Media Molecule – we make games.

Yes, that’s right – as announced at the start of the week, the Sacktue of Liberty costume is out on the PSN store today, for free!

It’s quite possibly the cutest way of celebrating the United States of America’s day of Independence, this July 4th!

And if the free content isn’t enough to keep you happy, don’t forget that the rather awesome Jon Burgerman Original Sticker Pack is still hot on the PSN Store with its funky collection of Burgerman sticker goodness.

Remember that PSN Stores update one by one around the world, east to west.
We’re in Europe where it’s just gone live, so you U.S folks normally have to wait a little longer for it to cross the ocean

Following last week’s dress-up Friday, speculation around Alex Evans’ hat collection has exploded.

New evidence has surfaced today which suggests that Alex’s collection of hats, which is well known across the games industry, has expanded to include a Ted Baker ‘Havlock‘ Straw Trilby.
The ‘Havlock‘ Straw Trilby is listed as being a “dandy paper hat, with contrast tape and stud detailing” and will “look fresh for spring“; a comment which many will find hard to deny.

Alex was first spotted with the hat in a Wagamama restaurant, pictured above, where onlooker Robin Debson said “This hat is like a dream, completely surpassing anything we’ve seen before“.

Alex declined to comment on his latest hat.

Arnold Drake is a Sackboy who lives in a little town called Clacton on Sea, in the UK. Arnold gets in to all sorts of mischief and keeps an online diary of his adventures. What’s he been up to lately?
Well, his uncle came to visit and Arnold showed him around the park, where they enjoyed a nice cup of tea together. Then they played golf and went skateboarding!

We’re absolutely loving Arnold’s blog!
Make sure you get over to www.arnolddrake.com regularly to read up on his latest adventures.

Last week we celebrated the Summer Solstice with the release of the Druid costume available for free, which we’re pleased to see many of you enjoyed.

To continue the celebrations, we’re marking this years Independence Day by releasing a Sacktue of Liberty costume, available once more for free!
Featuring the iconic crown and robe from the Statue of Liberty, the costume also includes the famous torch of enlightenment, complete with glowing flames of fabric.

The Statue of Liberty (officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World) was a gift from France to the United States of America in 1886 to commemorate the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the 93m (305ft) high statue’s internal structure was interestingly enough engineered by Maurice Koechlin – none other than the designer of the Eiffel Tower.
It is now internationally recognised as a symbol of the United States of America, and a fitting choice to celebrate the United States of America’s day of Independence this July 4th.

Head over to the PSN Store this July 2nd to grab this limited-time costume in time for the big day.
And don’t forget that the Druid costume is still available this week, but for a limited time only, so make sure you download your Druid before Thursday; if only to secure yourself that awesome beard for your Sackboy.

We’re normally a right bunch of scruff bags at Media Molecule, so we thought we’d have a dress-up Friday today. Hurrah!

Here we are infront of our rather mighty Jon Burgerman large scale fabric print.

Pedro also came in the office too, he’s a lively chap but the heat was getting to him.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Out on the store today – the Jon Burgerman Original Sticker Kit – 72 stickers for a paltry $1.99 / £1.59 all based on the doodles of mister Burgerman, whose creations still cover our site with win!

Also on the store, the delayed Solstice Druid costume, here at last to celebrate the summer solstice, and just in time for Glastonbury Festival too!

Solstice Costume: Druid Beard, Cowl, Robe, Wand (pic)

Remember, the Solstice Druid is free, but is time limited, and will only be available for a week or two.

Look how long his beard is, we think it might be the longest beard in history. Let’s ask the internet… Hmm, well it’s close – the internet says that the longest beard on a living human is 6ft long and belongs to Shamsher Singh, although he is not the overall record holder. That title belongs to Hans Langseth of Norway, who had a beard 17.5ft long. Amazing. (warning: beard scrolling may cause damage to mouse wheel finger)

The sun is shining and the music festival season is well under way. But not for us poor folks at Mm towers, we’re far too busy for camping and getting mud in our hair. So to console ourselves, instead of heading off to Glastonbury Festival, we are celebrating Gastronbury Feastival.

By replacing music with a much tastier thing ,food, we can enjoy all the excesses of Glastonbury except via our bellies and taste buds. Gastronbury is about eating and drinking. It’s about eating and drinking a lot, treating yourself to things you wouldn’t normally do, possibly for monetary reasons, and going over the top.

