Gears of War and Unreal Tournament developer Epic today revealed its next Xbox 360 exclusive title, a downloadable action-adventure game titled Shadow Complex.

Developed by Epic subsidiary Chair Entertainment, Shadow Complex is a side-scrolling game inspired by Metroid and Castlevania, focused on exploration and big boss battles. As with Chair's Undertow, Shadow is powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3.

The full game is said to offer 120 items, with the main campaign lasting over 10 hours. Expect Shadow Complex to be released on Xbox Live Arcade this summer.

Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney now estimates that videogame graphics will reach the point of realism in as little as 10-15 years.

When asked for an estimate on movie-like photorealism by Gamasutra, Sweeney replied: "Probably 10-15 years for that stuff, which isn't far at all. Which is scary--we'll be able to saturate our visual systems with realistic graphics at that point."

"We're only about a factor of a thousand off from achieving all that in real-time without sacrifices," he said. "So we'll certainly see that happen in our lifetimes; it's just a result of Moore's Law."

While graphical fidelity might be perfected, Sweeney noted that mastering actual human realism will be a more daunting task.

"There's another problem in graphics that's not as easily... Read more

Following an expired digital certificate that rendered the PC release of Gears of War unplayable after January 28, developer Epic has explained exactly what happened.

"The online cheat detection features in Gears of War for Windows are based on digital signatures. Well, we made an embarrassing mistake: we signed the executable with a certificate that expired in a way that broke the game," Epic VP Mark Rein told IGN.

"We know how much this situation sucks, and we apologize for the inconvenience," he added, vowing that Epic is working on the issue and hopes to have it fixed "very soon."

In the meantime, those hoping to play are advised to set their computer's system clock back to some time before January 28, which will circumvent the so-called Y2K9 bug.

CD Projekt's DRM-free digital digital download site Good Old Games today began carrying titles from Epic's classic PC shooter franchise Unreal.

Unreal Gold and Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition mark the first additions, both priced at $9.99. Unreal II: The Awakening and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition are slated to hit "in the coming weeks."

"GOG.com provides an affordable way to buy our back catalogue of games and get up and running with minimal effort," noted Epic VP Jay Wilbur.

"We know that a lot of gamers have been waiting for new deals," added GOG managing director Adam Oldakowski. "We're sure that the Unreal games will satisfy their lust for alien blood and intense multiplayer action... DRM-free, of course."

Update: While Epic Games holds a stake in Epic China, it is not a wholly-owned subsidiary and operates independently of Epic US, Epic Games US has clarified with Shacknews. Titan Studios is an extension of the Chinese branch.

Original: Unreal Engine 3 technology creator and Gears of War series developer Epic Games today added Fat Princess (PS3) developer Darkstar Industries to its stable of internal teams, renaming the newly-acquired company Titan Studios.

The studio will continue its work on Fat Princess, as well as create original games and provide technical Unreal Engine 3 support to those that work with Epic Games China.

Titan's multiple UE3-powered projects include a massively multiplayer online game, of which no details were revealed. The studio's staff hails from a variety of developers, such as Ubisoft, Epic Games, Blizzard Entertainment and Lionhead... Read more

Update: When contacted by Shacknews, Epic Games VP Mark Rein called the Variety report that Legendary Pictures is in talks to acquire Epic "just another rumor."

Original story: Film production company Legendary Pictures--co-producer of the upcoming Gears of War movie adaptation--is currently in talks to buy Gears developer Epic Games, according to Variety.

The news has apparently been corroborated by multiple sources, though neither company involved has issued any official statements.

Legendary Pictures has co-produced recent Hollywood hits such as 300 and The Dark Knight. Its future projects include the aforementioned Gears flick, as well as the World of Warcraft movie.

Legendary CEO Thomas Tull has shown a long-lasting interest in the gaming industry. Tull recently resigned from a position on the board of Brash Entertainment, a game publisher which focuses mainly on creating titles based on licensed movie properties.

Silicon Knights president and founder Denis Dyack commented on the legal struggle between the Too Human (360) and Unreal Engine purveyors Epic Games, expressing optimism that "justice will be done" in the ongoing court battle.

"The trial is proceeding," Dyack told Develop. "We feel really good about our claims, and we're hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry."

The dispute centers around Silicon Knights' claim that Epic held off on delivering promised features in its Unreal Engine 3 middleware in order to focus on... Read more

Electronic Arts today announced it will be publishing new efforts from acclaimed studios Epic Games and Grasshopper Manufacture as part of its EA Partners program.

The new Epic property is being developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 by wholly-owned subsidiary People Can Fly, which previously created the action-shooter series Painkiller and handled the PC port of Gears of War.

"Epic is excited to work with EA Partners to launch our next big IP on the global stage," said Epic Games VP Mark Rein. "EA Partners gives independent developers like Epic the muscle of a global publisher like EA, along with the focus and flexibility of a smaller team committed to working with our individual needs."

