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Epic's Mark Rein goes in-depth with Unreal Engine 3's TriOviz 3D
Epic Games and Darkworks might have just captured the 3D gaming market. With the addition of TriOviz 3D technology to the Unreal Engine 3 and its development kit, a massively popular game engine now has built-in 3D integration, for use with either 3D televisions or green/magenta glasses. It stands to increase the number of games implementing 3D dramatically, creating a de facto standard for 3D in the process. Incidentally, it adds an attractive new bullet point to Unreal's feature set. Epic Games itself, however, somehow has yet to fully jump onto the bandwagon it is now driving. "That's not part of the announcement," Epic VP Mark Rein told Joystiq when asked if this partnership would mean Epic games in TriOviz 3D. "Don't know." The implementation of 3D is certainly not the reason Gears of War 3 was delayed into holiday 2011. For one thing, the companies claim it only takes a week to integrate 3D into a UE3 game. For another, "That was Microsoft's business decision."
GDC Online 2010: Mark Rein on iOS and Epic Citadel
If you are an iPhone gamer and haven't tried Epic Citadel yet, you're doing yourself a disservice. Epic Games wowed the crowd at the recent Apple event with the free demo, showing an astoundingly beautiful virtual town running in full 3D graphics on the iPhone and the iPad. Epic's Mark Rein is here at GDC Online 2010 this week to talk to developers about Unreal Engine 3 on iOS and other platforms (he can't keep from showing off the game running on Android, even when you tell him that you work for an Apple blog and don't write about Android anyway), and I cornered him to chat about Epic Citadel and Project Sword, the game it's serving as a demo for. My first question was what drew Epic to a platform like the iPhone in the first place -- the developer is known for titles like Unreal Tournament and Gears of War, which are big flashy titles that sell Microsoft's platforms, not Apple's. Rein told me that it was "the power of the hardware. It was capable of doing what we wanted it to do in mobile. That's always been our driving philosophy, is when we have platforms that are powerful enough to run our technology, and there's a good business case for supporting them, that we would."
Rein: 3DS likely below minimum specifications for Unreal Engine
During a GDC Online interview with Epic Games VP Mark Rein, the conversation moved from 3D games to handhelds (specifically, the very impressive Epic Citadel iOS demo). Naturally, I then took the opportunity to ask about a current hot topic that combines both subjects: the Nintendo 3DS. Is Epic working on 3DS software? "No," Rein said. "It's below our [minimum specifications], from what we can tell. We don't have a 3DS, so there's no way for us to verify that," he added, "but everything we've been led to believe is that it's below our min-spec. You couldn't do a game that looks like [Epic Citadel] on it, for example." He clarified that this means no plans for Epic games, as well as no plans for a version of Unreal Engine for other devs to use. "Like I said, we really don't know enough about it to make a formal comment, but I think if they considered that our engine would be good on it, they would have probably talked to us about it." As Rein himself noted, the situation could change when Epic gets its own 3DS to experiment with -- but at least for now, upon first impression, the developer apparently considers the new device less capable than last year's iPhone 3GS, since that can run Epic Citadel just fine.
Rumor: Ex-Realtime Worlds head Dave Jones joining Epic [update: Jones not joining Epic]
Update: Dave Jones has informed Develop that he is not joining Epic and has no plans to leave Scotland at this time. The fallout from the closure of APB and developer Realtime Worlds continues this week, with the Herald Scotland reporting that creative director Dave Jones may be joining Epic Games. The report notes that Jones is "linked with a senior post" at Epic and adds that he is "known to be a close friend" of Mark Rein. If true, the report lends credence to recent rumors that Epic is interested in acquiring the rights to APB. (We've contacted Epic for comment and will update this story with any new information.) Meanwhile, former Realtime artist Tahir Rashid tells the Herald Scotland that 70 percent of the Realtime staff has yet to receive redundancy payments.
Final Realtime Worlds employees let go, US branch also shutting down
Though reports last week seemed to indicate that a buyer would swoop in at the last second and save the faltering APB developer Realtime Worlds, the studio has revealed that its remaining 50 employees have been terminated. Sixteen temporary positions are still active to finish shutting down the Dundee studio. The company's US branch, based out of Boulder, Colo., is facing a similar fate, letting go of 33 of its staff, leaving behind a skeleton crew to bring the branch to a close. A Realtime spokesperson told Develop that the studio is "now likely to apply for Chapter 7 Protection." Begbies Traynor, the firm responsible for the company's administration, is also under fire from a handful of sources both internal and otherwise. Develop reports that a number of ex-Realtime employees claim they've been denied their redundancy pay -- a claim which a Begbies Traynor spokesperson responded to by saying, "redundancy payment will be made in accordance with current UK legislation."
