Next-gen Consoles Need to Embrace Modding

Now, for a while it looked like PC gaming was all going the way of the dodo, but - having battled piracy to an uneasy stalemate - it's well and truly back in the big time. Lazarus mod your heart out. In part, that's ostensibly because everybody who considers themselves a remotely hardcore gamer is sick to the hind teeth with the near-obsolete tech currently masquerading as cutting edge console gaming, and many have treated themselves to a beige box in lieu of any shiny new consoles.

[Hatsune-Miku]

No

[ChickeyCantor]

You're so F'n terrible. Why not?

[Hatsune-Miku]

I'd like developers to make games to the best of their abilities and not leave certain things up to modders to do.

[knowyourstuff]

One problem with mods is people can access and copy the source code and pirate the game like what they do with PC games.

As a concept I agree, it would be fantastic. Especially when game designers have no talent and no ability to create good games, we need the gaming community to get it right.

[ChickeyCantor]

@Hatsune

That's not the point of modding you twat.

[Hatsune-Miku]

When asked about why skyrim looks like its a console port on pc a Bethesda rep said that the modding community will come up with some amazing things and referred to graphical enhancements.

Hello fans

[ChickeyCantor]

You are implying modding is meant to improve what the devs have created. Modding simply means "Modify". It doesn't mean "improve". Devs do what they can within their budget. If someone decides to improve on some graphical areas it doesn't mean the definition changes.

You are actually implying that DayZ is an improvement over Arma II. Eventhough DayZ is virtually a different type of game.

Now that I think of it, do you even understand what modding is?

[KRUSSIDULL]

Devolopers would need to leave out some hardware for the modders then wich would mean they wouldnt take advantage of the console(s) hardware.

Mods need more RAM, GPU, CPU something that a PC can offer because you CPU isnt working 100%, you still have RAM left for plenty of mods and your GPU will just put out less FPS to keep up rendering the new graphics from mods.

[GribbleGrunger]

Agreed. I want a console, not a PC. The last thing I want to see is any more PC snobs getting attracted to next gen consoles. Leave them to there quite corner where they can mod to their hearts content and leave the TV for social gatherings and fun.

[Ducky]

Well, you're behaving like a snob yourself with that comment.

Online gaming and social features were also something that PCs had but consoles didn't; were you against that too?

Not sure why you'd want to deprive yourself from preventing the community from creating content for your games. Guess you must hate LittleBigPlanet then.

[Allsystemgamer]

Hey guess what? I game on my tv with my pc. Guess what? Lbp had mods. Hey guess what? Ut3 has mods.

Hey guess what? Consoles didn't have online games first. Hey guess what? Your the snob.

[BrutallyBlunt]

You're right GribbleGrunger, anyone wanting the best experience are all snobs.

[TheFinalEpisode]

Games with create and share are just a taste of modding, imagine what people would do in Skyrim on the 360 if it had creating or modding tools. As long as they don't ruin the multiplayer in a game with modded lobbies, over-powered guns etc modding would just be an extra feature to the game.

[execution17]

lol probably even be able to fix skyrim on ps3 >.> twas horrible on there and surprised I even managed to get the plat

[WeskerChildReborned]

Are you crazy? If Next gen consoles had modding, they would be even more awesome.

[BitbyDeath]

You all forget that Sony tried putting Linux on PS3 which ended in disaster. It'll never happen again, at least not for a long long time, hackers have already seen to it.

[Ducky]

Linux has nothing to do with modding.

You already have a game on PS3 that can be modded, and that is LittleBigPlanet. The creation tools are essentially modding tools.

[BitbyDeath]

You'd need linux (or something similar) if you want to do proper modding like on PC.

Didn't think this article was referring to controlled modding? I hope we see plenty more of that.

[Allsystemgamer]

You don't get the point of modding at all. Silly console gamers and the lack of research they do.

Mods offer what devs don't. FREE EXTRA CONTENT. How is that a bad thing?

[JONESY6]

Those mods in the picture are graphical mods. They bring high end computers to their knees. With consoles we are dealing with fixed hardware. So graphics mods on fixed hardware would either need to very minimalistic, or have to be very optimized, or turn the game into a slide show.

The only mods for consoles would be weapon or armor mods and the like. Why would companies let users give out free mods when the companies can make the content themselves and profit off of it?

Mods will always be PC exclusive. Long Live PC Master Race!

[CGI-Quality]

"Mods will always be PC exclusive".

Eh, Unreal Tournament III and LittleBigPlanet (both on PS3), beg to differ.

Still, no doubt one of the greatest attributes to PC gaming has been modding. Depending on who you talk to more mods on console could be either great or awful.

[bubblebeam]

I don't game on PC, only on PS3 and 360. But I love watching PC mod videos, whether it be graphics mods for Crysis or making yourself and enemies giant in Fallout 3.

Graphics mods won't really work that well, unless there are interchangeable graphics cards (0.001% chance) or after a few years a modder uses the technological advances and or understanding of the consoles capabilites to "upgrade" launch titles.

I'd love to see it happen, maybe have mod only playlists in games for fun. My only worry is that when people are given power, they abuse it and some smart alec kids use it to screw someone else over, which in the end makes everyone suffer.

Love for it to happen, but I simply cannot see how it would work on consoles.

[Allsystemgamer]

It would have to be adding models and levels and such. Pretty much it.

[attilayavuzer]

Even though it sounds good in concept, in reality it'd turn into a huge nightmare unless companies monitored and QA'd everything before it was released.

[wishingW3L]

modding on consoles wouldn't work. Mods are made to enhance the games and modify them and that often needs more power and the PC has plenty to spare. But devs tend to take full advantage of the consoles since they are proprietary and mods like GTA IV's iCEnhancer wouldn't work. In fact, they would only hurt the overall performance of the games.

[madjedi]

It won't happen on consoles because then how would publishers sell us dlc and it sounds like a good way to crash/over work a system.

The consoles are probably delicately balanced between performance and maintaining reasonable heat lvl/cooling capacity. You don't have remotely high end cooling solutions in these systems, they are made as cheaply as possible.

And ask any pc gamer, that builds their own systems, the cheapest parts especially for cooling should be avoided if possible.

Short of water or liquid nitrogen, you can never have too much cooling for a system.

They could do something with console mods, but i don't expect it will be much.

[kasasensei]

hahahaha KEEP DREAMING MAN!

[Somebody]

Just like the PC itself, there are many types of mods and modders. Total conversions (very rare these days), graphical mods (most popular one), gameplay tweaks, fan/custom made models/maps/missions(mostly for sims) and UI tweaks to name a few.

The Crysis DX10 effects unlocker mod made my old PC cry while the pet mod for Torchlight does nothing to my PC's performance.

So remember those examples when saying any kind of modding would break the game or bring down a PC. Stop generalizing things only to their negative attributes.

[Saturne3]

Its wiser to go for pc gaming if ppl want mods that badly.