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Gears 2 update to address several issues, planned for January
Epic VP Mark Rein has posted on the Gears of War 2 forum, indicating that a major title update for the best-selling sequel is due to arrive in January. Some of the improvements planned: adding Achievements for the DLC content; fixing bugs; and addressing exploits.Some of the online exploits the patch aims to fix involve players wielding an invisible shield, gaining infinite Lancer ammo and equipping a shield with a two-handed weapon. Epic also plans to include a harsher penalty for quitting matches early, spawn point protection and the ability to see the Submission flag using Tac/Com.Most importantly (to shotgun whores), the new patch will fix "client side hit detection," so even in "laggy" matches the gun will be more reliable. That's great, because those shotgun folks really make the multiplayer an inviting experience.
Sam's Club auctions: Signed Gears 2, potentially cheaper Locust head
Sam's Club currently has two auctions going that might be of interest to Gears of War 2 fans. First is a copy of the game's limited edition box signed by Epic's Mark Rein and Cliff Bleszinski. The other is a bust of a Locust drone, which we'd previously reported on as retailing for $550 $650 -- the current bid is under $50. Both auctions are up for the next seven days. The only catch with the Locust bust is that it will not be sent out until early 2009, so don't expect it to be a holiday gift for any COG you know. Really, though, nothing says, "Welcome to our happy home," like the severed head of a Locust drone in the foyer.Auction - Signed copy of the game.Auction - Locust bust.
Unreal Tournament III to get expansion
While nowhere as successful as Gears of War, Epic Games is working on an expansion to their multiplayer shooter, Unreal Tournament III. "We're working together on a major expansion that we expect will excite and grow our UT3 customer base," Epic Games' VP Mark Reins told Gamespot.No other specifics were provided, such as release date or format (DLC? Expansion pack disc?). Considering the game debuted on the PS3, we're going to keep our eyes peeled for any more info.[Via Joystiq]
Suda 51's new horror game to use Unreal Engine 3
Remember back when Mark Rein let loose somebody was working on Unreal Engine 3 for Wii? Well, we finally know what game will be using it, we guess. Kind of. We don't really know much about the exact game, per se. What game? The one that EA is publishing from Q Entertainment, Resident Evil co-creator Shinji Mikami and the man responsible for one of our most favorite Wii games, Suda51. Suda says Unreal Engine 3 is a "powerful, easy-to-implement game engine" that is aiding his company to "quickly bring our vision to life." He also added that the "tools and technology" allow him to "create games faster, easier and with less risk." So are we excited? Well, maybe. It's not like the Wii version is mentioned and we would think it should be, considering no title up until now has utilized Unreal Engine 3 technology. But, hey, we'll try to be as optimistic as we can, because we feel confident in the abilities of all involved, to tell the truth. Now if only we could some information on what this game is ...
Mark Rein: Epic seriously doesn't want to make Wii games
People should probably stop asking them about it. Seriously. We think that's what Mark Rein wants.But, people still keep doing it, the latest being an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. When asked about Wii development, Rein busted out his Fragalator 5000 and shot the possibility down into a heaping mess of blood and guts. "That's like asking a sculptor when he's going to start painting," he said. "That's just not our medium. That's not our area of expertise - our area of expertise is the more high-end consoles and things that push technology higher. That's what we do - there's a lot more water in that well for us, when that runs dry then maybe we'd have to think of doing something else but I don't think that well is going to run dry anytime soon."Oh well, not like Unreal Tournament would be the same with Miis anyway ...
