News

BBC Worldwide and Supermassive Games Bring ‘Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock’ to Life with UE3

2012-02-21T15:54:56Z

Time-traveling adventure will be the first PlayStation®Vita game to use Epic Games’ industry-leading technology; new trailer delves into visual elements of multi-platform title

CARY, N.C. (February 21, 2012) – Epic Games announces that BBC Worldwide and Supermassive Games have licensed the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 technology to power the time-bending action game, “Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock.” Crafted by acclaimed developer Supermassive Games and based upon the BBC’s heralded franchise that has entertained audiences for nearly 50 years, “Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock” will be the first PlayStation®Vita game to utilize the cutting-edge Unreal Engine toolset, which also fuels the PlayStation®3 and PC versions of the game.

An exciting new trailer for “Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock” gives players a taste of what they’ll experience upon the game’s release next month as the Time Lord attempts to save the universe yet again. Of special note in the video are newly revealed features such as split-screen and 3D camera support.

“At Supermassive, we always try to be very pragmatic about our choice of technology and choose the right tool for the job at hand. Our aim for ‘Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock’ is to match it as closely as possible in aesthetics, tone and sound to the television series, and also to achieve a new level of quality on Sony’s outstanding platforms,” said Jonathan Amor, chief technology officer at Supermassive Games. “Critical factors in our decision to license Unreal Engine 3 include the capability and maturity of the Unreal Editor and tool chain, and we required an engine that has proven success in the marketplace.”

Robert Nashak, executive vice president for BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment, said, “‘Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock’ is the start of a major new gaming development for the Doctor Who brand. We’re committed to working with top-tier partners such as Epic Games to ensure a world-class game for fans of the series and gamers alike. ‘Eternity Clock’ will allow players to experience the action, adventure and madness of Doctor Who for themselves on an exciting new game platform that we hope will raise the bar for future games to come.”

“We are big Doctor Who fans here at Epic,” said Mike Gamble, European territory manager, Epic Games. “It’s brilliant to see the world of Doctor Who brought to life by the team at Supermassive and especially to see Unreal Engine 3 powering the game that’s bringing this universe to a whole new platform and an entirely new generation of gamers and Doctor Who fans.”

About BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games

BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games is a core business within BBC Worldwide, the main commercial arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Launched in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles and London, the business works with top BBC brands to develop new opportunities across a wide range of gaming platforms. The business is responsible for the company’s first MMO, Doctor Who: Worlds In Time and the multi-year partnership with Top Gear and Forza Motorsport, amongst many others.

BBC Worldwide

BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the licence fee payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has six core businesses: Channels, Content & Production, Sales & Distribution, Consumer Products, Brands, Consumers & New Ventures and Magazines, with digital ventures incorporated into each business area. In 2010/11, BBC Worldwide generated profits of £160 million on sales of £1158 million and returned £182m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including eight Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its “Unreal” series, including “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. The first two games in Epic’s “Gears of War” franchise have sold more than 13 million copies and won more than 50 game of the year awards. The third installment, “Gears of War 3,” sold more than 3 million copies within its first week of release, catapulting the franchise beyond $1 billion in lifetime sales. Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 industry technology awards and powers many bestselling games. Additional information about Epic can be obtained at http://www.epicgames.com.

Make Something Unreal Live Sharpens Its Sword with ‘Fighting Fantasy’ IP

2012-02-08T17:53:36Z

New iOS games based on cherished adventure book lore are whetted by senior industry mentors and will debut at Gadget Show Live 2012

CARY, N.C. and LUTON, UK (February 8, 2012) – Epic Games, Inc. and Train2Game have secured the rights for the iOS games of Make Something Unreal Live to be based on the “Fighting Fantasy” series of role-playing gamebooks created by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. More than 70 books, along with magazines, novels, board games, playing cards and collectibles, are steeped in the magic of the thirty-year-old “Fighting Fantasy” franchise.

