Its not unusual for new
trends to emerge at each annual Electronics Entertainment Exposition. Video games
represent a relatively young but now thriving and dynamic industry that has been steadily
gaining market share in the entertainment sector. In 2001, video game sales increased 43%
to some $9.4 billion, approaching the music business and surpassing box office revenues.
Growing numbers of people are tuning out, preferring to turn on their PlayStation 2s,
Nintendo GameCubes, Microsoft Xboxes, and PCs.Important changes are happening
within the industry itself. Consoles continue to grow in popularity. According to a recent
study by the IDSA, the percentage of console gamers has officially surpassed PC gamers.
How are PC developers keeping their fan base and distinguishing PC games from the console
crowd? One answer is that theyre not; an increasing number of games are ported from
PC to console, and in a dramatic shift, games like Grand Theft Auto 3 are actually being
ported from console to PC. Its now undeniable that PCs are just one more gaming
platform, different from but no more capable than consoles, particularly Microsofts
powerhouse Xbox. But there are important differences between PCs and consoles, and many
game designers are exploiting these differences to revolutionize the PC gaming industry in
exciting ways. One of this years biggest revolutions is the trend to encourage a
cult of PC gamers known as modders people who use existing games to create new
contentby enclosing a games design tools. This practice certainly isnt
newin the simplest sense, gamers have been building maps for Unreal Tournament,
Quake 3, and other games for years, and Half Life mods have allowed that game to survive
long past its, ahem, half life. But this year shows a new level of user-friendliness in
the design tools, allowing even the most casual PC gamers to develop their creative sides
while contributing to the scope, strength, and playability of their favorite games.
Neverwinter Nights is at the
head of the pack. Their Aurora Toolset promises to have average users creating satisfying
dungeon crawls within the hour. BioWare plans to ship some mods with the original release
and will immediately begin adding content to its mod download site. Simon and Schuster
will publish Soldiers of Anarchy with a toolset that promises to be as user
friendly and powerful as the Aurora. Soldiers of Anarchy developers are even working to
have their toolset support 3D Studio Max and GTS files. Mod support on this title will be
as exceptional as that of Neverwinter Nights, if not more so, with producers also hoping
to include mods in the original release and provide immediate content via internet.
Once
causal gamers become experienced modders with this seasons new array of user
friendly tools, they may wish to make the jump to building their own games. They will be
met with little resistance as the user-friendly trend expands to professional game
developing software. An Australian company called Auran has created a graphics engine
designed for the small-time developer looking to make it big. Their Jet graphics engine is
currently being used by more than 100 commercial developers, yet is available for
non-commercial licensing for about US$99.00. Thats rightfor less than a
hundred bucks modders can become developers, and if their game hits it big they only pay
about thirty thousand dollars for a commercial license. Jet is reportedly so easy to use
that three developers and three artists created a whole new game with it in just seven
weeks. For modders looking to make a name for themselves in the industry with their first
original title, this product seems ideal. More information about the Auran Jet graphics
engine can be found at www.auranjet.com.
For now, modding is a unique feature of PCs that allows players to interact with their
favorite games in a more intimate way. This ability also seems to be unique to the medium
of video games. You cannot write another chapter of your favorite book and expect the
publisher to distribute it or fans to read it. Nor can you film another hour of your
favorite movie. In part because of the wide distribution base of mods, PC games are
tearing down the bridge between reader and author in a way that literary critics like
Roland Barthes never imagined. Now readers dont just create the story they read by
constructing the narrative in their minds; they are given the ability to add to the text
itself. This doesnt just look like a revolution in PC gamesit could
revolutionize readers relationships to the text, affording a whole slew of new
theoretical implications.
Dont let me overstate thingsthe mod revolution has been going for some time
now, and this reader/writer relationship has already begun to flux. This season serves to
highlight the point, to swell the ranks of a revolution that is only being staged on one
platformthe PC.