Hey, look, another Korean developer licenses Unreal Engine 3
Epic Games is apparently doing a good job selling and supporting its Unreal Engine 3 in the Korean market. Yet another developer has licensed the engine for an MMO project. This time it's T-Entertainment, which is working on a "space opera" MMO called L2. Wow, that sounds like the name of another Korean MMO!Welcome to the club, T-Entertainment! Meet AcroGames and Bluehole; they're also Korean developers using Unreal Engine 3. Oh, and of course you know about Webzen's Huxley, which is built on Unreal Engine 3. Yes, also Korean. Let's not forget the illustrious NCsoft, which already used the previous version of Unreal for Lineage II, and plans to use version 3 for not one but two new projects.There was an interview with Epic Games' Mark Rein at Gamasutra several months back. He said that Epic is working hard to propagate Unreal Engine 3 in Korea, but described serious challenges -- particularly with customer support. It looks like Epic is finding ways to deal with those challenges after all.[Via Worlds in Motion]
Study finds that Red beats Blue in online games
According to a study recently published in the journal Cyberpsychology & Behavior, the eternal battle of Red vs Blue just got a little more interesting. According to the study, which analyzed matches of Unreal Tournament 2004, the red team is more likely to win than the blue team in online games. In fact, the red team won 55% of the time in the 1347 matches that were studied. We'd like to think it's because the Red team has Sarge leading them to victory, but according to Mihai Moldovan, a neuroscientist who worked on the study, the real reason is "most likely that the color red may act as a psychological distractor for men, possibly because men flush and turn red when they're angry."When reached for comment, Epic VP Mark Rein stated that red and blue are an entrenched part of the Unreal Tournament series saying, "We don't anticipate any immediate changes to team colors."[Thanks, Bowie. Via 7th Columnist]
UT3 360 will have mods in some form
Well, well, well, what do we have here? Mark Rein dropping more details of Unreal Tournament 3? First was the Gears 2 content tease, now the assumption that the 360 version wouldn't see mods whatsoever seems to be a thing of the past. In the same interview with OXM UK, Mark Rein said "We know some of these great mods are going to play a role on Xbox 360, even if we have to get some people and bring them over ourselves." "We'll figure it out."Now while this is good news in that any form of mod on 360 now is good news, but it's nothing to get too excited about just yet. See, Mark Rein notes that the game will probably not ship with any sort of ability to exchange user created mods, but that Epic would have a solution at some point in the game's future. From the sound of things, and taking into account Microsoft's digital distribution system, UT3 360 will probably have some free (we would hope) DLC at some point in it's life that adds the best of the community-created content.
Split-screen unlikely to come to PS3 Unreal Tournament
The tardy Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III comes with a few features missing from the PS3 original. The most notable new feature is split-screen multiplayer. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this will come as a downloadable patch any time soon. Epic's Mark Rein told videogamer.com "I don't think so, because this is what's in this (the Xbox 360 version) game. I think it would be a big job to go back and retrofit that game for split-screen. I just don't think we have the resources to do that unfortunately.""We heard from the PS3 guys they really wanted split-screen. Maybe if we'd spent eight more months on the game like we have here," he added. Of course, the PS3 version of UT3 will still sport a key feature the Xbox 360 version will never see: unrestricted access to fan-created mods.
UT3 will have "Gears 2 related surprise on the disc"
When we got word of the contents of the 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 we weren't exactly knocked off our feet. Without confirmed mod support, and with so many other shooters to choose from, could UT3 hang with only 5 extra maps? While that question still remains to be answered, the nature of it has shifted a little. In an interview with OXM UK, Mark Rein revealed that "you know, there might be a little Gears Of War 2 related surprise on the disc of Unreal Tournament 3. That's all I'm saying about that." With news like this it almost makes the UT3 sales guaranteed to jump, even if we don't yet know what the "surprise" will be. Really, it could be anything. A trailer, theme, or stupid picture pack seems likeliest, but if Epic REALLY wants to spike the sales of UT3 we might see something more along the lines of of a playable demo. Hell, why not just take the Crackdown route! Hey everyone listen up! Buy your Gears 2 beta and receive a free copy of UT3! We wouldn't put it past them.
