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Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War series
Microsoft Studios has purchased the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, Microsoft announced. The publisher will take over all existing and future games in the series, and will hand development of future games over to Vancouver, BC developer Black Tusk Studios. Formerly Microsoft Vancouver, Black Tusk was said to be working on a new AAA game for Xbox One as of June 2013. Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the Gears of War franchise, is joining Microsoft and will play a "key studio leadership role" at Black Tusk. The last time we heard from Fergusson he was launching a new studio for 2K in the Bay Area; it would appear that relationship didn't work out. Each entry in the four-game Gears of War series was published by Microsoft since its introduction in November 2006. The last Epic-developed game in the series was Gears of War: Judgment, which launched in March 2013.
Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor plays nice with Unreal Engine 4
Nvidia and Epic Games have been friends for a while, so it's only natural the latest mobile processor from Nvidia, the Tegra K1, officially supports Epic Games' latest engine, the Unreal Engine 4. We saw our first hint at this union last summer, when Nvidia unveiled Project Logan – a mobile GPU built on the same Kepler technology powering Nvidia's latest PC graphics cards. "We can take absolutely anything that runs on PC or on a console and run it on Tegra," says Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, in the Nvidia announcement post. "The differences between the platforms is really blurred." Nvidia says Tegra K1 is the first mobile processor capable of pumping out graphics on par with Xbox One and PS4, and even offers "faster performance" than the Xbox 360 and PS3. In the sizzle reel above, Sweeney says all of Epic's tech demos – "Samaritan," "Infiltrator" and "Elemental" – came through collaboration with Nvidia. "I didn't think we'd be at this level on mobile for another three or four years," Sweeney said.
Epic pops the hood on Unreal Engine 4's new visual effects
Senior FX artist Tim Elek, who designed some of the weapons and environments in Epic's Infiltrator tech demo, explains some of the visual techniques used by Unreal Engine 4.
Sandbox survival game Eden Star powered by Unreal Engine 4
Flix Interactive recently launched its Kickstarter project for an Unreal Engine 4-powered, first-person adventure game called Eden Star. The developer is seeking £620,000 ($1,003,284) by November 29 to fund the project. Billed as a "sandbox survival-creation game," Eden Star has players gather resources from the hostile world of Pharus 7 to bring back to a desolate Earth, guarding their "Eden Kit" power source from imposing alien forces. In the project description, Flix Interactive put an emphasis on the game's physics-driven combat and "free-running movement system." The developer also opened a Steam Greenlight page to get the PC game on Valve's distribution service.
Suda 51 and Grasshopper are using Unreal Engine 4 'heavily'
No More Heroes and Killer is Dead dev Grasshopper Manufacture is "heavily relying" on Unreal Engine 4, with next-gen games in mind. Speaking to Joystiq at E3, Grasshopper CEO Goichi Suda, most commonly known as Suda 51, confirmed his studio's use of Epic's next-gen engine when asked about his thoughts on the PS4 and Xbox One. "As a developer, we're heavily relying right now on Unreal Engine 4," Suda told us. "That works really well with both systems – or in the sense that we could go either way." Grasshopper recently revealed it has a stylistic action game in development that isn't Killer is Dead - and it isn't No More Heroes 3 either. As Suda told Siliconera back in April, it's a new game coming to one or more consoles. He also teased to Siliconera the game was either running on Unreal Engine 3 or Unreal Engine 4, adding that if he said which one then "you would know about the platforms." Suda told Joystiq we can expect Unreal Engine 4 in Grasshopper games "if it's a big title, or if it's suited to that title," all of which suggests a next-gen landing for said secretive game. As for the future possibility of No More Heroes 3, Suda told us, "Travis [Touchdown] is one of the characters I'm really fond of, that means a lot to me. So if there was the opportunity to create another sequel then yeah, I'm always up to the idea."
Oculus Rift support added to Unreal Engine 4
Unreal Engine 4 will support the Oculus Rift thanks to Epic's Integrated Partners Program, the developer announced today. The company also listed Intel, Nvidia, RealD and others as "inaugural" members of the new UE4 version of the program; member companies will contribute "tools and features that are trusted for high-quality game development" to the new engine. The Integrated Partners Program (or "IPP") aims to reduce development time by building commonly used middleware and hardware support directly into Unreal Engine's toolkit – Unreal Engine 3's IPP currently has 25 member companies, including Oculus VR. Only a small handful of games are known to run on Unreal Engine 4 at this time, though we fully expect that number to grow as the next generation unfolds itself like the dewy morning petals of a flower wearing a head-mounted virtual reality display, or something. We may have had trouble pulling that simile back together.
