Microsoft's Chris Satchell says that mods on a console, such as those for Unreal Tournament 3 on the PlayStation 3, "could be really dangerous" because "there's a lot of people out there that just want to prove they can screw things up."

Satchell, group general manager for Microsoft's game development tool XNA, says he's "a little disturbed" by the idea of anyone allowing script mods running on top of native code without the right security measures. XNA games run in a "sandbox" layer that keeps them separate from the console, so "there are no unintended consequences from running a game," Satchell told Eurogamer.

He stops just short of specifically calling out Unreal Tournament 3 or the PS3, instead simply saying that modding is a security threat to any platform because certain people just can't resist the temptation to cause trouble.

"Any platform that lets you do that, and doesn't have the right security measures in place – whether it's Sony, whether it's Nintendo, whether it's Apple, whether it's anyone – you're inviting trouble, because sooner or later someone will want to prove they can do it," he said.

While Microsoft's desire to protect the Xbox 360's integrity is understandable, you have to wonder how it might affect the XNA

Creator's Club. If designers feel stifled or restricted by Microsoft's security measures, it's possible that the Club will never achieve any kind of significant momentum.

Microsoft's Chris Satchell [Eurogamer]