Rumor: Epic Games in talks to buy APB
Could the Gears of War folks be the knight in shining armor that doomed APB desperately needs? According to BBC, Epic Games is possibly interested in scooping up Realtime Worlds' MMO, although nothing is confirmed at this point. Realtime Worlds abruptly announced yesterday that APB was to be shut down today, sending shockwaves through the community. While Epic Games is not commenting on any possible negotiations, a spokesperson confirmed that Epic's CEO, Mark Rein, is a fan of the game. "Mark absolutely loves APB, and everyone here loved what they saw. We've got our hands full of Gears of War 3, Bullet Storm and the recently announced Project Sword. If any talks like that are going on, then they would be confidential," Dana Cowley, Epic's spokesperson, said. Rein was outspoken about his enjoyment of the game at PAX last year. Epic Games may also have a vested interest in the technology powering APB. We'll be keeping our ears to the ground on this one if anything further develops.
Mark Rein: Epic is committed to PC, also making a game 'for mobile and tablet'
Epic vice president Mark Rein talked to Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently and, when confronted with the allegation that the company has abandoned its PC roots, came out shooting. Rein says that a little console success with Gears of War doesn't mean that Epic has moved on from the platform that spawned Unreal and Unreal Tournament. "Don't confuse Gears of War with everything we do," he said. "Bulletstorm is PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and you'll see when it comes out, it will be a full-blown, oh-my-god amazing PC game." Of course, Rein admits that the PC isn't all -- in the rest of the interview, he maintains that mobile platforms like Apple's iOS and Android are going to be very important for gaming in the future, and that getting the Unreal engine running on those is a big priority with Epic. While PC is still the foundation, Epic is "going to make a game for mobile and tablet," Rein says. "We haven't announced anything yet, but it's due."
Finding a new dimension for gaming at the 3D Gaming Summit
A small crowd of movie and game producers met this week at Universal City in Los Angeles for the first-ever 3D Gaming Summit, to sit down and discuss the trend of 3D imaging in gaming and film. Much of the talk at the summit was speculative -- with almost no actual consumer devices on the market and nearly none within price range of the average consumer anyway, gaming in 3D isn't much more than an idea at this point. Most of the technology companies in attendance are still working to get content producers to use their systems to create games and films rather than selling hardware directly to consumers. Still, the panels and discussions at the summit offered an interesting look at what many believe to be the eventual future of the industry. From a lunchtime interview with Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson to a Playstation Move demo (and a panel moderated by a Joystiq editor), the 3D Gaming Summit showed off a lot of guesswork, a few interesting demos, and a few big holes that will need to be filled if 3D gaming is going to ever take off.
Epic giving Unreal Engine 3 devs free Steam SDK update
Carrying on in the longstanding Epic Games tradition of offering up free upgrades to existing products, the developer, publisher and game engine creator announced this morning that it will be adding Steamworks support to Unreal Engine 3. "With Valve offering these services free of charge, the idea of providing the Steamworks SDK [software development kit] to all Unreal Engine licensees was a no-brainer," Epic VP Mark Rein notes in the announcement. As it turns out, Valve offered up the development tools to UE3 developers (via Epic) without charging a single penny. That said, this isn't just a philanthropic gesture on Epic's part, but rather a strategy aimed at targeting the large stable of games powered by Unreal Engine. "Epic's technology is one of the most widely used engines in the industry and has powered many of the best games created in the past 10 years, on multiple platforms," Valve prez Gabe Newell proclaims. That's really the crux of it -- bring in the Unreal Engine 3 users and they might stick around to purchase some other games on Steam. It's a bit of a sneaky trap (and a smart business move to boot), but it's one we wouldn't exactly be upset about falling for.
