Chances are you’ve been constantly refreshing your RSS feeds this week in an attempt to get access to the LittleBigPlanet beta. As keys fly out the door, people are jumping into what is promising to be one of the most unique experiences out there, and Sony couldn’t be happier. When contacted by TheGameReviews.com, Sony’s Scott Goryl said, "We are definitely excited about the overwhelmingly positive response to the beta; but to be honest, we know LittleBigPlanet is an exceptional title so we’re not at all surprised." We’re accustomed to people getting worked up for a beta key, but this time things have gone to a new level however, as people have been auctioning off their access codes to overzealous, under motivated individuals with deep pockets for prices of up to $90.

It’s strange to see this pay-to-play phenomenon emerge suddenly, as no other game to date has any record of such public buying and selling of beta keys. Over the summer, the Battlefield: Bad Company beta was a hot ticket, but nobody started hawking their codes; ditto for Sony’s recent Home beta. Are we starting to see the emergence of a new black market for beta keys? Will Gears of War 2 and Halo Wars see their betas crashed by paying customers rather than volunteers? How will game companies stem the tide of this questionable practice or do they even care?

I must admit, I’ve never seen another game where the hype level is so high that people actually pay to get into the beta. It really says something about the excitement level for LBP to see this sort of activity. At this point, is anyone not planning to buy this game?