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

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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.

Via Press Release

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.

Via Press Release

For most of us in the South Eastern part of the United States, March has indeed come rolling in like a lamb, which according to old wives tales and the Farmer’s Almanac means that it will be going out like a lion. So, if instead of wanting to go outside and enjoy the crisp air and the wonderful sunshine while you can -you would rather sit at your computer and play a few demos and get the latest patches, or just lay about in your favorite chair, who am I to scold you for it?

This week we received the following demos: Journeys of the Dragon Rider, Penumbra: Black Plague (updated), Light of Dreams, Strategic Command 2: Blitzkrieg and a few others you can check out here.

Patches for the week included: Conquer Online, UT3, Frontlines: Fuels of War, Fantasy Wars, Enemy Territories: Quake Wars and a few more that can be found here.

Happy Gaming!

Halo fans who have PS3s can now rejoice that the ‘Wizard’ map has surfaced on Unreal Tournament 3. Let’s just hope that the Microsoft legal team is too tied up to do anything about it. Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 has really unleashed creativity from the PC modding community. Hopefully, user-created maps will be the future of console gaming.

Wizard may actually be a map that plays better on UT3 than it did with Halo.

We’re currently hosting the files for UT3 ‘Wizard’ for your downloading pleasure:

PS3 Download:

North American
European
German

PC Download

Via Epic Game Forums

After what seems to be a leak of sorts for the PS3 UT3 Mod Tools promised earlier, the first cross-platform mod ever for UT3 has just been released.

The Action Cam modification for both the PC and PS3 versions of Unreal Tournament III does what it implies: it allows the player to get an over the shoulder perspective (shown above) a la Gears of War. You can download either version of the mod from the links provided here:

Download Action Cam v1.0 (PS3) @ FileFront

Download Action Cam v1.0 (PC) @ FileFront

To get the mod up and running on a PS3, you’ll need at minimum a USB memory stick. A summary of how to use the tools as well as getting the custom content onto the PS3 are provided after the break.

Read the full article

iD Tech Camps is aiming to teach kids game development skills using the Unreal Engine 3 tools that come with Unreal Tournament 3 for PC. The Campbell CA based camp, the largest national youth summer computer camp in the U.S.. offers programs for beginning to advanced students, hands-on learning and instruction in small groups.

“We provide an environment where instruction is personalized and fluid,” said Pete Ingram-Cauchi, president and CEO of iD Tech Camps. “Teens choose our computer camp because we have the cutting edge software and tools that are most relevant in the industry. Partnering with industry leaders like Epic Games is vital. They believe in our teaching philosophy. They understand that a key component to offering the best tech courses involves instruction of the industry’s leading game engine, Unreal Engine 3, as provided with the Unreal Tournament 3 game.”

The Unreal Engine has been used in best selling games such as Mass Effect, BioShock and Gears of War.

“We’ve partnered with iD Tech Camps because of their reputation for quality game development instruction for As a student in a video game design program, this sounds like a lot more fun than the courses I’ve taken.teens,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “Unreal Tournament 3 delivers unparalleled game quality that gamers have come to know and expect from Epic Games. We are reaching an audience of gaming enthusiasts who play the game as well as learn to design and mod with our deep set of tools.”

Both iD Tech Camps and the iD Gaming Academy use Unreal Tournament 3 in their curriculum as well as getting some playtime in during NVIDIA-hosted Gaming Tournaments. Students will be taught to use the engine to add new levels, mod skins and replace characters to customize game play. Eventually they should be able to create personalized 3D video games with 3D environments and levels using the advanced special effects available with the UT3 engine.

As a student in a video game design program, this sounds like a lot more fun than the courses I’ve taken. Wish they’d had stuff like this when I was a kid. Where do I sign up?

Anyone interested can sign up at www.internalDrive.com

via Press Release

The first user-created content for Unreal Tournament 3 has been released for the PS3 and we have the file exclusively ready for you to download now! The first user-created content is a map called “DM-Shrine” created by Thomas Browett aka Setheran. This amazing creator is a 23 year old graphic designer from Nottingham, England and has been an Unreal player since the beginning.

DM-Shrine is a small map designed for close-quarters combat for 2-6 players. Most UT3 maps tend to be designed for larger player counts, so this is an exciting addition to the game. We’re loving this map at Gaming Today and assume that any UT3 player will love it as well. We look forward to more exciting user-created content in the future.

Click on the download badge above to get this new map! We’d like to thank Epic Games for sending the file our way and Thomas Browett for creating something we can all enjoy.

Here is how to install UT3 mods on your PlayStation 3.

1. Unzip the file to the root directory of any memory card that is readable by your PlayStation 3. It is already in the proper directory structure but, just in case, the path and filename need to be: ps3\savedata\blus30086-modimport\userdata.jam

2. Boot up Unreal Tournament 3 on your PS3

3. Go to the “Community” menu

4. Choose “My Content”

5. Press the [SQUARE] button to “Import Mod”

6. Follow the directions on the screen to import it from your memory card.

Once imported you’ll be able to see the map in your list of Deathmatch maps. You’ll be able to host the map and join servers that are hosting the map. All UT3 mods install this same way. If this were a mutator it would show up in the mutator list. If it were a gametype it would show up in gametype lists, etc.

PS3 owners and fans of Unreal Tournament 3 no longer have to wait. The highly anticipated PS3 title shipped today. According to Midway’s Steve Allison, “Unreal Tournament 3 sets a new benchmark for graphical quality and what a first-person shooter gameplay experience on the PS3 system should be,…”

The PS3 has been in dire need of some great titles, and this certainly is a great addition to the growing library of games. The full press release follows the break. From what I have seen of the game so far, it does look visually appealing.