Epic's Mark Rein 'very excited' about the iPad's possibilities
Sure, it might resemble a large iPod Touch to some of us, but to the folks who get paid the big bucks to make games -- such as Epic Games VP Mark Rein -- the iPad looks like opportunity. Speaking to Gamasutra at this week's big unveiling event, Rein said "I really like the device and I think it's going to be great for gaming." And considering his company's Unreal Engine 3 is popping textures in and out of view on the iPhone already, it's no surprise that he said it's a "pretty safe assumption" to bet that the engine will make its way to the iPad. Like the iPhone game developers we spoke with yesterday (and our own wishes for what we'd like to see on the device), Rein hopes that devs will "take advantage of the differentiated form factor of the device." And hey, with all that extra screen space, we have to imagine that at least a quarter of Marcus Fenix's enormous husk is now able to fit into view! It's called innovation, folks, ya dig?
All Points Bulletin podcast #12 delivers community Q&A
All Points Bulletin's 12th video podcast sees the conclusion of the Mark Rein walkthrough and an informative Q&A with the game's design lead, EJ Moreland. Some of the questions are things we already knew but bore repeating, like that the game is going to be PC only for its first release.There's new information in there, too. Like the fact that a car you design cannot be stolen from you while driving it, unlike a car you steal from a pedestrian. There's also talk about player and clan housing as future additions to the game.We think the video podcasts are a great way to clear the air of any misconceptions while simultaneously giving the community a chance to meet the people designing the game they so very much want to play. So hopefully we'll be seeing more of these in the coming weeks leading up to wider beta and eventually, launch.Check out the video after the break.
Mark Rein: future Epic games will have 'some' Natal support
Epic and Microsoft have long been cozy bedfellows, comfortably sharing the covers with each other for years. Now that partnership has extended to Microsoft's proposed game changer, Project Natal. Speaking to Epic's marketing maestro, Mark Rein, OXM asked what Natal's use of the Unreal engine implied for the futures of both companies."I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support," Rein commented. "We always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform." While Rein had no idea what type of game Epic would make with Natal, he did have some ideas on how Natal could improve the hardcore experience -- namely, simplifying the controls.An example he used was taking one's hand off the controller to mimic throwing a grenade, or using a hand gesture to signal your squad move to a certain location. On paper it sounds great, but we have to question how much such controls could improve on what is arguably one of the easiest things one could ever do: pushing a button.
All Points Bulletin video podcast a first look at gameplay
It's no secret that some of us at Massively are looking forward to playing All Points Bulletin, an urban crime title on the way from Realtime Worlds. We learned a bit more about the game at PAX 2009 but we're always hoping to find out more. Fortunately, the company released a new video podcast today filmed at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne that many of our readers have been waiting for -- one with actual gameplay.The series of videos released prior to this focused on the extensive customization options All Points Bulletin will offer. Although we see quite a bit of gameface from the audience in this latest video podcast, we also see a bit more of that attention to detail emphasized in the previous video footage playing out in the mean streets of the waterfront district. Among other things, the footage shows some very detailed gun animations w. shell ejects and, unsurprisingly, a lot of polish on the look of the vehicles. The user interface is also rather unobtrusive, particularly with the clear compass to guide players. Interested in checking it out? We've got an HD video embed of APB Video Podcast 9: Viva Cologne for you after the jump.
Impressions: APB
It's been a long time coming, but the first gameplay of Realtime Worlds' pseudo-MMO APB has been shown to the public. PAX attendees who stopped by EA's booth were allowed to view a 15-minute long in-game video demo of the title -- just for kicks, the player/commentator for the demo was none other than Epic's Mark Rein, creator of the Unreal Engine 3 upon which the title is built. Rein, who was playing as an Enforcer, was joined by Realtime's Chris Collins, who effectively played the Crockett to Rein's Tubbs.What we saw looked less like an MMO, and more like a persistent online multiplayer cops-and-robbers game. Action isn't slow and meditated, it's fast-paced and twitchy. If you were expecting skill-filled hotbars, you're going to be disappointed -- APB is a third-person shooter, through and through.
PAX 2009: Massively's first look at gameplay in All Points Bulletin
All Points Bulletin was representing at PAX and while the game wasn't playable I did manage to see a very cool PAX-only gameplay video presentation. Epic Games' Mark Rein and Realtime Worlds' community officer Chris Collins – you know, that dashing gentlemen in all those cool video podcasts – played a bunch of the game and edited it into a nicely narrated sample of what playing the game is like. What I ended up seeing was a game that by all accounts looks very ready for launch, so I wasn't surprised to be told beta was "a few weeks" away and not months. And while that date is still a little ways off, most other attendees who saw the video seemed to agree that launch day couldn't come soon enough.
