First User-Created UTIII Mod Created for PS3

For the time being, mod creators have to jump through an official 'hoop' with Epic games to see their content made available to Unreal Tournament III PS3 players (something Tycho lambasts Epic for at Penny Arcade). Just the same, content is beginning to trickle out, and Eurogamer has the word that DM-Shrine is now available for download for holiday-bored PS3 owners. "Epic didn't make this map. Thomas did and he already released it for PC users of UT3. We didn't do any editing or changes to it. All we did was bring it into the editor and "cook" it into the proper format for the PlayStation 3 and tested it to make sure it ran properly and was good fun. We're waiting on some paperwork from Sony that will allow us to release an editor update so mod creators can do this cook process for themselves. We expect to have that very soon."

Comments

First created by whom?

[Anonymous Coward]

I read that crackers have opened up the PS3, and have made them run custom software. It's just too bad DarkAlex of PSP fame has gone into hiding.

Re:First created by whom?

[Slashdot Suxxors]

Another MyMiniCity link. Don't click.

Re:First created by whom?

[Pojut]

What is this MyMiniCity crap that has suddenly popped up over the past week? I would just go to the site myself and find out, but I've been happily spyware-free for the past three years...

Re:First created by whom?

[darkhitman]

Even if you weren't just an annoying troll, you should at least know that DarkAlex never actually left. He just hid under the pretense of team m33 (or something like that), to see how the community would react to his disappearance.

Re:First created by whom?

[the_tsi]

It appears to be some sort of web-based simcity-alike game where you get resources/points/money based on pageviews, obviously a gimmick to generate ad impressions. Some of the players trick people into doing pageviews ala rickrolling or goatse, except now they've realized getting a first or second post on slashdot generates a bazillion clicks, accidental or otherwise.

Yeah, it's stupid.

Re:First created by whom?

[Pojut]

See...on the surface, that actually sounds kind of fun. In reality (as we are seeing, and as you so eliquently already stated), that's fucking stupid.

Re:First created by whom?

[AmaDaden]

It's just the latest spam attack on slashdot. I would be real surprised if their slashdot spaming got them even one recurring visiter. It'll end, they always do.

Re:First created by whom?

[Anonymous Coward]

MyMiniCity should allow us to create a negative link. Take the original and apply some algorithm to get the link that subtracts resources/points/money or adds to the chance/intensity/duration of a natural disaster hitting the city. Then you might have to be careful where you decide to spam your links ...

Re:First created by whom?

[FredFredrickson]

Yeah, oh and by the way, cool.. playstation and stuff.

Back on topic now.. darn trolls. Let's build an even bigger city with more clicks then him! That'll show 'em!

Re:First created by whom?

[Thansal]

Well, all of these websites proclaim that unsolicited links are against the rules and are a banable offense.

But then again, do you really think they are going to ban some guy that just got that a few thousand impressions?

Re:First created by whom?

[Aladrin]

Good idea. I went ahead and did it.

http://slashdotcity.myminicity.com/

It'll be interesting to see if people spread this link and it actually grows.

Re:First created by whom?

[bdeclerc]

Let's build an even bigger city with more clicks then him! That'll show 'em! With hookers and blackjack?

Re:First created by whom?

[fbjon]

I went there and checked. There is actually a text that says something to the effect of "send this link to all your friends!1", and here we are.

Re:First created by whom?

[Morlark]

I know that the (original) french version of the game allowed you to do exactly that. I'm hoping that this feature will eventually be introduced to the international version too, because as you say, people spamming these shitty links is really quite annoying.

Re:First created by whom?

[Darth]

MyMiniCity should allow us to create a negative link. Take the original and apply some algorithm to get the link that subtracts resources/points/money or adds to the chance/intensity/duration of a natural disaster hitting the city. Then you might have to be careful where you decide to spam your links ...

Actually, this is a pretty brilliant idea from the game owner's perspective. It would allow them to generate ad impressions on people retaliating against people spamming their own links. It would also create a meta-game where players could snipe each other with negative links. The game owner would probably triple their ad views from that. Of course, from the perspective of people reading slashdot articles who aren't playing the game, it would probably also double the amount of spam crap we have to deal with.

If they really wanted to discourage spamming, they should include a complaint link on the page it sends you to that aggregates the complaints against the referrer (or something) to determine the obnoxiousness level of spam link. Then it hammers the user with permanent negative points based on that value. That would encourage people to click the spam (and generate ad views) so they could click the complaint link and harm the spammer, and it would keep other players from being able to spam negative links about their competitors.

I'm sure there are flaws in that idea too, that was just something i thought of while typing this and thought i'd include for the hell of it.

Re:First created by whom?

[tepples]

Good idea. I went ahead and did it.

http://slashdotcity.myminicity.com/

It'll be interesting to see if people spread this link and it actually grows. Thanks. I have the industry++; link in my sig.

Re:First created by whom?

[Ash Vince]

It looks like the city needs transport:

http://slashdotcity.myminicity.com/tra/

Re:First created by whom?

[4D6963]

Phase 1 : Spam Slashdot with AC-posted MyMiniCity links
Phase 2 : Propose annoyed Slashdotters to fight back by joining a MyMiniCity
Phase 3 : ?
Phase 4 : Profit, or whatever it is that MyMiniCity trolls are seeking

wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[nbowman]

seriously, complaining that OH NOES PEOPLE WITH 20GB models can't upload mods. then getting proven wrong and trying to say he really meant to say that hes pissed that he can't simply download the mods from the interwebs. faggot. man the fuck up you little bitch, you were wrong. I tend to agree that not being able to d/l mods straight from the internet is lame. You were wrong about the first thing you said (20GB and 40GB owners can't upload mods at all) and the fix is trivial - you bought a fucking $400 game system, pony up the 15 bucks for a flash drive, if you don't already have one you wanker. tl;dr: admit you were wrong. admit that the fix is trivial. then bitch that its inconvenient.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you, 12?

