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Indie dev Chair signs exclusive deal with Epic, new Undertow images
Despite 2005's disastrous Advent Rising, which was built on Unreal Engine 2.0, Chair Entertainment will continue to use Epic's tech ... for-ev-AR. The indie developer has signed an exclusive deal with Epic to license Unreal Engine for all current and future projects. While the deal extends across the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms (no Unreal for Wii, remember?), Undertow, Xbox Live Arcade's submerged shooter, is the studio's only project known to be in development (not that we've been holding our breath for the rest of the canned Advent trilogy). As previously disclosed, Undertow will feature both a 15-level campaign (with co-op support) and a pair of 16-player multiplayer modes, packed tight like shredded tuna into the old 50MB XBLA standard. Undertow is tentatively scheduled for release this summer. [Via press release] %Gallery-4096%
New details on Unreal Tournament 3
A feature story in the latest Official Xbox Magazine has revealed some new details about Epic Games' upcoming Unreal Tournament 3 as well as some hype-tacular words by lead designer Steven Polge. Additions to the game include: Four-player co-op and two-player split-screen in the single-player campaign 18 vehicles and five types of turrets Hoverboards Polge also made a few claims sure to be cited in any brouhaha concerning the shooter. Referencing the Great Keyboard & Mouse vs. Controller Debate, the designer claimed that UT3's controls are so good that half of the staff prefer the Xbox 360 version. Also noted were the improvements in Unreal Engine 3, as exemplified by contrasting the game to previous Epic title Gears of War. Polge said that UT3 is "Gears on crack. Cover is for wimps!" You hear that, gamers who bought his company's previous Xbox 360 title? You're a bunch of wimps! (Until Gears of War 2 is announced, of course.)
GDC 07: Mark Rein talks Unreal Engine 3 on the Wii (again)
He said as much last year (wow, seems like yesterday we were calling this thing the Revolution), but the hopes of seeing the Unreal Engine 3 on the Wii is still strong in the community. And this year at GDC, again the question came up and again Mark Rein took the time to take those hopes into a headlock and proceed to give them the Yoga noogie of a lifetime. Mark said "this is kinda a high definition engine. Designed for a certain level of graphics card and certain amount of CPU. You know, I'm sure one of our licensees will squeeze it down into the Wii. The way Ubisoft squeezed Unreal Engine 2 into the PSP," he explained in a little bit more detail exactly why the Wii and Unreal Engine 3 won't become best buddies, "Unreal Engine 3 is designed for a high level shader architecture and the Wii doesn't have that. I mean, you know, it's just not what we've been aiming for, so it's not something we're looking to do or support." Mark didn't go on to talk about specific companies that were already looking to license the engine, if there even are any, but apparently its fairly cheap to license as Mark said he "only saw a splinter of the money from Splinter Cell."
Mark Rein says no Unreal Engine 3 for Wii
The Wii is taking a beating this week at GDC by American developers. Between hushed conversations and public displays, it isn't pretty. Epic's vice president, Mark Rein, has never hid his feelings for the Wii. While discussing Unreal Engine 3 games in development for the Xbox 360, he was asked if they'd develop anything for the Wii's Virtual Console? "Ummmmm, well, this is kinda a high definition engine. Designed for a certain level of graphics card and certain amount of CPU. You know, I'm sure one of our licensees will squeeze it down into the Wii. The way Ubisoft squeezed Unreal Engine 2 into the PSP," he explained in a little bit more detail exactly why the Wii and Unreal Engine 3 won't become best buddies, "Unreal Engine 3 is designed for a high level shader architecture and the Wii doesn't have that. I mean, you know, it's just not what we've been aiming for, so it's not something we're looking to do or support."Rein wouldn't go into any details at the number of companies, or cost, to license the Unreal 3 Engine. He says the license is cheap, "We only saw a splinter of the money from Splinter Cell." Epic hopes to sell Unreal 3 mods on Xbox Marketplace. They also said they'd be coming out with a textbook for schools on the Unreal Engine 3.
New Unreal Tournament 3 details emerge
Over at the Beyond Unreal forums, Doc Shock translated a German gaming magazine's interview with Jeff Morris about Unreal Tournament 3. From the translation and follow up by TeamXbox we learn that Unreal Tournament 3 will include a co-op option for the campaign, similar to how Gears of War works. They are also implementing voice commands where you'll be able to give a bot simple instructions to carry out, like navigating a vehicle or protecting a base. Morris also confirms that there will be 12 weapons, 15 vehicles, and 30 plus maps to enjoy. And as always, we'll be playing Unreal Tournament 3 on our Xbox 360s "when it's done" ... because that's how Epic rolls.[Thanks, DjDATZ]
Capcom licenses Unreal Engine for US developed title
Not wanting to be the last to the party, Capcom has become the latest developer to license the Unreal Engine 3 for use in their titles. This comes only days after another leading publisher, Activision, made a similar announcement. Capcom will be utilizing the Unreal Engine for an unannounced title to be developed in North America. Earlier this month, Lost Planet producer Keiji Inafune commented that "western developers are leading the industry, with Japanese developers falling behind." As Japanese development houses have historically been opposed to middleware, this deal, along with Capcom's recent success here in the west with titles such as Dead Rising and Lost Planet, could be a sign of faith in their western counterpart.
