After the horrible mess that was Xbox Live following the Christmas holidays, things seemed to be back on track. Sure, you’d still run into laggy games here and there, but that’s what you come to expect when playing games online.

Cue yesterday and the release of the first Call of Duty 4 map pack and the ensuing Xbox Live chaos. Reports began coming in that people were having difficulty doing just about anything on Xbox Live. While there’s no real evidence to blame the CoD4 DLC, it seems like the obvious conclusion for the poor conditions. A message on Xbox.com explained the conditions:

Since then, Xbox.com reports that things should be back to normal, and while I’m glad we aren’t dealing with week after week of poor Live performance, it begs the question: is this really what we’re paying for?

Evil Avatar member “fitbabits” has had enough and drafted an open letter to Microsoft, which you can read here. The underlying message, which fitbabits was kind enough to write in large, orange text, is, “It’s not good enough, Microsoft!” And I couldn’t agree more. While I stand by my assertion that Microsoft doesn’t owe subscribers anything because of the issues, that doesn’t change the fact that I can certainly understand why people might not renew that subscription or opt for a PS3 and its free online service when choosing a console to purchase.

It all makes me wonder how I put up with playing the original Unreal Tournament on a 56k connection.

images via Xbox Live Nation, Xbox 360 Fanboy

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As Jonathan reported earlier, the new (free!) map pack for Unreal Tournament 3 is now available for download from the PlayStation Store. You’ll get Facing Worlds and two other maps I couldn’t care less about because Facing Worlds is the greatest thing ever, courtesy of Epic Games and Midway. That sure is awfully nice of them, and it makes me wonder if we’ll get to see a similar pack for free on Xbox 360 once the game gets moved over to Microsoft’s box.

Turok also is getting the downloadable content treatment today, although it’s not free. $4.99 will net you five new maps (although that statement might not hold true if you don’t view changes in time of day as constituting a “new” map).

$8.99 is the asking price of the new flOw bundle, which simply includes the full game and its expansion pack. Nothing new about the actually content, but if you want to take the plunge with flOw, this is the way to do it.

For the next two weeks (until April 15) you’ll find Warhawk on sale for just $29.99, $10 cheaper than it normally costs. You can use that saved money to buy some of the downloadable content that’s been released for the game since last August, or maybe you can just change paces and pick up that flOw bundle.

Videos, themes, Rock Band tracks, and an update to High Stakes: Poker Edition are also new on the Store. Hit the break for the full list of content. Read the full article

Takeovers and acquisitions have been a hot subject over the past six months between EA’s attempt to land Take-Two and their successful acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic. There had been rumors that Microsoft was looking to buyout Epic Games which would have much larger implications than what platforms Unreal Tournament and Gears of War would be released on – what would happen to Unreal Engine and its usage on PlayStation 3?

Epic president Mike Capps downplayed rumors of a Microsoft buyout, but did acknowledge that the uncertain future of middleware access is very real. EA’s purchase of Criterion and their Renderware engine is just one example of that reality.

“To be frank, the Midway guys were a Renderware shop through and through,” Capps told GamesIndustry.biz.

“And Renderware kind of fell out from under them right when they were making their decision for the next-generation of technology. So they had the code and they could have keep going that route, and they were really scared that if they went with [Unreal Engine] that they would have that same problem.”

Midway did ultimately opt to use Unreal Engine, but Capps said, “I can’t force my guys to keep working on the engine. Someone could start a really cool shop next door and take them all.”

“Our contracts don’t promise the future - it is what you get now. And then, of course we keep adding stuff, because it is good business.

“And we give all the source code - every line of source code - and that’s crucial. Because we require it from our own middleware partners.

“When it happens, and it always does, that we’re right about to ship and there is one bug in the code, we want to be able to fix it and go.”

Epic experienced this themselves when Ageia was purchase by NVIDIA.

“It could have been really hard for us,” Capps said. “It turns out that they got bought by someone who really wants to keep them going and work with us closely, but that is a major dependency for us, so we make sure we’ve got the source code so we can protect ourselves.”

