Sony will be retiring the servers for LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet 3, LittleBigPlanet Portable, LittleBigPlanet Vita, and LittleBigPlanet Karting in Japan, permanently ending all online services and components for the franchise in the nation.

All servers will be taken offline on July 31, 2016- this means that after this date, you will no longer be able to play online, access online features, access community functionality, or upload your own stages. For some of these games, which are less than two years old – LittleBigPlanet 3 only launched on thew PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in 2014, for example.

Services for some games in the franchise will also be ending in the west- LittleBigPlanet Portable goes offline in the west on July 31, while LittleBigPlanet Karting sees its online services ending on August 31.

With this wide discontinuation of online services for games in the franchise, as well as with Media Molecule having moved on to other projects, like Dreams, and the relative failure of LittleBigPlanet 3, it appears as though this may be the end of the road for Sony’s original “play share create” franchise.

On the left side of the picture, we have Wrex from the original Mass Effect who sports a full armor set including glove and helmet. Commander Shepard gets the full treatments as well with the skin, N7 helmet, gauntlets and armor. Liara also has a skin along with the gloves and a head piece. Last but not least, Garrus will be featuring his own skin, chest armor, eye piece, head piece and gloves.

This new DLC will be compatible with LittleBigPlanet Karting, LittleBigPlanet PlayStation Vita and LittleBigPlanet 2.

This piece of content also comes with a decent amount of Mass Effect in-game stickers.

Also as a reminder to everyone who’s wondering about what’s going on next for the franchise. It has been rumored for a while now that Sumo Digital is hard at work on LittleBigPlanet 3. There is a decent chance that we might be seeing the next entry in the series during Sony’s E3 2013 Press Conference on June 10th.

Let us know if you’re excited for this downloadable content for LittleBigPlanet and if you will be buying it in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more LittleBigPlanet news.

Ever since ModNation Racers sped onto our screens in 2010, fans of Sackboy have been demanding this release – combining creativity, customisation and cars with one of Sony’s most-loved characters.

Sackboy is star of the show, in his customizable Kart

Clearly, the ‘Play, Create, Share’ concept is central to LBP Karting and will literally provide you with an unlimited array of tracks to thunder round. You should know pretty much what to expect; this is your typical Kart racing game… cartoony graphics, solo and multiplayer modes, weapons dotted about the track and collectibles.

Stephen Fry lends his dulcet tones to the game, introducing the levels and offering comedic comments as you flick between the menus. In-game effects and the soundtrack are crisp, clear and fun and – along with the visuals – ensure the presentation is top notch.

The presentation is superb, as you’d expect

This time round, Sackboy has to take on the Hoard, a group of ruthless scavengers deadset on stealing Craftworld’s prizes. While whizzing about the place snaffling all the goodies, one of the clan crashes his cart and Sackboy seizes the opportunity to nab it and start racing to get everything returned.

Sackboy controls the various menus from his pod – a cardboard spaceship. You can use various tools to change the shape and size of your car, as well as the sound of its engine. As you’d expect, you can give Sackboy an overhaul too should you so desire.

Dive into the story mode and you’re presented with a series of planets and unlockable tracks, ranging from traditional races and waypoint challenges, to point-based arena battles and versus levels. The supplied tracks are decent enough but the promise of user generated maps is what should really appeal to the discerning gamer.

There are loads of tracks included… and even more user-generated content

The cars handle nicely and you feel suitably in control when drifting around bends. There are jumps, swings, speed boosters and short cuts to make things interesting, as well as a wealth of obstacles and pitfalls designed to stop you in your tracks. It’s not too tricky difficulty wise, making this ideal for gamers of all ages. However, it does get massively frustrating when you get to the front of the pack only to be repeatedly targeted by your pursuers and lose a lot of ground when they unleash all manner of weapons on you. These aren’t as inventive as I’d have liked and you quickly feel you’ve seen what’s on offer; in fact, they often feel kind of underpowered and a little bit “meh”.

