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Epic working to bring Unreal Engine 4 to Windows Phone, Windows RT
Windows Phone and Windows RT, the Microsoft operating systems for the company's smartphones and tablets respectively, could be getting a little more ... epic in the future. Epic Games co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney told forum-goers that the company is working on implementing its Unreal Engine 4 on mobile Microsoft platforms. "We have been doing some work in this direction (implementing various levels of WinRT API support) and we want to have Windows Phone support eventually, but we're a very long way from having a ship-quality implementation," Sweeney wrote on the Epic forums. "Right now our mobile efforts are really focused on iOS and Android based on their huge market sizes. We have a lot of work to do on these platforms before expanding to other mobile platforms such as WP." In other words, while we might see Unreal Engine 4 support on Windows Phone and Windows RT in the future, for now it's still more likely to hear or read "coming soon to iOS and Android" than it is "coming soon to Windows Phone." [Image: Epic Games]
Unreal Engine 4 crammed into Amazon's Fire TV - it's possible
Let's say you've paid your $19 want to see what kind of crazy shit Unreal Engine 4 is capable of. Let's also say you have a shiny new Amazon Fire TV sitting in the living room. With some patience and a little coding, you can totally run Epic's new software toolset on Bezos' $99 set-top box. Over on Gamasutra, a dev has listed step-by-step instructions for getting the engine up and running and, from the looks of it, it didn't take him a lot of extra work. This is likely due to Fire TV's Android-based architecture and the fact that Unreal 4 was basically designed to run on every platform under the sun. As the dev tells it, you can even plug in an Xbox 360 or PS4 controller to explore the demo area. Regardless of if we ever see Unreal-powered games on the streaming box or not, this proves that its gaming capabilities aren't as limited as one might think.
Epic seeks alpha testers for action-building game Fortnite
Though Fortnite has been in relatively quiet development for years, Epic Games has apparently decided that now is the time to drag the game into the light of public scrutiny. To that end, the publisher has launched a website for the game and put out a call for testers. Those unfamiliar with Fortnite can think of it as a cross between Minecraft and the "Horde" gameplay type in Gears of War. The fundamental goal of Fortnite has players gathering resources and building defensible forts to keep out hordes of monsters. Once the attack inevitably comes, Fortnite more closely resembles a traditional third-person shooter, where players navigate their cobbled-together homes while gunning down invaders. Fortnite also offers online gameplay where multiple players have to work together to build and defend strongholds, as well as player-crafted weaponry. While Fortnite is still a ways off, the game's new website is seeking participants for an upcoming alpha test. If you'd like to join, visit the Fortnite site and fill out the standard registration form. [Image: Epic Games]
Report: Less than 1 percent of mobile gamers responsible for half of all in-app purchases
With the runaway success of Candy Crush Saga, it's perfectly natural to wonder just how many people are dropping coin in freemium mobile games. One firm's answer, however, might surprise you. A very small number -- 0.15 percent, to be exact -- of total mobile payers contribute half of monthly in-game revenue, according to in-app marketing company Swrve. The outfit also says that over 60 percent of the money made within the first two weeks of a player's life is made on the first day. Meaning, if most people install a game and don't make any purchases almost immediately, they likely won't at all. The report comes from a limited sample, but designers hoping to build the next fragile confection-like phenomenon are probably studying it for secrets right now. We've embedded the provided infographic after the break should you want a peek at a whole lot of graphs for yourself.
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.
Epic Games collaborating with university for Epic Games Centre
Epic Games has formed a two-year partnership with Staffordshire University resulting in the Epic Games Centre, a "fully equipped" space for use by students in Staffordshire's game design courses. The agreement provides students "hardware, teaching time and access to software and key personnel" from Epic. The Epic Games Centre will also host Epic Developer Days, an event focused on assisting professional Unreal Engine users. "We have many great courses here at Staffs but this partnership will give our students a deeper understanding of how theory is put into practice and a greater understanding of the commercial complexities of the development process," said Staffordshire's Head of the Games Technology Group Dr. Bobbie Fletcher. Learning how to build games isn't exactly a cakewalk, but students looking to learn the Unreal engine might find it more manageable with an open communications line to its creators. Hopefully Staffordshire students gain unreal knowledge from the partnership and make some epic games to share with the world.