“So we understand how developers think, I guess, because we think that way.”

There’s been plenty of complaints over the past few days as word was spread that you’re required to install roughly 5GB of data on your hard drive the first time you boot up Devil May Cry 4 on PlayStation 3. Chris Kramer has posted on the Capcom US blog confirming that you do indeed need to install the files, but that it’s a one time thing that will yield “near-Super Nintendo speed load times.” And, as Kramer points out, anyone who has ever purchased a PC game before has been through this, and at least DMC4 offers a retelling of the story from the first three games.

Kramer facetiously suggests that while you wait for the game to load, if you’re not in the mood for backstory, go make a sandwich.

If you don’t want to watch the “Previously, on Devil May Cry…” portion of the install process, go make a sandwich and grab a soda, then come on back. You’re going to be spending some serious time with this game, and we don’t want you going hungry. Low blood sugar will make you dizzy and you’ll need to be focused like an Alan Parsons Project to defeat the enemies in this game.

Wah! The game takes 20 minutes to install the first time. Wah! Have you ever played a PC game? At least we aren’t making you shuffle multiple discs into a ROM drive, or continuously click “Yes!” on a series of endless Windows dialog boxes. Installing on a console may seem like a weird idea, but there’s a real benefit. Unreal Tournament also has an option to install files onto your PS3; I’ve done it and it makes a great game even better.

Honestly people, don’t complain about the need to install. Quick loads are absolutely heavenly, and it’s not like the files will be permanently ripped to your hard drive until the end of time.

The 6th annual Mod DB Mod of the Year Awards are in the final stages. Every year Mod DB pays tribute to the best mods and Indie games of the year and the teams that developed them.

Mod DB has managed to narrow down over 4,000 nominees submitted throughout the month of December to the top 100. You’re invited to download and vote for your favorite five mods. The final selections run the gamut from the expected Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Battlefront and Quake mods; to mods for Freelancer and Star Wars: Jedi Academy. You can also get a glimpse of the most anticipated mod projects for 2008.

Make your vote count at Mod DB.

I’m disappointed to see that none of last year’s Oblivion or Neverwinter Nights 2 mods made it into the top 100 for 2007. I’m very curious to see what’s coming up this year though. I’d also like to know how the new Fallout 2 mod faired.

To start off what was an extremely long (eight pages!) interview with Epic Games’ front man, Mark Rein,  Gamasutra inquired about the “distinct look” that seem to be common among Unreal Engine 3 games, and what Rein thought about that. It’s been an issue of concern for the gaming community, that the Unreal Engine 3 would only be able to produce graphics that focused on large character models and dark, gritty environments.

See, I don’t see that. I think if you look at our two games, yeah, they share some styles, because we’re one company with the same art director between the two of them. We like making those big, bulky, beefy guys, but that doesn’t mean Mass Effect is going to look that way. BioShock doesn’t look that way, and Undertow sure as heck doesn’t look that way. If two games look similar, it’s because they’re intended to look similar.

I don’t necessarily look at…if you go look at Crash Course — which is a cute little Xbox Live Arcade game coming out — and you look at Undertow, you can’t look at those and say, “That’s Unreal Engine!” And Lost Odyssey doesn’t look like this game. That’s the thing — there’s so many different looks to the games. That’s really the decision of the art directors that are using the technology, as opposed to the technology itself.

He went on to say that he’s “very sensitive” about the matter, and continued to cite examples of games using Unreal Engine 3 technology that look nothing alike.

Aside from the negative vibe that was given from those remarks, the rest of the interview was very insightful, going into detail about Rein’s thoughts about the PlayStation 3 and the mod scene, among many other things. It’s worth at least a look; given the length, I can understand if you don’t want to read the entire thing.

Here’s an Unreal Tournament III cinematic trailer of Epic proportions (pun intended). Up until now, we have heard rumors that UT3 was getting a single player campaign. Now when I say single player, I mean beyond that of just throwing you in a multiplayer level with bots. If this new trailer is indication, it looks like we’re getting something a little more serious than that.

