Continuing with this week's User-Generated Content theme, it seems gamesblog isn't the only outlet to suggest that content creation is essential for the continuing evolution of the games industry. Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi recently waved the UGC flag during an interview with gamesindustry.biz.
From the company that created Half Life, the game which spawned some of the great first person shooter mods, comes big respect for the PC dev community:
"Half-Life 1 was okay as a multiplayer game and Team Fortress Classic was really good, but Counter-Strike kicked both their asses no question. And that came from a kid going to college in Canada and another kid going to high school in New Jersey, who had our code and thought it would be cool to play our game.
"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.
You've got a good 10-to-15-year lead there and you still have broken pathways on both consoles, so the PC has the advantage of time and a clear pathway
Our interview with Little Big Planet's Leo Cubbin earlier this week demonstrated that PlayStation's heart is in the right place, but the Sony walled garden will keep that user-generated experience firmly siloed unless the bods throw their sights a little wider and create games which other people can play. Someone once tried to convince me that the PC is the machine for Everyman. I was sceptical. Now, with hindsight, I believe him.