December Games with Gold freebies are Gears of War, Shoot Many Robots
Microsoft's Games with Gold program closes out 2013 with muscly shooter Gears of War (nope, no numbers at the end of that) and co-op run-and-gunner Shoot Many Robots. That means Gold members on Xbox 360 can download Gears of War for free between the 1st and 15th of December, then they can disembark the Cole Train and start to Shoot Many Robots on December 16, which stays free until the end of the year. Microsoft plans to continue the Games with Gold program on Xbox 360 as an "ongoing benefit," and is extending it to the Xbox One in 2014 on a monthly basis.
Equip an Infinity Blade for free this week
We may be up to Infinity Blade 3 now, but you can explore the first game in Chair's smash hit series for absolutely nothing. The official Infinity Blade account tweeted this morning the swipey iOS brawler is going for free on the App Store all this week. Infinity Blade is famous for being the first to bring Unreal Engine 3 to iOS, as well as doing Infinity sales, but it's also a great game. As our five-star review put it back in 2010: "You might find games that are a more perfect fit for the platform, but in terms of recreating a console-level experience on the iPhone, you simply will not do better than Infinity Blade."
Epic auctions 3 signed Lancers to aid Insomniac intern after hit-and-run
Insomniac Games interning artist Ana Kessel recently lost her leg in a hit-and-run accident, and Epic Games has stepped up to help raise money for her medical bills. Epic is auctioning three signed replica Lancers from Gears of War on Ebay, with all proceeds going to Kessel's recovery fund. Epic has put up a replica original Lancer, a retro Lancer and a gold retro Lancer on Ebay, each signed. They'll be available for bidding through November 22. "All proceeds from this auction will be going to help with Ana Kessel's medical bills," the Lancer descriptions read. "She was an intern at Insomniac Games, a local video game company here in the triangle area, who was recently involved in a hit-and-run accident while on her scooter. She has been in the hospital since Monday, and had to have one of her legs amputated. Without having medical insurance, the financial burden will be immense, which is why I am auctioning off a few pieces of memorabilia from our video game."
Massively does Geek Week: The top 10 most epic encounters in Guild Wars 2
As MMO players, we know all about being geeks; we're the geekiest video gamers around! Join in the fun today as we celebrate Google's Geek Week with a series of MMO-flavored videos to introduce fellow geeks to our favorite games: Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, The Secret World, and more! Guild Wars 2 is gorgeous. It's as simple as that. Even as it approaches the first anniversary of its launch, we still find ourselves gawking at the painterly landscapes and impressive character models. Lush environments, enormous world bosses, and breathtaking vistas are all accented by an emotionally gripping soundtrack in an immersive experience. To illustrate this, we've compiled a top 10 list of the most epic encounters in Guild Wars 2 based on its environments, animations, and sound design. Temporary content was off the table (with one big exception), so some fan favorites like Super Adventure Box, Molten Weapon Facility, and the Wintersday festivities weren't included. Enjoy our take on the most epic encounters in GW2 in celebration of Geek Week!
Unreal Engine 3 licensed to contractor for US Army training sims
Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 is now in the hands of Intelligent Decisions, a company that creates virtual training simulations for the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command. Intelligent Decisions wants to use UE3 to polish the movements of autonomous avatars in its Dismounted Soldier Training System, and add haptic feedback from incoming fire, full skeletal controls and environmental variation, VP of Simulation and Training Clarence Pape says. Intelligent Decisions secured the license from Applied Research Associates, Virtual Heroes and Epic via the Unreal Government Network, a program that handles government contracts for the Unreal engine. Insert your own "gears of war" joke here.
City of Heroes spiritual successor plans Kickstarter for Sept. 8th
One of the candidates vying to be the spiritual successor to City of Heroes will be moving into its fundraising stage come this September. Missing Worlds Media's The Phoenix Project, is preparing a Kickstarter campaign for September 8th. The team says that if all goes well (read: the project gets the moolah it needs), the title could be launched by the end of 2015, although it's hoping to get an avatar creator in our hands by next summer. In an interview with Polygon, Technical Director Nate Downes said that the project is 25% to 33% done, although the game is being made completely by 136 volunteers who have other jobs or are full-time students. The Phoenix Project is being built using the Unreal Engine, as Epic has licensed the engine to Missing Worlds with no money down until the team gets funded. Downes hopes that fans will continue to rally to the cause: "This project has grown out of the community that was left behind when City of Heroes closed, so it's really just a lot of passionate people getting together to rebuild that home for themselves."