Make Something Unreal Live is an independent game development challenge that will enable four start-up studios to release their games on the App Store this spring. Under the “Fighting Fantasy” agreement, each team selects one book from the adventure series to serve as inspiration for its new App. The books chosen for Make Something Unreal Live are “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain,” “The Citadel of Chaos,” “Deathtrap Dungeon” and “Armies of Death.”

Teams must adhere to intellectual property (IP) guidelines and submit regular milestone submissions under the leadership of senior industry veterans serving as guest mentors. Advisors include Tony Bickley, COO, DR Studios and course director, Train2Game; Mike Gamble, European Licensing Manager, Epic Games; Rik Alexander, Founder, AppCrowd; and Pete Hickman, Head of Production, Mediatonic.

The new “Fighting Fantasy” games will be revealed and refined in a spectacular real-time conclusion at Gadget Show Live 2012, the premier consumer show taking place April 10-15, 2012 at the Birmingham NEC in Birmingham, UK.

At the final showdown, more than 100,000 attendees will see teams unmask their creations and prepare them for final release, with regular project status updates on the Make Something Unreal Live stage along the way.

“Steve Jackson and I are delighted to see our ‘Fighting Fantasy’ gamebooks being developed as iOS games by new teams of talented and enthusiastic students. It will be really interesting to see how our IP will be captured and interpreted for the iOS platform,” said Ian Livingstone, “Fighting Fantasy” co-creator. “This competition is a great way to showcase the creative talent of a new generation. The evolving games industry is constantly on the lookout for design innovation and new ways of playing. I am really looking forward to playing one of my books as a game.

These freshmen studios sourced from the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam are building their games using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that has been installed and used on more than 1.2 million unique machines. The winning team will walk away with a full source, commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS.

About Make Something Unreal Live

Make Something Unreal Live is an independent game development competition co-sponsored by Epic Games and Train2Game. The unprecedented event takes place over the course of six months and will culminate at Gadget Show Live 2012 to be held at April 10-15, 2012 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. As part of Make Something Unreal Live, four new iOS games based on the “Fighting Fantasy” adventure series will be released on the App Store. The winner of Make Something Unreal Live will receive a commercial, full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. “Like” Make Something Unreal Live on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/makesomethingunreal, and follow @Train2Game and @UnrealEngine on Twitter.

About Train2Game

Created in 2008, Train2Game offers accredited courses in Games DΩesign, Development, Art and Animation, certified by leading industry body TIGA. Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is coordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace. This year will see its first graduates enter the workplace after years of training.

About Unreal Engine 3

About Epic Games

Epic Games Releases January 2012 Unreal Development Kit Beta

2012-01-31T22:46:32Z

Epic Games, Inc. has released the January 2012 Unreal Development Kit Beta, the latest version of the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides access to the award-winning 3D game engine and toolset used in blockbuster video game development, architectural visualization, mobile game development, 3D rendering, digital films and more. The latest UDK beta is available now at http://www.udk.com/download.

Unreal Engine Showcase: Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

Developed by Torn Banner Studios using UDK, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a multiplayer melee combat game that was recently named a top pick in IndieDB’s “Best Upcoming Game” category in its Indie of the Year competition. The studio’s president, Steve Piggott, explained how UDK allows his team to stay on the cutting edge of visual technology thanks to regular updates. “Instead of developing a game with an engine for two years and then releasing it with two-year-old technology, developers have the opportunity to launch with the latest version and keep updating it even after release. That’s a really powerful thing.” Read more.

We have showcases of some of the most outstanding video game, architectural visualization, and mobile apps using UDK at http://www.udk.com/showcase and http:www.unrealengine.com/showcase. Also be sure to check out the Works in Progress and the Released Projects forums.

