Sony's recent landmark announcement about Unreal Tournament 3 user mods being available on the PS3 version of the game raises the question: Why hasn't Microsoft gotten around to this?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember being back at E3 2005 sitting in the theater at Microsoft's booth watching the video where they detail all the great things about their just-announced Xbox 360. During the portion of the video where they were describing the features of Xbox Live Marketplace there was heavy mention about users being able to create and sell content to other users. Ever since then I've been wondering when this was going to happen, and now, Sony has thrown down the hammer with a furious thud.

Does anyone remember "Velocity Girl"? She was the virtual face of the "casual/non-gamer" for the 360. She was shown as enjoying Xbox Live Arcade games as well as creating her own line of tee shirts to make sure your in-game characters are up to the highest fashion standards. Essentially she represented everything that the non-gamer in your household might be interested in (you know, the whole audience that Nintendo has enchanted with the Wii). Personally, I'd like to know what the hell happened to her and all that she stood for.

As you might have heard in BitCast 16, I thought the UT3 news from Sony was the biggest thing to be announced last week at E3. It represents a major change for people who have only been console gamers all their lives and a great option for PC gamers who can't afford a dream rig to run UT3 and its mods (let's face it, $600 is the price of a decent DX10 card). Personally, I spent more time playing mods in UT2004 than I did playing the game itself. The user mods are what made Epic Games who they are today and they still embrace and enable the community to have free reign with their games.

Is Microsoft worried about what the user might create? The recent news of various user-created cars up for auction in Forza 2 bearing offensive paint jobs might be an argument against it, but isn't that a few bad apples theory? I'm an optimist and I'd like to believe that not EVERY person on Xbox Live is an asshole, though it all-too-often seems to be the case.

With as well as mostly everything on Xbox Live runs I'd like to believe that it's completely technically possible for user-generated content to be offered. I can only be left to hope that Sony has lit a fire under Microsoft's ass and that they'll be unveiling something soon but until then, I'll keep an eye out for Velocity Girl to show her casual head again.

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