Mods for the masses

Oct 29, 2009 11:53 GMT  ·  By

It seems that BioWare is including user-generated content in its plans for Dragon Age: Origins, the role playing game set to debut on the Xbox 360 and on the PC on November 3, and on the PlayStation 3 later on during the same month. The videogame marks a return to the roots for BioWare, with the company comparing it to both Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, its Dungeons & Dragons-based titles that have always had a very loyal and involved player community.

And one of the elements that those games had and Dragon Age is set to also offer is a lot of ways of enjoying user-generated content, which basically means game mods. And it seems that the developers are working on making sure that those who are playing on home gaming consoles can also see content made by others using the toolset delivered on the PC.

Talking to The Game Reviews, Mark Darrah, who is an executive producer at BioWare, said that “There are certainly some issues with getting user generated content onto the consoles, but it would be something we would love to do. So we are exploring that right now.”

Given the tight control that Microsoft and Sony have over what is being offered through the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, BioWare will probably need to keep an eye on the mods that are being created on the PC, take some of them on board, re-develop them so that they pass certification on the gaming consoles and then release them.

On the one hand, this allows some of the best content created by players on the PC to reach the wider community, probably for a lower price than an official expansion. On the other hand, the process might prove lengthy and console gamers might not be interested in anything beyond the core game experience.