Ever since Kodu was announced, people started to say that it’s going to be Microsoft’s answer to MediaMolecule’s LittleBigPlanet and people started endless debates trying to decide whether it is or not. GamesIndustry did the next logic thing to answer the questions: interviewed Kodu‘s lead programmer Matt MacLaurin. And just to make things clear from start – no, he doesn’t consider that there are many similarities between Kodu and LBP.

He admitted that the two titles represent a “new wave” in the industry, which has some catching up to do, but otherwise, the two pieces of software are different, with Kodu being more of a programming language rather than a level editor.

“I’m a big music fan, with very diverse tastes, and one thing I noticed is that when you start to listen to other genres – like jazz or reggae – your first impression is that everything in that genre all sounds the same,” MacLaurin explained. “Reggae all has that backwards bass line. Rock always has a backbeat. Jazz always has that spangalang thing on the cymbal. When you’re new to the genre, that’s all you hear. When you develop an ear for it, the differences leap out.”

In other, less metaphorical words, “Kodu is all about programming – a legitimately new programming language that is being patented and studied by some of the top language theorists in the world,” he said, adding: LittleBigPlanet is a super-cool level-editor that by-and-large avoids programming, as far as I understand. So, yeah, you can reposition objects and hit ‘play’ in both. Beyond that, they’re about as similar as pinball and cross-country skiing.”

So, here we are. They’re not similar, although they are. Listen more Reggae and you’ll understand.