epic-games posts

Unreal Engine 3 got a new tech demo that was shown at GDC 2011 this week at Epic Games' booth. The level of detail and visual effects in the demo was pretty staggering, according to reports, and a trailer showing off the demo will be released next week.

But most PCs currently wouldn't be able to run the live demo well, according to PC Gamer. The GDC 2011 build was running on a PC with three Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 graphics cards installed. Epic Games' VP Mark Rein stated, "Maybe the next Nvidia graphics card bump means we can use two, we don't need three. And maybe the next bump means we can use just one. And the next bump after that means that we can use the mid-range card."

The point of the GDC 2011 Unreal Engine 3 demo was to show the press and game developers what might be possible for game graphics in the next few years with Rein stating, "This is our proposal for what the next big generational leap of gaming should be." Those features include things like water puddles on the ground that reflect neon signs or highly detailed facial textures for characters or clothing that realistically flaps via hardware physics. Rein stated that this year's demo took 12 people two months to complete, adding that Epic Games puts in "tens of millions of dollars into these R&D experiments."

As we reported earlier this week Unreal Engine 3 and UDK users will soon get an update that adds DirectX 11 graphical features into the latest build.

Earlier this week, Epic Games announced that it would be adding DirectX 11 graphical features in a new update for both its professional Unreal Engine 3 tools and its free UDK tool. This week the company is showing off a new Unreal Engine 3 tech demo to the press and game developers at GDC 2011.

Screenshots from the "Samaritan" demo build shown today to the press definitely show some higher quality details including broken depth of field visuals, higher quality shadows and more. Kotaku reports that a trailer that shows off the new Unreal Engine 3 features will be released to the public sometime next week.

Wrapping a guy in an explosive flail and then kicking him into a set of spikes before detonating it. Knocking over a man with a huge cannonball, then exploding it. Shooting a radio-controlled bullet into a man, then steering him into a huge wall of spikes. These are but a few of Bulletstorm's 131 skill shots. In telling you them, we hope to emphasize a singular, focused point: Bulletstorm is not a normal first-person shooter. You won't really be challenged to avoid dying, and enemies mostly serve as cannon fodder for your rather impressive arsenal. Rather, it's a surprisingly smart shooter that is genre savvy in its plot and exceedingly intelligent in its mechanics. While it's a bit short (for single-player enthusiasts, anyway), it's also quite fantastic and merges arcade scoring with oh-so-satisfying murder.

Check out all Bulletstorm downloads

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 game development tools are by far the most popular third party software tools used by game developers around the world. Today at GDC 2011, Epic Games announced that an upcoming unreal to Unreal Engine 3 will allow the tools to support DirectX 11 graphics features including tessellation.

The demo is running at Epic's GDC 2011 booth using Nvidia's GeForce GTX 500-based graphics cards. Unreal Engine 3 already supports Nvidia's propiertary gameplay features such as PhysX (for in-game physics) and APEX (for more realistic animations). In addition to Unreal Engine 3 the free UDK software will also get an update that will support DirectX 11 graphics features.

Download Unreal Development Kit February 2011 Beta (1.29 GB)

The Unreal Development Kit has proven to be popular for mod teams and small game development studios as it allows them to access most of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 to make free game, game prototypes or even commercial games. However until this week people who wanted to use UDK to make a commercial game release had to start playing a royalty to Epic Games when sales of the game exceeded just $5,000.

Epic VP Mark Rein has now announced that the royalty limit for UDK-based commercial games has been increased to $50,000. As he states on Epic Games' forums, " ... we realize that a lot of you are just started in the business so not having to pay royalties on your first $50,000 should help you get a financial footing toward building a quality game development business.'

[Via VG247.com]

Download Unreal Development Kit February 2011 Beta (1.29 GB)
Check out all Unreal Development Kit related Downloads

Bulletstorm officially comes out for the PC and other platforms today but the first person shooter's co-developers People Can Fly and Epic Games already have plans to offer up some additional content to the game in the near future. Today Bulletstorm's publisher Electronic Arts announced plans to release the downloadable Gun Sonata map pack sometime later this spring. While the press release that announced the pack didn't mention a PC version Big Download confirmed with EA's PR rep that it would be made available for PC players as well.

The map pack will cost $9.99 and will add five new maps to Bulletstorm. Three of them will be for the game's four player co-op themed Anarchy mode while the other two maps (Crash Site and Guns of Stygia) will be for the game's single player (with online leaderboards) Echo mode. The Gun Sonata map pack will also add two "enhancements" (the Flamingo and the Pulp) for the player's Leash weapon.

Bulletstorm does have a four player co-op Anarchy mode featuring players facing waves of enemies. But the upcoming first person shooter from co-developers People Can Fly and Epic Games doesn't have support for co-op in the main single player campaign. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Epic's design director Cliff Bleszinkski states that at one point the team put in such a mode in Bulletstorm.

While in theory co-op support for the game's campaign worked, he states, " ... we found that the game shifted from being this kind of puzzle shooter into essentially this downhill skiing simulator, where people were seeing how fast they could get to the bottom of the mountain." Since Bulletstorm is supposed to be about players setting things up to take out enemies with "Skillshots" they ditched the campaign co-op mode. Bleszinkski states, " .. it gave us the chance to put in one-offs that could only be controlled by one player."

Bulletstorm will be released this Tuesday for the PC and other platforms. However the demo for the over-the-top first person shooter has already come out for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Now it looks like PC fans will be getting their own demo of the game after all.

Epic Games' VP Mark Rein announced via his Twitter page, "Bulletstorm PC demo is in the works! Won't make it in time for ship date but should be available shortly after." The console demo showcased a tiny part of the full game's "Echo Mode" where you can rack up the Skillpoints and then compare your final score with your buddies.

[Via VG247.com]

Bulletstorm is due for release this Tuesday but if you haven't used your hard earned money yet to purchase the over-the-top shooter you may want to wait until next week. Microsoft has announced that starting on Tuesday and running for the next two weeks anyone who purchases Bulletstorm from the Games For Windows web site gets a free copy of the PC port of Gears of War, a $19.99 value.

Ironically the PC port of Gears of War, which came out in 2007, was the first collaboration between Bulletstorm co-creators Epic Games and People Can Fly who worked together to add content and convert the Xbox 360 game to the PC. It's also the last PC game Microsoft has published although we are still awaiting word on when the PC port of Fable 3 will be released.

[Via email press release]

Starbreeze Studios, who created its own graphics engines for previous titles like The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick game series, is now working with a third party graphics engine for its future projects. The Sweden-based developer announced today a new multi-year deal to use Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 technology for its future game titles.

So far Starbreeze has yet to reveal what game it is working on next although the developer has been linked via rumor for years as working on a revival of the Syndicate series for publisher Electronic Arts. A previously announced game that would have been an adaptation of the Jason Bourne spy movies and novels was canceled by EA.