While most of Europe is showing love to Sony’s Playstation 3, here in the UK we remain a nation of Xbox 360 owners. The PS3 is slowly gaining market share though and leading Sony’s campaign to get people to part with a wad of cash for their console this Christmas is Little Big Planet.
This game manages to do something that hasn’t been done in 12 years - advance the platform game genre. Since Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 took platformers into the 3rd dimension in 1996 the genre has stayed pretty static. Through endless Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter and Spyro games the platformer hasn’t really progressed. Through allowing individual users to create and share their own characters and levels online Little Big Planet has put the fun back into platform gaming. If even a jaded long-time gamer like myself wants it they’ve got a hit on their hands.
The question is, how do you get the general public interested in the game when so few have a Playstation 3 at home? Sony’s rather excellent answer is to take the game to the people. In the middle of September an empty shop unit in Piccadilly Plaza here in Manchester suddenly became a Little Big Planet shop. Well, it’s not really a shop - the game’s not been released yet so it’s more of a promotional… experience.
Until the 4th of October this shop offers gamers a chance to play the game on a number of consoles set up around the room. The shop’s staff are friendly and are happy to introduce you to the basics of the game and let you play to your heart’s content. Little Big Planet is a family game so there’s something here for gamers of all ages.
For adults there is a group of expert level designers running training sessions in how to create your own levels in the game. The woman who showed me round the store told me that they’ve been building a level based on Manchester itself. For children there’s a giant Sackboy (the game’s protagonist) for you to have your photo taken and the walls are covered in children’s drawings of Sackboy and friends.
Promotional shops aren’t a new thing. I remember seeing a shopfront set up to promote the BBC’s Mighty Boosh DVD in London’s Brick Lane last year but that was little more than a glorified flyposter site. What Sony have here is something far more interactive. With the PS3 not taking off in the UK as quickly as they would like Sony really need to take their product to the people and they’ve certainly been successful with that here in Manchester.
I was trying to work what it was that made me so interested in the Little Big Planet shop. Sure, I like games and wanted to play this one but no, what I found most interesting was that amonst the chain stores, bank branches and Starbucks outlets of the city centre it’s something different to look at.
More brands should learn from this and let their potential cutomers get sucked into a full on brand experience. Imagine if TV stations, radio stations and film studios used this kind of tactic to promote their wares on a regular basis - shopping centres might get interesting again!
