Posts Tagged ‘epic games’
Future Epic titles to have “some Natal support”
More proof that Project Natal will be adopted by well rounded game developers? In a recent interview with OXM,VP of Epic Games, Mark Rein, spoke about the future of Epic in terms of Project Natal.
Below he comments:
“I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support. We always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform.”
So, ever though he said it will have Natal support, the key word there is some; that means it could be anything from just a mini game to full game control.
Free Gears of War 2 multiplayer this weekend
This weekend, Xbox Live Silver members were given the option of trying out some Gears of War 2 multiplayer for free. The event started Friday and will be ending August 3 at 11:59am EST, so you still have time to get into the action.
If you already have Gears of War 2 (like you should), be sure to check out our Dark Corners DLC review.
Unreal Tournament now on hiatus
Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney announced that they will not be developing a new Unreal Tournament game for a very long time, making Unreal Tournament 3 the last memory we’ll have of the series for several years.
“Unreal Tournament is certainly a major long-term priority but we’re planning not to release a major retail game in the series for several years,” Sweeney said. “So we have that effort somewhat on hold while we work on a few other initiatives.”
Sweeney also mentioned that Epic will continue to support the creation of third party mods in the long run, saying that Epic will “open up the engine to more people to use freely and use cool stuff.”
Read (BigDownload)
UT3 Titan Pack on PSN Today
According to the official PlayStation Blog, the Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack will be released on the PlayStation Network today.
The free DLC will add new maps, game modes, vehicles and characters, as well as the mutator mentioned in the title.
The new game types are Greed, a “tug of war” team mode game, and Betrayal, a cutthroat style where alliances and teams can shift through a match. The Titan mutator, meanwhile, lets players become a 30 foot tall behemoth in any game mode.
The DLC was released for the PC version earlier this month, leading to a whopping 2000% increase in players.
Gears of War 2 Map Pack, Patch Incoming
The official website for Gears of War 2 carries word that more multiplayer maps and another patch for the game are due out before the end of the month.
The “Snowblind map pack”, due out March 31, will offer four winter-themed multiplayer maps: Grind Yard, Under Hill, Courtyard and a remake of Fuel Depot from the original. While no pricing was given, the last pack sold for 800 points ($10).
Meanwhile, the patch will bring a new experience-based ranking system and a variety of fixes on March 24. Hit the jump for full patch notes.
Epic has ‘Ten-year-plan’ for Gears of War
CliffyB wasn’t lying when he said they had a long vision for the Gears of War franchise. But just how long would that be? According to Gears of War 2 writer Josh Ortega, Epic has a ‘ten-year-plan’ for their cash cow.
“Gears is long-term. The lancer is the new lightsaber,” he added. This was in response to a question about a potential sequel.
The series has so far seen two blockbuster games, a comic book and a forthcoming live-action film, which the team hopes will be the first in a trilogy.
Ortega also talked about potential DLC for the game, noting that we “won’t be disappointed” when it comes to single-player DLC. Keep your fingers crossed!
Huge UT3 Patch, Bonus Pack Incoming
Are your guns and armor languishing in the closet? Epic wants you to bring them out as the studio has spilled the beans on a forthcoming major patch for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3.
Among the major new features will be support for Steam achievements for those who installed the title through Valve’s digital distribution platform. There will be other tweaks and the developer is readying a collection of bonus maps dubbed the Titan Pack, with lead designer Steve Polge saying that it will be “substantially bigger than any bonus pack we’ve released in the past.”
Only Epic knows when the patch and the pack are going to be released.
Gears of War 2 Crosses 3 Million Mark
In todays first bit of completely unsurprising news, Microsoft has confirmed that Gears of War 2has sold over three million copies around the world after spending a month at retailers.
“Microsoft confirmed to me this afternoon that Gears of War 2 sell-through surpassed 3 million units as of last week,” said Epic Games VP Mark Rein.