Directed by No More Heroes (Wii) designer Goichi Suda, Grasshopper Manufacture's new title is an action-horror game in development for the PC, PS3, Xbox... Read more

Publisher Sega has extended its licensing arrangement for Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to include another unknown cross-platform title, with both companies refusing to disclose any further details.

Sega first licensed the popular PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 middleware last year for use in "several upcoming projects being developed in North America."

While the publisher did not provide any details at the time, that announcement likely referred to Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines (PC, PS3, 360) and Obsidian's spy-RPG Alpha Protocol (PC, PS3, 360), both UE3-powered titles revealed since that time.

Epic Games today announced its acquisition of Chair Entertainment Group, makers of the XBLA deep sea shooter Undertow.

As per the terms of the acquisition, Chair will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Epic, and will continue operation under the same name while continuing to focus on creating original game properties with Epic's Unreal Engine.

"Chair's stylized approach to creating games is further enhanced by their ability to stretch our technology in new directions that not only help in creating amazing gaming experiences but also demonstrate the power and versatility of the Unreal Engine," said Epic VP Mark Rein.

Founded in 2005, Chair was formed by several key staffers from developer GlyphX's Advent Rising (PC, Xbox) team. In addition to the 2007 release of Undertow, Chair also secured exclusive development rights to adapt Orson Scott Card's classic sci-fi series Ender's Game to interactive mediums earlier this year.

While attending Midway's recent Gamers Day event in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to sit down with Epic associate producer Tanya Jessen and discuss a number of assorted topics.

Want to know if the upcoming Xbox 360 edition of Unreal Tournament 3 will include mod support? The possibility of an Epic game on XBLA or PSN? The studio's thoughts on complaints that the lead characters from Gears of War and UT3 look so much alike?

What about the possible effects of Portal on Gears of War 2? And just what does Epic think of the UE3-powered wet t-shirt contests in Surreal's This Is Vegas? Read on to find out.

Tanya Jessen: We've got a few secret projects that will be talked about I'm sure in the coming time. We love the Unreal franchise and I assure you there's more to come.

The guys are working really hard to continue to support it because this, I mean, Epic wouldn't be Epic without Unreal. This is definitely something that we're continuing to work on and continuing to improve. Read more...

Developer Epic Games has confirmed that the Xbox 360 edition of Unreal Tournament 3 will arrive this summer with exclusive content, though it will lack the support for user-created mods found in other iterations.

"Quite simply, we aren't doing [mods] for the Xbox 360 version," associate producer Tanya Jessen informed Shacknews. "Xbox is a closed platform. That's the big reason we're not doing it on 360."

That exclusive content encompasses five new maps and two new characters, with Jessen claiming that there are no plans to release that content for the previously released PC and PlayStation 3 editions.

Though Epic VP Mark Rein had previously indicated that Epic might release some mods on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Jessen indicated that nothing has... Read more

Electronic Arts will incorporate Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 middleware in more than five titles currently in development, the company announced today.

The UE3 engine is currently at use in several recently released multiplatform titles from EA such as EALA's Medal of Honor Airborne (PC, PS3, X360) and EA Montreal's Army of Two (PS3, X360). Neither company disclosed which upcoming titles would make use of the middleware.

"With the largest and most talented studio operation in the world, it's critical for us to give our studio teams the best tools they need to make great games," said EA president Frank Gibeau. "This agreement reflects our commitment to Epic's technology which, in combination with our own cutting-edge systems, allows us to create ground breaking hits."

Epic's UE3 engine has been licensed by several big studios including Square Enix, 2K Games, Konami, Capcom, Activision, and NCsoft.

Developer Epic Games has revealed the details on its latest $1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest, which challenges its participants to create a mod for the PC edition of Epic's Unreal Tournament 3 using the Unreal Engine 3 toolset.

Sponsored this time around by hardware manufacturer Intel, the contest offers over $1 million in prizes, with the grand prize being an Unreal Engine 3 license. Other prizes include Intel software development products and Velocity Micro PCs.

"To all you aspiring game developers out there--this is your chance to get in the big leagues," said Epic VP Mark Rein. "We have categories for all kinds of creatively talented people including programmers, artists, 3D modelers, designers and even aspiring film directors."

Rein added: "Unreal Engine 3 is used by many of the industry’s leading game companies, so this is truly a chance to prove your worth and get your foot in the door of the game business while having your work potentially exposed to millions."

Judging will begin this June and end in fall 2009. For more details, check out the official site at www.makesomethingunreal.com.

Unreal creator Epic Games today joined the ever-growing ranks of game studios that sell their products through Valve's PC digital distribution platform Steam.

Epic's initial offerings constitute five titles: Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition, and Unreal Tournament 3.

