBP did not invent user created content, it just streamlined it for console use, which we all can agree that consoles have lacked severely in the edibility area

personally i think there are way too many educated and creative gamers out there to lock off a game, lbp is a start and hopefully soon we will see things similar to what Epic tried to do with UT3, that was a good experiment and was only marred by jumping through hoops parts to get something from pc to transfer over and work on a console, as well as the flood of crap mods by people who didn't have a clue

for something like that to work, there needs to be QA

I want games that are packaged with pc tools and have central servers with quality control, too many rrod levels on lbp and too many racist paintjobs on forza

it really is an area on consoles that is in its infancy but i think with things like lbp and XNA community games we will start seeing more user communities on consoles

i look forward to the day where i can create a map for my favorite shooter and upload it to a central server for everyone to find, play, and rate, consoles lack the sense of community that pc modders have but all of the tools are there to make it happen it just hasn't found its way yet

while i find lbp rather boring and didn't buy into the hype it is a slick idea and probably will be imitated and improved upon by someone down the line(ms or otherwise), but the cold facts are boku has nothing to do with lbp, and never has

[NickIni]

For gods sake.

This isn't Microsoft's answer to LBP. This is a game designed to get kids into programming. Think Viva Piñata. The only similarity is the user generated content, but this game doesn't have the mass appeal or accessibility that LBP does that makes the user generated content so successful.

This has no chance of being a "Little Big Planet Killer".