The great and always controversial Sean Malstrom has brought us yet another article that will make us either hate his guts or disagree greatly with him.
The topic he decided to tackle? User" target="_blank" class="link">http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/user-generated-content-games-bombing-left-and-right/]User generated content
For those that are too lazy to read he is basically saying that focusing on user generated content might not be a smart thing since what people want is great content and that user generated content shouldn't be the main focus because its a niche concept only a few will truly get and enjoy.
To an extend, I agree with him. As much as I love Wii Music I find it disheartening that very few people actually got into the remixing process, thus I had no one to share my creations with. Meanwhile, I am excited for Animal Crossing City Folk since I know its a game everyone will get an enjoy without any hurdles to surpass.
He mentioned it along with Spore and Little Big Planet as examples of how games in which the main concept is creating your own content (Wii Music's is remixing songs, Little Big Planet is creating levels and Spore is creating creatures and seeing then evolve).
I personally believe that user generated content shouldn't disappear as there ARE fans for it and it does make the game more enjoyable (for me at least). However, I do agree with Sean that user generated content should be behind an already existing content so that people that can't get into it can still enjoy it and those that are more technical can enjoy messing around with it (kinda like how Guitar Hero World Tour offers a music studio alongside the main game).
The only thing I disagree with his comment that Mario Galaxy didn't expand the Mario universe enough. In my honest opinion, Galaxy might be the best Mario game in the 3D series and one of the best in terms of story and presentation. I found it very fascinating how the Mushroom people see the comet as a very special event and how the comet really is a home for baby stars run by the wonderful Rosalina. Galaxy made is clear that Mario can go anywhere and be a hero and that his universe is vast and infinite. I felt it was one of the more creative Mario games since Mario 3, and the gameplay was extremely tight. Why Sean is using it as an example of things wrong with modern gaming is beyond me...
