Quote Originally Posted by Whacker View Post
So I've been thinking a bit lately about games that I enjoyed to some extent, but that IMO missed a much greater chance at longevity in the world due to a lack of modding support or SDK release.

1. Far Cry 2. This game was pretty fun, but it had a number of stupid gameplay aspects that tarnished it for me, like no ability to 'clean' guns and restore them. Being able to mod some of those aspects, also things like ammo carry counts would have made it much more enjoyable. The whole racist hype probably sealed that deal before it was a day or so old, but still one could have hoped.

2. Wolfenstein 2009. Suffers from Interfacium consolitis. Other things could have used some tweaking, but overall the game itself was moderately fun, but like FC2 little replay value. Mods could have potentially extended it's life well past it's unfortunately short time in the spotlight. Plus I've always had a soft spot for Raven Games, most of the time their titles are solid gold and great fun. It's an id engine game, so there's absolutely zero reason why they couldn't have given us an SDK.

Had a few others in mind, will post if I remember. Wondering if anyone else has some they'd like to add? In general, the idea is "Games that could have been far better had the publisher released an SDK for them".

On the flip side, proof that I'm wrong:

1. Battlefield 3. I was desperately hoping that the unwashed masses would wake the hell up about Dice and EA's position on SDK release, seeing how mods were the absolute life blood of BF2. Everyone jumped all over it and proved me wrong though.
Not everyone. I still refuse to buy BF3. I spend more time modding games than playing them. Games, after all, are all about creating your own experience (that is what separates them from movies), modding is simply that taken a step farther.
Modding isn't good from a greedy business perspective because if people can be satisfied with a game for a lot longer, they have less motivation to go buy a new one, and therefore cannot be milked as much. It doesn't always work out how they like though, because many gamers (such as myself) refuse to buy games that do not support modding (with very few exceptions, and even then, usually a few years later when I get it for a steal on sale).
I will once again bring up the ultimate classics, DX and Thief. To this day people still make Thief fan mission. DX modding was a little slow to catch on, but currently there is still an active and vibrant modding community for it (though admittedly rather small).