January UDK Beta Upgrade Notes

Simplygon Mesh Proxy Tool

New Simplygon Merge Tool for combining static meshes

Grouped static meshes can be combined into a single static mesh
This can greatly improve rendering performance
Materials/textures are automatically collapsed and new UVs are generated
This tool is fully “non-destructive” - you can modify meshes and remerge, and roll back changes if needed
Documentation can be found here

Unreal Landscape

Holes of any shape can be cut into the landscape, allowing designers to create entrances to caverns and other features under the landscape
The visibility tool can remove or replace individual quads at the highest LOD resolution, with collision added or removed accordingly
Holes are rendered per-pixel, independently of LOD, so distant holes retain their shape
Added the ability to save foliage settings to packages and to share them between levels
Added tool to change component size for existing landscapes
Hide unused landscape UI when no landscapes are available

Pivot Painter

A new [3ds Max](http://www.autodesk.com/3dsMax “3ds Max) tool that automatically generates pivot points for mesh vertices, allowing for advanced foliage animation and other effects

Documentation can be found here

iOS Rendering

Added support for color grading

Documentation can be found [here](http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ColorGrading.html#Mobile Support)

Unreal Editor

Added a “Reconnect” button to the “Checkout packages” dialog
- The function is disabled when a valid connection is established
- Upon reconnect, the login screen will appear if the connection failed
- Once the connection is restored, the “Checkout” dialog is reloaded
Altered behavior of the “Convert to Static Mesh” operation
- It not only builds a model from the selected static brushes
- It also builds dynamic brushes (which includes volumes) and builds from the builder brush (if selected)
- It treats these as if they were like additive BSP brushes
The autosave time is now simply paused during PIE instead of reset
The editor is now more responsive during lighting builds
Added a context menu option when selecting multiple actors for assigning the material selected from the content browser
Auto content saving is now enabled by default for new users and ‘content packages to save’ can now be specified in the ini
Lens flare visualizations will now appear when a lens flare actor is created and will update if any visualization properties are changed on the template lens flare
Made the color picker dialog not modal when changing preview background color for textures
Unreal Matinee slow-mo tracks will no longer effect viewports in other sub-editor windows (such as Unreal Cascade)
Made the wireframe rendering in orthographic viewports consistent in both DX9 and DX11
New packages in Unreal Content Browser are now removed from the “New Packages” collection once they’ve been saved
Fixed the “Touch Input Kismet” event in Unreal Kismet so that it sends the proper X and Y values
When in Kismet’s hit-testing mode, the Kismet block nubs are drawn bigger to make them easier to select without taking up more screen space visually
Enabled the “Paste Here” right-click menu option for nodes in the Material Editor

Misc

Added support for importing multiple animations from a single FBX file: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FBXAnimationPipeline.html
Added new option to ignore missing bones when importing
Fixed FBX issues with morph curves and animation ranges

New and Updated UDN Pages

© 2011, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, Unreal, Unreal Content Browser, Unreal Development Kit, UDK, Unreal Editor, Unreal Engine, UE3, AnimSet Editor, Unreal Kismet, Unreal Landscape, Unreal Lightmass, Unreal Matinee and UnrealScript are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Gazillion Supercharges ‘Marvel Heroes’ with Unreal Engine 3

2012-01-17T16:10:41Z

Developer leverages best-in-class game engine technology to create new Super Hero experience

SAN MATEO, Calif. And CARY, N.C. (January 17, 2012) – Gazillion Entertainment announces it has licensed Epic Games’ award-winning Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) to power its highly anticipated, free-to-play “Marvel Heroes” massively multiplayer online (MMO) game for PC. The licensing agreement enables Gazillion, through its Secret Identity Studios, to use the cutting-edge Unreal Engine toolset to develop a premier entertainment experience that allows players to take on the roles of revered characters such as Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-Man as they play through events of the Marvel Universe.

“We love Unreal Engine 3’s streaming system. It’s made our entire technical approach possible and is easy to work with,” said Jeff Lind, studio director of Gazillion’s Secret Identity Studios. “We also love the flexibility we get from the actor components, which have empowered us to make all kinds of customizations without sacrificing the built-in features of the engine.”

