User-generated content is one of the Internet's big buzzwords these days, covering everything from Mentos videos on YouTube to embarrassing I-was-so-drunk snapshots on Facebook. But the concept hasn't gotten much traction in the console gaming world until recently.
Sony got the ball rolling with "Unreal Tournament III." PlayStation 3 owners can download user-created levels for the first-person shooter and play them on their consoles.
While the process is a little clunky, since you have to download the levels to your PC and then transfer them to your console with a memory card, it's a good idea.
While Microsoft has somewhat inexplicably refused to allow user-created levels in the Xbox 360 version of "Unreal Tournament III," the company is taking a big leap into user-generated content.
The company announced at the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that it will soon let Xbox 360 users download games made by other gamers.
To make a game for the Xbox Live service, you have to use Microsoft's XNA Game Studio software or be an XNA Creators Club member, and all games will have to be approved by Microsoft. So that "Hit Bill Gates in the Face With a Cream Pie" game you've been brainstorming probably isn't a good candidate for this platform.
But gamers will get a chance to dabble with some cool, creative titles that wouldn't normally be created by a mainstream publisher. It wouldn't be surprising if a handful of the most impressive amateur game makers go on to full-time careers in the industry.
After all, that's been happening for years on the PC side of the gaming world. The team members who developed the hit game "Portal," for example, got their start by creating a similar game, "Narbacular Drop," while in school and getting noticed by the big boys at Valve Software.
