Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
The Titan Pack and the Future of Unreal In our latest editorial piece we look at how the recently-released UT3 Titan Pack brought more players to the community and brought UT3 back into the limelight. More >
Hourences Interviewed Planet Unreal interviewed the critically-acclaimed Unreal Engine artist and mod-maker Sjoerd "Hourences" De Jong. More >
Restoring KOTOR II Knights of the Old Republic II had significant content cuts but these mods bring them back and more.
Unreal Dev Kit Create your own games for free using the Unreal Development Kit!
Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack Check out our coverage of the UT3 Titan Pack, based on several hectic days of hands-on time with the new bonus content at Epic HQ.
Wednesday, 18 May, 2011 – Planet Unreal News
Network Promotion: IGN's L.A. Noire Precinct Community Site Launches! 13:45 PST | -1313-Evil_Homer | Print NewsWe are excited to announce the launching of our latest Community site, L.A. Noire Precinct, that covers the newly released game by Rockstar. So please take a moment to drop by and see what is going on over at the Precinct. While there be sure to check out the L.A. Noire Wiki section for all your needs. There will also be extensive guides, screenshots and editorials. Check it out!
Bulletstorm's Development Story Told Through Bugs[ 19 Comments ] 20:06 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: Epic GamesEpic subsidiary People Can Fly has put together what can only be described as an "outtake reel" of sorts for the recently-released Bulletstorm, showcasing all the weird, hilarious and slightly disturbing bugs that can arise when building and optimizing a triple-A title.
Unreal Engine 2.5 Alive and Well on Nintendo 3DS[ 12 Comments ] 19:47 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: UT2004It's been seven years since Unreal Engine 2.5 made its debut with the release of Unreal Tournament 2004. Now the predecessor to Unreal Engine 3 has found new life in upcoming Ubisoft titles for the Nintendo 3DS, according to blog reports sourcing Ubisoft's Fabrice Cuny.
The 3DS is powerful, and we are able to run the Unreal engine on this console, which is pretty impressive for a handheld machine, and the 3D doesn’t affect the performance (thanks to my amazing programmers). The architecture is different compared to a Wii or some other platforms that we had to work with here at Ubisoft Montreal.
No word on which titles UE2.5 is powering just yet. Unfortunately there isn't much chance that Unreal Engine 3 will be making any appearances on the 3DS, as Epic's Mark Rein has already dismissed that possibility.
Wednesday, 23 March, 2011 – Planet Unreal News
The Crucible UT3: v1.2 Released[ 10 Comments ] 19:53 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: UT3 - ModificationsVersion 1.2 of popular UT3 mod The Crucible has been released, bringing a host of new weapons and maps, and moving the mod back to a mutator-based setup to allow compatibility with other mods.
Version 1.2 adds -
-9 new award winning weapons.
-Award winning characters including the Savior, Crusader, Skeleton Minion, Zombie, Hel and Gargoyle.
-8 new maps, including 2 Road Rage maps.
-Road Rage gametype adds maniacal vehicle combat.
-New movement system.
-Extensive new Gore system.
-New items replace the stock items.
-New HUD (in certain gametypes).
-Unlockable Dual Swords by using Hammer.
-Various settings, such as health regeneration, barrel actors, Un-desaturation, Move speed modifier and more.
Coffee Stain Studios, developer of "Sanctum," a game that blends first-person shooter and tower defense action, announces a long-term license agreement with Epic Games to use the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) for its current and upcoming projects.
"Sanctum," which was first developed using the "Unreal Tournament 3" game modification toolset, won multiple awards in Epic's $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest. Upon launch of Epic's Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free version of UE3, Coffee Stain Studios took "Sanctum" from a popular "Unreal Tournament 3" mod to a completely standalone game.
Over the course of its transition into a commercial UE3 licensee, Coffee Stain Studios has armed "Sanctum" with more fully featured gameplay and carnage than ever before. The game is poised for a beta release via Steam on March 24 and a full release on April 15.
"We've had our eye on this talented team since the early days of 'Sanctum,' and like previous Make Something Unreal winners, we are so pleased to see Coffee Stain Studios turn their game development dreams into a business," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "We will continue to provide them with excellent tools and technology."
"Taking 'Sanctum' from a 'UT3' mod to a full source UE3 game has been a natural step for us, and Epic has been very helpful the whole way," said Anton Westbergh, co-founder and CEO, Coffee Stain Studios. "Using UE3 gives us the ability to work seamlessly across all disciplines using superior tools and support, and that beats out any other alternative."
As you may have noticed, March 24 is tomorrow. Be sure to keep watching Steam to get your hands on the early beta and pre-order price.