PAX 2009: Massively's first look at gameplay in All Points Bulletin part 2
In fact, Chris' narration made certain to point this fact out. There isn't any back-snapping to walls and peeking around corners, but you'll want to crouch behind a sturdy object when reloading or trading bullets with an opponent behind some cover of their own. Although I wouldn't hide behind cars, because they can explode in a very kill-you-good fashion.
Epic's Mark Rein: We're not ready for PlayStation 4 or Xbox Whatever
As the Vice President of Epic Games -- purveyor of cutting-edge graphics technology and self-anointed "conglomerate of badassery" -- Mark Rein must have a fairly good grasp of where the future of gaming is headed. How long until games are beamed directly into our eyes? It's a question posed in a hilarious and cheeky Eurogamer interview, to which Rein responded: "Over half the users who played Gears of War 2 so far do not have HDTVs."Well, that's a bit of a bummer. "My point is, of the systems that are out there now, the majority of them aren't plugged into HDTVs. So there's no way we're ready for the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox Whatever," Rein said. The PlayStation 3 still combats the issue of cost, he added, with Sony likely looking to amortize launch and development across that often touted ten-year lifespan. There are benefits to be reaped with developers growing more comfortable and experienced with the hardware, but for now, we're not ready for another PlayStation. And a next Xbox? "Yeah, it's called Natal," says Rein. "That is the next Xbox." Though new consoles like the Xbox Whatever may arrive later than expected, we're confident Epic will be right on time in delivering Things of War.
E3 Natal demos created with Unreal Engine 3
Microsoft's E3 demo for Project Natal include two game demos -- Paint Party and Ricochet. We assumed that these minigames were developed from scratch, specially for the E3 demonstration, but Epic's Mark Rein has stated in an interview with OXM that they were made using the Unreal Engine 3.That makes UE3 the first middleware to support the new motion control system, meaning developers who utilize it shouldn't have much difficulty adding Natal functionality to their titles. UE3 isn't quite as commonly used as it was in 2007, but this does mean there's no excuse for Gears of War 3 not to support Natal. We suspect a great many of you would enjoy a bit of motion-controlled chainsawdomizing.
Mark Rein: No 'ten-year plan' for Gears of War
Mark Rein has denied claims made by writer Josh Ortega that Epic Games has masterminded a ten-year plan for the Gears of War franchise, according to VG247. While Rein says the studio "appreciates the enthusiasm" Ortega has for the Gears franchise, Epic isn't keen on planning games "very far in advance." "It's a ten-year plan. Gears is long-term," Ortega told Gear-heads at a panel during the 2009 New York Comic-Con. While, in response, Rein promised Epic's focus is directed toward "supporting the Gears of War 2 game and community," he says the company will ultimately make decisions on a "game-by-game basis" and by gauging fan support. Rein's hesitation to throw all of Epic's eggs in the Gears basket may have something to do with its previous cash cow, Unreal Tournament. In 1999, Epic Games spun gold with the Unreal Tournament franchise but saw mediocre returns from 2007's Unreal Tournament 3 -- a franchise shelf life of less than a decade. Then again, Gears of War has all but eclipsed the popularity of Unreal Tournament with a movie already on the horizon.
The rise and fall of @cliffy_b
At some point during the short life of Twitter's @cliffy_b, a mockumentary version of Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, the joke became a little too real for some people and it had to be shut down. Matthew Downham, who we've actually featured before in spoofs where he fails hard at games, along with his friend, Austin Brown, were the men behind the false Bleszinski. Today he posted the full explanation of the birth and death of @cliffy_b.Downham explains the duo never intended any malice with @cliffy_b, that the character, a clear goof on the extroverted designer, was meant to be an over-the-top version of a gaming personality they admired. The joke was going along fine, until one particular tweet was taken a bit too seriously. Although Downham avoids what the post was, it was probably the tweet heard round the Gears community: "After much testing, it looks like matchmaking is permanently broken ... There are new maps though, only 800 Microsoft Points!" That's when the Epic lawyers had Twitter kill the fake Mr. Bleszinski. The story stands as a good metric on how some lines -- especially involving money and multi-million dollar franchises -- are dangerous to cross.
