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.

Shacknews has learned that multiple Unreal Engine 3 licensees have been served with subpoenas in an effort to obtain their confidential engine contracts for use as evidence in Silicon Knights' coming court battle with Epic Games.

The two companies became embroiled in a legal feud after Silicon Knights filed suit against Epic last July. As part of its lawsuit--the allegations of which include Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, and Breach of Contract--Silicon Knights demanded all profits from the Epic-developed blockbuster shooter Gears of War in the form of awarded damages.

The subpoenas mark the first time that developers other than Epic have been entangled in the dispute. Companies that have licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3, and are potentially now involved in the suit, include Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Ubisoft, and the United States Army, among many others.

"I'm leaving the litigation to the lawyers but, if this is the case, I'd like to apologize to any of our licensees who Silicon Knights have inconvenienced," remarked Epic VP Rein when contacted today by Shacknews. "We know that, like us, they just... Read more

Tired of old and busted input methods like controllers and Wii-wagglin'? Too lazy to make even the slightest movement of one or two fingers to play a game? OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator might be for you.

The Tech Report's Scott Wasson had some hands-on time with the device and explains how it works in a piece published today. Fitting around the head, the NIA is equipped with three sensors across the front of the band that pick up and interpret electrical signals commonly associated with facial movements and even some patterns of thought.

The NIA's DirectX-based software then maps these signals to particular control functions in games, allowing certain actions to be controlled via subtle facial expressions and even certain patterns of thought.

The report discusses how technical development VP Dr. Michael Schuette (pictured left) had mapped basic controls for Epic Games' Unreal Tournament III (PC, PS3, X360) to facial muscle inputs, but assigned what he calls his "Tourette's impulse" to the jump key—he'd simply think of a dirty word to jump.

OCZ hopes to bring the Neural Impulse Actuator to the market within the next three to four months at a price point range of $300 to $400.

Developer Epic Games isn't quite ready to make user-created content available for the PlayStation 3 version of Unreal Tournament 3--but that functionality is coming "ASAP," according to Epic's Josh Adams in a post on the game's official forums.

"The PS3 mod tools aren't quite ready yet. We are working through some final legal/release issues," Adams explained. "When it's ready, you will need to download the latest PC patch and another PS3 Mod Tools 'patch' that adds the full PS3 mod support to the PC version." PS3 UT3 mods must be created with the PC version of the game, and can then be exported to PS3 format and transfered on a flash card or USB drive.

The delay in getting the tools out the door may explain why a URL listed in the PS3 game's manual as pertaining to mod support is currently inactive. "We will be posting information soon," it currently reads. "Please check again for more information." When Shacknews checked the URL earlier this week, it was completely inactive.

For more on Unreal Tournament 3 for PS3, check out our retail impressions.

The Unreal Man: Mark Rein Speaks is a Gamasutra interview with the Epic Games VP about Unreal Engine 3, PlayStation 3, Japanese developers working with Epic's technology, PC development and more.

The guys at Internode Games Network have Epic Games interview up, conducted at Game Connect Asia Pacific. Senior character artist Chris Wells is asked about Unreal Tournament 2004, developing multiplatform games, and Unreal Tournament 3 being referred to as the game from the makers of Gears of War.

Beginning December 11, three new multiplayer maps will be available for players of Bungie's Halo 3 (X360). Titled the Heroic Map Pack, its three maps--Foundry, Rat's Nest, and Standoff--will be downloadable from the online Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Microsoft describes Standoff (pictured here) as "ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types" due to its symmetrical layout and boulder-filled battlefield. Rat's Nest (pictured here) is said to be "an indoor vehicle paradise" best suited for big team battles, whereas Foundry (pictured here) is "the ultimate Forge map" as players can manipulate and replace every object object within it to create their own custom arena.

The maps will eventually be provided free of charge, similar to Microsoft's efforts with Halo 2's downloadable content as well as that of Epic Games' Gears of War. According to the publisher, players can expect the Heroic Map Pack to be free in spring 2008, "just prior to the next wave of all new 'Halo 3' multiplayer maps."

A slight problem with Microsoft's Games For Windows Live initiative is manifesting itself in the PC version of Epic Games' Gears of War, which infests stores today.

According to Microsoft, players are automatically prompted to download a Games For Windows Live update when they begin the game. However, the update refuses to install correctly, which can cause some problems.

The solution is an extremely easy one. After downloading the update and arriving at the main menu screen, simply quit of the game and restart it, which should cause the update to install. Alternatively, players may download and apply the update separately.

"The good news is that once you go through the above process, you won't have to do it again," reads a post on the Microsoft-sponsored Gamerscore Blog. "Microsoft Game Studios is working on a title update to be released in the near future that will allow users to avoid manually exiting "Gears of War" to apply the update."

"Happy curb-stomping," the entry concludes. For more on Gears of War, check out Nick Breckon's in-depth review.

The motion filed by Epic Games in attempt to dismiss Silicon Knight's lawsuit against the company has been denied, reports GameDaily BIZ. Barring an out-of-court settlement between the two companies, the case will now process to trial, though no date has been set.

"Epic had asked for the entire case to be dismissed. Judge Dever denied this request, which is not unusual," explained Epic VP Mark Rein. "Often these requests are denied. It is important to note that this was not a decision on the merits of Silicon Knights' claims. We are confident that the evidence will show Silicon Knights breached its license with Epic Games and violated our copyrights and trade secrets."

Dever's decision comes after Silicon Knights filed a rebuttal against Epic's motion to dismiss. "Epic’'s Motion to dismiss should be denied in its entirety, Epic should be ordered to answer the Complaint, and this case should proceed to discovery and trial," it read.

Charges filed against Epic in the lawsuit, which centers around Silicon Knights' experience with Epic's Unreal Engine 3 while developing Too Human (X360), include Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, and Breach of Contract. Epic maintains that all of the issues Silicon Knights encountered while using its technology are covered under the Unreal Engine 3 License Agreement.

Much like the Peter Jackson-produced Halo movie before it, budget concerns may stall the progress of the Gears of War film.

New Line Cinema acquired the rights to the adaptation of Epic Games' then-Xbox 360 exclusive blockbuster in March. The game was then announced for PC during Microsoft's July E3 2007 press briefing, complete with PC-only content, and is slated for a November 6 release.

Despite the property being once again thrust into the spotlight of the gaming populace, reports of an ever-rising budget appear to be hampering the film project. Movie news and gossip site IESB.net claims that Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is attached to the project, but it is unlikely to enter full production.

Though rumors of financial issues come as no shock, word that the ... Read more

Coinciding with the November 6th release date announcement, I recently had a chance to get some play-time in with the Gears of War PC port, and ended up devouring almost everything it had to offer. Is it worth the investment in this jam-packed season of gaming? Read on to find out.

But much like Resident Evil 4, Gears of War was a deliberately paced game, and not one that would immediately take to the PC platform. Though it adds new content in the form of five singleplayer chapters, three multiplayer maps, and some improved visuals, it all really comes down to the controls--and thankfully, developer Epic Games has nailed that aspect in every way.

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