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Capcom dragon punches Unreal Engine 3
We're starting to think that Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the core component of Skynet. As more and more developers sign on to use Unreal Engine 3, its network -- and its intelligence -- grows. Soon, when enough developers latch onto the Gears of War creating powerhouse, our world will be overrun with diabolical machines that wish for nothing but out destruction. The latest victim is Capcom, which has licensed the engine for an unannounced North American project. We'd love to imagine the possibilities of a fully rendered Ken Masters in Unreal glory, but we're pretty sure that Capcom wouldn't hand over any Street Fighter development to the US. Could the project be a sequel to one of Capcom's hot 360 properties like Dead Rising or Lost Planet? Only time will tell. Let's hope they get the game finished before the machines attain sentience.[Via Xbox Addict]See also:Activision uses Unreal Engine 3 in new game
Activision uses Unreal Engine 3 in new game
With the Xbox 360's number one game under their belt -- 3 million copies and counting -- you'd think Epic Games would be satisfied. But no, not Epic. No, Epic has to have a much larger slice of the video game pie (mmm ... video game pie), licensing their Unreal Engine 3 to every company under the sun. The latest victim is Activision, who has licensed the engine for an as yet unannounced project. All that is known at the moment is that the game will be an action title. Said Mark Rein of the deal -- no doubt following peals of maniacal laughter -- "We've admired them for a long time and we're pleased that they've chosen to use Unreal Engine 3 and we're confident they're going to make a great game with it."What could be the game in question? Dare we dream that it might be a good remake of Pitfall?[Via Evil Avatar]
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.
Mortal Kombat 8 inspired by Gears of War, using Unreal Engine 3
Speaking with Game Informer, Ed Boon described an opportunity to start anew with the next version of Mortal Kombat, the eighth in the series. Boon revealed that MK8 will be built using Unreal Engine 3, inspired by Epic's recent engine showcase Gears of War. "To me, when I saw Gears of War, I was like, 'Holy shit! That's the look that we've been talking about.' Visually, that's what we want to do," explained Boon. Visually.MK8 is still a fighter at heart, and Boon and the team hope that by starting from scratch, Mortal Kombat can inspire the genre as it did more than a decade ago. "We're not going to have three fighting styles, we're not going to have the same punches and kicks and the same kind of control scheme. Everything is getting trashed. We're reinventing everything from the ground up," promised Boon. Don't expect any solid details for some time; Boon admitted that MK8 is currently not in a playable state, supposing that its release won't come until the end of 2008.While Boon hinted at the possibility of MK8 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, it should be noted that Epic's Mark Rein recently told Wired that "it's not in [Epic's] plans to bring Unreal Engine 3 to the Wii. It's really designed for next-gen, high-definition." Oh snap!
Unreal Tournament 2007 = Unreal Tournament 3... also multiplatform
So, what's this talk about Unreal Tournament 2007 going to the 360 and PC? That's completely untrue. Why? Because that's not going to be the game's title anymore -- even though the game is actually the fourth UT, it's going to be dubbed Unreal Tournament 3. Why would Epic Games instigate such a confusing name change? You have about ten seconds to make the connection or... well... we'll tell you.Still thinking? Well, here's a hint: replace "tournament" with "engine" and you'll find your answer staring you in the face. That's right, they're changing the name to coincide with their incredibly popular, even in Japan, engine dubbed the Unreal Engine 3. So, we can assume UT3 is going to be one of the "showcase" titles for the engine. Honestly, the engine doesn't need any more showcasing. We know it's great. Now, if you say Unreal Tournament 3 is going to be multiplatform, you're right. We'll all enjoy it, so is that a problem?
