Same problem here. First for my Ubuntu VM and later also for my Lubuntu (very smart to update this one as well after the problems on Ubuntu...).

But: since the cause is in the kernel update, I thought I could try and reboot a previous version of the kernel. By pressing the shift-key while booting, the grub-menu appears and then you can select to boot one of the "Previous Linux Versions". Here I picked the top-one (most likely 3.2.0.63, depending on the update frequency)  and this boots just fine with a normal screen layout.

Until this kernel / VMWare problem is fixed, this can be used as workaround.

By the way: I use player version 3.0.1, so it does not seem to be related to player version 6.02.