Confirmed: LocoRoco PS3 is a screensaver

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Action, Adventure, Online

Rumor has it LocoRoco Cocoreccho is not a game, but a downloadable PS3 screensaver. Now Sony says it true, according to IGN. But the pseudo-sequel isn't characterized by passive voyeurism, rather it's a fully-interactive, uh, 'game' -- complete with objectives and an online leaderboard. Contrary to previous observation, SixAxis tilts will be used to manipulate the gameworld and guide up to 200 on-screen blobs, and Cocoreccho, the butterfly, is actually an automated guide (not the player's character). The real mystery now is what makes LocoRoco a screensaver. Will it launch automatically when the PS3 is idle; when a game or movie is paused? Could this be the start of a new initiative to knit PSN games into a seamless PS3 experience in which taking a "casual" break doesn't mean quitting to the XMB? We certainly hope so.

LocoRoco will be available on Japan's PSN September 21st. North American and European release dates have yet to be assigned.

Update: MTV's Stephen Totilo has gotten his hands on LocoRoco, and, while he's equally puzzled about the screensaver functionality (and even unsure it's true -- his demo launched from the XMB), he is able to clarify the core gameplay controls: Players do control the fluttering Cocoreccho and use the left analog stick to guide the butterfly -- titling the gameworld with SixAxis motions was not possible during Totilo's playtest. However, shaking the SixAxis when hovering above a key object does trigger certain gameworld alterations.

According to Totilo, LocoRoco is almost "an old-school point-and-click adventure game. We used the butterfly as a mouse pointer and utilized shakes of the Sixaxis controller in place of probing mouse clicks."

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[via] Joystiq