Confirming widely held-expectations, Epic Games VP Mark Rein has stated on his company's forums that its PlayStation 3 version of Unreal Tournament 3--also in the works for PC and Xbox 360--will feature the option for players to use mouse and keyboard controls. This is in contrast to the game's Xbox 360 version, which is extremely unlikely to feature that option, given Microsoft's hard stance against allowing developers to use mouse and keyboard for gameplay.

"We are doing it in a way that will be balanced without feeling 'gimped' for either side," wrote Rein. "We'll also allow people to choose whether or not they want to allow mixed controller vs. keyboard/mouse games or not."

During E3, Epic announced that UT3 will release for PS3 and PC this year, with the Xbox 360 game to follow. Today's news adds to an existing desire to make the PS3 game as PC-like as possible; Epic also confirmed that players will be able to load user-made mods onto the PS3 version. Rein recently noted that Epic has had trouble getting that same feature onto the Xbox 360 version of the game, given the closed nature of Xbox Live, but that he hopes it will be somehow possible.