Read the full article

Epic VP Mark Rein, has stated that Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 should integrate with Sony’s Home online world space in a recent interview with Gamasutra. UT3 is now confirmed for a December launch with Home set to go live early 2008.

“We’re planning that you’ll be able to get a party together in Home and then file into the game from an Unreal space. Home’s pretty cool, so we’re planning to do that. That’ll make it easy for… what I like about that is that you’ll be able to form without us having to build a party system. It won’t be as detailed as a real party system, but the idea is that we could all meet up in a room and go together in the game.

I think it’s really smart that eventually if everybody does that, each company doesn’t have to develop its own way to all meet up somewhere and all go into a game. I think that’s a very smart way to do it, and I kind of wish Xbox 360 would do that, and I’m hoping that they will at some point.

In other words, all these games have these different systems for getting together and then traveling into the games together or playing as teams or whatever. I expect that to be a dashboard functionality at some point in the future for the Xbox 360, and I think Sony’s already thinking that way with Home.”

Rein also approves of Sony’s Trojan Horse strategy of incorporating blu-ray into the PS3 gaming system.

I think there’s nothing wrong with the Trojan Horse strategy of “let’s get this device in the living room, and it can play music and DVDs and high-definition movies.”

Publishers will say, “Hey, there’s ten or however many million of those. Let’s spend a little bit extra to buy our disc and stick it in.”

I think once it’s there, there’s the temptation to play games on it, regardless of what your original meaning was. If people buy it as a Blu-ray player, they… will play games. When the big ads come out in August for a new Madden game, they’ll pick up Madden. They’ve got the equipment, so why not? They’ve made the investment.”

Players can get the whole detailed interview with Epic’s Mark Rein on Gamasutra.

Yes, you heard right. The PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 is now available. Simply head out to your favorite software store, and drop $49.95 for the regular version or $59.95 for the collector’s edition. This news is only for the PC version of the game; however, the press release states that the PS3 version is scheduled to be available soon.

It’s always interesting to see what developers have to say about their game at launch. Mark Rein of Epic Games said of UT3, “Unreal Tournament 3 delivers on the promise of high-caliber game quality that gamers have come to know and expect from Epic Games and the Unreal franchise. The power of Unreal Engine 3.0 has enabled the development team to set new expectations for what cutting-edge graphical and gameplay quality for a first-person shooter should be.”

I wonder how well this installment of the series will do in light of the recent release of Call of Duty 4, and the hordes of folks already playing it online. The Unreal Tournament games have always drawn a fairly large group of hardcore devotees though, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some pretty impressive sales figures for this iteration. It’s also interesting to note that Epic just released Gears of War for the PC, which would seem to be a direct competitor to UT3. Of course, when you’re competing with yourself, the winner is predetermined, right?

If you haven’t tried the demo of UT3 yet, you can grab it right here. As always, FileFront has a ton of screens and trailers available at the FileFront UT3 Page.

Enemy Down in cooperation with Midway and Play.com is sponsering a GBP 50,000 Unreal Tournament 3 play-off. That’s about $105,040 for our readers in the U.S. There will be a single player tournament which boasts a prize pot of £20,000, and a team based tournament with an incredible £30,000 prize pot up for grabs.

To qualify to participate in the UT3 Tournament, players MUST pre-order and purchase a copy of the regular or limited edition of the game from play.com. Players will receive a unique registration code which will be required to confirm their entry into the tournaments. That one unique registration key may be used to enter both of the tournaments. Your registration code will be sent by play.com via email once your copy of the game has been posted. For teams entering the tournament, every member of your clan will need a registration ID in order to take part.

The Tournament will be decided at a LAN final in March, 2008.

From the Enemydown UK National UT3 Championships FAQ:

As long as you can order your copy of UT3 from play.com then you may take part in this tournament however you should be fully aware that all the servers will be hosted in the UK and the LAN final will be UK based and we are not covering travel expenses. Should you make it to the final stages you will need a passport if you are not from the UK. UK residents can use a driving license or a passport.

via Enemy Down

 

For those of you who have been playing the UT3 demo and are anxious to get your hands on the full release, just maintain your patience because it is hitting the presses as we speak - or however they do it. Midway and Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament III has been described by people as an unrelenting adrenaline rush, so if you are one of the few who have not played the demo, go on over to the our FileFront page and get it.

The PC version of UT3 will hit stores on November 20th, but PS3 owners will have to wait until the first part of 2008 to get their copies.

Via: Press Release

Full Press Release After the Break

Read the full article

 

The horrific wildfires in California continue to spread across the landscape thanks to those wonderful Santa Ana Winds coming out of the Mojave Desert. You know, the Santa Ana Winds “supposedly” drive people insane and sometimes they even commit murder because of them? I wonder why OJ and Phil Spector did not try to use that defense. Anyway, I kind of got off the subject there. With the wildfires charring over 400,000 acres, injuring 70 people and killing one, the smart ones are evacuating, and Midway (LotRO, UT3) can now be included in this group as they have left their San Diego offices.

A Midway spokesperson has confirmed that all employees had to leave the video game publisher’s office, stating that “Our San Diego office has been evacuated and the majority of Midway’s staff out there is working from home. We hope to have the office back open by the end of the week, but it all depends on the situation,” he said. He also went on to say that Midway’s thoughts are with the people who have been forced from their homes due to the chaos the fire has reined down upon their lives.

Midway remains hopeful that the evacuation of their office will not cause any development delays, as the work is continuing from home. “Our people in San Diego are able to work remotely and all of Midway’s projects are on schedule,” the spokesperson added.

Midway’s headquarters are in Chicago, but the publisher has offices in Austin, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and overseas offices in London and Munich.

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz

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!]