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Shipping this week: Time machine edition
When you scan the new 360 releases this week, you may feel a sense of déjà vu. "Unreal Tournament III," you will say, "didn't that come out eight months ago?" Fear not, however, for your eyes do not deceive you. The Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III has finally released, bereft of user created content though it may be. Presenting us with another trip back in time is Civilization Revolution, which has players building their ... civilizations from ancient times all the way into the space age. If you haven't given the demo a try, we suggest you do. It's good fun. Finally, we have Beijing Olympics 2008. We're guessing that one involves a lot of button mashing and stick twirling. You'd best prepare for the calluses now.[Via Joystiq]
Unreal Tournament 3 gets a release, it's July 7th [update]
Update: Eurogamer just confirmed that Europe will be receiving UT3 a few days earlier on July 4th.Yesterday, not hours after we posted about the new Unreal Tournament 3 screenshots and joked about still not having an official release date, Joystiq forced Midway between a rock and a hard place and asked, no demanded an UT3 Xbox 360 release date. With fear in their eyes and ice cold blood pumping through their veins, Midway conceded and confirmed that July 7th is in fact UT3's North American release date. That Joystiq crew, they get things done, because they don't mess. Maybe we should get those threatening Joystiq bloggers to convince Midway or Epic to include a better Gears of War 2 surprise ... oh yeah, genius.
Samus enters the Unreal Tournament III fray
It's all very well being able to play as Master Chief or Marcus Fenix in Unreal Tournament 3, but what about Nintendo fans? Who can they play as? Thankfully, one skillful modder has created a Samus Aran character model to placate the UTIII playing Nintendo mob. The model itself looks excellent and we can't wait to try it out. You can find more information as well as links to the mod (cooked for the PS3, naturally) at ut3mod.com. Go check it out and let us know what you think.
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.
Mods still stalled for Xbox 360 Unreal Tournament III
In an interview with our sister site Joystiq, Epic VP Mark Rein made it known that no progress has been made in implementing user created content for the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III. While the PS3 version has been available for some time -- and features the ability to incorporate user created mods -- Rein stated that there is no set release date for the 360 version of the title. We must point out the irony -- as did Joystiq -- that this news has broken in the midst of Microsoft's new push for community content on the Xbox 360.How long it will take to sort out UTIII's mod problem -- and indeed whether or not it will even be solved at all -- remains a mystery.
Free faceplate with Unreal Tournament III pre-order
Unreal Tournament III will be dropping onto the Xbox 360 platform in a few months time and if you're super-uber excited enough to complete a pre-order, you may want to do it at Gamestop. They're offering a free (and quite attractive) UT3 faceplate to all who plop down their pre-order cash and we enjoy a free 360 faceplate as much as the next guy. Speaking of free faceplates, what has happened to retailers participating in this practice? We swear that even a year ago free faceplates were quite common with game pre-orders. Bring back this practice fellow retailers, give us a faceplate incentive to pre-order.[Thanks, L1B3RATION]
UTIII finally gets a European release date
It was notable late last year the great job Epic did in ensuring Unreal Tournament III hit its promised stateside release before 2007 ended. While seemingly all the attention was focused on North America, gamers in Europe were left on the outside looking in as Epic couldn't nail down a firm release date for the region ... until now.Eurogamer has learned from Midway that the game will be available on Feb. 22, ending the weeks of impatient waiting from the series' longtime fans. With the mod cooker released and user-created mods now showing up, it looks like European gamers will be in for quite the treat when they finally get their hands on it.