Secret Identity Studios Art Director Josh Book added, “Our artists love the Unreal Content Browser, the visual art pipeline, and how functional UE3 is with different 3D packages. We had assets in the game within hours of starting work with the engine. In addition, Unreal Lightmass is a very advanced global illumination tool that has helped push the look of our game further than we thought it could go.”

“Capturing the distinctive moments of such revered fiction within a game environment is no small task, and it’s critical to use the very best tools and technology to deliver the production values fans expect,” said Joe Kreiner, North American licensing manager, Epic Games. “Having grown up with Marvel’s iconic heroes and villains, we’re really honored to help Gazillion and Secret Identity achieve their creative vision and quality bar for the game.”

For more information on “Marvel Heroes,” follow @Marvel and @SecretIDStudios on Twitter, and “Like” Marvel on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Marvel.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information, visit http://www.marvel.com. Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

About Gazillion

Gazillion Entertainment is a privately held developer and publisher of free-to-play online games for all ages. Gazillion’s games feature revered brands and original properties, superior production quality and unmatched gameplay. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Gazillion has development studios in California and Washington. For more information on Gazillion and its studios please visit http://www.gazillion.com.

Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 3, Unreal, Unreal Engine, UE3, and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Epic Games and ChAIR Entertainment Announce Earnings from Infinity Blade Franchise Exceed $30MM

2012-01-05T16:58:31Z

Accolades, Strong Sales of Infinity Blade II Further Propel Blockbuster Game Franchise

Epic Games, Inc. and its award-winning Salt Lake City-based development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, today announced that earnings from ChAIR’s blockbuster Infinity Blade game franchise have eclipsed $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game. One of the most popular gaming franchises to be launched on the App Store, the award-winning series has also created significant licensing interest in the underlying Unreal Engine 3 technology from developers worldwide.

Further fueling franchise momentum is the recent release of Infinity Blade II, which has seen net earnings in excess of $5 million in just one month since release on Dec. 1, 2011, a mark which took the original title three months to achieve. Infinity Blade II is on pace to exceed the record success of the original Infinity Blade game, which has grossed more than $23 million to date. Additional franchise extensions include Infinity Blade: Awakening, a digital novella from best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack, which features original music from the games, and Infinity Blade FX, a big screen, coin-op version of Infinity Blade now featured in arcades nationwide.

Infinity Blade II was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2011 and received dozens of accolades, including several perfect scores and Editors Choice awards. IGN scored the game a “Perfect 10” and named it their 2011 Mobile Game of the Year. USA Today awarded Infinity Blade II another perfect score, calling it “A Masterful Mobile Epic.” Infinity Blade II was crowned Game of the Year by Slide to Play and Touch Gen, and named Mobile Game of the Year by GameSpot and G4TV, among others. Infinity Blade II was also named among E! Online’s ‘Top 10 Games of 2011,’ one of the ‘Best Apps of 2011’ by Entertainment Weekly, and was cited by Mashable in its ‘5 Major Trends that Changed Digital Entertainment in 2011’ feature.

“The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices,” Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps said. “We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple’s evolving platforms.”

Infinity Blade II is available for download from the App Store http:www.itunes.com/appstore for $6.99 and is a universal app. The game is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3 (16GB+) and iPod touch 4.

To learn more about the Infinity Blade games and novella, follow @InfinityBlade on Twitter, ‘Like’ “Infinity Blade” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/InfinityBladeGame or visit the official website at http://www.InfinityBladeGame.com.