Activision licenses Unreal Engine 3
Activision today announced it has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for an upcoming "action" title. The deal would seem to end -- or at least put on hold -- Activision's frequent use of id Software's game engines; though a partnership will continue to exist, as Activision remains the publisher of Quake Wars. No further details were disclosed, but the possibilities have our spider-sense tingling...
PS3 Unreal Tournament 3 not delayed
An erroneous Midway fact sheet has stirred up confusion over Unreal Tournament 3's release, listing the shooter's arrival on Xbox 360 and PC as Q4 2007, and on PlayStation 3 as 2008. CVG has since confirmed with Midway that UT3 is tentatively scheduled for Q4 2007 on all platforms, quickly deading rumor of a PS3 delay. Last week, in an interview with Game Informer, Rein called UT3 the developer's "showcase title" and "poster child for PS3," concluding "we just want to focus on UT3 on PS3 to start." Today Rein chimed in on the Epic forums about UT3's release date:"Epic (who makes this decision, NOT Midway) have absolutely NOT decided whether the SKUs for this product will be released simultaneously or in staggered order and we have absolutely NOT decided (because we don't know yet) when any of them will be released. If our publisher [distributed] information contrary to this they did so in error."See also: Unreal Tournament 2007 renamed, confirmed for 360 Epic aims for Unreal Tournament user mods on PS3, 360
Epic to churn out Gears of War until the Sun explodes
Unreal Tournament 3 producer Jeff Morris joked about the fate of his colleagues at Epic in an interview, saying that "the shoe has turned" when it comes to their current development cycle. The house that Unreal built has been hammering away at their foundation, cranking out Unreal titles since the series' conception in 1998, up until the release of Gears of War this past year. Could Marcus and company squeeze blood from stone the same way Mega Man has all these years?"It's funny because I think Gears started after a lot of people were a little fatigued working on UT, and now they're all probably making Gears for the rest of their lives," said Morris, reflecting on the massive success of Gears.He goes on to state that once again, no sequel has officially been announced, though we'd bet our precious thumbs that we'll be hearing of one down the road. We'll also be sure to put our acting chops to the test and look surprised when Gears turns into a trilogy.
Unreal Tournament 2007 for 360, new name
Speculated but never officially confirmed, Midway has finally announced that Unreal Tournament 2007 is bound for the Xbox 360, albeit with a new name. Entitled Unreal Tournament III, the game is expected to hit the 360 in the second half of 2007. UT3 (obviously) runs on the Unreal Engine 3 and should delight deathmatch junkies world wide. The game will feature the traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag. A third mode, entitled Warfare, will be available as well (perhaps it will function something like Warzone on GOW?). The game looks to feature an expansive campaign mode, too. IGN has the scoop, as well as the first official trailer. Seriously, we like other consoles. We do. We just can't afford anything else with so many outstanding titles hitting the 360 this year.
A non-violent first person Hindu shooter using the Unreal engine?
Escapist Magazine has posted a fascinating article detailing the attempts of an heir to a furniture fortune, and graduate students from the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa to create a non-violent first person Hindu shooter.It sounds crazy at first, but when you look at the actual thought and effort that went into the game, it isn't that dissimilar from today's RPGs -- "We had Vedic abilities: astrology, Ayurvedic healing, breathing (meditation), herbalism, Gandharva Veda music, architecture (which let you purify demonic areas) and yagyas (rituals). During the game, you could acquire the siddhis of clairvoyance, levitation, invisibility, shrinking and strength. Your aim was to achieve pure consciousness by cleansing your six chakras in ascending order. But your current karma (depicted as a gray pall over your character's silhouette), if it covered any chakras, prevented you from cleansing them. So you had to remove karma by completing quests before you could purify yourself."The only way to actually win the game would have been to complete it without harming or killing any other living creature. You could die and be reincarnated in a number of different forms like a human, a pig, a dog, or a worm -- but whatever form you came back as would limit the way in which you could interact with other characters in the game. They had licensed the Unreal Warfare engine for use in the game, but eventually things began to fall apart because the graphics looked sub-par, and the producer had to face the facts that the development was beyond the team's ability to create.Still, at least they tried to do something new that wasn't another standard shooter clone and featured some true innovation. It's refreshing when someone takes a risk every now and then and puts something truly unique on the map.