I must say, the Necris look awesome. Will UT3 have a single player story more epic than Gears, or are we expecting too much from Epic in regards to single player? The multiplayer offerings of UT3 are already dizzying. All this speculation is making UT3 more and more a “must buy”. I guess we’ll have to wait an see.

Coming November 2007? Hmm…

Koroush Ghazi is on a roll again with yet another addition to his ubiquitous Tweak Guides website. This latest addition covers tweaks for the newly released Unreal Tournament III Beta Demo. If you haven’t already noticed, the UT3 Beta Demo is a bit lacking in tweakable options via the menu (compared to its predecessors). So if you are a bit miffed about this, this guide is definitely for you.

The guide covers, in detail, all in-game options (graphical settings, gui, audio, network, etc.). In typical Tweak Guides fashion, we’re also treated to a series of screenshot comparisons of what those graphical sliders actually do. Not stopping there, Koroush continues with the meat of tweaking UT3: editing the UT3 .ini files. It is here that you will find the game’s more hidden options; often the ones that may gain you those few extra FPS otherwise not found using the menu options alone.

Koroush also lists about fifty console commands and a few command line parameters. Wondering what your framerate is? Check out the list of console commands. If you were wondering if the UT3 Beta Demo had a built in benchmark, pay close attention to the final page of the guide covering command line parameters.

If UT3 is crashing on you, follow the links early on in Koroush’s guide for hotfixes, links, & what-not. I, like many others, am experiencing crash problems of an unknown nature with UT3 Beta Demo. Fortunately, it’s not a deal breaker, but it is an annoyance. Generally, once I get into a game, I’m home free. Also keep in mind that the Demo is Beta, so it’s entirely possible there is no solution to your problem.

My favorite tweak here has got to be the “-nomoviestartup” command line option. I can’t tell you how tiresome it is to click through all that crap at the beginning. Thank you, Koroush!

And if you missed Koroush’s Orange Box Tweak Guide a few weeks ago, be sure to check it out as well.

Via TweakGuides.com

The Inquirer recently fired off a question regarding upcoming video cards at the opinion of Epic’s Tim Sweeney, THE man behind all the Unreal Engine technology to date:

Two major titles from Epic are coming out now, Gears of War for PC and Unreal Tournament 3, mega-titles that are also going to be on market in November. When asked about the amount of video memory, here is what Tim stated:

“In Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War for PC, there is a significant gain in having 512MB of video memory rather than 256MB. So, first and foremost, get at least a 512MB card if you can afford it. If you haven’t maxed out your budget, then go for the maximum single-card performance that doesn’t require extreme cooling, e.g. buy an entry-level GeForce 8800 over a GeForce 8600.”

The whole 8800 > 8600 comparison seems logical. So what about all those early adopters who skimped and got the 8800 GTS with 320MB of onboard ram? Are they SoL come time for UT3? I think what Sweeney meant to say here is that unless you want to turn off a lot of graphical options in UT3, you’d best invest in a card with lots of onboard ram. Now the really confusing part is which does he recommend more? The 8600 variant with 512MB or the 8800 with 320MB? I guess the gist of it is that Sweeney recommends anyone who can squeeze the budget should go for the 8800 640MB flavor. What the hell was Nvidia thinking with the non 128 multiples anyway?

Also it makes me wonder how much more extra detail the retail version of UT3 will bring. I know it will have higher res textures. Just how much higher compared to the demo? The demo seemed pretty reasonable on the sys reqs. Yes, I know it’s a beta demo. Anyway, they should put a “Holy Sh@t!” checkbox in the retail UT3 settings for those crazy enough to buy a video card with a gig of ram. If anything do it for comical value.

