Wanna make your very own game? Well, here’s your chance!

Epic Games has released the Unreal Development Kit. Wondering just what the UDK is? Says Epic:

The Unreal Development Kit is the free version of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, the software development framework used to create computer and video games, 3D simulations, TV shows, films and more

Anyone can download UDK and work with the same game development tools used to create blockbuster games, architectural walkthroughs and digital movies. UDK ships with the latest version of the Unreal Editor, with its unrivaled content creation toolset and rapid prototyping functionality.

UDK is free for noncommercial and educational use. Licensing terms are available to those who wish to sell UDK-powered games or to create commercial products or services for business use at www.udk.com/licensing.

You can grab your very own copy of the Unreal Development Kit, as well as trailers for the kit and sample games built using the kit, over on FileFront. So, go get your game making on!

Grab it here: http://www.filefront.com/listing/pub2/Unreal-Development-Kit

It’s a holiday weekend, and normally that means more time for gaming. So, what are you going to play? If you’re not sure, or you’re looking for something new, Stardock has a sale going on right now that is definitely worth a look.

If you’re not familiar with Stardock’s digital distribution platform, Impulse, this would be a good time to give it a look. After all, they’re offering some great deals, like Call of Duty 4 for just $34.99 and Sins of a Solar Empire with its expansion for just $29.99.

The sale also includes titles like the complete Unreal series, Prototype, Red Faction Guerilla, and more. You can get your copy of Impulse and check out all the deals at ImpulseDriven.com

You can also see the full list of games on sale, along with their prices, after the break.

Read the full article »

GOG.com has added three new classic games to its line-up. First head to the races with FlatOut. This lesser known title has inspired several sequels and a PSP remake in the form of FlatOut: Head On.

As promised Unreal 2: The Awakening and Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor’s Choice Edition have also joined the line-up.

Prices range from $5.99 – $9.99. Details on each game and links to their gamecards from the press release follow the break.
Read the full article »

GOG.com is getting ready to offers gamers an Unreal experience. Under a new agreement with Epic Games, players will soon be able to get DRM free versions of Unreal Gold (including the Return to Napali expansion pack), Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor’s Choice Edition.

“Epic Games redefined the first-person shooter with the Unreal series, and we’re very happy to welcome them to the growing list of companies that share our vision of digital distribution,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “We know that a lot of gamers have been waiting for new deals, and we’re sure that the Unreal games will satisfy their lust for alien blood and intense multiplayer action… DRM-free, of course.”

“Epic has partnered with GOG.com to make our time-honored Unreal series more accessible than ever before,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president of Epic Games. “GOG.com provides an affordable way to buy our back catalogue of games and get up and running with minimal
effort.”

Unreal Gold and Unreal Tournament: GotY Edition are already available with other title soon to follow. Epic Games is a great edition to the GOG.com library. These Unreal titles join classic games from Codemasters, Interplay, Pluto 13 and Strategy First. Now if CD Projekt can just convince Lucas Arts to sign up for a Good Old dose of adventure games. For the full list of available titles visit GOG.com.

Epic Games is a major player in the videogame industry, not only because they produce mega hits like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament, but because their game development engine, Unreal Engine, is being adopted by more and more developers. Any acquisition would be a tremendously big deal, which made the news we reported on earlier — that Legendary Pictures was looking to acquire Epic — was so significant.

As you would expect, Epic VP Mark Rein has dismissed the notion, telling Develop it’s simply “just another rumor.” This isn’t the first time Epic has been involved in acquisition rumors; Microsoft was reported to be looking to buy Epic earlier this year for $1 billion. Rein famously asked that people start predictions at $2 billion “because we don’t want anyone thinking that we’re cheap.”

Even with Rein’s dismissal, we’ll be sure to continue watching the situation. The number of implications that an acquisition would have are far too numerous to be counted, so stay tuned for the latest.

