Midway and Epic have confirmed that Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 will hit stores on July 7.

Included will be five exclusive maps, split-screen capabilities, two new characters and the all-new Warfare mode and no mod support.

Meanwhile, Europe will be getting their copies a few days earlier on July 4th. Maybe they should celebrate with some fireworks, overcooked hot dogs from the grill, apple-pie, potato salad and invite some sweaty beer swilling neighbors over to piss in their pool.

The full press release is posted after the break.

Thanks for the Heads Up: VG247

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We’ve shown you some of the cool mods that have been designed for Unreal Tournament 3 in the past, like the Samus and Master Chief character models or the complete LEGO makeover. The latest noteworthy mod to catch my eye is a remake of the classic first level of Super Mario Bros, which takes advantage of UT2D.

It’s still very much a work in progress, as the creator will tell you, but it still looks very cool. And, thanks to PS3 mod support, you’ll be able to annihilate fellow UT‘ers on your PS3 in Mario World 1-1. It doesn’t get much better than that. (Unless they figure out a way to merge this with Star Wars and LEGOs, then the mind-blowing would be truly complete.)

via PS3 Fanboy

3D Buzz has issued a challenge for modders to enter its Old School Level Design Contest for Unreal Tournament 3. The real challenge is to create an inventive deathmatch map using only the original content included in Unreal Tournament 3. Yes, that means no custom content… absolutely none.

The move is meant to level the playing field so novice modders will have a fighting chance to compete along side more experienced enthusiasts. The winner will have his or her level reviewed by none other than Epic’s Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski.

Contest Prizes:

Grand Prize Winner:

- $1000 cash prize
- PlayStation 3 game console (or $500 cash
- Autographed copy ofUnreal Tournament 3 signed by the developers
- Video review of your level by the staff of 3D Buzz
- Video review of your level by Epic Design Director Cliff Bleszinski

First and Second Runners-Up:

- PlayStation 3 game console (or $500 cash)
- Autographed copy of Unreal Tournament 3 signed by the developers
- Video review of your level by the staff of 3D Buzz

All challengers should report to the official 3D Buzz Old School Level Design Contest homepage. You can check out 3DBuzz.com for some inspiration. All entries must be in by 11:59:59 PM CST on June 30, 2008 so get a move on.

I find it both appropriate and satisfying that this announcement comes on the heals of my mod article. Viva la PC!

via Press Release

Epic Games has really been dancing around announcing the release date for Unreal Tournament 3. They told us it was coming along nicely and what “exclusive” content 360 owners would be treated to, but they kept avoiding the topic of a release date. Today they took one baby step closer to finally revealing it, as they announced that the game will be released this summer.

As I said with those “exclusive” maps – they amount to being extremely insignificant if the 360 version doesn’t have mod support. (And all signs are pointing to no on that subject, thanks to Microsoft.) But, in fairness, Epic’s hands are tied, after all, so at least they’re trying to provide something of substance that wasn’t delivered in the PC or PS3 versions.

We’ve got a new trailer for the game up on FileFront, but it’s behind an age gate, so click here to check it out.

There’s still no release date attached to Unreal Tournament 3 on Xbox 360, but Epic is already telling people what they’ll find in this version of UT3 that they won’t get elsewhere. Five new exclusive maps that aren’t in either the PC or PS3 versions of the game, two new characters, and support for two play splitscreen play. You’ll also find the free downloadable content Epic released a few weeks ago on the disc right form the get go.

That’s all well and good, but it’s not going to matter much if Microsoft doesn’t allow Epic to enable mods in the 360 version of the game. All the exclusive content in the world doesn’t mean squat when modders can easily recreate both the maps and characters for the PC and PS3 versions of the game.

Epic’s Jeff Morris talked about how UT3 is a twitch shooter, and is just what people need that have tired of the more tactical shooters on the market. While he might have a point about that, it’s still going to leave a lot of people in the dark on a feature that has been a mainstay of this series since its inception.

via Joystiq

We keep hoping that Microsoft will come around and let user created content and mods become a feature of Xbox Live. Or, at least, allow third party games like Unreal Tournament 3 to support them. But if Chris Satchell, group general manager for Microsoft’s XNA initiative, is any indication, Microsoft isn’t exactly on the verge of making that happen. In an interview with Eurogamer, Satchell touched upon the concept of allowing mods onto the 360. He claimed that, aside from IP infringement, security is a huge concern when allowing mods to run rampant.