Each title will be sold for 10% off until March 24. An Unreal Deal Pack is also available, containing the five titles for $59.95--a savings of over $46. The discount applies to the Unreal Deal pack as well, making it $53.95 until March 24.

"Epic is a leading developer of game engine technology and has produced some of my favorite games of all time," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "It's an honor to be working with them and offering their current and classic titles to the millions of Steam gamers around the world."

The next version of Epic's popular Unreal Engine game development middleware will be initially skewed towards console development, according to company president Tim Sweeney.

"Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation," Sweeney told TG Daily. "Microsoft's successor for the Xbox 360, Sony's successor for the Playstation 3--and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also.

"PCs will follow after that," he continued.

Epic's initial focus on console development reflects the movements of many studios towards the more lucrative console gaming market, which has grown exponentially in recent years.

The company has not abandoned its PC gaming roots, however. Epic announced late last month that it intends to participate in the PC Gaming Alliance, a consortium bent on revitalizing the platform.

Epic Games founder Mark Rein and designer Cliff Bleszinski voiced their support of the recently founded PC Gaming Alliance, suggesting that the consortium would help unite and revitalize the platform.

"Right now, if you have a laptop with integrated graphics and try to play our game, it doesn't play...So you just lose your interest in that. We don't want that," Rein told MTV Multiplayer. "We want all these people buying laptops and reasonably priced PCs, to at least be able to be exposed to gaming. They can go out later and upgrade to something better, but let’s at least give them a baseline experience."

Added Bleszinski, "I think everybody coming together in that kind of way will essentially kind of help re-glue things back together and kind of help fix the market."

Officially formed at last week's Game Developers Conference, the PCGA hopes to serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on the marketing, production, and analyzation of the PC market. The body will act as an advisory board, with a... Read more

Commenting on recent speculation that Microsoft may buy Unreal Tournament and Gears of War developer Epic Games for $1 billion this summer, Epic Games VP Mark Rein quipped that such an acquisition would be much more costly.

A recent editorial in GamePro suggested that Epic would be purchased by Microsoft for $1 billion by the summer. In a response emailed to Develop, Rein did not comment directly on the rumors of an acquisition but noted that his company was much more valuable than the suggested amount.

"I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they're going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion because we don't want anyone thinking that we're cheap," joked Rein. A smiley affixed on the end of the statement was omitted in several reportings of the quote, leading ... Read more

Long-time PC developer Epic Games is now moving the PC to the backseat in favor of console development, Unreal designer and Gears of War (PC, X360) creator Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski (picutured left) has stated.

"For me, the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we’re doing," Bleszinski told MTV Multiplayer. "[PC is] important for us, but right now making AAA games on consoles is where we're at.

"I think people would rather make a game that sells 4.5 million copies than a million and Gears [of War] is at 4.5 million right now on the 360," he stated.

At last year's Game Developers Conference, Epic president Michael Capps attributed the company's increasing number of console projects to PC piracy. "PC gaming is really falling apart," Capps noted. "It killed us to make Unreal Tournament 3 cross-platform, but Epic had to do it."

Bleszinski offered similar commentary in his recent statements, blaming the increasingly casual-driven PC market for the console-focused attitude.

"I think the PC is just in disarray," he explained. "That's driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and [World of Warcraft] and a lot of stuff that’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. That’s the direction PC is evolving into."

Employees of the worldwide Hilton Garden line of hotels will gain a bizarre edge over the competition thanks to new training software powered by none other than Epic Games' ever-increasingly popular Unreal Engine 3. An announcement today by Hilton Hotels claims that the software is "the first interactive training game to be used in the hospitality industry that utilizes game-based technology"--not likely to be contested.

Ultimate Team Play, as the hospitality training software is called, contains numerous elements common to many commercial video games, particularly RPGs--branching dialogue trees, NPCs with unique motives and moods, numerous types of interactions with the world and characters, and rankings based on virtual performance.

Like many RPGs, Ultimate Team Play also contains a capitalized acronym describing its score system, in this case SALT, for Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking. It is also worth noting the video game-esque adjective "Ultimate" in the title.

Players apparently even play the game as one of various classes, be they in the housekeeping, food service, engineering and maintenance, or reception fields.

"Ultimate Team Play allows our hotel team members to play their hotel specific role and show them how their various actions directly affect the guest and the hotel," said Hilton Garden senior VP Adrian Kurre.

The software is being developed by Virtual Heroes, which has created training software for such companies as the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Special Army Command, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Discovery Channel Canada. Said Virtual Heroes founder and CEO Jerry Heneghan, "Ultimate Team Play leverages cutting-edge games-based technology in a realistic and immersive virtual Hilton Garden Inn environment."

Shacknews has sent a request to Hilton Garden for Ultimate Team Play screenshots.