Square-Enix enters into license with Unreal Engine 3
You know you've created an amazing engine/toolset in the West when Japanese bigshots like Square-Enix want to "expedite [their] game development process significantly." These words come from Taku Murata, general manager of R&D at Square-Enix, who also said that the licensing with Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 will allow "extra time and resources to be spent on game design and mechanics by establishing an effective technology platform." Hooray, so maybe this is why there are rumors of Final Fantasy XIII being released before the end of 2007, as well as a demo of the game? It's worth a guess... depends how you interpret: "Since this is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy, we have a surprise we'd like to keep for our fans until the end of the year."[via Joystiq]
Epic dismisses NVIDIA evidence, Gears not on PC (yet)
Epic's Mark Rein has responded to the Gears of War reference in NVIDIA's ForceWare driver, stating frankly that there's no "new information" to report on the possibility of a PC port. The NVIDIA connection was simply a result of Epic providing some Gears content to NVIDIA in order to tweak the performance of Unreal Engine 3 on the company's graphics chips. Further, Rein chided, "You know console games are developed on PCs, right?"Despite shooting down this latest rumor, Rein avoids outright denying that a version of Gears will eventually land on a Windows platform; because chances are it will.See also: Rumor: Gears of War PC-bound?
Metareview - Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360)
Rainbow Six Vegas: the other Unreal Engine 3 shooter.Vegas will no doubt live in Gears' shadow this holiday, but series' followers know that Rainbow Six offers its own brand of 'thoughtful' combat. Indeed, it's the team-based multiplayer that will propel Vegas up the Xbox Live popularity chart. Rainbow Six is back. Game Informer (95/100) - "While the single-player mode is great, the multiplayer may be the best thing to come to Xbox Live since Halo 2 ... the best addition in the game, though, is without a doubt the four-player co-op. You and three of your friends can now experience the entire single-player campaign together as one Rainbow Six squad. Note to game developers: Every first-person shooter should feature this mode from this day forward." Games Radar (90/100) - "Deathmatch-style modes do exist and are definitely entertaining, but it's team play -- much like in the single player campaign -- that will keep you coming back ... the game's greatest feat is adding strategy to the first person shooter and getting the player -- whether working alone or with others -- to occasionally stop, forget about the gun and just think." 1UP (85/100) - "There can be no doubt that the reception of Rainbow Six Vegas will be somewhat tainted by the release of Gears of War. While the two games are very different stylistically, they share some fundamental gameplay mechanics, and both suffer from the same problem: namely, bland-but-competent online gameplay."
Video: Huxley has a lot to prove
Let's make one thing clear: I've been pimping Huxley since before I began working for 360 Fanboy. The idea of a massively multiplayer first person shooter is almost too delicious to contemplate. In the intervening months, with the release of several AAA 360 titles, Huxley has been all but forgotten. As fate would have it, a new video of the game popped up on the net today, and Xboxyde was kind enough to create a streaming version of it, as is their wont. Call me jaded, but the video is uninspiring. It's just a generic montage of blasting things with a tiny bit of the actual MMO aspect of the game thrown in. Considering the main selling point of Huxley is its MMO nature, you'd think they'd make more use of it in a promotional video. But, I digress. Check out the video and make your own judgments. Does it look like it can stand up against the likes of Gears, COD3, or Vegas?
Unreal Engine 3 gets Digimasked
The creative genius' behind Gears of War have a little program they call Unreal Engine 3, have you heard? Well it looks like Digimask and their face mapping software is officially a part of the Unreal Engine. Digimask is the same company that incorporated face mapping technology using the Xbox Live Vision camera into World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions and Rainbow Six Vegas. You just can't help but to speculate whether or not our beloved Gears of War (which utilizes the Unreal Engine) will incorporate the new face mapping technology through a future auto update. Though the more I think about it, I highly doubt we'll see this happen because that would totally mess up the feng shui Cliffy B has painstakingly worked to achieve in Gears. We can always hope that we'll see some Digimask face mapping in the uber-hyped, Xbox 360 exclusive, Unreal Engine based game: Jazz the Jackrabbit 4.
