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2 CommentsTearaway pre-orders bonuses include rideable pig papercraft for European gamers
By Emily Gera on May 10, 2013 05.10.13
Sony has revealed its EMEA and Australia pre-order bonuses for the upcoming Media Molecule-developed Tearaway. Retailers across these regions will offer two pre-order options for the PS Vita title, "The Jukebox Pack" and "The Special Delivery Pack." The former includes avatars for PlayStation Network based on Tearaway's protagonists iota and atoi, new PlayStation Vita wallpaper and the Tearaway soundtrack with a bonus track. The latter features iota and atoi costumes that can be used in LittleBigPlanet, as well as an exclusive skin for Tearaway's in-game rideable pig and printable papercraft plan for said pig. Just what you want. Tearaway is scheduled to launch Oct. 22 on PlayStation Vita.
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0 CommentsTearaway, Puppeteer and more playable at UEFA Champions Festival in London
By Samit Sarkar on Apr 19, 2013 04.19.13
The UEFA Champions League final is set for the end of May, and Sony, a sponsor of the league, will set up a special area at the four-day UEFA Champions Festival with playable PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita titles, the company announced today. The free Champions Festival will run from May 23-26 at The International Quarter in London's Stratford City, close to the location of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sony will set up an area called the PlayStation Stadium, giving fans hands-on time with already available and upcoming titles including the PS3 titles Sports Champions 2, Puppeteer and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and Tearaway on PS Vita. The space will also feature an actual soccer pitch, so attendees can partake in drills, coaching sessions, penalty kicks and more. Prizes for...
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2 CommentsTearaway's GPS and procedural generation features left behind in favor of a more focused game
By Matt Leone on Mar 29, 2013 03.29.13
As part of a production process panel titled "Glitter and Doom" at the Game Developers Conference today, Media Molecule studio director Siobhan Reddy revealed a pair of features cut from Vita game Tearaway early in development. Specifically, Reddy said that the team at Media Molecule had too many ideas on the table to see them all through successfully, so it had to narrow things down, and in the process cut a procedural world generation system and a GPS location-based idea (though she didn't specify how either worked). The upside of this, Reddy said, was that it enabled the team to put a bigger focus on Tearaway's "god-like" powers, such as the ability for players to poke their fingers into the game via Vita's back touchscreen, and the ability for players to shout at the Vita to make...
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16 CommentsPlayStation bringing The Last of Us, Tearaway, indie titles to PAX East
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Mar 21, 2013 03.21.13
Attendees at PAX East this weekend will be able to get their hands on playable demos of The Last of Us, Tearaway and a handful of PlayStation Network titles, Sony announced today on the PlayStation Blog. Players can experience a hands-on demo for The Last of Us in a special set designed to look like one of the in-game environments. The demo is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Boston, a city wasted by infestation and abandonment. Players who managed to complete the demo in the allotted time will win a The Last of Us tension brick, pictured above, and all who play will receive a special t-shirt. Check out Polygon's impressions of the title here. Sony's booth will also stock 250 limited edition posters featuring artwork from the second issue of The Last of Us: American Dreams graphic...
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1 CommentMedia Molecule studio head named Australian Woman of the Year in the UK
By Samit Sarkar on Mar 14, 2013 03.14.13
Siobhan Reddy, co-founder and studio director at Tearaway developer Media Molecule, has been named the Australian Woman of the Year in the U.K. for 2013, an award sponsored by Qantas Airways and the networking organization Australian Business. Reddy, who was born in Sydney but moved to the U.K. in the late 1990s and runs the Guildford, U.K.-based Media Molecule, received the honor in London last night. "I feel it's given me probably a bit of a rocket up the bum in some way," said Reddy to the Australian Associated Press. "I've had my head down for so long just making things, that I've been bad in realizing how low the numbers of women are within games. In the last months I've started to think more about how I can encourage young women to get into games." This year marks the sixth...
