Epic Games today announced that they have acquired Chair Entertainment, developers of the Unreal Engine-powered Xbox Live Arcade game Undertow. The Utah-based development studio will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Epic Games and will continue to operate under its own name. It will now focus on creating new original game properties which will be powered by the 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 Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, Inc. “We are thrilled to bring the Chair team into the Epic family, and look forward to working with them to create original new games that continue to innovate and inspire.”
The studio was founded in 2005 and has released only one game so far. It has also got exclusive development rights to Orson Scott Card’s bestselling sci-fi novel.
The very first gameplay footage from Gears of War 2 has been released. It is introduced by Cliff Bleszinski, the game’s lead designer and all-around cool guy.
The video is from the third chapter in the game, showing off Brumaks, large-scale warfare and chainsaw duels, among many other things. Quite an exciting video!
Gears of War 2 is due out this November exclusively on Xbox 360.
Red Mile Entertainment has announced that it has licensed Unreal Engine 3 for use in developing the upcoming Sin City game.
“The Unreal Engine is one of the most technically advanced engines on the market and is a perfect fit for our Sin City video games,” said Glenn Wong, president and COO for Red Mile. “The engine has powered several of the best-selling games of all time and I am very glad we have the opportunity to arm our developers with such a world-class product.”
The game is expected sometime in 2008.
Mac owners will be able to partake in Unreal Tournament 3 action in early 2008, as MacSoft is porting the game to the platform. It will feature the same content as its PC, PS3 brethren and may possibly be the first Unreal Engine 3-powered title on the Mac.
Illuminate Labs, creators of rendering and lighting technology for next-gen games, has announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Epic Games, one that sees the incorporation of the company’s Beast, a global illumination system, into Unreal Engine 3. Under the terms of the agreement, Illuminate will join Epic’s Integrated Partners Program (IPP) and its technology will be immediately available to any publishers or developers that license the engine.
The inclusion of Beast will allow artists to seamlessly add global illumination to development environments using the Unreal editor. It will also allow them to bake soft shadows with transparency and get skylights from HDR images.
“We are very proud to be part of Epic’s Integrated Partners Program,” said Magnus Wennerholm, chief executive officer of Illuminate Labs. “Visual quality and cost effectiveness in the production process are key issues to all games studios, and with this partnership UE3 customers will benefit from easy access to our advanced lighting technology.”
Some new patches, most notably the UT3 one:
- Democracy 2 v1.01 on the official website
- Napoleon’s Campaigns v1.02 on the AGEOD forums, AtomicGamer, FileFront and Gamer’s Hell
- Unreal Tournament 3 v1.1 on Epic Games’ forums, 4players.de, AtomicGamer, AusGamers, ComputerGames.ro, FileFront, FileShack, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, Internode Games Network, The Patches Scrolls and PixelRage
This forum post on the BeyondUnreal forums offers a look at changes planned for the first patch for Unreal Tournament 3, offering fixes in almost every part of the game. No release schedule was offered though.
In actual patch releases, a v8.0.1 update for Football Manager 2008 was released for both PC and Mac versions of the game. Grab them from Gamer’s Hell and Strategy Informer.
Five new high-resolution shots from Unreal Tournament 3.
Following the Halo movie, it seems another Microsoft property Gears of War might not be getting made into a movie anytime soon. New Line Cinema, the studio which acquired the film rights to the adaptation, is backing away from the film due to an ever-rising budget. The financial problems stem from having a triple-A cast as well as the usage of green screens, because the film simply cannot be done without it. The risk of betting so much money on such a franchise is also another factor.
Xbox 360-holdouts will want to mark their calendars, because Gears of War will hit stores for the PC on November 6. As detailed before, the game will feature five new single-player chapters, a new “King of the Hill” multiplayer game mode, three new multiplayer maps, game editor and more. It also includes all the DLCs available via Xbox Live.
The system requirements for Unreal Tournament 3 were confirmed by Epic Games and Midway who have also released two new screenshots seen below.
Those looking to run the game at a bare minimum should have atleast 512 MB RAM and a 2+ GHz processor. Interestingly, the game requires 8 (eight) gigabytes of hard drive space.
Minimum System Requirements* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista
* 2.0+ GHZ Single Core Processor
* 512 MB of System RAM
* NVIDIA 6200+ or ATI Radeon 9600+ Video Card
* 8 GB of Free Hard Drive SpaceRecommended System Requirements
* 2.4+ GHZ Dual Core Processor
* 1 GB of System RAM
* NVIDIA 7800GTX+ or ATI x1300+ Video Card
* 8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space
And now the screenshots, undoubtedly taken on a “recommended” system.
The numero uno piece of premium downloadable content on Xbox Live is going free. Microsoft has announced that the Hidden Fronts Map Pack for Gears of War has been released for free this Monday, joining the Annex gametype and Multiplayer Map Pack 1 as another piece of free downloadable content for the blockbuster game.
The map pack contains four levels. Here’s the deal:
Bullet Marsh
In this Kryll-infested swamp, an old generator still powers the area lights. A few stray bullets could easily knock out the generator, leaving combatants to fend for themselves against the Kryll.Garden
This overgrown and crumbling conservatory still has a working fertilization and pesticide system. This system can pose a serious hazard to anyone who ventures into the greenhouse without first venting the air.Process
Fight for control of this subterranean Imulsion processing plant, still active despite the cessation of the Pendulum wars.Subway
Timgad ’s Central Subway station used to serve as a central hub for commuters. Now the tunnels are crawling with Locust.
Gears of War is also being released for PC. It will feature all-new exclusive content, including three new multiplayer maps, a new multiplayer game type, Game Editor, five new campaign chapters and DirectX 10 support.
EuroGamer carries confirmation that there will not be a PS3 demo for Unreal Tournament 3 before its release later this year. This was revealed to them by Mark Rein, who stated that while there will be a PC demo for the game, there won’t be a PS3 demo “before the game ships,” implying that a demo might be headed for the console after the game is available in stores.
He compares the situation to that of Gears of War. “What we told Microsoft last year - they wanted a demo for Gears of War and we said ‘you’ve got a choice - you can have the demo this year or the game this year’.”
Rein cites issues of testing the full game and resources as a major reason for not creating the demo.
During their presentation at the Leipzig Games Convention, Epic Games revealed that the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 looks “closer to the PC version” and will run at 60 frames per second. They also reconfirmed mouse and keyboard support.
Additionally, they showed off the PS3 version’s Sixaxis controls. Here’s a quote: “The Redeemer is controlled in camera mode by tilting the PS3 pad from side to side. The fanciful hover board, is controlled using the tilt capabilities of the PS3. As you tilt the controller and twist the pad, you will perform many spins and other amazing moves.”
Epic Games stated that they are currently working on getting the PS3 and PC version out before Christmas, while the Xbox 360 versions is expected sometime next year.
Hardware-accelerated physics is coming soon to laptops. AGEIA Technologies has announced the world’s first PhysX Mobile processor, the AGEIA PhysX 100M, for high-performance gaming notebook PCs. The physics processor will consume low power and thermal design with power dissipation of nearly 10W under gameplay conditions. It also includes active power management to throttle down the clock in high heat system conditions and reduce the clock when not active. Interestingly, the performance will be same to that of its desktop counterpart.
The 100M processor is available now and is expected to be included in new notebook models hitting the market soon. It is being showcased at the company’s GC booth.
AGEIA also sent word that it will showcase Warmonger, a new FPS from NetDevil, at its booth. The game, powered by Unreal Engine 3, features support for the PhysX processor and includes fully destructible environments and more. The company will also be showing off Unreal Tournament 3’s physics support.
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