Unreal Engine 3 prepares to Roboblitz XBLA
Time to take another look at the trailer for Roboblitz from indie developer Naked Sky, the first Xbox Live Arcade game to sport Unreal Engine 3. Mike from K1lla's Xbox Domain spotted a forum post from one of the devs that says:The game is super close to complete. Design and art wise, we're pertty much locked, now we're just making sure the game is bug free and fully optimized. An exact release date...still don't have one. But considering the state of the game, it can't be much longer. Believe me, we want the game out asap! The only thing we know for sure is that it'll be 1200 MS points, and the PC version will include (TBA) bonus content. SOOOON!!The best part is it actually looks like it's worth 1200 MS Points.
Money guy says next MoH uses Unreal engine
For those unable to decipher perplexing acronyms, the game in question would be Medal of Honor: Airborne, EA's next and next-gen entry in the extremely popular kill the nazis genre. By ways of CNN's Game Over column, analyst P.J. McNealy has asserted that 2007's Medal of Honor would be the first game to benefit from EA's adoption of Unreal Engine 3, with an unannounced title, Dead Space, to follow after. The latter game is likely not based on the office block that developed Rise of the Imperfects.The rest of the column ponders the fate of RenderWare, the widely used middleware engine that EA obtained along with their purchase of Criterion just over two years ago. Apart from the obvious benefit of having Burnout in the stable, EA initially stated that they intended to use an updated version of the engine for next-gen products, none of which have so far managed to materialize (Burnout Revenge for the Xbox 360 was mostly a port, after all). While it's conceivable that RenderWare has since been surpassed by Epic's technology, Mark Rein gives a far more reasonable explanation (yes, really) in an interview with FiringSquad.He suggests that "it comes down to smart resource management" and that EA is merely picking the best engine for the job. Unreal Engine 3 would presumably save them time and money for specific games and could be used in conjunction with their in-house tools. Apparently, you can never have too many engines at your disposal. Perhaps a good question to ask would be: how important is the graphics engine to you? Are you more likely to play a game knowing that it uses Source or Unreal, or is the visual end result the only thing that matters (besides that gameplay thing)?Read - EA's Engine Acquisition examinedRead - Mark Rein on EA's adoption of Unreal
Silicon Knights debunks Too Human rumor, still using Unreal Engine 3, duh
Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, has debunked a rumor that his studio has given up on Unreal Engine 3 in favor of a homegrown engine for Too Human, writing in a statement released by Microsoft, "Silicon Knights continues to build Too Human using the Unreal Engine 3 ... Rumors of Too Human experiencing production challenges that will cause massive delays are false."Curiously, just yesterday, Microsoft issued its standard response to the rumor: "Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation." It's unclear why Dyack and Microsoft have decided it was necessary to address this rumor, as there was little evidence to validate it in the first place. Too Human is tentatively scheduled for a Q2 2007 release on Xbox 360.
Slaying Dinosaurs in Turok, totally Unreal
Xboxyde got a handful of screenshots for the upcoming next gen Turok. The game is running on Unreal Engine 3 (then again, what isn't?) and looks awfully nice. The game pits players against humans, dinosaurs, and -- if previous iterations are anything to go by -- robot dinosaurs. The game supposedly mixes up GOW style cover and some intense melee combat as well. The game isn't coming out until 2007, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.Anyone willing to place their confidence in this ailing franchise?
