Microsoft Explains Absence of User Mods on Xbox 360
User-created mods have been a bane for Microsoft, as Epic Games has criticized them much for not supporting it for Unreal Tournament 3, the PS3 version of which supports user mods quite fantastically. Speaking on the subject, Microsoft XNA general manager Chris Satchell cited security reasons as the source of the company’s apprehension in allowing custom game content on the Xbox 360.
“If you’re not running in [a limited] sandbox, how do you guarantee security?” Satchell asked Eurogamer. “That’s really where we’ve got stuck–making sure that nothing will hurt the user’s system… it seems like some other platforms don’t seem to care quite as much.” He purposely takes a jab at Sony.
He goes on, saying that XNA is an “incredible piece of innovation” that will let them explore other scenarios and will also address some of the problems with user-generated content on such systems. XNA allows enthusiasts to create games for Windows and Xbox 360 using managed code and Microsoft Visual Studio, but restricts access to much of the higher-level functionality of the console.
“I’m a little disturbed when I think about other systems and people using what we call native code—code that goes right down to the metal—and then allowing people to run script mods on top of that without the right security measures,” he noted. “It could be really dangerous.”