Unreal Engine 4 not designed to work on Wii U [Update]
Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 won't support the Wii U, Epic VP Mark Rein said during GDC. During a theater presentation of the Infiltrator demo, Rein laughed and said "no" when asked if UE4 would run on Wii U."Our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles," he explained to Kotaku. "That's really what our energies are focused on. If you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it's powering some of the best games on the Wii U already."Battlefield series executive producer Patrick Bach told Eurogamer this week that not only is Battlefield 4 not coming to Wii U, the new Frostbite 3 engine on which it runs is also not designed for Wii U. "We right now don't have support for the Wii U in the Frostbite engine," he said. "The reason for that is it takes development time."Update: Rein spoke with Engadget and clarified his comment from the presentation, noting that it's totally possible to run Unreal Engine 4 games on Wii U. "You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U," he said. "If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen."
PS4 'Elemental' demo of Unreal Engine 4 gets an extension
In addition to the new 'Infiltrator' video, Epic Games brought to GDC an extended version of the PS4 'Elemental' demo highlighting its Unreal Engine 4 engine, the demo first shown at the console's reveal event. You can now see two more minutes of Epic's next-gen engine running in real-time on Sony's next-gen console.
Unreal Engine 4 'Infiltrator' video
Here's the Unreal Engine 4 "Infiltrator" video, which was shown off as a demo this week at GDC, displaying the power of Epic's latest tech. The company jumped through different filters to show the demo was being rendered in real-time. Yes, it will run so many major titles for next-gen systems. Now, enjoy.
Project Awakened's Unreal Engine 4 tech demo is impressive, gross
We don't know if you guys are aware of this or not, but the human body is a disgusting thing. Even the really top notch, showroom-quality human bodies are essentially sacks of greasy tubes and cartilage. Here to remind us of that fact in stunning detail is Project Awakened's Unreal Engine 4 tech demo, which shows just how elaborate the game's character creation system could be.Now, we doubt Project Awakened will allow players to select from a multitude of different organs or anything, but the super powers shown off are quite impressive looking, if a bit disturbing at times -- we're looking at you, weird split-open-hand-bone-thing.Of course, Phosphor Games will only be able to turn this flashy demo into something tangible if its ongoing Kickstarter proves successful, but with only four days left on the clock, and around $300,000 in funding still needing to be raised, that looks increasingly unlikely.[Thanks, Ryan!]
This is Unreal Engine 4 running on PlayStation 4
Epic's Unreal Engine 4 was shown off during Sony's PlayStation 2013 event today, where the PlayStation 4 was formally announced. Above you can see demo footage of the "Elemental" demo, while below you can comb through a gallery of some still.Epic's Seattle arm has been toiling away on Unreal Engine 4 since the studio's formation late last year. In October, Square Enix confirmed it was the first company to publicly license Unreal Engine 4. %Gallery-179391%
NCsoft using Epic's Unreal Engine 4 for two new MMOs
Multiple reports out of Korea indicate that NCsoft has partnered with Epic to develop two new MMOs using the latter firm's Unreal Engine 4. ThisIsGame says that the two projects are in addition to Lineage Eternal, which was first announced at G-Star 2011. The website also says that "people expect they are Lineage III and Aion 2" due to NCsoft's recent insistence on using its original IPs "more actively in the future."
Square Enix becomes first publicly confirmed Unreal Engine 4 licensee
Epic Games announced today Square Enix now has full access to Unreal Engine 3 and 4, making the Japanese company the first publicly confirmed UE4 licensee. Epic disclosed the agreement is "long-term" and will span multiple games. In other words, the deal is a very, very big deal."Epic has a strong relationship with Square Enix, and it's an honor to provide their creative and technical talent with the best game technology available for licensing," said Taka Kawasaki, Epic Games Japan territory manager. "We look forward to supporting their developers with world-class tools for years to come."Earlier this year Epic revealed Fortnite as the first game to use Unreal's new engine. It's expected to launch next year, so it'll likely be a while yet before we see what UE4 does for Square Enix going forward.
Epic hires former WB Games Seattle manager to lead Seattle studio
Laura Fryer, previously general manager of WB Games Seattle, will now serve the same role for Epic's new Seattle studio, the company has announced. Prior to her time at Warner Bros, where she oversaw studios like Monolith, Fryer also worked for Microsoft Game Studios (now simply Microsoft Studios), and was "a founding member of the Xbox project."This won't be the first time Fryer has worked with Epic. While at Microsoft, she served as executive producer on both Gears of War and Gears of War 2.Epic's Seattle studio, as yet still unnamed, was launched last month. Its primary focus, initially, revolves around "engineering efforts" for Unreal Engine 4. As of this writing, it appears the studio is still hiring, with several active job listings still available on Epic's careers site.
Epic launches Seattle studio to work on Unreal Engine 4
Epic has launched a new Seattle based studio to concentrate on Unreal Engine 4 development. The studio will be "initially focused on engineering efforts" for the engine, and Epic is now recruiting "exceptional programmers and support staff to collaborate with its engineering group." Specifically, the company is looking for "senior-level talent specializing in online game services and the infrastructure to support them." As of this writing, seven positions are listed on Epic's Careers Center site for the Seattle studio, all of which certainly appear geared toward engine development (animation systems, audio tools, online, rendering, etc). The actual name of the studio, not to mention the people who will take charge of it, will be revealed "soon," according to Epic.