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[slicenglide]

You're missing the larger issue he's upset with. They promised throughout development that user created content would be easily available to make. Game ships... and that's not possible. Because they never spent the time to get the licensing done beforehand... there isn't user created content available for the PS3. Also, because they are in the process of "Negotiation" does not mean it will come to light. User created content and mods could still be balked at by Sony and killed.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Big words, coming from a 10 year old.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[Anonymous Coward]

pony up the 15 bucks for a flash drive

So you're admitting that the PS3 can't do it unless you buy more shit? Because I think that's what Tycho was complaining about, aside from the fact that right now, users still can't make mods for the game, they can only forward their mods to Epic, after which they may or may not become blessed with a conversion to the PS3.

then bitch that its inconvenient.

Yeah, moving one file at a time over in an arcane directory structure sure is inconvenient, but I'm guessing it's a Sony thing: either use their store, or suffer dire consequences. Obtaining downloadable content through any other means is forbidden. If I were Epic, I'd have made the same choice, when the editor tools do finally get patched to bless PS3 mods, there'd be no way in hell Sony would host random people's mods.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[Gravatron]

I don't see why Sony would killer user content, as they officially support linux on the console, not to mention one of their upcoming games, littlebigplanet, is majorly based on user created content. Not to mention how pro-web2.0 Sony seems to be.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[donscarletti]

The problem here is that in the near-impossible hypothetical situation that anyone will create a mod worth playing in before the cooker is released, we won't be able to play it until Epic has found it. Console gamers are not interested in beta software, as long as the software is out before the mods are, there really is no issue here whatsoever outside of the minds of the indignant few.

With the amount of games that come out these days that plain don't work until the fifth patch or so is out I don't see why everyone's getting so pissy about this. Battlefield 1942 managed to be quite successful despite not running for more than 15 seconds on most computers at launch. I remember buying Crysis a few weeks back and all I got is eyeballs floating in the darkness, now that was annoying.

Dear Jerry Holkins, I love your work but you've really gotta let this one go, compared to the multitude of sins that are committed in this world (often also involving the PS3), this one doesn't even warrant a footnote.

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[SyncNine]

I've got karma to burn here, so I'm going to go against all odds and agree with the above troll post on several notes:

Tycho was wrong on several important issues that he raised:

In the original post, he says "Indeed, gamers lured by the promise of the $400 forty gig machine (or those who purchased the twenty-gig, as I did) don't even have the slots to use mods built in."

This is absolutely not the entire truth, if even really capable of being considered the truth at all. All models of the PS3 do come equipped with USB ports which can be used to transfer the mods. The only difference is that the >20GB models include 3 card readers; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash, whereas the 20GB model does not. While it can lightly be argued that this makes it more of a hassle to users of the 20GB PS3, USB drives are ultimately more common than MemorySticks, SD cards, and CF media. Not to all people, but to most. Even still, with USB ports on all PS3 consoles, his statement that some users may not have the slots built in was incorrect.

Not content with just that mistake, he continues further by misconstruing a reply available here by Epic's Mark Rein:"One of our guys even used an iPod to transfer the files on to his PS3."

Rather than assuming (as I did) that Mark Rein's comment was meant to illustrate the wide range of storage media that the PS3 was capable of copying content from, Tycho assumes that Mark was making a comment about the ease of copying the files USING the iPod itself. While I am not Mark Rein and I cannot speak for him and my words are only my interpretation -- it sounds to me like Tycho misunderstood what Mark was saying by making that assumption. We all understand that installing Linux on an iPod is not easy -- not the task for every user. I don't think that was the point. The point was that a lot of storage options are available -- and all PS3 units have the ability to use mods.

Tycho is granted reprieve when he comes back with a carefully re-crafted main point of "The fact of the matter is that you can't play mods without additional hardware, or media, or both."
I overwhelmingly agree. While I did not expect Sony to put UT3 mods on their download site, I did expect Epic to pony up the servers to add an in-game downloader. I also am unsure as to why I can't use the Sony WWW browser to download the mods. Either of these would be preferable to the current method, however, Tycho didn't mention either. Matter of fact, Tycho provided very little in the way of constructive criticism. Maybe that's why I feel so compelled to point out his errors.

Lastly, Tycho has no reason to overreact about the licensing issues that Epic is facing by attempting to allow users to post their own created content out to the network. No one wants to do anything that will cause either the instability of the console or the instability of any servers. For the initial release, I'm sure Sony wants to make entirely sure that the so-called "cooking" aspect of the editor is checked from top to bottom. The last thing that Sony wants is a UT3 exploit that allows full kernel access and full RSX access to homebrew developers.

While Epic should have done their homework sooner, the fact that it is alleged to be a simple downloadable update to the editor is a stupid point to fixate on. Every program gets updates. Yes, Epic did say that end-users would be able to create mods for the PS3 version immediately upon its release and for that bold and outright misstatement they deserve a fairly decent amount of shame. That said, the fact that they're apparently working very diligently on releasing these tools to the public is commendable.

I, for one, am glad that they spent the last months leading to the PS3 release play-testing it as opposed to shuffling through licensing difficulties with the corporate a

Re:wow, tycho is acting like a fag about this

[elrous0]

Why would they kill homebrew on the PSP? Doesn't make sense either, but they sure do it.

-1, troll lol

[Anonymous Coward]

you gotta check that url before you post

you're on slashdot, not /v/

faggot