“I’m a little disturbed when I think about other systems and people using what we call native code – code that goes right down to the metal – and then allowing people to run script mods on top of that without the right security measures. It could be really dangerous.

“We’ve drawn a hard line because we very much care about security, and it seems like some other platforms don’t seem to care quite as much. That kind of worries me for consumers. But all I can control is what we do on our platform, so that’s where I’m going to focus – we’re going to keep you safe because that’s really important to us.”

It was quite clear that Satchell was pointing a finger at Sony and the PS3. When Eurogamer mentioned that, Satchell explained that it’s a problem faced on any platform that allows for people to use native code. He explained, “There’s a lot of people out there that just want to prove they can screw things up.

“I think there’s very mature, sensible hackers who just want to prove how good they are, and they don’t cause harm, and there’s malicious hackers, and any platform that let’s you do that, and doesn’t have the right security measures in place – whether it’s Sony, whether it’s Nintendo, whether it’s Apple, whether it’s anyone – you’re inviting trouble, because sooner or later someone will want to prove they can do it.”

So, that’s apparently Microsoft’s reasoning for not allowing mods. Is that a satisfying answer, though? I imagine most people would say, “Screw security!” immediately upon hearing Satchell’s claims, but they might not be quite as happy if their credit card or Live ID information were somehow stolen. That isn’t to say I think Microsoft should continue their policy. I see this as a challenge that Microsoft has to face — not something they should ignore because of the problems it presents.

Ooh, man did I call it or what? After Master Chief and Samus Aran ended up on the PS3 courtesy of some fan-made mods for Unreal Tournament III, my next guess was that Old Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4 would be getting the same treatment. As it turns out, a modder by the name of “genZ” has shown off some preliminary models for the character on the UT forums. So far, he’s already got the basic structure down; now he just needs to fill in the colors and textures. Soon the trilogy of console characters will be complete. Then the way shall be paved for the dark lord of the consoles to rise and rule over the gaming world! Or there might just be one really cool three player match. You know, one or the other.

Via UT Forums

Responding to a thread regarding a rumored release date for Unreal Tournament in the latest issue of EGM, Mark Rein stated that there’s still no release date for the PlayStation 3 timed exclusive. He did, however, give a vote of confidence for the game’s development, stating, “The game is coming along really nicely.”

Of course, you wouldn’t really expect him to say anything else, would you?

While I’ve voiced my disappointment with Unreal Tournament 3 on these pages before, the recent release of Facing Worlds/Face certainly grabbed my attention. Between that and a LEGO mod I posted about in February, I’ve tempted to buy the game. This of course begs the question if Xbox 360 owners will ever see user generated content in this version of UT3. We can only hope the answer is yes, but I doubt Microsoft is ready to change its ways for one third party game.

After Xbox poster boy, Master Chief, made an appearance in Unreal Tournament III via a mod, it was only a matter of time before a Nintendo character joined in on the action. One industrious modder going by the name of “Alcor43″ designed a Samus Aran character model for the PS3 version of the game for anyone to use. It looks pretty detailed though apparently the front is missing a face mask. Still, put this together with the Master Chief characte mod, and you’re in for one hell of a crazy firefight. Now we just need someone to make an “Old Solid Snake” mod, the trilogy of console characters will be complete.

Via UT3Mod

There were plenty of people who were up in arms over Devil May Cry 4 and Lost Planet (just to name two) having a mandatory install on PlayStation 3. After all, the same game is on Xbox 360 without any sort of installation, so why should an install – which does improve loading times – be required?

MTV Multiplayer has been seeking an answer to that question, and needless to say, publishers and developers haven’t been particularly forthcoming. However, there is the inherent technical challenge (I won’t call it a problem, as it’s simply something new that is being taken on) with Blu-ray that developers need to find a way around. As Multiplayer puts it, installations are simply a way around this problem.

The issue arises from differences in the reading techniques of DVD and Blu-ray. By nature, the outer and inner parts of a disc move at different speeds while a disc is spinning, regardless of format (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, etc.). While DVD drives can read data at those differing speeds, Blu-ray reads at one speed. Combine that with the extremely large size of Blu-ray discs, and simply dumping existing DVD data onto a Blu-ray disc will inevitably result in longer load times.

Personally, I would much prefer the option to install. I’m all for decreasing load times, but actually requiring gamers to install seems more like laziness than a necessity.