Mods

For "hardcore" gamers, purchasing a video game is a decision with a lot of thought behind it (not including those oh-so wonderful impulse purchases). While video games are cheap when entertainment when you look at how much "fun time" you get out of your dollar, they are a significant up-front investment. It is the rare person who can regularly drop $60, especially when they know that in six months you can get the same game for $20-30. This cost forces gamers to research upcoming games in order to determine exactly what games look like they're worth the money, a tool that becomes even more necessary when one accounts that most AAA titles drop within a couple weeks of each other. On top of this most video games are released on every console possible, and eventually everything ends up on PC's in one way or another. With gamers like me often owning both a major console and a PC (and sometimes more) when one finally decides that a video game is worth their money, they then have to decide exactly what platform to get it for.

At the moment for me this is a very easy choice, as my PS3 is currently out of commission I have to rely on PC alone to carry my gaming weight. Assuming that my PS3 was not broken, there is suddenly a very important choice. Do I go for the console version, having gamepad controls, a full TV for viewing and the inherent stability of the console version? Or do I go for the PC version, with a full mouse and keyboard, a larger online group to play with, but might not work because my graphics card isn't one the developers support?

There are many more variables than these to weigh, but the factor that often decides it in the PC's favor, despite the risk that the game may not run at all is modability.

Modability refers to how easy a game content can be modified. Whether adding a new hair style, weapon, lighting option, or level these home-brewed additions and changes are collectively referred to as mods. A good mod can turn a nigh-unplayable game into something truly spectacular, but mods aren't easy to make, and modding communities only really thrive when they have tools at their disposal. This is why if you search for Oblivion mods (a AAA game which currently has a tool-kit for adding new game content) you'll find thousands of pages of mods, but if you search for Mass Effect mods, you'll find very little if any at all (another AAA title, but no tool-kit). Extending this further, games that aren't very popular or good to begin with are likely to fail to create an extensive modding community.

Tomorrow I'll show you just what mods can add to a game, so check in if you can!