Thursday, 17 March, 2011 – Planet Unreal News
Warner Bros Licenses Unreal Engine 3 for More Titles[ 15 Comments ] 10:35 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: Epic Games - TechnologyWarner Bros Interactive Entertainment has announced that it's licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine tech for use studio-wide for the next three years. Warner published the critically-acclaimed (and UE3-powered) Batman: Arkham Asylum, and is due to release Arkham City later this year.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced a long-term studio-wide license agreement with Epic Games to use the award-winning Unreal Engine 3.
The development software will be available for any team developing a Warner-published game across PC, console and mobile platforms and, through 2014, will be the exclusive game engine used on projects being developed by Rocksteady Studios who are currently working on Batman: Arkham City and developed the critically acclaimed hit Batman: Arkham Asylum for WBIE/DC Entertainment, and NetherRealm Studios, the team behind award-winning Mortal Kombat franchise for WBIE.
“Unreal Engine 3 is one of the leading development tools available for today’s creative teams and it is a perfect fit for both NetherRealm and Rocksteady,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Mortal Kombat and Batman: Arkham City use the engine’s state-of-the-art capabilities to provide the important foundation in bringing gamers the experience they are looking for.”
“We’re very excited that the talented production teams at NetherRealm and Rocksteady will continue to make Unreal Engine 3 their exclusive core technology for the next few years to create the exceptional titles they are so known for,” said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games. “We look forward to seeing how the engine will contribute to the upcoming games from these teams and potentially other Warner teams and external developers who develop or publish with Warner.”
We look forward to seeing what studios like Rocksteady can create using the next three years of Unreal Engine enhancements.
CTF-Gravis was originally due to be released as part of the fourth HOLP (High-Octane Low-Poly) map pack, but wasn't finished in time. Regardless, the map looks excellent and has been receiving some great feedback over on BU's forums.
Built near one of the poles of a classified celestial body with the intent of studying various different aspects of gravitational energy, the Gravis research campus sat empty for years following political fallout over the bloated budget scope of the project. The facility would be used only 7 months every 2 years, due to extreme temperature shifts during a large part of the planetoid's orbital cycle. Both to appease the opposition in the New Earth Government and as a means to offset project costs, small adjustments were made so the facility's main hub could be locked off for highly lucrative tournament play.
Important DirectX features now shipping with UDK include:
- Tessellation and displacement;
- Geometry shaders;
- Multisampled textures; and
- Shader Model 5.
High-end rendering features include:
- Image-based reflections that allow surfaces of any shape to reflect an approximate version of scenes, with varying glossiness across surfaces, anisotropic HDR highlights and anti-aliasing;
- Subsurface scattering (SSS) that simulates the light that scatters inside semi-translucent materials, making character skin come alive;
- Anti-aliased masked materials that super sample the edges of masked and alpha-tested materials, making character hair more look realistic than ever before;
- Deferred rendering with MSAA support;
- Bokeh depth of field providing close to film-quality DOF, with artist-controllable Bokeh; and
- High-quality dynamic shadows from many lights on the environment, such as shadows for point lights and other light sources.
The demo was powered by three high-end graphics cards running in a multi-GPU setup, so we won't be seeing games with this kind of graphical fidelity anytime soon, however Epic says these are the kinds of visuals it expects next-gen consoles to bring...
To allow for compatibility with other mods and add-ons, Crucible 1.2 takes the form of a collection of mutators and gametypes rather than a total conversion, and includes the following changes:
-Original 8 MSUC winning Crucible weapons, plus the "Thor" Lightning Gun.
-All Crucible characters including the 1st place Savior, Skeleton
Minion, Crusader, Zombie, Gargoyle and Hel.
-Horrific, intense new gore system featuring per-character gibs, blood
pools, drag marks, surface splatters and disgusting new effects,
everything you need to paint the town red!
-New movement system allows greater freedom with abilities such as
sprinting, mantling, vaulting and the 'Wings of Light' powerup to give
players super leaping abilities.
-RoadRage gametype with over-the-top vehicle combat as seen in the
previous Crucible TC.
-New Health and Armor items.
-New HUD.
-6 new Deathmatch maps, and 1 RoadRage map.
-Various options and settings, such as spree based Health Regen and
Frag Health Bonus, Undesaturation, Move speed modifier and more.
The Ballistic Weapons 2.5 pack will take the form of a complete Ballistic Weapons and Runestorm pack, including all Ballistic and Runestorm content, as well as -
-X4 Knife, MD24 Pistol and XMk5 SubMachinegun
-M46 Jackal Combat Rifle
-BORT-85 Break Open Grenade Pistol
-A500 Reptile Skrith Acid Gun
-Quicker Iron-Sights.
