Valve: consoles must open up to user-created content

“I choose you Homebrew!” Valve’s marketing director said. Okay, not really, but Doug Lombardi did point out that the next-gen game console should embrace user-created content. Because the viewpoint of the world’s marketing experts say that games on any platform would primarily be online, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo might want to open up their doors to content from users.

“I would argue that it’s the biggest component those guys have to get over if they want online to matter,” said the PC gaming platform advocate. The PC already has adapted to accommodate the creativity from average users. Valve’s own Half Life and Team Fortress Classic were very good multiplayer games.

But when a college student from Canada and a high school student from New Jersey got hold of Valve’s code, they created Counter-Strike which simply kicked the life out of Half-Life and Team Fortress formerly on top of the multiplayer game list. Lombardi sees that the PC has the ability to outlast the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, because it allows user-created content.

“The PC has that great advantage; has had that great advantage, and it comes from multiplayer and modding starting in the early ’90s and [online] multiplayer only showing up on consoles in 2000 or 2001,” said Lombardi. He noted that it has had more that a decade’s worth of advancement that the restrictive next-gen consoles have to catch up with.

Games that originate on the PC with level editing tools are often repackaged without the customizability on consoles. Xbox Live Arcade‘s Eets was cited as an example. Valve even admits that a console port of Portal will probably also reflect the same restrictions.

But Sony is slowly getting there with Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet, though it still comes with a certain limitations. “I would love to see [user-created content capability] happen, but I think the platform holders are always going to need certification, which means it’s usually going to have to be a commercial thing,” Lombardi concluded.

Via Games Industry

“I choose you Homebrew!” Valve’s marketing director said. Okay, not really, but Doug Lombardi did point out that the next-gen game console should embrace user-created content. Because the viewpoint of the world’s marketing experts say that games on any platform would primarily be online, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo might want to open up their doors to content from users.

“I would argue that it’s the biggest component those guys have to get over if they want online to matter,” said the PC gaming platform advocate. The PC already has adapted to accommodate the creativity from average users. Valve’s own Half Life and Team Fortress Classic were very good multiplayer games.

But when a college student from Canada and a high school student from New Jersey got hold of Valve’s code, they created Counter-Strike which simply kicked the life out of Half-Life and Team Fortress formerly on top of the multiplayer game list. Lombardi sees that the PC has the ability to outlast the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, because it allows user-created content.

“The PC has that great advantage; has had that great advantage, and it comes from multiplayer and modding starting in the early ’90s and [online] multiplayer only showing up on consoles in 2000 or 2001,” said Lombardi. He noted that it has had more that a decade’s worth of advancement that the restrictive next-gen consoles have to catch up with.

Games that originate on the PC with level editing tools are often repackaged without the customizability on consoles. Xbox Live Arcade‘s Eets was cited as an example. Valve even admits that a console port of Portal will probably also reflect the same restrictions.

But Sony is slowly getting there with Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet, though it still comes with a certain limitations. “I would love to see [user-created content capability] happen, but I think the platform holders are always going to need certification, which means it’s usually going to have to be a commercial thing,” Lombardi concluded.

Via Games Industry