There will be some output by me the coming days (some newspaper stuff, some blogging at bashers.nl and some GMR stuff). But for now, happy holidays!

What’s not to like about Little Big Planet (LBP). Its offline multiplayer is fun and engrossing, the level editor is quite powerful and the downloadable user created levels are sometimes hilarious and every once in a while brilliant. What surprised me was the initial rush with LBP reviews during the game’s introduction, a month ago.

In the article for Dagblad De Pers: “Little Big Planet – Levels maken met sokkenpopje” (also on paper, see page 19), I wonder how one can review a game which so prominently feautures user created content on launch. I would argue that one has to wait at least several weeks before the true collective intelligence of creative gamers is (or might be) unlocked. So let’s wait, see and play!

Simple question with a fairly straightforward answer. How important are games for “offline retailers” (e.g. music stores such as Free Record Shop?). Answer: Extremely important. I interviewed Hans Breukhoven (FRS owner and CEO) for Dagblad De Pers. “Jongeren komen voor games, niet voor muziek” (.pdf see page 24) appeared Monday December 1. We spoke about publisher-retailer relations, the effect of the financial crisis on game sales, the importance of the FRS website, the importance of selling second-hand games, and about game retail franchise Game Mania. For me it was an eye-opening interview.