-Force-to-Walk in Iron-Sights.
-New "Ballistic Regeneration" mutator for health regen and life steal.
-Removed "DoubleJump" limiter.
-Plenty of small fixes and tweaks that will hardly be noticed :D
Stunning DX11 Unreal Engine 3 Shots Released[ 8 Comments ] 13:30 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: Epic Games - TechnologyEpic Games has released some stunning screenshots from an Unreal Engine technology demo shown to GDC attendees this week. The shots are taken from the "Samaritan" tech demo, which apparently took three high-end DirectX 11 graphics cards to run smoothly. The demo showcases advanced shader and lightning techniques including subsurface scattering and tessellation on both character models and environments.
Epic VP Mark Rein described the screenshots as the developer's "love letter to hardware manufacturers", meaning that this is how Epic envisions graphics on the next generation of home consoles.
"Gameloft is very pleased to partner with Epic, especially with their ability to stay ahead of the curve and continually place the best game engine technology in developers' hands at any given point in time," said Julien Fournials, vice president of production, Gameloft. "Using Unreal Engine 3 allows us to push game visuals with remarkable lighting and high-fidelity environments. We are confident that players will enjoy the games powered by Unreal Engine 3."
"There is no doubt that the four games running on Unreal Engine 3 will be visually stunning and take advantage of the powerful mobile gaming devices," said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. "We are thrilled to provide our technology to Gameloft and look forward to a lasting collaboration."
Epic Releases Infinity Blade "Deathless Kings" Update[ 11 Comments ] 14:44 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: Epic GamesEpic Games and Chair Entertainment have released a massive update for their popular hack-n-slashin' iOS title Infinity Blade. To celebrate the new "Deathless Kings" add-on, Epic has reduced the price of Infinity Blade to just $2.99 from now until March 6.
Here's a sample of the cool stuff in this latest update -
· Gain access to the all-new “Dungeon” game play environment.
· Players can battle and explore through six new game arenas, which nearly doubles the size of the game.
· Featuring The Deathless Kings, players will encounter ten new enemies, including the Wood Jester, the Iron Guard, the Plated Sorok, the Warden, and more.
· Fans will have the ability to continue building their character with NewGame+, which allows gamers to re-master any item, unlock new items in the store, and removes the level cap.
· Collect and master more than 30 all-new magic rings, swords, shields, helmets, and armor.
· Gain new achievements and compete on the leaderboards.
· Enjoy new gameplay enhancements and optimizations, including multiple character slots, dodge button size slider, and audio volume controls.
"Gameloft is very pleased to partner with Epic, especially with their ability to stay ahead of the curve and continually place the best game engine technology in developers' hands at any given point in time," said Julien Fournials, vice president of production, Gameloft. "Using Unreal Engine 3 allows us to push game visuals with remarkable lighting and high-fidelity environments. We are confident that players will enjoy the games powered by Unreal Engine 3."
"There is no doubt that the four games running on Unreal Engine 3 will be visually stunning and take advantage of the powerful mobile gaming devices," said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. "We are thrilled to provide our technology to Gameloft and look forward to a lasting collaboration."
Gameloft plans to ship the titles on iOS, Android, PSN and set-top boxes. Find out more at Gameloft.com
Wednesday, 23 February, 2011 – Planet Unreal News
UDK Royalty Threshold Increased to $50,000[ 8 Comments ] 8:10 PST | RaptoR | Print News | Category: Epic Games - Unreal Development KitGreat news for UDK developers - Epic Games has announced that the royalty threshold for the Unreal Development Kit has been increased to $50,000 from the previous limit of $5,000. This means that indie developers using UDK to create commercial titles will have to part with less of their initial profits, allowing them to more easily grow their studios and reap the rewards of their hard work.
Epic VP Mark Rein posted his thoughts on the royalty changes on the official Epic forums...
We're really excited about folks making some amazing things with UDK and 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.
One thing some folks didn't seem to realize is that whether you sell your product through digital distribution (or a retail location) the company doing the sale to the end user (called the "retailer") takes a cut (typically around 30%) for their efforts. The price they sell it for is called the retail price. The amount of money they pay to you on each sale is called the wholesale amount. When you pay us royalties you pay on the wholesale amount, i.e. the money you actually receive.
Version 1.2 of popular UT3 mod The Crucible has been released, bringing a host of new weapons and maps, and moving the mod back to a mutator-based setup to allow compatibility with other mods.
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