Rein: GoW2 Game Informer details just a 'tidbit'
According to Epic's Mark Rein, the juicy Gears of War 2 details that came straight from the pages of May's Game Informer are only the tip of the GoW2 iceberg and only a "tidbit" of what the Gears sequel has to offer.Commenting on the Game Informer article, Rein told videogaming247 that Epic "told the Game Informer guys just a tidbit about the game. We showed them some stuff, obviously, but we're keeping a lot of information back that will make people go, 'It's even better than this.' As good as they say it is, and they really, really like it, there's still a lot of story to open up between now and when the game ships in November... I think people will really enjoy this game."So ... can we officially start the GoW2 hype machine yet? Mr. Rein says there's more juicy bits to come and our excitement level heading into E3 is at full alert. Ah heck with getting permission, the GoW2 hype machine is GO, GO, GO!
Rein shoots down our GoW2 Comic Con hopes
Gears fans, we hope you didn't book a flight to the New York Comic Con just yet, because all that talk about Gears of War 2 being shown there ... well, it doesn't look to be happening.If you recall, earlier this week a press release was sent out on behalf of Comic Con that mentioned Epic's Michael Capps and Joshua Ortega would be in attendance talking Gears and giving a first glimpse of GoW2. But now, according to Videogaming247 who contacted Epic about the Comic Con news, Mark Rein is denying that GoW2 will be shown at the event saying that "I'm not aware that we're showing anything there." Sounds like a big ball of confusion to us. Since the whole GoW2 Comic Con unveiling isn't going down, maybe we can strike a deal with team Epic and allow them to unveil GoW2 right here on X3F. It's the least we can offer as hardcore Gears fanboys.
Joystiq video interview: Epic Games' Mark Rein, Tim Sweeney and CliffyB
Click To Play Update: If the video looks choppy, use this link.We got to stop by the Epic Games booth following Microsoft's press conference Wednesday, where Gears of War 2 was (surprise!) announced, to talk with VP Mark Rein, CEO/Technical Director Tim Sweeney, and CliffyB. Watch as we get "no comment" after "no comment" about other GoW 2 details (there will be more to see coming soon, promise Rein) and stay tuned towards the ends where Cliffy talks about his lancer and the Microsoft's flashy unveiling. Check out the video courtesy of Mahalo Daily.
GDC08: Unreal Tournamennt III will get 'improvements'
In spite of Microsoft's announcement of the XBL community arcade, there's apparently no progress on making Unreal Tournament III mods available on the Xbox 360. In an interview with Joystiq, Epic Games' VP Mark Rein noted that there's still no set release date for the 360 version.More interesting than that bit of news comes from what Rein has to say about the PS3 version. He acknowledged the current mod system is "less than stellar." The cumbersome process of having to download files to a PC, properly format them on a Memory Stick, and transfer them to the PS3 is certainly an annoying one. Unfortunately, no specific details about what "improvements" will be made, or when they'll be available, have been announced yet. Considering how broken the current system is, we'd like to think that anything is going to be an improvement.
UT3 mods: no headway for Xbox 360, Sony to see 'improvements'
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Unreal_Tournament_on_360_no_progress_on_mods'; Our prognosis for mods on the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3: not so good. In an interview with Joystiq, Epic Games' VP Mark Rein told us that there's no progress with Microsoft on making UT3 mods work with Xbox Live. One would think Microsoft would be more open to community content given the recent Xbox Live Community announcement, but Rein noted that the system is different. Rein said the Xbox 360 version has no set release date.Conversely, Rein did acknowledge the current PS3 mod system is less than stellar and told us to expect improvements coming soon. We'll have more from our interviews with Mark Rein, CEO Tim Sweeney, and Cliffy B later this week.
GDC08: Microsoft and Epic announce Gears of War 2 for Nov. '08
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Gears_of_War_2_officially_announced_coming_Nov_08'; In what could only be considered as good news for the franchise's cult following, Microsoft and Epic Games have announced their intention to give Gears of War another go. Despite only scraping by with a couple of million units sold, Microsoft is determined to help the motley bunch of macho marines break into the niche shooter market with an Xbox 360 sequel, Gears of War 2. The game was officially announced by Epic's CliffyB during Microsoft's GDC keynote entitled, "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Commnunity ... and then give them Chainsaws." The game will be coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 in November, 2008. We'll bring you more information as soon as we can get it.
