unreal-tournament-3 posts

As promised last month, the OnLive streaming PC game service has started shipping pre-orders of its MicroConsole which lets folks who have a TV and a nearby wired internet connection play OnLive's selection of games on their TV set with an included wireless controller.

In addition to today's shipment announcement, OnLive revealed more details on its upcoming monthly flat rate pricing plan. The PlayPack option will actually start with people who get the MicroConsole. They will be able to play the games included in the PlayPack option for free in a beta test. The PlayPack option officially goes live for everyone on January 15 and will cost $9.99 a month. OnLive says over 40 games will be included in the PlayPack option when it goes live and will include the following titles:

Prince of Persia
NBA 2K10
Tomb Raider: Underworld
F.E.A.R. 2
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Unreal Tournament 3
Vin Diesel Wheelman
LEGO Batman
Defense Grid Gold
Saw
World of Goo

In case you are wondering, OnLive will still have the option to let folks pay for individual games, including titles not included in the PlayPack option, in 3 and 5 day trials as well as full PlayPass versions

We have seen a number of Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 3 based games go the commercial route with sometimes mixed results. Now yet another UT3 mod team is seeking to make a commercial game out of their project. The RuneStorm team has announced on that it has the "aim of going commercial" with its multiplayer shooter mod The Crucible.

The game is based on that old "Heaven vs Hell" game design chestnut where angels, demons and mortal fight to the finish. The development team update states, "The finished product will be a more rounded game and should feature more maps, characters, weapons and also a few other features." Additionally RuneStorm is also working on a second project about which no info has been revealed.

[Via Blue's News]

Last year we reported that the team behind the Unreal Tournament 3 mod Renegade X was planning to release a stand alone version using the Unreal Development Kit. The mod itself was based on Command and Conquer: Renegade, a FPS-RTS hybrid game that was developed by Westwood Studios and released by Electronic Arts back in 2002.

It's been several months since the Renegade X team announced their plans for the stand alone UDK version but a recent message board post on their site revealed a screenshot with the caption "A Sign Of Things To Come". It's possible that this teaser is a sign that the UDK port is getting close to release. It should be interesting to see how EA feels about this stand alone game based on the C&C franchise, even if its released as a free product.

It was one of the finalists of the Make Something Unreal contest and now Toltec Studios, the makers of the Unreal Tournament 3 mod The Ball, are making a stand alone version of their first person action-puzzle game using the Unreal Development Kit. However, due to some business issues, the name of the development team had to be changed. So say hello to Teotl Studios.

The game's official web site has also revealed a new look for the game's mysterious character The King. We are promised that we will learn more about this being in the new commercial version. Meanwhile the site hints that an actual release date for The Ball might be announced soon.

The Haunted is a third-person horror survival total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 3 and winner of the 2010 Make Something Unreal Contest. In it, up to four players can play cooperatively to survive against waves on oncoming demons. Other multiplayer game modes include a 4v4 Humans vs Demons mode and a survival mode where defeated humans return as demons. Visit the official website to learn more about the game. The complete readme file can be found after the jump.

"The Haunted is a fast paced third-person horror-action game with focus on a intense multiplayer experience that is all about making a stand and liberating cursed places from the minions of evil. The game features several multiplayer modes such as coop or demons .vs. humans where enemies are spawned and controlled by players. The outstanding visuals lay a perfect tone for the gameplay."

Download The Haunted v3 Mod (392 MB)
Download the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo (741 MB)

It's been a long time since the contest started but this week Epic Games finally revealed the grand prize winners in their second Make Something Unreal mod contest. Using Unreal Tournament 3 as its basis, mod makers created games for the ultimate prize of $50,000 and more importantly a full Unreal Engine 3 license which would allow the mod team to release a full commercial game.

The grand prize winner turned out to be The Haunted, an impressive third person survival horror-style shooter. You can bet that a full stand alone version is in the works. Indeed many of the runners-up for the contest have already released stand alone demos via the Unreal Development Kit. You can check out the list of winners after the jump:

The OnLive streaming PC gaming service is in a closed beta test at the moment and we assume anyone who is accepted into the beta has to abide by a non-disclosure agreement. However, it looks like the author of an OnLive beta article at PC Percepective got around that issue ("a friend of a friend of a friend passed to me their login information"). We don't think that the OnLive company execs will be pleased about that.

In any case, the article goes over the author's experience with the beta, which he admits may be colored by the fact that his location may not be optimal for testing the technology. As we expected, the results are mixed. Streaming slower paced games on your PC like Burnout Paradise and H.A.W.X. seem to work decently with some slight graphics problems. However, shooters like Unreal Tournament 3 had both major image and latency issues running on the beta system. In addition, the current beta requires you to play games with a hard wired connection to the net and there's just one resolution that's officially supported for gameplay.

Of course all of this info comes from a system that's still in closed beta, so improvements are bound to be made before OnLive officially goes live. We don't think that will likely happen for a while, but in the meantime, you can check out some OnLive video from the beta after the jump.

[Via Engadget]

Epic Games' lengthy Unreal Tournament 3 based Make Something Unreal mod making contest is nearing its end. Today the developer announced the winners of the fourth and final phase of the contest in various catagories. The winner of the best first person shooter mod went to The Ball (winning ($10,000) with Prometheus getting the first runner up prize (winning $7,000). Both mods have been turned into small stand alone games via the Unreal Development Kit. The winner of the best non-FPS mod went to the zombie third third person shooter The Hunted which also won $10,000.

While the contest is no longer taking any more entries there's still one more part of the contest that will be awarded soon in Las Vegas (and we aren't talking about playing in a casino kingdom). That's the grand prize of the best overall mod where the winning mod team will get a $50,000 cash prize as well as access to a full commercial Unreal Engine 3 license. The winner and runner-ups will be announced at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas in February.

Yesterday, we listed our picks for some great multiplayer games to play over the holidays. However, the thing about PC games is that you usually need an individual copy for each computer to play. It gets really expensive to shell out $40-50 per game to give as gifts. It can also be difficult to convince friends and family to buy those games for themselves.

Big Download knows your pain, and we've got you covered. Here are our top picks for multiplayer games that cost $20 or less, but provide plenty of fun for the holiday season. Some of these games might go on sale in the next few weeks for even more savings. Now you can spend less time worrying about what you can afford and more time planning that gaming get together.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2009 PC Gamer Single Player Game Holiday Gift Guide.