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8 CommentsTearaway looks to be a world worth sticking your fingers into
By Griffin McElroy on Mar 13, 2013 03.13.13
Tearaway is a difficult game to describe, as its core thesis — it is a game about paper — doesn't even come close to explaining what that means in the context of gameplay, aesthetics and tone. During a hands-on demonstration at SXSW Interactive, Media Molecule lead designer Rex Crowle expanded on the gameplay mechanics inspired by Tearaway's papercraft world. It's not just the basis for the game's visuals; every gameplay mechanic and level design cue is a result of the world being lightweight, wafer-thin and extremely pliable. A few of these mechanics were revealed alongside the game at Gamescom 2012. Players can poke their fingers into the world through the Vita's rear touchpad, one of the more widely publicized capabilities of the title. They can blow into the microphone to push...
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4 CommentsTearaway's papercraft engine demoed, includes tools for real-world printing
By Griffin McElroy on Mar 08, 2013 03.08.13
Tearaway's papercraft engine was demonstrated during a South by Southwest panel led by lead game designer Rex Crowle today, showcasing how each origami shape could be designed by hand, and even printed out into the real world. The PS Vita game's proprietary engine, pictured above, lets Media Molecule create simple shapes out of flat pieces of paper, determine its color, then cut and fold elements into their sheet. Paper shapes can be given height, automatically building a taped-together 3D shape composed of different sheets of paper, and interactive parts of the shape, or decorative elements like stickers and illustrations, can be stuck onto the paper at will. The most interesting part of the engine — and something Media Molecule discussed when Tearaway was revealed at Gamescom 2012...
PlayStation to showcase Injustice: Gods Among Us, God of War: Ascension at Coachella
By Megan Farokhmanesh on Mar 05, 2013 03.05.13
Sony Computer Entertainment America will feature unreleased games Injustice: Gods Among Us and Tearaway, as well as new releases at this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the company announced via the PlayStation Blog. PlayStation All-Stars and God of War: Ascension will also be included in the company's line-up. Those who play either game will have the chance to win a pass upgrade for the music festival, granting access to Coachella's VIP perks. SCEA will also give out PlayStation 3s and Vitas, as well as PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited memberships. Coachella will take place in Indio, Calif., from April 12 to 14 and April 19 to 21. Injustice: Gods Among Us is expected to launch April 16 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U, while Media Molecule's Tearaway is...
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1 CommentMedia Molecule presenting internal game jam results at Juegos Rancheros
By Samit Sarkar on Feb 27, 2013 02.27.13
Developers from Media Molecule, the U.K.-based creator of LittleBigPlanet and the upcoming Tearaway, will travel to Austin, Texas, for next month's Juegos Rancheros get-together, where they will present the results of their first internal game jam. Juegos Rancheros is an indie game collective located in Austin. Media Molecule will show off "photos and videos of things we made — games yes, but a whole load of weirdness, too," the studio said to Juegos Rancheros. They'll discuss the process of running a game jam at the studio, and then explain how the experience affected the way they develop games. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 7, and will be held at North Door in Austin; attendance is free and open to the public (you can RSVP on the Facebook event page). Prior to Media...
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7 CommentsMedia Molecule demoes digital sculpting, puppetry with PS4 and Move controller
By Tracey Lien on Feb 20, 2013 02.20.13
LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule showed off the PlayStation 4's tech capabilities today in a demo that uses the PlayStation Move controller to create digital sculptures and puppetry. In the demo, shown at the PlayStation Meeting event in New York, Media Molecule's Alex Evans showed how the Move motion controller can be used with the PS4 to sketch and doodle as well as sculpt 3D objects. The Move controller tracks every move the player makes, and "makes 3D sculpting easy for beginners and deep for advanced creators," he said. Players will also be able to create collage sets using objects that others have made. "Just hold your controller and click to assemble your dream." The demo also showed two players holding Move controllers manoeuvring sculptures to make them dance and play...
