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.
Epic Games and Intel have partnered up to bring us the “$1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest.” The companies are asing aspiring game developers to come up with their own mods for Unreal Tournament III (PC version only; sorry PS3 owners) in the form of environments, gameplay, weapons, vehicles, and more; though full-conversion mods probably have the best chance. Winners will be selected in several categories with prizes including Intel Software Development Products and Velocity Micro PCs, as well as the grand prize of one Unreal Engine 3 license. Judging will begin in June with four preliminary phases until the grand final prizes are awarded in Fall of 2009.
But this is actually something for all of us PC gamers to pay attention too, whether we enter the contest or not. Why? Well the last time this contest was held, the winner was a game called “Red Orchestra,” which eventually made its way to retail and helped found Tripwire Studios. With a cool million worth of prizes at stake, you can bet some of the hidden best and brightest modders are going to start coming out of the woodwork. Besides that, since the prize is essentially the means to start your own development studio, the top ones are sure to be works of passion from the developers. And all the mods created for this competition will be made available online absolutely free. In other words, we’re probably going to start getting some good games next year for free. For more information, be sure to check out the contest’s official site.
Midway and Epic Games have announced that three new maps are now available for download for Unreal Tournament III on the PS3 and PC. As icing on the cake, it turns out this new content is 100% free for both versions of the game (take that microtransactions). PC users can download the maps by clicking the link below, while PS3 users can find them on the Playstation Network. The three maps include Morbias, Facing Worlds, and Searchlight:
Morbias is the deathmatch arena that started it all, perfectly suited for anything from small intense duels to chaotic free-for-all matches. The Unreal Tournament classic, Facing Worlds was one of the most played maps in gaming history. This beloved sniper map makes its return alongside an intricate new capture the flag map, Searchlight, designed for both z-axis rooftop runs and strategic indoor gameplay.
Maybe this will convince more people to jump on this woefully underappreciated game.
The Unreal series isn’t really considered the grand-daddy of gaming; in fact, it’s more like the middle-aged uncle. But as some of you may know, a middle-aged uncle (who, in my case, lives out in the backwoods and has a surplus of guns and fireworks) can still be a lot of fun. The newest installment in the franchise, Unreal Tournament III, is finally out; and while it may show of the series’ age with its simple FPS gameplay, it can still provide an endless source of entertainment. Full review after the break. Read the full article
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mark Rein from Epic Games has said that they will be releasing a demo of Unreal Tournament 3 on the PC, but won’t put out one for the PS3. He cited the fact that it is much easier to produce a demo on the PC than on Sony’s system, and that working on a demo for the PS3 would put them behind schedule:
“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’. We’re not a big huge company with the resources to do [both], and all the time we’re testing that demo we’re not testing our full game, which we need to be doing constantly.”
Personally, I think I can live without a demo if it means the full game will be released that much sooner. UT 3 should be hitting the PC and PS3 this November, with an Xbox 360 release planned for 2008.
Unreal Tournament 3 E3 2007 Trailer
Here’s the new trailer for Unreal Tournament 3 that was unveiled at this year’s E3. As you can see, the game looks freakin’ incredible. It already promises to live up to the fun and fast-paced gameplay of past UT game with a slew of new weapons and vehicles. Unreal Tournament 3 should be out this November from Midway.
A featured article in the latest Official Xbox Magazine has revealed some new details about Unreal Tournament 3. Epic games has set the release date around October 2007, and it looks like they are on track to release on time. Some of the new features mentioned in the article include 4 player co-op, confirmation of 18 new vehicles, and the inclusion of hover boards. Unreal Tournament 3 will also feature cross-play between the Xbox360 and PC versions. When asked about the disparities between an controller and a keyboard/mouse, Epic Games stated that the controls on the Xbox360 version are so good that half of the staff prefers the controller. Check below for some gameplay footage from the GDC.
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.
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.
Epic Games and Intel have partnered up to bring us the “$1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest.” The companies are asing aspiring game developers to come up with their own mods for Unreal Tournament III (PC version only; sorry PS3 owners) in the form of environments, gameplay, weapons, vehicles, and more; though full-conversion mods probably have the best chance. Winners will be selected in several categories with prizes including Intel Software Development Products and Velocity Micro PCs, as well as the grand prize of one Unreal Engine 3 license. Judging will begin in June with four preliminary phases until the grand final prizes are awarded in Fall of 2009.
Midway and Epic Games have announced that three new maps are now available for download for Unreal Tournament III on the PS3 and PC. As icing on the cake, it turns out this new content is 100% free for both versions of the game (take that microtransactions). PC users can download the maps by clicking the link below, while PS3 users can find them on the Playstation Network. The three maps include Morbias, Facing Worlds, and Searchlight:
Mark Rein from Epic Games has said that they will be releasing a demo of 