Bleszinski: Fortnite on PC 'primary and first,' other platforms not ruled out
Having announced Fortnite as Epic Games' first Unreal Engine 4 game, "exclusively for the PC," Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski took to Twitter this afternoon to make some breathing room. "We wouldn't rule out the possibility of other platforms later," he wrote. That is, while Fortnite will be "primary and first" on PC, it may not be exclusive to the platform forever.Given that Fortnite is built using UE4, it stands to reason that those "other platforms" won't be of the current generation (none of Microsoft's, Sony's, or Nintendo's current hardware can run UE4-based games). What might they be, then? We'll have to wait until the next console generation to find out, it sounds like.%Gallery-160290%
Fortnite is Epic's first Unreal Engine 4 game, heading exclusively to PC
Fortnite is Epic's first Unreal Engine 4 game and it'll ship "exclusively for the PC," Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinksi said today during a San Diego Comic-Con 2012 panel. "We're here and we're announcing that this is a PC-designed game, it's shipping exclusively for the PC," he told a crowd of attendees."Next-gen's here. It's been here. It's a high-end PC," Bleszinski said. He added that the dudebro-free Fortnite didn't "make sense" for Unreal Engine 3, and cheered PCs as being part of Epic's "heritage."Fortnite, which sees characters building bunkers and emplacements to defend against the monsters of the night, was suspected of being a PC exclusive earlier this year when it popped up on a LinkedIn listing for PC. The listing was quickly changed after we brought it to the attention of Epic Games.We'll have more from Epic's SDCC panel as soon as we can (it's still going on!).
Epic's Mark Rein on UE4, Epic Baltimore and Gears of War: Judgment
Given the engine's dynamic illumination features, it's only appropriate for Epic Vice President Mark Rein to start lighting up when he starts talking about Unreal Engine 4. We spoke to Rein on the last day of E3 about the engine's possibilities, and how its robust developer toolset addresses the dangerous costs of game development.Rein also comments on the multinational efforts behind Gears of War: Judgment (with special mention of People Can Fly's Creative Director, Adrian Chmielarz) and the recent addition of Epic Baltimore to the family.
Unreal Engine 4 demo deconstructed
Epic's Unreal Engine 4 strides into public view with a spectacular real-time demo, dubbed "Elemental" (seen above). The short film depicts an ancient knight creaking to supernatural life while a decrepit castle comes apart around him, letting in floods of light and gusts of snow. It's a concise showcase of the underlying technology, which features sophisticated dynamic illumination, light-reactive materials, rich particle effects, per-pixel lens flares, and other visual processes that don't sound quite as sexy as they appear.According to Epic, games running on Unreal Engine 4 won't ship until sometime in 2013 at earliest. With partners already lining up to use it, and the engine running in 1080p on a PC built from off-the-shelf parts (the demonstration I saw was running on a variant of the Falcon Northwest Fragbox, augmented with Nvidia's Geforce GTX 680), Epic can focus on highlighting the usability of the editor that accompanies UE4.If you peer past the break you'll see a dry, detailed deconstruction of all the effects that comprise "Elemental," and a twist of sorts: the demo runs in real-time right from the editor itself. We'll leave it to Epic to explain how the engine allows for quick iteration on effects, materials and other visual properties, and how it can help manage the blueprints of a game, right down to the behaviour of the smallest particle.We've also embedded several videos of some simple games created with the aid of Unreal Kismet, an integrated visual scripting system. if you have a cursory interest in the nuts and bolts of game creation, you may appreciate this informative glimpse at our impeccably lit future.
Epic senior technical artist Alan Willard talks Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen consoles
There's no PS4 or Xbox 720 behind the curtain, Alan Willard assures a dark room full of eager video game journalists. Nope, it's just a current high-end piece of PC hardware. In spite of the company's position as a creator of one of the industry's leading game engines, Epic doesn't get a peek at Sony and Microsoft's next generation consoles before the companies are ready for their grand unveiling. "We won't know final hardware specs until everyone else does," the company's senior technical artist tells me after the presentation, adding with a laugh, "If they do, I don't know anything about it." The company spent this year's E3 cycling media in and out of its small meeting room on the second floor of the convention center, dimming the lights and showing off just what Unreal Engine 4 has to offer -- or at least a pretty good idea of what it will offer when it's finally ready for prime time. It's clear from the excitement on the Epic employees' faces that all involved are relieved to finally show the demo off for gatherings of eager writers. No surprise there, of course. After all, the engine has been in development in some form or other for eight or nine years -- several lifetimes in the roman candle-like world of video game development.
