11:24 a.m.: There´s four players now. Phil and the producer of the game have joined in. Phil is playing the girl character. They are now running through a completely populated, lush 2D playing field. They are demonstrating how players can grab on to each other or grab onto objects in the world. These characters have real weight, so sometimes grabbing on to each other to increase the collective weight of the group.
There´s a puzzle solving element to some of what they are doing, ejecting themselves off of oranges, climbing together over a soccer ball, pulling as a group down onto a trap door to advance the four players. There´s underlying motifs of competition, but really -- these four are just having fun. So is the crowd, at this point. The characters of LittleBigPlanet, whatever they are called, have an immediate lure, an immediate charm -- it´s VERY Nintendo, back when Nintendo was good.
Shane: The crowd is eating this up. It´s a smart move, debuting a game about game development at GDC. META.