Epic's Mark Rein responds to Microsoft buyout rumor
Did you hear the one about Microsoft buying Unreal Engine developer Epic Games for one billion dollars? The rumor stems from the latest issue of GamePro magazine, and while not flat-out denying the rumor, Epic VP Mark Rein did has some choice words.In an email to Develop, Rein said, "I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they're going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion, because we don't want anyone thinking that we're cheap," followed by a smile-inducing emoticon. A more tangible bit of Epic Games speculation is that Gears of War 2 will be unveiled at GDC this week.[Via X3F]
Epic's Rein makes light of MS buyout rumors
Last night the rumor mill was given a rather hefty spin when speculation hit the internets that Microsoft will be buying Epic Games (the fellas behind Gears of War and Unreal Tournament) for a cool $1 billion by Summer's end. And even though Epic Games hasn't officially responded to the rumor, Epic VP Mark Rein has never been one to back down from discussing rumors.In an email response to Develop Mag, Mark Rein addresses and actually makes light of the buyout rumor, saying "I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they're going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion." Hmm, $2 billion. Why $2 billion Mr. Rein? "Because we don't want anyone thinking that we're cheap. :)" Ahh, we get it. Har, har! And nice use of an emoticon. Classic stuff.So, even though Mr. Rein responded to the MS buyout rumor, we don't really get any new insight to whether it's legit or total bologna. Because Rein cranked up the charm and joked around. Darnit Mark, this is serious stuff and all you do is laugh it off. We need answers and all give us is the fact that you think your company is worth $2 billion and inject smiley emoticons all over the place. The nerve of it all!
Rumor: MS to buy Epic Games?
According to news posts on dbtechno.com and WRAL the latest issue of GamePro states that Microsoft is closing in on a deal to acquire developer Epic Games. The report states that Epic, known primarily as the developer behind Unreal Engine 3, would cost Microsoft upwards of $1 billion dollars. If true the acquisition would mean Microsoft would own Unreal Engine 3, the engine that powers most next current generation titles on the Xbox 360, PC and rival PS3 which would see Microsoft profiting from any title that makes use of the technology.We don't want to call out shenanigans immediately but this is hard to believe for a few reasons. One billion dollars to purchase Epic Games, who also own the rights to the Gears of War universe (Microsoft owns the current characters and title) and the Unreal franchise, seems like a bargain considering the value of the Unreal Engine licenses alone. This move would also put Microsoft at the forefront of current legal problems Epic is having with Silicon Knights, who has a publishing partnership with Microsoft. Also, Epic management don't seem like the kind of folks to let this thing slide considering how well they do financially on their own. We might be wrong on this one, but until we see the GamePro issue in question, talk to Epic's Mark Rein or hear about it from Xbox boss Don Mattrick we're not willing to call this one based on the fact that Epic has a booth next to Microsoft at GDC '08. But hey, crazier things have happened right and it really could happen couldn't it?[Thanks, Deus Legend]
2K jumps on Unreal Engine 3 train for unnamed titles
Today Epic announced that Take Two Interactive's publishing label 2K Games will be using Unreal Engine 3 to power upcoming and unannounced titles currently in development. Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, told Gamesindustry.biz, "We are excited about continuing our relationship with 2K based on our past success with the company." Rein, who was referring to the success of the Unreal powered BioShock, wasn't the only happy camper in this tale of adoption. "2K had a very positive experience working with Epic's Unreal Engine 3 since it enables games to perform exceptionally well on both console and the PC," said 2K president Christoph Hartmann. Look at that, Unreal adopted by another company. Love the engine, but at this rate General Electric is going to buy a license to start making home appliances. Unreal is taking over the world and when used properly the results are outstanding.
