Epic has confirmed that there will be no cross platform play for Unreal Tournament 3. In an IRC chat conducted yesterday featuring members of Epic's UT3 team, Epic VP Mark Rein finally confirmed that the game will not feature cross-platform multiplayer at launch. Of course this does not mean it is ruled out entirely in today's day and age. You know the drill; can y ou say download?

IGN has posted a report from TGS on one of the most anticipated games of the coming six months, the new Unreal Tournament. According to Mark Rein of Epic, the company is shooting for a November release. He also revealed that the PS3 version would have "most" of the content that the PC version has. Barring a few maps that the PS3 system doesn't have the resources to produce a smooth gameplay experience on, the rest of the PC package would all be there The modding community need not fret though, it will all be there on the PS3 as well. Rein even told us that there were plans to sell mods over the PSN for a nominal charge. Microtransactions on the PS3, oh no! Yes folks, they are everywhere.

The most popular piece of downloadable content on Xbox LIVE Marketplace will be free of charge next week! In the Hidden Fronts Map Pack, players can clash for control of four dynamic areas, including Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway. Click read more for more information.

PRESS RELEASE

LONDON - 31st August 2007 - With nearly 500,000 downloads to date, the “Gears of War®” Hidden Fronts Map Pack has become the No. 1 piece of premium downloadable content on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. From Monday 3rd September 10.00 UK, the Hidden Fronts Map Pack will join the Annex gametype and Multiplayer Map Pack 1 as another piece of free downloadable content for “Gears of War.”

GameSpy and Epic games announces a agreement to integrate GameSpy's multiplayer and community technology into Epic's Unreal Engine 3. The two companies have created an integrated one-stop solution for game developers looking to leverage the world’s most advanced multi-player technology and game engine in one package. Click read more for full press release.

PRESS RELEASE

BRISBANE, Calif. - August 15, 2007 – IGN Entertainment’s GameSpy, a leader in multiplayer and online gaming technology, and Epic Games today announced a licensing deal to incorporate GameSpy’s suite of online technology into Epic’s Unreal® Engine 3, one of the industry’s most popular game engines. Under the terms of the agreement, GameSpy will join Epic’s prestigious Integrated Partners Program, and its technology will be immediately available to any publishers or developers that license Unreal® Engine 3.

Epic Games, which as we told you previously, is being sued by Silicon Knights, is so unhappy that they have gone and filed a counterclaim. VP Mark Rein claims that Epic did nothing wrong, and furthermore, SK has misappropriated Epic's technology and won't pay. Oh boy. The article is long and legal, check it for yourself, this one is going to get messy.

Some other important points in the counterclaim include the fact that Silicon Knights actually received a "substantial discount" on Unreal Engine 3 because it promised to use the engine on all of its upcoming 360, PS3 and PC titles. Also, Epic says that SK knew when it signed on that Epic was still working on certain features of Unreal Engine 3 and that features would continue to be developed and added as Epic completed Gears of War. As such, Epic claims that "SK knew when it committed to the licensing agreement that Unreal Engine 3 may not meet its requirements and may not be modified to meet them."

Mark Rein, the Epic VP, has confirmed in a form post over at the official Epic Games forums that the Playstation 3 verison of Unreal 3 will indeed support kb & mouse play. How this will affect online play is unknown, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

BeyondUnreal have recieved 3 new shaky cam videos from Comic-Con over the weekend. Unreal Tournament 3 or UT3 is a first-person shooter video game, part of the Unreal series, and the sequel to 2004's Unreal Tournament 2004. UT3 is sheduled to release for Playstation 3 this November 1st.

Tragnarion Studios partners with Epic to use Unreal Engine 3 For upcoming co-operative FPS title "The Scourge Project". Unreal Engine 3 is a complete game development framework for next-generation consoles and DirectX9-equipped PCs, providing the vast array of core technologies, content creation tools, and support infrastructure required by top game developers.

PRESS RELEASE

July 23rd, 2007 Mallorca, Spain: Developer Tragnarion Studios will use Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for their new multiplatform shooter featuring a unique focus on co-operative narrative and gameplay. "The Scourge Project" will be the first story-driven FPS game built from the ground up for co-operative squad play, where up to 4 players each experience a personal story, whilst playing together as a squad.

PRESS RELEASE

Jerseyville IL - July 20, 2007 – For the second year in a row, Team AFK (Away From Keyboard) took the DC Championship in the Gears of War Bash Finals (www.dccombat.com). Gears of War is first person shooter for the Microsoft Xbox 360 featuring four-player versus four-player tournament play.

It seems that Denis Dyack and the Too Human team over at Silicon Knights has filed a lawsuit against Epic games. The lawsuit contends that the horrible showing of the Too Human game at E3 2006 financially damaged SK, and Epic is at fault. Why, you ask? Well, Silicon Knights claims that Epic had a much better version of the Unreal Engine 3.0 that they did not release, and used for themselves in order to show off Gears of War, thus making it look better than any other game using the UE3 engine at the expo. Of course, if this is true, it could put Epic in serious trouble, and would be a breach of the licensing contract. Stay tuned.