SOE cops Unreal Engine 3 license
Sony Online Entertainment is poised to begin developing content with Unreal Engine 3 after announcing a new licensing agreement with Epic Games. SOE will use the technology for both PlayStation 3 and PC titles, including an upcoming MMO based on the DC (comics) universe. According to DigitalBattle.com, there are more than 50 projects in development that utilize Epic's coveted Unreal technology.[Thanks, Soren]
Sony Online snags license for Unreal Engine 3
Some good news from IGN today. Epic's Unreal Engine 3, the most talked about graphics engine for next-gen consoles, has been licensed by Sony Online Entertainment. Sony Online has already released statements about using the engine for their future titles, including an unnamed MMO based on the DC Comics universe. This may be a good substitute for the voided Endless Saga. Although the MMO isn't limited to PS3, it's still at least one coming to the PS3.SOE president John Smedley had this to say about the license aquisition: "The combination of a top-notch graphics engine and a robust set of design tools will enable our teams to deliver incredible and innovative game content for next-generation consoles and the PC." Hooray! Right? Well, until we actually can play this engine ourselves to judge its hyped awesomeness, let's just assume this is a good thing.
Heard@GDC: no Unreal Engine 3 on Revolution
During a Q&A session following a demonstration of their new Unreal Engine 3, Epic Games' Mark Rein said, "It won't be easy to take something HD res here to the Revolution," continuing we probably "won't be seeing Unreal Engine 3 on the Revolution." Although he was clear to say that he has not seen the final hardware for the Revolution, Rein said the existing Unreal Engine 2 would provide more than enough muscle to take full advantage of the Revolution's hardware since it won't require HD resolution. Naturally, nothing's been announced, so despite the fact this came from Epic's VP, consider it unconfirmed. Any geeks in the house care to pontificate on whether or not UE3 is in fact worth it for Revolution developers?See also:Revolution can handle Unreal Engine 3Mark Rein to consider Unreal Engine 3 for RevolutionNintendo responds to Epic's Revolution disdainEpic VP rips on Revolution concept(UPDATE: To prevent further confusion, I'll attempt to clarify what I think Mr. Rein was saying. The process of porting UE3 games running in HD from platforms like PC, Xbox 360, or PS3 to the Revolution "won't be easy" and therefore, he suspects, won't be done. He elaborated that licensing Unreal Engine 3 for a Revolution game would probably be overkill, since Unreal Engine 2 is already capable of maxing out what they perceive the system to be capable of. That being said, what about the streamlined scripting and animation tools bundled into Unreal Engine 3's Kismet? Wouldn't some developers gladly pay the increased licensing fees to work in a refined development environment that, according to Epic, could cut their development costs. Furthermore, some developers, like Midway, have purchased studio-wide licenses to develop all their next-gen titles with UE3, presumably their Revolution titles as well.I think mocax got it right, "Epic's writes software graphics/game engines. Nintendo makes a machine that allows developers to deviate from Epic's core business. Any self-respecting profit-oriented corporation will twitch at Nintendo's disruption." I suspect we will see UE3 on some Revolution titles, but the idea is antithetical to Nintendo's stated ideology and thereby threatening to a company that makes their money selling eye candy.
Unreal Engine 3 and other PS3 tech demos from GDC floor
Sony may have prevented pics of God of War 2, MotorStorm, and Resistance: Fall of Man from being taken during Phil Harrison's keynote speech yesterday, but they did let folks take video footage of the other PS3 tech demos on the GDC floor.So here you have not only the "Lots of Ducks" tech demo all the way from last year's E3 presentation, but you've also got a user-manipulated look at Unreal Engine 3 (which will purportedly power Unreal Tournament 2007 on PS3 next year), a performance-analysis app that flips a face around, and the underwater fish demo also seen during Phil's address.Of course, there's only so much nudging around of heavy barrels with the Unreal engine that you can take without wondering what juicy UT tidbits will turn up at E3 2006. What's nice, though, is if you're sick and tired of seeing more rubber duckies in Sony's bathtub, you can watch for them in that fishy underwater video resting at the bottom of the sea. Wow, those ducks went down... permanently! Just remember that these technical demos are not representative of final playable games. (Darn.)See also: GDC: The PS3 keynote blow by blow [Chris gets his "wrist slapped"] An in-depth look at Unreal Tournament 2007 Sony confirms God of War 2 worldwide Q1 2007 Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Sony's PlayStation 3 launch