So, today we gorged ourselves on the most decadent sandwich we could think of LOBSTER. Here’s one before it got sandwiched up!

It was immensely tasty, and shall be followed up this evening by oysters and champagne, and lots more food. We encourage you to join us, eat something special, and keep eating special things until Sunday when it all stops and we need to diet. *burp*

To celebrate the release of our first original sticker kit, and a collaboration with doodle captain Jon Burgerman, we covered our site in crazy colourful doodads, and then we put our heads together and wrote ourselves a little interview to send to the man himself.

So, sit down and relax, and meet the man behind the doodles; mister Burgerman. Oh and don’t forget to pop into the PSN store on Thursday, and start using these stickers to brighten up your levels!

Mm:Please introduce yourself!

Hello there, I am an artist called Jon, I am not worm or mole based but do have a beard. I draw, paint and scan but do not juggle bowling pins or press delicate wild-flowers. I’ve worked for many important sounding clients and have never had a single filling or even been stung by a bee. I have exhibited my work far and wide, the furthest being in Australia and the widest being in China.

I enjoy carbohydrates and music from old computer games and am not a fan of lifting heavy objects, going up ladders or football teams who play in red. One day, when all of this is over, I want to go to sleep and not get up until noon at the earliest, unless of course I need a wee, in which case I’d get up but get back in before the duvet goes cold.

Mm:When did you start drawing? How did your style emerge?

I started drawing, as all children do. when I was a child.
The style evolved over time I guess. I didn’t consciously design it, it’s just how I naturally draw.

Mm:What inspires your work? Do you have any things that you come back to when you are needing some inspiration?

I like things that are found in the natural world, like animals and fruit. And of course Fruit Flies, a combination of the two.

Other artists, big and small, provide me with lots of inspiration too, though sometimes it can induce bouts of green hued jealousy.

Mm:Do you carefully plan your pictures or do you prefer a stream-of consciousness approach?

A little bit of both actually. Sometimes it’s more one than the other too, it really depends on how I’m thinking and what I’m doodling.

Either way I like to keep things open enough for improvisation and mistakes. Sometimes your hand knows what it’s doing before you do !

Mm:Who are your heroes in art?

Tony Hart of course (RIP), Matt Groening, Mike Mills, Dave the Chip, Devil Robots, Kurt Schwitters.. plus many more

Mm:Have you ever committed a crime against art?

Oh probably loads. Do I have to admit them here? I hope not.

Mm:Have you ever committed a crime? A proper one.

Not really, well, nothing serious like murder or cat-napping. As I child I think I might of kicked a swan but I think my older brother made me do it. (No harm was done to the swan, I kick like a weakling)

Mm:What is your ultimate artistic dream?

To dance in front of millions of people, whilst singing that opera song from the 1990 world cup. If not that then I’d settle for making an animated series of my characters.

Mm:Was the greedy swine drawn from life?

Everything comes from somewhere!

Mm:If you were able to change the first part of your surname to be any other kind of food, what would it be? For instance, Haggisman.

Nice idea. I think maybe I’d go for foods I really like:
Jon Pickleman
Jon Vegandumplingman
Jon SaltedKettlecrispsman
Jon Recesespiecesman
Jon Porridgeman

Mm:Who is your favourite character of your own design, and why?

I can’t pick a favourite, imagine how that’d make all the others feel!
I have a soft spot for Pickle Pig because he eats things, pickles them in his belly and then plops them out for people to eat.

Mm:Who is your favourite cartoon character in general and why?

I do love Droopy. All Tex Avery’s characters were brilliant. I should of mentioned him as a hero.
I like it when Droopy appears in after a character has tried to escape him by flying half way around the world, going up a remote mountain, locking himself into a room, opening a cupboard… and finding Droopy there.Ha.

Mm:Do you ever play videogames? If so, which ones?

Yes yes but not as much as I’d like to. I need more hours in the day.
Currently I’m working on GTA on the DS. I like the DS and PSP because I can carry them around and sneak in the odd game of something on the move. I never get a chance to play my consoles at home.
I’m a big fan of 16-bit era gaming and love 8-bit music.
I like platformers and things which are easy to pick up and play and not too long to get through, like LocoRoco for example.

Mm:What do you hope to see people using your stickers for in LittleBigPlanet?

Fun of course! and maybe secret rude things.

Mm:If you were to build a level in LittleBigPlanet, what would it be like?

A big spaghetti mess of doodle-soya-meat-balls and flakes of stinky cheese!