Epic joins Shanghai development community
The number of foreign game developers descending upon China has become legion, and Epic Games is the latest to establish a foothold in the growing market. At the Tokyo Game Show, Epic VP Jay Wilbur outlined his company's plans to create an outsourcing division in Shanghai, which will be responsible for creating assets to be used both internally and by third party developers. Not only will Epic be cutting production costs, but their new office (and popular Unreal 3 engine) will most likely attract the attention of local outfits Shanda, The9, and the forthcoming Made in China Online Game Project.See also: Epic's Rein talks Gears, UT2007 American McGee gets episodic in Shanghai
Gears of War should look great on your crap TV
Gamers will be pleased to learn that all missions in the upcoming Gears of War should be easily accomplished without the need for excessive squinting or unanswered pining for a better television set. According to an entry on the official Epic Games forums, the upcoming, Unreal-powered and unbelievably macho tale of man versus monster has been tested on "small, non-HD TVs, to make sure you can read the writing." Presumably, the legible on-screen text in Gears of War will not be conveyed by a lonely security guard who calls at the worst possible times. Though this news will allay the fears of those still confined to the realms of standard definition, developers shouldn't expect a pat on the head whenever they cater to a huge part of their audience. This just in: Gears of War will totally work on your Xbox 360. Thanks for going the extra mile, Epic![Via 1UP]See also: Dead Rising: patch chance lost! Mea culpa for 360's Kong In defense of Sony's HDMI.O.U.
Epic's Rein talks Gears, UT2007
Epic Games VP Mark Rein was back in the hot seat in a new interview with CVG. For part one of two, Rein discusses Unreal Tournament 2007's hover board and weapons roster, the UT Kismet scripting language, and why Gears of War isn't really a "shooter".Regarding the Kismet toolset and UT mod community, Rein had this to say: "Mod makers and designers are going to be able to do things that programmers could barely figure out how to do in the previous generation... you could take Unreal Kismet and build Tetris with it. I mean, without being a really genius programmer you could make a cool puzzle game with it."Well, we've already had Mortal Kombat Tetris, so why not mash up the classic puzzler with a shooter? Using Unreal Engine 3's enhanced particle and shading effects, it would be the best damn looking Tetris game ever!See also: Rein reckons PS3 "in a better place" for launch than 360 EA adopts Unreal engine for select next-gen titles
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
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?
Rein reckons PS3 "in a better place" for launch than 360
In an interview with Eurogamer, Epic's Mark Rein makes an interesting observation in stark contrast to the doom and gloom murmurings (and memes) that have recently surrounded the impending PS3 launch. Rein notes that developers were just receiving final developments kits when E3 rolled around, whereas the Xbox 360 units were not yet available during the expo a year before. "So Sony's actually maybe in a better place vis-a-vis Microsoft in relation to launch."Coupled with news of 10,000 development kits being shipped off to eager programmers, it would appear that the PS3 is indeed in a good place for developers. Of course, that only amplifies the importance of having companies like Epic use the tools and the time given them to craft excellent experiences. After all, the best place for the PS3 to be in would be someone's living room, and the only way it's going to get there initially is with the aid of some killer launch titles. Where are they?In Mark Rein's house, apparently. "I know we're getting some great results with it back at our house, so I would expect other developers will be as well." Once Sony announces the PS3's full launch lineup, we'll be in a better position to see how pronounced the development kit advantage really is.
Midway announces Unreal Anthology
The impossibly gorgeous Unreal Tournament 2007 won't be out for quite a while yet, a fact which appears powerless to stop Midway from making a few bucks from the franchise they previously snatched away from Atari. Dubbed Unreal Anthology, their neat little package will contain the original Nali slaughterfest, Unreal, its Return to Na Pali expansion pack, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition. Come this August, you'll be able to waltz into a store and pick up three great first-person shooters (and one alarmingly average one) for the satisfying sum of $29.99. You may also want to peruse the rest of the PC section and discover all the other titles you've missed in the years that you've been trapped in cryogenic suspension (yes, Half-Life has a sequel now).
Unreal Tournament 2007 coming to Xbox 360
Not sure if this wasn't planned all along, but the above image from the May 2006 issue of GamePro magazine clearly says Unreal Tournament 3 will be coming to the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. During Epic's press preview at GDC, Mark Rein said that UT2007 was being developed on both the PC and PS3 platforms; however, Gears of War is obviously being developed on the Xbox 360. Since the Unreal Engine 3 middleware is built for both systems, there is no technical reason the games couldn't be cross ported. GoW is still a 360 exclusive ... for now.[Thanks, Mike]
Unreal Engine 3 MIA on Revolution?
Epic Games' Mark Rein, in a Q & A session attended by Joystiq Blogger Christopher Grant during the recent GDC, said that we probably "won't be seeing Unreal Engine 3 on the Revolution." Mark implied that the Unreal Engine 2 would be more than sufficient for anything the platform may demand and had yet to be informed on what the final specs for the console would be. Mark's comments were more towards down-scaling HD projects, such as the upcoming Gears of War, for the console and cited that it would not be very cost effective. We assume that titles will eventually utilize the Unreal Engine 3 on the console, however upcoming titles created specifically with HD resolutions in mind are more than likely not going to see an incarnation on Nintendo's system.