The game was released on November 7 and sold over two million units in its opening weekend. It can be noted that the first game has sold 5 million copies. Gears of War 2 is supposedly exclusive to Xbox 360.
Gears of War 2 Matchmaking Update Issued
Following up on its promise, Epic Games has released an update for Gears of War 2, aimed at helping the current matchmaking issues players are facing.
The patch will be automatically downloaded when players sign on to Xbox Live, with the installation of the patch required to play online.
“In order to get the update out as quickly as possible, we focused just on immediate infrastructure issues and have left any potential gameplay issues for a future update,” wrote senior producer Rod Fergusson on the game’s official forum.
His post carries further details on the changes made.
Epic Buys Fat Princess Studio
Epic Games, the ubiquitous creator of Unreal Engine 3 technology and Gears of War series creator, today announced that they have acquired developer Darkstar Industries, the studio behind Fat Princess for the PS3. The company has now been renamed Titan Studios.
Titan Studios will continue its work on the quirky strategy game, as well as create original games and provide technical UE3 support to those who work with Epic Games China.
It is the latest investment for Epic, who recently bought a stake in People Can Fly (Painkiller) and acquired Chair Entertainment (Undertow).
Legendary In “Serious” Talks To Buy Epic
It would seem that the movie production company, Legendary Pictures, has been following EA’s and 
Activision’s example and decided to try to buy a game development studio. Now, you would think that Legendary Pictures would select a smaller studio for their first acquisition, but the studio in question is non other than Epic Games. Apparently several extremely credible sources are stating that the two companies are having serious talks about Legendary purchasing Epic.
If the idea seems odd, keep in mind that Legendary Pictures is helping to finance the Gears of War movie. If these negotiations are real and are successful, it will be the first time that a movie company has
No Gears of War 2 for Japan and Germany
A Microsoft spokesperson told Edge Magazine that Microsoft has no plans of releasing Gears of War 2 in Japan or Germany. No clear reason was given as to why the game will not be released in Japan. The game performed very well in the East, selling over 33,000 copies in the first week alone. In addition to this, USK, Germany’s software rating organization, has declined to give the title a rating.
Read (Edge)
Confirmed: Gears of War 2 Pirated, Up on Torrent Sites
Piracy on the Xbox 360 is reaching new extremes, as Gears of War 2, Microsoft’s big title this holiday season, has been hacked and put up on file-sharing sites. The game is still two weeks away from retail release.
In fact, I can confirm the existence of the hacked version myself, though the links have gone dead as of the time of this writing. However, it is still available on some bit torrent sites, though you will have to contend with leechers. Even then, you will have the guilty conscience of pirating a game that you should very much buy… and have to deal with modding your Xbox 360 and the possibility that you will get kicked off of Xbox Live.
If you are one of those people, go ahead and download the 6.76GB file. The full game is due out November 7.
Gears of War 2 Outsells its Predecessor Before Release
No one doubted the popularity of a Gears of War sequel, but no one ever knew just how popular it would be. Even before its release, Gears of War 2 has surpassed the fame (and fortune) of its predecessor, having more presales orders than the first game.
Based on these figures alone, Microsoft declared the game to be “poised to become the must-have video game this holiday season.”
The full game is due out exclusively on Xbox 360 on November 7. It features two-person online or offline cooperative story mode, ten-person online multiplayer and more.
Dyack on Epic Fight
With the release of Too Human this week, Silicon Knights president and founder Denis Dyack commented on the studio’s legal battle with Epic Games, the creator of the Unreal Engine which the studio used to power their latest project.
“The trial is proceeding,” Dyack said. “We feel really good about our claims, and we’re hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry.”
The dispute is centered around the studio’s claim that Epic did not deliver promised features in Unreal Engine 3 in order to focus on its own UE3 project – Gears of War.
“The Too Human you see today only really started development when [Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes] was completed,” noted Dyack. “So it’s been a four-year development cycle and it would have been out even quicker, but we had to re-write the engine because of all the Epic stuff.”