Speaking at Gamefest 2007, Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox Live Silver Platform (XLSP). This is a new means by which developers will be able to deliver data to Xbox Live through publisher servers rather than Microsoft’s. The main upshot of this is that it will allow for PC mods and maps to make their way to Xbox games, much in the same way that Epic is going to do with its map content for the upcoming Unreal Tournament III on PS3.

There’s no underestimating how much good Xbox Live has done for Microsoft’s effort in the console war. It has raised the benchmark for online capabilities in modern consoles, but it is rapidly being ripped off by those awkward buggers from Sony. And then being offered for free – how rude is that? Nonetheless, despite Sony’s best efforts, Microsoft still rules the roost in the online gaming space, causing Sony to turn to more drastic methods.

User Generated Content is the key to that – be it from Sony’s upcoming customisable Home space, from sharing user made maps and mods with the aforementioned Unreal Tournament III, or from user videos planned for SingStar PS3. This has been grabbing the attention of gamers and media alike and inspiring criticism for Microsoft’s overprotective nature. XLSP, if it does what it appears to, could really help turn the tables once more.

But User Generated Content is very much a double edged sword. When you look at it through the rose tinted spectacles of next-gen innovation, it looks wonderful a wonderful playground of interactivity and creativity. The problem is that real people don’t behave exactly how you want them – just look at the Forza 2 racism controversy for a prime example.

In opening up your service to the unwashed masses, you’re asking for trouble. How long will it be before someone manages to sneak through their own UT3 mod that allows you to assume the persona of an unshaven hobo in a dirty mac repeatedly firing his love custard canon at passing school children? (Don’t use that as inspiration please). It wouldn’t even need to be something that daft incendiary… remember the fuss caused by that hapless student who made a counter-strike map incorporating part of his school?

Microsoft has built a great reputation for Live that it stands to lose if it is touched by a similar scandal. The XLSP sensibly puts the responsibility for content in the hands of the game publishers so it can at least distance itself once the shit starts hitting the fan - which, sadly, it inevitably will.

Source
1Up

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