History in the Making: UT3 and the First User-Created Content for a PS3

"This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" - Neil Armstrong said that when he first set foot on the moon, and it's something we should say right now (OK, maybe if we overreact it a little). The thing is that Epic has just announced that the first ever user created content for a gaming console (the PlayStation 3, in our case) is up and waiting to be downloaded by any- and everybody. It might not be a super mod or something similar, but it is user created. For consoles.

Unreal Tournament 3 is the game that will now be remembered as the first game in the console history to receive content created by users (and Epic says that this map is just the beginning, and we can hardly wait to see what's next).

"We're starting with a user-created map called DM-Shrine created by Thomas Browett, who goes by the name Setheran on the official UT3 forums. Thomas is a 23 year old graphic designer from Nottingham, England. [...] He finds the third generation Unreal Editor to be very friendly and feature rich." the Epic's Mark Rein said, and he continued: "DM-Shrine is is a great little map that's perfect (for) those close-quarters, 2-6 player, matches that keep your adrenaline pumping from beginning to end."

This DM-Shrine map was actually made for the PC and Epic took it, "cooked" it and made it work for the Playstation 3 as well (without modifying a thing to it, they say). So, for now, any map created by the game's fans (or any other kind of UT3 mods) will have to be tested by Epic first then baked for the PS3. This won't last long, though, since Epic is awaiting for "some paperwork" from Sony that will allow the devs to release an editor update so mod creators can do this baking process for themselves.

While this editor update is expected to be available very soon, Epic doesn't want to waste any time and, in exchange, make us waste our free holiday time: a mutator, a couple more maps, and a new game type, all of them user-created will be released tomorrow. But what a pleasant "waste" of time this will be!