How to play LBPKarting online (if in America)

[darkalphar]

Once in while I see players asking whether servers are online or not (and they're almost always in NA region), so I decided to make this post with most recent and relevant information.

 

The only LBPK servers that are down are in Japan (and so are LBP, LBP2, LBP3, and LBP Vita for that matter). The rest of online servers are up and going strong as far as I can tell, and players outside America have confirmed to me that they're able to go online. HOWEVER if you are using US version of LBPK (both physical and digital) and live in NA, it's almost guaranteed that you will have problems getting online at all. I know because I have both versions and still couldn't connect online at all, and I've heard from many players with same problem. 

 

Fortunately there is a way around this problem if you're willing to spend a bit extra effort and money as it involves getting UK version of LBPKarting. I previously posted this information in a different thread but I will repeat it here.

 

The UK version is at https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/games/littlebigplanet-karting/cid=EP9000-NPEA00421_00-GBETALITTL000001 and it normally costs £10.99 (approximately $14.50), but once in while it goes on sale. Currently (as of 7/30/17) it's on sale for £5.79.

 

To buy the game, you'll need to create an U.K. account. Google for info on how to do that, and you'll need a valid email address that Sony can verify, and not registered with any of PSN accounts you have. If you plan to create an account and buy game via your computer, make sure to clear your browser cache otherwise you'll be auto-redirected back to NA PSN store. 

 

You'll also need a U.K. £ PSN card to redeem to pay for the game. A good place to buy one is at Play-Asia.com, which has digital version of PSN card in £5 denominations from £5 to £50 of which you'll receive code within your Play-Asia.com verified account (the code won't appear if the account isn't verified first, even if you bought it) almost immediately. Redeem that on your new U.K. account and buy the game and download it (it's a 14GB file so you'll need about 30GB of free space). Make sure to start the game once in order to update the game to the latest version.

 

You'll also need free online pass. I didn't get to verify whether UK game came with it because I already had NA online pass installed and apparently it worked for the UK version but just in case you can get the UK pass at https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/games/littlebigplanet-karting-network-pass/cid=EP9000-BCES01422_00-ONLINEACCESSXXXR (or if you want US version, https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/games/littlebigplanet-karting-online-pass/cid=UP9000-BCUS98254_00-ONLINEACCESSXXXX), courtesy of Morfea.

 

Once all that's done, you can switch back to your original PSN account and play the game and be able to connect online. As long as you do not delete your U.K. user account on PS3 you can play the U.K. version of game. Just be aware that none of your USA LBPK data (both physical and digital version- I can confirm this) will import over to the U.K. version so you'll be starting over on that format. However with this version you'll finally be able to play online once you finish the tutorial courses, so I think that's a small price to pay.  

 

Finally, both (digital and physical) NA and UK version of LBPK uses same trophy list so you won't have to redo any trophies you've gotten previously, but will still have to redo any progress toward those you haven't gotten. If you don't want to spend extra effort, then you could continue your offline trophy progress on NA version and do your online trophies on UK version.

 

I also confirm that as of 7/31/17 LBPK servers are still up and running as I was able to go online and race a track.

Edited August 1, 2017 by darkalphar
Added online pass info, update details

[Sergen]

I was expecting this to be a thread about using that version to get online again, but I've had the platinum on the UK version for over a year. At least you provide good information about buying UK versions and whatnot, some people might still have difficulty deciding to go ahead and purchase a different version of a game just for the platinum, but as long as it rescues people then it's all good. 

[Crazy]

Does online data transfer from NA to UK? Only trophies I need left are online ones so I luckily don't have to restart my story progress or anything.

[darkalphar]

I think any online account data (tracks you made, race stats, etc) stays associated with your account id regardless of version used. So even if you originally used NA version to do online stuff, then switch over to UK version, as long as you're still using the same NA account to access online I think everything will be still there.

 

@Sergen That was my intention, to help provide info for those who still want to access online aspect of LBPK yet unable to do so with with NA version in one convent thread. After all, I bought physical version because a lot sources claimed that it was the only way to get online. I'll even quote LBPK trophy guide by MrSwagtwiceover:

 

Quote

This, unfortunately, means that anyone who bought the game pre-owned and did not yet get the pass is out of luck, and will need to buy a new copy in order to get online. Alternatively, you can choose to delete the game, then re-buy and re-download the ~8 GB file from a secondary account. The more viable option is to get the disc, and everyone who has the pass should still be able to earn all online trophies.

 

That was not the case for me, so I essentially wasted money getting the disc version. But UK version option worked wonders for me, so it would've been nice if I had known about that option much earlier. I'm sure I'm not the only who had same problem so at the very least hope isn't lost for them.

 

I'd like to know, though if UK isn't the only version that we can use to access online. Japan is obviously out of question, but what about others? If there are alternatives beside UK, I can add them to the OP thread.