UTIII mod cooker finally released to the wild
We've been harping on about this Unreal Tournament III mod "cooker" for a wee while now. For those of you who don't know, this update for the Unreal Editor on PC allows mods to be exported to a PS3-friendly format, allowing any of the current and future PC mod releases to be saved out and used on the PlayStation 3. Epic released a few mods to tide us over while the "cooker" was still being tested. Soon after that, it was released to an undisclosed number of people on the Developer Mailing list, for further testing.Now, however, it's finally available for everyone to download. From here on out we expect to see a huge amount of user-generated content being released. But not all of it can be good, surely? We're aiming to bring you a round up of our favourite mods every couple of weeks or so. So if you're a mod maker, or if you've stumbled upon a mod you particularly enjoy, let us know at Jem [at] Joystiq.com.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
First user-released UTIII mod - the Action Cam
We know exactly what you've been thinking everytime you load up Unreal Tournament III - "I wish I could see more of my character's back". Well help is at hand. One of the first mods to be released by the UTIII mod community is a third-person camera mutator. This allows you to play the game as if it was a third person shooter, similar to Uncharted.The over-the-shoulder viewpoint gives the game a very different feel and comes with a few aesthetic restrictions. Firstly, bulky character models such as the Krall can obscure your view, so it's best to stick with something a little more svelt. The fact that you never see your weapon means that you also need to pay close attention to the shape of the crosshair, or you could end up blowing yourself up with a rocket launcher you picked up without noticing. Other than these very small obstacles, this mod is excellent. Be sure to grab it at your earliest convenience. If you stumble across any other great PS3 UTIII mods, we'd love to know. Just shoot us an email at Jem [at] Joystiq.com[Via Digg]
Unreal Tournament 3 mod-cooker could be out next week
The ever-chatty vice president of Epic, Mark Rein, has posted on the official Unreal Tournament III forums to let us know that they're in the final stages of testing the public code that allows for "cooking" mod code for the PS3. Rein believes that testing should be finished sometime next week and the update can then be immediately released. This will open the flood gates and we will then see a huge amount of user generated content being played on the PS3. We can't wait.Once the "cooker" is finally released, we at PS3 Fanboy will be running a new feature showcasing the best UTIII mods available for PS3. More on that next week, hopefully![Via N4G]
Unreal Tournament 3 toolset coming soon; some content released tomorrow
We know a lot of you were disappointed to find out that, even though Epic had promised, mods were not made available for the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament III on day one. Apparently they are still waiting on some paperwork from Sony and once that's in people will be able to export their mods for the PS3 version of the game. To tide us over until then, Epic has "cooked" some mods they've picked from the community themselves. The first piece, a map by the name of DM-Shrine, is available right now to play on your PS3.As if that wasn't enough, Epic is releasing some more user-generated content for download from the modding community. A mutator, some new maps and even a new game type. This should easily keep us busy until modders can "cook" their own content - when that happens we advise that you hold onto something, because we'll be seeing a tidal wave of content being released for us.Importing content is simply a matter of placing it onto the root directory of a memory stick or USB key, then importing it through the "My Content" section of the "Community" menu. Simple as that. The power of UTIII mods really becomes clear today and we can't wait to see what the modding community comes up with once the exporter is finally released.
Midway announces UT3 ship date
Mark Rein has once again kept his word. After saying that we'd receive Unreal Tournament 3 before the year ends, last week, Rein proclaimed the game would be in stores as early as Dec. 11. Today, Midway confirmed that as it announced the game will be shipping to retailers on Dec. 10.After the unfortunate delays of The Orange Box and Haze, it's great that we'll have a decent FPS to look forward to this holiday season. We're pretty confident that, unlike EA and Valve, Epic will ensure its game runs as smoothly as possible on the PS3.
Epic not starting on 360 UTIII until 2008
So just what were all those trailers then, hmmm? In a recent interview with Riottt.com, Epic bigwig Mark Rein admitted that work on the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III had not yet begun. When asked about whether or not we'd ever see the 360 version, Rein responded that it was definitely on the way, and reiterated that finding a way to incorporate user created mods was causing the hold up. "So our job, when we finish the PS3 version, and we??ve taken a little break," said Rein, "is to sit down with Microsoft and to figure out how we can do Mods on their system." Rein was then asked when the 360 version might be ready and responded, "We won??t even start working on it until early next year." Ouch. Here's hoping the game actually releases in 2008 as planned.
Epic dedicated to user mods for 360 UTIII
In a response concerning his earlier comments about Blu-Ray capacity, Epic's Mark Rein has once again commented on bringing user created content to Unreal Tournament III for Xbox 360. First, he noted that praising Blu-Ray's capacity was in no way meant as a slight to the 360's DVD format, adding that any extra content could easily be made available for download. Speaking about user created mods, Rein noted, "When it comes to user created mods on the 360 - we will work with Microsoft to find a way to support them." He added that Epic doesn't know what the solution is at this time, and that it will have to wait until after the PS3 and PC versions ships (as well as Gears of War for PC). After that (and some much deserved R&R), Rein promises that Epic will tackle the user created content problem and "figure it out."[Via 1UP]
MS softens stance on user created content for 360 [update 1]
Coming from Gamefest 2007, it looks like Microsoft might be changing its tone on user created content. Longtime followers of the Xbox 360 will know that user created content has long been sought after by Microsoft, though it is somewhat hindered by the fact that all downloadable content has to be cleared by Microsoft before it can be distributed via Xbox Live Marketplace. At Gamefest, it was revealed that developers can circumvent this restriction by using what is called Xbox Live Server Platform (XLSP). Using XLSP, publishers can provide content directly from their own servers instead of Marketplace. Of course, such publishers would be solely responsible for all content delivered by these means. Also, use of XLSP by any publisher must be approved by Microsoft. During a panel at Gamefest, someone even asked if it would be possible to create a PC level editor that built levels playable on an Xbox 360. In response, Microsoft Software Design Engineer Zsolt Mathe said, "Even though nobody has done that, I would highly recommend that."Given Epic's recent lamentations concerning user generated content for Unreal Tournament III on the Xbox 360, perhaps XLSP is the answer.[Via BeyondUnreal. Thanks, Dave]Update: 1UP incorrectly states that XLSP stands for Xbox Live Silver Platform. DXL540 informs us that it is in fact Xbox Live Server Platform, which makes a bit more sense. Furthermore, DXL540 sends us an SEC filing from Activision detailing what's possible with XLSP.
