The Future of Gaming is ... You!

March 12, 2007

One of the more interesting presentations at last week's Game Developer's Conference put the likes of Raph Koster and Dr. Ray Muzyka on a panel together to talk about user-created content. Check out the write-up on GameSpy.com.

There's no question that user-created game content is a major direction we're going to see the industry move. Obviously FilePlanet was started in part to support this movement. Then you've got a game like Spore, which is entirely built around gamers creating the game world. In another GDC panel, leading PC developers talked about how user-created content will help the PC game industry stay relevant in an age of connected consoles.

And I feel remiss in that I didn't blog about LittleBigPlanet, a nifty PS3 title Sony unveiled at GDC -- it soon became the talk of the show. Completely customizable, players in LittleBigPlanet would be able to dynamically create levels as they stroll around the map. Content players create would then be uploaded and shared online.

So, I don't need to tell you that user-created content will be huge -- we've known that for a long time. But what's interesting is that developers are still wrestling with how to best take advantage of this, which brings me back to the panel I talked about above. For instance: should you give players tools that are easy to use, so that more people can create things? Or do you want to make the tools more complicated and powerful, so that players can create cooler stuff? Also, most people accept that 90% of everything people create will be crap, so how do you make sure players can find the 10% that's good?

Nobody has solved these problems, but the best minds in the industry are wrestling with them as we speak. See what people were saying at GDC!

      -Fargo

• Building Viral Bridges -GameSpy
• Twilight Reflections in the Hourglass -GameSpy
• IGA Speaks: The Pros and Cons of 2D Games -GameSpy
• Sharing Control: Avoiding User-Generated Headaches -GameSpy
• U.S. Release Date Revision (03.12.07) -IGN
• Xbox 360 Gears of War Bundle Coming -IGN
• GDC 2007: XNA Games Come to Life -IGN
• GDC 2007: "The Wii is NOT a Piece of $#&%!" -IGN
• GDC 2007: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Preview -TeamXbox
• Halo Wars: New UNSC Vehicle Revealed -TeamXbox
• GDC Week in Review -Next Generation
• Sony Aims for October Home Launch -Next Generation
• Take-Two Q1 Revenue Up, Loss Narrowed -GameDaily Biz
• GDC: Todd Hollenshead vs. Pirates -GameDaily Biz

• Half-Life - Exclusive Interview with Caliber! - Planet Half-Life
• Half-Life 2 - Master Blasters Beta Update - Planet Half-Life
• Battlefield 2 - BattleGroup-Frontlines Update - Planet Battlefield
• Battlefield 2 - Allied Intent Xtended Update - Planet Battlefield
• Oblivion - Oblivion Mods Update - Planet Elder Scrolls

• Boards: Foxconn N68S7AA-8EKRS2H nForce 680i - Tweaktown
• Cases: Four Unique ATX Cases Compared - THG
• Cases: NZXT Zero case - DV Hardware
• Cooling: Bluegears 'B-Flexi' & 'B-Cool' Cooling Fans - Virtual-Hideout
• Cooling: Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 CPU Cooler - Thinkcomputers.org
• : CPUIntel Core2 Q6600 CPU - Overclockers Club
• Memory: Kingston 2GB HyperX PC2-9200 - TechAge
• Memory: Mushkin XP2-8500 Memory - Overclockers Club
• Mice: Creative Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse - GamePyre
• Power Supplies: OCZ ProXstream 1000W - Madshrimps
• Power Supplies: XClio Stable Power 460W and 850W - Overclockers Online
• Video: Factory Overclocked 8800 Roundup - Anandtech
• Video: Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb Roundup - Madshrimps
• Video: XFX 7600 GT Fatal1ty Video Card - Modders-Inc
• Wheels: Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel - Boomtown
• Windows: Dell: Absolutely Free Vista Upgrade 70% Off - Consumerist

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