Nintendo has Mario, Microsoft has Master Chief, and Sega has Sonic. Now Sony is positioning LittleBigPlanet's Sackboy to be the next big thing with Wii-like appeal.

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Sackboy the new face of PlayStation?

"We want LittleBigPlanet to lead the charge into a new genre of gaming and turn Sackboy into the next emblematic character for the PS3," said Mark Valledor, product manager at Sony, in an interview with You must login or register to view this content. this week.

Historically, Sony has shunned the use of a primary mascot in favor of highlighting several diverse characters. By contrast, Nintendo has long used the face of Mario to represent the company, while Master Chief is commonly used as the symbol for Microsoft's Xbox brand.

"We have coined 2008 'the year of the PS3' and are confident that with the launch of LittleBigPlanet, we will continue to see the momentum build throughout the end of this year and on to the next," Valledor added. "This is a very big title for us."

That being the case, Sony is ramping up its promotional efforts and treating LittleBigPlanet as its holiday "killer-app" -- a departure for the company which usually relies on mature titles like Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid to move hardware.

We'll find out this October if Sackboy is up to the task.