There’s an in depth review available of a retail ready model of OCZ Technology’s Neural Impulse Actuator. The NIA is a brain-computer interface that can be used to control computers and play video games; in this case Unreal Tournament 3 and Counter-Strike: Source.

The article compares learning to use the NIA to touch typing. Actually learning how to use it takes only a week or so, but mastering the device can take months. However, once mastered controlling the NIA is as effortless as controlling your own body minus the physical feedback.

Exactly how the special headband picks up and interprets the body’s natural biosignals generated by your brain, facial muscles and eye muscles is fully explained. The article also covers setup and software and configuration.

Of course the fun part of the article is always the saved for the big finish. The reviewer talks about his experience using the NIA to play UT3 and CS:S. Whether you’re fascinated about all the details or just want to skip to the video game control part, checkout the full article on HotHardware

Midway Games have announced that Unreal Tournament 3, for the Xbox 360 is now available, with several new features including split screen, five exclusive maps and two all-new characters, as well as all previously released downloadable content.

Xbox 360 owners will also get an exclusive video preview of Gears of War 2, included on the Unreal Tournament 3 disc. The exclusive video content will include never-before-seen footage of the game’s multiplayer modes featuring new maps, new modes, new weapons and new gameplay elements. The video is narrated by Cliff Bleszinski, and Gears of War senior producer, Rod Fergusson.

Europe got their copies a few days earlier on July 4th and UT3 has already shipped over one million units for the PC and PS3 thus far, so it will be interesting to see how many sell for the Xbox 360 now that it has been unleashed.

Via: Press Release

Channel Flip is hosting a video mini series on Mac gaming. Your video host Katharine is kicking off Mac Gaming 101 with native gaming options for the Mac.

Now, much as we all love our various Mac computers here at ChannelFlip, we’re ready to admit that the issue of gaming has long been a thorn in the side of Apple fans.

But the perception that you have to have a high powered Windows PC for gaming on a computer, combined with a lack of publicity for the growing Mac gaming industry, means that a surprising number of people aren’t aware of what you can achieve gaming wise on a Mac.

Some of the games that can be played on the Mac include Unreal Tournament 3, Neverwinter Nights 2, Guitar Hero 3, The Sims 2: Castaway Stories, Fable: The Lost Chapters and World of Warcraft.

via ChannelFlip

ChannelFlip has five copies of Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 to give away. Each of the games include an exclusive preview of Gears of War 2. Gamers have a chance to answer an Unreal Tournament trivia question to be entered for their chance to win one of the games.

The Rules

• This competition is open to all ChannelFlip viewers
• Emails must be received by 11:59 AM BST Friday 4th July 2008 to qualify.
• Multiple entries will be disqualified – please include your forum username in your submission.
• The five winners will be chosen randomly from correct entries
• The Editor’s decision is final.
• Prizes cannot be swapped for a cash alternative.
• Any questions, post them in the comments section below!

As you can see there is nothing in the rules that disqualifies ChannelFlip viewers outside the UK from participating. You just have to be a registered user. To register with ChannelFlip if you’re not already on the list and enter the contest, pop over to ChannelFlip Unreal Tournament 3 competition page.

Well, this has got to be one of the strangest studies I’ve heard about in awhile. Scientists recently studied the outcomes of 1,347 team matches on Unreal Tournament 2004 using data collected from public servers. You’d think they would have found that both the Red and Blue teams won almost an equal amount of times. But their findings, which they published in Cyberpsychology & Behavior this week, showed that the Red team wins 55% of the time over Blue. The researchers reasoned that this was because the color red can be a psychological distractor for men, which could be related to why men turn red when they’re angry. According to Mark Rein of Epic though, these findings aren’t going to have any impact on the Unreal games:

“While this is really an interesting analysis, the notion of red team versus blue team has been ingrained in the Unreal Tournament series for years. We don’t anticipate any immediate changes to team colors.”

On the other hand though, I wouldn’t be too surprised if more people were vying for the Red team when playing now. I wonder if this applies to Halo as well…

Via News-Leader