Mm:If you could add another word to the following mantra, what would it be? Play, Create, Share and…….

Relax?
Sleep ?
Keep all the best stuff for yourself ?

Thanks Jon! Burgerman’s sticker kit will be out in two days time, on Thursday 25th June, and should be priced at $1.99 / £1.59. If you can’t wait until then, why not buy some real stickers and start putting them all over your house and friends?

Mark Healey went to visit Prime Minister Gordon Brown, last night, in a little affair for entrepreneurs.

I managed to sneak into 10 Downing St last night, to scope out the P.M’s gaff.

The P.M came in for about 10 minutes, gave a speech about entrepreneurs being good for the economy, and for us to keep up the good work etc.

Other than that, nothing much happened, other than drinking wine, and talking to other random people about their businesses, ranging from someone that made medical bits to put into shoes (or something like that), to a guy that makes personal aircraft, that are stored in a back pack (just as soon as I can find his website, I’m buying one)

Oooh look, the site’s covered in random things! Lovely, lovely random things. Today we’d like to announce the first of our sticker packs made in conjunction with famous artist type folks, and the first one will be…. the Picasso pack!

Ok, ya got me, it’s the Jon Burgerman pack, 72 fabulous doodles from the world of Jon Burgerman, all packaged up and available for you to buy, and then graffiti all over the LittleBigPlanet.

This massive haul of sticker joy will be available on the store this week, and we’ll also be publishing an interview with the (Burger)man himself tomorrow, so sticker-round (lol geddit?) to hear his wise words!

In typical British summer fashion, the summer solstice has been rained off until next week. That’s right, I’m afraid to say, that the solstice costume due today has been delayed in Europe, and will now be coming out next Thursday, at the same time as the North American store.

Sorry about that folks. – We shed a little tear at the news, and then ate some chocolate to cheer up. We suggest you do the same.

I don’t know if it’s the same where you are, but over here in England, it’s been getting hotter and hotter recently (well, in between the torrential downpours and hail) and that can mean only one of several things – Global Warming has reached a horrible peak and Armageddon is close, the air conditioning is on the fritz, or it’s summer time again.

I’m inclined to think that the latter is true, it is June after all, and it is the summer solstice this weekend, when the tilt of the earth’s axis will mean the northern hemisphere is the closest to the sun that it will get all year, making it hotter! Yup, that’s how summer works folks.

In ancient times, Druids regarded the Sun to be at its maximum power at midday during the summer solstice, when the days are longest. They marked these events by gathering together in vast stone circles and performing mystical rituals, that probably involved chanting, and maybe even sacrifices, or stand up comedy… who knows? Not me that’s for sure.

To celebrate the Solstice, we gathered to perform the ancient ritual of costume creation, and put together this beardy druid fellow costume to give away to all our friends on the LittleBigPlanet. So this Thursday, 18th June, head on over to the PSN Store, and pick up your free Druid costume! Unless that is you are in North America, where he will be available the following week: just after Midsummer’s Day, on the 25th.

Remember that he’s a time limited costume, and will only be available to download for a week from the time he goes live, so don’t miss out!

We joined the digital revolution and made a Geocities page Facebook page, come and be our fan!

It’s no secret that we like stickers here at Mm, and when we discovered Tom’s laptop was in dire need of some more stickering, we reached out to our fans via twitter. Little did we know that we would be sent the motherload.

Kevin Derken, who has chosen to be known as klav9 in the world of internets, sent us a ‘selection’ of various stickers he made for a gallery installation last August, isometric pixely chaps based on famous characters from movies, games and that weird and wonderful place: reality.

The truly awesome stickers were distributed throughout the office; personally I ended up with an Anchorman set, a Ghostbuster, and some members of Team Zissou.

Other things we got sent after talking loudly on twitter: lots of teabags!

Thank you Mm friends, you really are the best people ever!

Media Molecule’s very own John Connor (AKA Luke Petre) has struck a blow for the resistance and defied Skynet, by having the metal plates removed from his leg. The plates (which made him part man, part machine, all cop, wait that’s another movie) were put in place following an encounter with an out of control motorbike; presumably a motorbike escaping a giant truck driven by a T-1000, sent through time to destroy someone or other.

He’s home at the moment recovering and making gory photo montages like the one above and not working on LittleBigPlanet. All of us at Mm would like to wish him a speedy recovery, our tools need you Luke!

Er, Hasta la vista?