Little Big Planet 2 confirmed

Last month, composer Christopher Leary appeared to confirm Media Molecule was prepping a new installment in its customization-heavy Little Big Planet franchise for the PlayStation 3. However, the confirmation came in direct contradiction to statements made by Media Molecule level designer Danny Leaver, who said in November that the studio would "never want to" create a Little Big Planet 2 as it would "be the most counterproductive thing you could do."

It would appear as if Sackboy and co. will return.

Now, it would appear as if Sony will be proceeding with Little Big Planet 2 after all. Today, GameStop-owned Game Informer magazine posted a teaser for its June cover story, promising a "huge feature article" on none other than Little Big Planet 2. As the teaser was primarily devoted to a cover story on Epic Games' recently announced Gears of War 3, no other details on the multiplayer-centric platformer were discussed.

Little Big Planet has been one of Sony's most successful PS3-exclusive titles. The game received critical praise, as well as multiple industry awards upon its October 2008 release, having achieved platinum sales by the end of that year. In March, Sony acquired Media Molecule outright, shortly after the Surrey, England-based studio shipped a version of Little Big Planet for the PSP.

A primary issue with introducing a sequel to Little Big Planet is the impact it would have on the game's player community, which has used the game's tools to create a wealth of user-generated content. In April 2009, Sony said that the game's player community had reached 2 million members, in the process creating some 725,000 levels for the game. In February, the publisher announced that those user-generated levels had swelled to 2 million.