Via The Inq

It seems during the excitement of getting the Unreal Tournament 3 “Beta Demo” to the masses, Epic didn’t quite thoroughly test the executable on Windows XP 64 or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. It seems many of those users were left scratching their heads yesterday when presented with an error message denying them play. Today, balance in the universe has been restored. Epic has sent word:

We created a fix for the game not starting up on Windows XP 64 and Windows Server 2003 systems. This patch has not undergone the same amount of QA as the released demo so I strongly encourage to ONLY replace the UT3Demo.exe with the one from the patch if you are experiencing the “Modified executable code is not allowed” issue at startup.

http://www.epicgames.com/download/UT3Demo-XP64-2K3.zip

UT3Demo.exe md5sum: 9ac494f243bdd6d71c2d612d8d98fba3

Assuming you didn’t already nuke the demo from your hard drive, a small 9.5MB download will solve all your problems. If you haven’t been able to even install the demo, there is a workaround here.

Via Epic Games Forums

As if yesterday’s Call of Duty 4 PC Demo wasn’t enough, here’s something else to occupy your time.

We’ve just received the PC demo for Midway and Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament III here at FileFront, and it’s available for your downloading pleasure. If you’re a fan of the series, you can expect the same high-speed, low-drag action that has become a hallmark of the multiplayer based shooter. If you’ve never played an Unreal Tournament title before, hang on to your hat. The frantic pace of this shooter is sure to keep you coming back.

So, on to the downloads!

You can grab the demo of Unreal Tournament III here.

You can also check out the UT3 page over at FileFront here for all the videos and screens your little heart desires. You can even head over to the FileFront Files Network site for UT if you so desire.

As hinted earlier, the “Beta Demo” for Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament 3 (for Windows) is now pre-loading for those with a fancy FilePlanet membership. What this means is the very hour Epic decides to make the demo release official to the public, you will be able to jump in a game immediately. Note that this does not mean FilePlanet have exclusivity on the UT3 demo.

Since that release date is privy to a select few, it could be hours, weeks, maybe even months of waiting. According to Mark Reign, the demo will weigh in 800MB. Here are the supposed system requirements:

Minimum System Requirements
Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista
2.0+ GHZ Single Core Processor
512 Mbytes of System RAM
NVIDIA 6200+ or ATI Radeon 9600+ Video Card
8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

Recommended System Requirements
2.4+ GHZ Dual Core Processor
1 GBytes of System RAM
NVIDIA 7800GTX+ or ATI x1300+ Video Card
8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

No clue as to what the demo will contain, content-wise.

This whole secret release date seems like a good idea on Epic’s part as they ready enough dedicated servers to handle the expected massive load. Having sufficient dedicated servers (not starved of bandwidth) would guarantee an enjoyable experience to the end user. Although, I wonder if the demand will be greater than the supply? Based on the hype, it seems almost a given. If the UT3 demo is to be anything like the UT2k4 demo launch, then I’m sure we’ll have our fair share of locally hosted games. Of course, the locally hosted games will vary in gameplay experience due to the variable bandwidth available as well as system specs of said user. For now, the majority of us wait - fingernails intact.

Rest assured, we’ll be providing download links to the demo here at FileFront asap.

[Edit: Demo is Out!]

Rejoice, you devoted, you faithful, you few, you Apple gamers. For those of you who have braved the worst title library of available games in history, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In a surprising move, Epic Games VP Mark Rein has been quoted as saying that both Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3 will make their way onto the Apple platform.

What does this mean? It means that the Unreal 3 engine, the engine that is going to power countless next-gen titles, will be available for Apple users. Apple’s recent switch to the Intel chipset can be wholly responsible for this development, and it seems for once, that Apple “gamers” catch a break. Now all they have to do is upgrade their RA-… uh… Hard Dri-… uh… Video Ca-… buy a new Apple.

Midway has launched an official site for Unreal Tournament III. Right now there are some new screenshots, the trailer, and…not much else. Still this the probably the place where all the new information is going to go first, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Epic Games has launched the official site for their upcoming shooter, Unreal Tournament 3. The new site features an official trailer, a few screenshots, and a chance for gamers to sign up for a newsletter that will keep them updated will all the UT news.

I’ve been excited about this one for a while. As a huge fan of the original Unreal, as well as the whole UT series, I just don’t think this is a title you can afford to miss, especially if you consider that Epic is hot on the heels of the hugely successful Gears of War.