Is Epic hiring devs for a Gears of War MMO?
GamesRadar reports that Epic has posted a job listing related to "an unannounced competitive online action game." Senior Systems Designer is the official position title, and it apparently requires someone with "a passion for building and/or playing shooters, MMOs, RPGs, or RTS games." Epic is advertising for one of two projects. The first is a tower defense title called Fortnite, while the other is an unnamed game that "includes player progression, heavy itemization, and a dynamic economy." GamesRadar notes that its Gears of War speculation is just that, but we have to admit that it sounds both plausible and interesting.
Epic job listing outs unannounced 'competitive online action game'
Epic Games is currently working on two projects: the tower defense action game, Fortnite, and another game yet to be unveiled. A job listing calling for a senior systems designer mentions "an unannounced competitive online action game that includes player progression, heavy itemization, and a dynamic economy." The listing, which does not specify platforms, calls for a senior systems designer on both Fortnite and the unannounced game. Last year, Chinese company Tencent Holdings invested $330 million into Epic Games, acquiring a minority stake in the Cary, North Carolina-based studio. Epic Games' most recent game was the Xbox 360 exclusive, Gears of War: Judgment, made by its People Can Fly division.
Maingear launches liquid-cooled Epic series with 4th-gen Intel Core-i7 CPUs
Liquid-cooled PCs are de rigueur for serious gamers, but Maingear knows there are plenty who'd rather crowbar headcrabs than fiddle with plumbing. To that end, the company's just buttressed its water-chilled desktop lineup with the Epic Series, consisting of the full-tower Force and mid-sized Rush models. Each pack a "BiTurbo" pump design that keeps things cool in the event of a single pump failure, along with the latest Intel 4th-generation Core i7 or AMD FX processors. As for graphics, you'll get four-way SLI NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan or Radeon HD 7970 GPUs if you opt for the Force model, while the Rush offers two-way GeForce GTX Titan SLI or dual Radeon HD 7990 graphics. There are also numerous memory, storage and static pressure fans using Corsair parts, and custom touches like lighting and Glasurit paint with an "automotive finish." Prices start at $3,259 for the Force and $3,059 for the Rush and go way up from there -- if that doesn't phase you, check the source for more.
Infinity Blade 2 on sale for $0.99
Infinity Blade 2 is kicking off the summer by slashing, and cutting, and chopping its price down to $1... sorry, it's cut another penny off to make it $0.99. The sequel in the infinitely successful iOS franchise is regularly priced at $6.99, and has gone on sale for $2.99, but this is the first time it's dropped to that App Store sweet spot of a buck.%Gallery-161653%
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 now supports Oculus Rift, introduces 'Integrated Partners Program'
Unreal Engine 4 now supports the Oculus Rift VR headset, Epic Games announced this morning. The move comes as part of an "Integrated Partners Program," which also adds support from a variety of other middleware companies (Autodesk, IDV, and NVIDIA to name just a few). Licensees have access to the entire list of middleware software, and can implement functionality in their UE4-powered projects starting today. Epic Games VP Mark Rein told us at GDC 2013 that Unreal Engine 4 support for Oculus Rift was in the works, but we didn't think it'd arrive this soon!
The Daily Grind: What was the best random drop you ever got?
The Skinner Box design to MMOs and the random nature of loot tables means that an absolutely epic piece of gear could conceivably drop with the next kill. Or the kill after that! Or after that! Or... yeah, you know the drill. The unpredictability of corpse looting is like a little slot machine built into our games, mostly giving us trash while once in a while paying off in incredible dividends. It's the latter that I'd like us to discuss today. Every once in a while I do a double-take when I see that I just looted an ultra-rare item. I didn't even know text that color existed in the chat window, to be honest! And getting that incredible drop can make my evening (not to mention give me bragging rights to my guild). So what was the best random drop you ever got in an MMO -- and what did you do when it happened? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Gears of War: Judgment 'Call to Arms' map pack available April 23
The next Gears of War: Judgment map pack, entitled "Call to Arms," will launch on April 23.The pack includes three new maps, a new multiplayer mode called "Master of Arms," and six armor and gun skins.The pack will cost $12.50 (1000 Microsoft Points) on its own, but is included in the $20 (1600 MSP) season pass. The pass will also cover one more similarly sized pack. %Gallery-186202%