Mark Rein on Halo 3, 360 UTIII mods
Remember the CVG interview in which Epic VP Mark Rein stated that Microsoft's E3 showing hurt Halo 3? Now the first part of the interview has been published in its entirety, giving a further look at Rein's opinions. One of the more interesting tidbits, after his spiel about the Halo 3 showing, he goes on to admit that Halo 3 will break all of the sales records set by Gears of War. According to Rein, "We've had a nice nine, ten months of being the record holder, and now we're going to get our ass kicked. In a good way." Good form, old man, good form. Rein goes on to discuss the various versions of Unreal Tournament III and Gears of War PC and the fate of its exclusive content (hint).Also worth nothing, in the second part of the interview, which has yet to be published, Rein admits that the reason for the delay of the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III is that Epic has yet to sort out how user created mods will work on 360. Rein notes that in the "worst case scenario" Epic will submit user created mods to Microsoft for certification and offer them as downloadable content. Rein adds that, "hopefully between now and whenever it is we ship on Xbox 360, we figure out a user-managed way to do it." Our fingers are crossed.Read -- Mark Rein interview, part 1Read -- Epic struggles with UTIII mods on 360
Fragtacular UT3 Weapons Video
GameVideos has a nice video showcasing the weapons from Unreal Tournament 3. All of the guns in the game are being completely revamped from there previous incarnations. Featured arsenal in the video includes the flak cannon, rocket launcher, shock rifle, and link gun/plasma rifle. So have a look at some fragtastic firefights, complete with a couple Multikills and a killing spree. Graphics are looking tight and the pace is as fast as one would expect from an Unreal title. Are you up for some oldschool arcade shooter deathmatch?[Via QJ.net]
Unreal Tournament III Trailer on Marketplace
Major Nelson has let us know that there is an Unreal Tournament III trailer available on Marketplace. Although it is not available in Mexico or Asia. Perhaps it's a bit of payback for releasing Crackdown early. Still, the game features the Unreal 3 Engine, and is going to easily be on par with Gears of War in terms of visual fidelity. The trailer comes in two flavors, 720p or 480p and weigh in at 66 MB and 33 MB, respectively. So hop on Live, download the trailer and tell us what you think.
New GOW content in months, PC version "inevitable"
Speaking with TeamXbox, Mark Rein revealed that new content will be arriving for Gears of War within "the next couple months," citing the Dreaded Xbox Live Certification Process® as a primary reason it has taken so long. Rein notes that the content is "not months away...it's maybe a month? When it's done." It is unclear, however, whether he is speaking of the actual creation of the content or the certification process. The upshot, obviously, is that new Gears content is coming, and that it will have "a fun little surprise."Also mentioned in the interview is the inevitability of a PC version of Gears of War. Rein notes that Epic's biggest challenge will be to recreate a game that was designed exclusively for the Xbox 360 so that it will run on a wide range of PCs. Finally, Rein speaks about the upcoming Unreal Tournament 3, discussing his excitement about bringing user created mods to the console space. Hit the "read" link for the whole interview.Now, any wild speculations about what the "fun little surprise" might be in the new GOW content? We'll have none of that reasonable speculation either. We're only interested in wild speculation, thank you very much.
New UT3 screens are eye popping
Our friends at Xboxygen scored some new shots of Unreal Tournament 3, the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series. The shots mostly showcase the game's gloriously rendered vehicles. Most notable of the new vehicles is the vicious tripod pictured above. The giant mechanical beasts appear to be terrorizing the Japanese countryside (something that almost never happens). Another interesting shot shows two players on hoverboards hooked onto a third vehicle, Back to the Future style. Put simply, the game looks great. Click the "read" link for more pretty pictures (perfect for wallpaper).