After you ride over an icon on the track and pick up one of the these power-ups, you generally have the choice to fire straight ahead to take out an opponent or keep it in reserve ready for one of your rivals’ attacks and fire backwards to counter it. In practice, it’s not that exciting and you can’t help but feel the best strategy is just to fire as soon as you pick something up so you’re free to get something else.

You can use weapons for attack or defence

The controls are reassuringly simple and you’re given a nice tutorial from Fry at the start of the game. Besides the obligatory acceleration, shooting and steering, you can jump, drift and reach out to slap opponents. Move is supported through the Race Wheel, although we didn’t test that for this review.

Set aside the racing element, and it’s being able to design tracks that is obviously the major attraction. A kit of tools allows you to create weird and wonderful routes, tailor the rules and tweak the settings. It’s comprehensive but awfully time consuming and tricky to master. You’ll need to dedicate time and effort to make anything decent – but do so, and the end result is fantastic. Obviously, you can share your creation with the wider community through PSN too and access other people’s maps. Given time there will no doubt be a wealth of content to choose from and I imagine you probably won’t need – or want – to delve into the map editor yourself in the future!

LittleBigPlanet Karting is fun and entertaining, and offers plenty of gametime – both alone and with friends. It’s great to be able to customise your kart and character but it’s the user generated tracks that make this worth a purchase!

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3

We see Sackboy in a workshop with some weird mechanic dudes, random soundbites here and there, and talk of creating “with the power of imagination” to fuel the stitched one’s goals of racing domination.

If only it were as cool as it sounded.

Regardless, LittleBigPlanet Karting looks like another solid effort from Media Molecule, who worked closely with ModNation Racers dev United Front Games for crafting the right racing experience. It’s out now in North America and will see release in Europe on November 9th 2012.

Interestingly, Media Molecule is working with ModNation Racers developer United Front Games (behind the recent blockbuster Sleeping Dogs). So you can bet that the focus will still be on user-generated content but within the context of a kart-racing game. But those seeking a competitive Mario Kart experience need not worry: There are plenty of heat-seeking missiles, grenades, EMPs and other weapons of destruction awaiting those looking for a fight.

LittleBigPlanet Karting releases on PS3 this November 6th for North America and November 7th for EU.

Customization options are pretty high on the totem pole too, as you can customize your ride and we hope design maps and mini-games too.

The game will features 4 player split-screen karting and up to 8 players online. Players can form teams and compete against each other, or just engage in massive battles within arenas.

LittleBigPlanet Karting is currently slated for a November 6th release exclusively for Playsation 3.

LBP Karting is due out later this year, coming to North America on 6th November 2012, with a EU release on the 7th and a UK release on the 9th.

LBPKarting definitely looks fun, and it’s more in vein with Mario Kart than ModNation Racers. It’s a lot more cartoony, exactly what you want from a kart racer.

You can watch the entire video above, it shows some gamneplay too.

LittleBigPlanet Karting comes out for the PS3 later this year.

Sony has blown the lid off of LittleBigPlanet Karting and it actually looks pretty great. We also have plenty of screenshots and a trailer for you that shows what this game is all about.

Accessibility is the name of the game here, with the game being made for people of all ages. Apparently, the developers are still emphasizing on the creation aspect, since it is an LBP game after all.

“Our goal with LBP Karting has been fairly simple – provide a fast-paced experience that captures the best of classic Karting gameplay, married with the unbridled creativity of LBP,” read the statement on the PS Blog.

“This new adventure will be accessible to players of all ages and have all of the variety necessary to satisfy both the hardcore and more casual players.

“This is an LBP game, so we could never talk about it without mentioning the create tools. LBP Karting is set in an entirely 3D world allowing players to create rich and varied gameplay experiences.

“Tons of familiar LBP gadgets will be present, along with a brand new toolbox specifically tailored to allow for building in LBP Karting’s 3D world.”

Check out the trailer and screenshots below.