epic-games posts

A week ago today, Big Download was one of the first web sites to launch the Unreal Development Kit. The stand alone free game development tool that lets anyone make their own Unreal Engine 3-based game has turned out to be very popular indeed with its creator Epic Games now saying the tool has experienced over 50,000 downloads since its launch. Three stand alone free UDK game demos (The Ball, Whizzle and Prometheus) have already been released.

That;s a pretty impressive figure for a piece of software that is designed to make a game rather that an actual playable title. If you still feel intimidated about using such such software, don't fret. The web site 3DBuzz.com plans to release a number of free video tutorials that will specifically show how to use the UDK. The site previously has done the same for the standard version of Unreal Engine 3.

[Via email press release]Download Unreal Development Kit (562 MB)
Download HD Unreal Development Kit Launch Trailer (80 MB)
Download HD UDK Psyonix Developer Diary (344 MB)

Last week's release by Epic Games of the Unreal Developer Kit opened up the power of their Unreal Engine 3 game development tools to, well, anyone who wanted to use it. The release of the UDK was especially welcomed by mod teams who have previously created mods for Unreal Tournament 3 who now can convert them into stand alone game titles to release for free or as a commercial game title.

One of those UT3 mod projects that was turned into a free stand alone game was Prometheus, an unusual first person game that gives the player a chance to solve puzzles via the game's version of time travel and quantum physics. Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to the designer of the mod Rachel Cordone (with some assistance from their PR head Mark Chandler) to find out more about Prometheus and their future plans for the now stand alone game.

Epic Games has supported mod makers by releasing tools for their PC games ever since the release of the original Unreal game. Tons of new levels, weapons and total conversions have started out as mods based on Epic's games like Unreal Tournament, UT 2004 and UT 3. A few have even made the jump to becoming full stand alone commercial games like Tactical Ops, Red Orchestra and most recently Killing Floor. All of those games required the developer to buy a full Unreal Engine license from Epic.

With today's release of the Unreal Development Kit by Epic, mod makers who previously needed to have one of Epic's commercial games installed no longer have that limitation and can now make stand alone games that they can release for free or as a commercial game. Toltec Studios, the UT 3 mod team behind the unusual first person action-puzzle total conversion The Ball, have already released a stand alone free demo version of the game using UDK. You can download the demo right now at Big Download.

Big Download got to ask some questions to the mod team's leader Sjoerd "Hourences" De Jong to find out more about their UDK version of The Ball, whether mod makers will gravitate to Epic's new free release and their plans for a commercial version of The Ball.

We haven't heard much from Epic Games lately. But is there a big announcement coming from the Unreal-Unreal Tournament-Gears of War developer? On Thursday, people who checked out Epic Games' forums saw this image above. However that image was taken down pretty quickly and it seems message threads about said image have been deleted from the message board.

What is it? Is it an announcement of a new Unreal game that got leaked before it should have? Perhaps an all new Epic Games project? Maybe even someone hacking into the forums and posting an image that means nothing? Even a news post about this image on the fan site Beyond Unreal was taken down (although the message board post is still there). We've emailed Epic to try to get a comment on just what might be going on.

Update: Our sister site Joystiq claims through their unnamed sources that the big announcement that might be tied into this image could be a version of Unreal Engine 3 priced so that regular consumers can purchase and use it. Meanwhile BeyondUnreal has now deleted the message board post where we got this image.

Today marks the fourth birthday of GameTap, the popular PC game subscription-download site. To celebrate the site has added a new game to its premimum monthly subscription tier. It's Unreal Tournament III, the 2007 shooter from Epic Games. The game has full 64-bit support enabled for those of you running such an OS on your PC.

But that's not all. GameTap has also enabled 64-bit support for a number of their games that are already on their service. Even better news is that this weekend a good portion of those games can be played for free. Check out the entire list for yourself to see if there's something that interests you:

Project Snowblind (free this weekend)
Hitman: Contracts (free this weekend)
Tomb Raider: Anniversary (free this weekend)
D.N.A. (free this weekend)
Sacred Gold (free this weekend)
Magic Ball 3 (free this weekend)
Hitman: Blood Money (free this weekend)
Unreal Tournament 2004
Beach Life (free this weekend)
Turtix (free this weekend)
Infernal (free this weekend)
Overlord
Hospital Tycoon
Tomb Raider Legend (free this weekend)

It's the old cliche of showing barrels in first person shooters. Sometimes the barrels have no real world reason to be there in a level. They are just around for you to take a gun and shoot it, causing a big explosion that you hope will take out some enemies.

So how about an environment that is filled with barrels? Lots of barrels? Barrels that are just waiting for, say, a Redeemer fired by a player in Unreal Tournament 2004 to start the biggest chain reaction of explosions we can remember seeing in a YouTube video? There's no need to wonder about those questions. Just check out the video above for the answer. Oh, and check this post on the BeyondUnreal message boards for some info on how the video was made (here's a hint: the video isn't rendered in real time).

Epic Games continues to expand its business to other parts of the world and this week at the Tokyo Game Show it was revealed that the developer will open up a new office in Japan. Our sister site Joystiq reports that the office will be based in Tokyo and will mainly be used to provide Unreal Engine customer support to Japanese-based development studios. However, Epic's president Mike Capps added that the office could expand to develop actual games.

This is just the latest in Epic's expansion plans. Besides their North Carolina home base they own two development studios in the West; Chair Entertainment in Utah and People Can Fly in Poland. They also operate Epic Games Korea for engine support and they are also involved (although more indirectly) in Epic Games China.

Epic Games has decided to give folks yet another chance to sample their 2007 first person shooter Unreal Tournament 3 for free beginning tomorow on Steam. Folks can download and play the complete version of the game for free until the end of the weekend. In addition the game will also go on sale for 60 percent off its normal Steam price until September 27.

Epic Games will also put the Unreal Deal Pack on sale for 60 percent off during the same time period and the original Unreal Tournament game will be on sale for a mere $1.99 during the sales period. This Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the demo for Unreal Tournament.

At E3 back in June we got to see a video presentation with a little in-game footage of All Points Bulletin (APB), the upcoming urban crime themed MMO from developer Real Time Worlds and publisher Electronic Arts. However the E3 presentation was mostly about the game's customization option to make your character, your vehicle and event your music set to your specifications.

At PAX 2009 this weekend we got to see yet another APB video presentation behind closed doors. While not actual live gameplay it was a 15 minute video of real gameplay that was recently created. Oddly enough one of the participants who controlled one of the characters in the APB video was none other than Mark Rein, the VP of Epic Games (APB uses Epic's Unreal Engine 3)

Check out more info from the game after the jump: