Those of you who've played LittleBigPlanet (and to a lesser extent, Tearaway) will know that creativity is at the heart of every game Media Molecule do. Whether it's giving you the tools to create your own levels, to paper-crafting a crown for a squirrel, Sony's first party studio from our very own Blighty, have been taking their game development off the beaten track for years. Their latest? A rather surreal sandbox that has to be seen to be believed.
Part art tool, part we're-not-sure-what, Dreams has certainly piqued our interest.
The game, which was first teased several E3 conferences ago, back when the Playstation 4 was first shown to the world, initially used Playstation Move. The Playstation 3's Wii Remote-style wand controllers were used to mould clay into crazy shapes, and then animate them into a pretty impressive short film-type-sequence of a band playing, controlled as if by puppet strings from the Move controller. As is always the case though, the concept has evolved somewhat, into a 'game' of sorts, known only as 'Dreams'.
Now having dropped the Move controller in favour of the Playstation 4's regular controller, you can use the controller's light-emitting rear (presumably in conjunction with the Playstation 4 camera) to draw on a canvas, place objects and apply various effects to your creations. The demonstration itself skipped a fair few steps, going straight from what was a fairly basic line drawing to a fully-fledged guy, seated in a chair - who can then be grabbed via the controller to animate it easily. From there, it transitioned into a slightly surreal montage, showing of some seriously swish looking set of shorts, showing off Dream's potential and a rather cute polar bear cub:
Apparently with support for co-operative multiplayer creating, both locally on your sofa and over the internet, and the ability to import your friends' creations into your Dreams-scape, it has the potential for some rather relaxing, art filled nights - or arguments over your new creations' direction. Coupled with Media Molecule's ability to foster a dedicated community of seriously talented individuals, and Dreams has the potential to be another totally unique Playstation experience.
With more details promised at Paris Games Week in October, exactly what Dreams is, what it involves and how it works will hopefully become clearer soon. Hitting the Playstation 4 at a currently unspecified date, colour us intrigued!