About Infinity Blade

In December 2010, Epic Games’ award-winning studio ChAIR Entertainment forever changed the landscape of mobile gaming with the introduction of “Infinity Blade” for iOS. Powered by Unreal Engine 3, “Infinity Blade” brought handheld gaming to new heights with gorgeous visuals, adrenaline-fueled battles and advanced character progression in a fully 3D castle realm. With millions of players worldwide, “Infinity Blade” is one of the most popular games ever launched on the App Store, receiving numerous Editor’s Choice and Game of the Year accolades, as well as the “Excellence in Design” Award at the 2011 International Mobile Game Awards and the prestigious 2011 Apple Design Award. The award-winning sequel, Infinity Blade II, was successfully launched in Dec. 2011 and remains one of the most-popular, best-reviewed games on the App Store.

About ChAIR Entertainment

Founded in 2005, Salt Lake City-based ChAIR Entertainment is a subsidiary of Epic Games, Inc. Most recently, ChAIR introduced the award-winning sword fighting adventure, “Infinity Blade II” for iOS, in December 2011. Following in the footsteps of the original Infinity Blade, the critically acclaimed sequel continued on to win numerous Game of the Year and Editor’s Choice accolades and became one of the most popular games of 2011. In 2009, ChAIR released the modern and masterful, side-scrolling shooter “Shadow Complex,” published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for Xbox LIVE Arcade. The critically acclaimed “Shadow Complex” received numerous E3 and Editor’s Choice Awards and was named Game of the Year by more than 40 media outlets. Before that, ChAIR released the award-winning underwater action-shooter, “Undertow” for Xbox LIVE Arcade. In 2011, ChAIR was named #4 among Pocket Gamer’s list of the Top 50 Developers and ranked #29 among Develop’s Top 100 Game Development Studios in the World. Follow @ChAIRGAMES on Twitter and “Like” ChAIR Entertainment Group on Facebook.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Epic, Epic Games, ChAIR Entertainment, Gears of War, Gears of War 3, Shadow Complex, Undertow, Infinity Blade, Unreal, Unreal Development Kit, UDK, Unreal Engine, UE3, and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Epic Games Releases December 2011 Unreal Development Kit Beta

2011-12-22T21:15:56Z

Epic Games, Inc. has released the December 2011 UDK Beta, the latest version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides access to the award-winning 3D game engine and toolset used in blockbuster video game development, architectural visualization, mobile game development, 3D rendering, digital films and more. The latest beta is available now at http://www.udk.com/download.

Unreal Engine Showcase: Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Defenders injects tower defense gameplay with role-playing elements, delivering a popular experience on myriad platforms, from Xbox LIVE Arcade to smartphones and tablets. Developed with Unreal Engine 3, Dungeon Defenders started out as a simple UDK demo and has morphed into a bestselling downloadable game for Trendy Entertainment. Read more.

We have showcases of some of the most outstanding video game, architectural visualization, and mobile apps using UDK at http://www.udk.com/showcase and http://www.unrealengine.com/showcase. Also be sure to check out the Works in Progress and the Released Projects forums.

December UDK Beta Upgrade Notes

Texture Paint tool

Allows you to paint textures on static meshes interactively in the level viewport

UV seams can now be painted in both Dx9 and Dx11 rendering modes.

Documentation is available here

Landscape LOD System

Allows individual Landscape components to have discontinuous LOD levels

Visual Assist X now supports UnrealScript

Whole Tomato has released VAX UnrealScript support for VS2010
Set up documentation can be found here

Misc

Scaleform: improvements to Action Script 3 and full screen movie functionality
Mac: Brand new audio subsystem added, built atop Apple’s native CoreAudio framework, including full reverb, equalizer, and radio filter support
Mac: Updated platform PhysX libraries, greatly improves stability in physics-heavy scenes
Mac: Rendering improvements for post-processing and fog volumes

New and Updated UDN Pages

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Inducts Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney to Its Hall of Fame

2011-12-07T18:47:19Z

Legendary programmer also confirmed to speak at D.I.C.E. 2012

CALABASAS, CA – The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has announced that Tim Sweeney, founder and chief executive officer of Epic Games, will be the 16th inductee into the AIAS Hall of Fame, and will be taking the stage for the first time at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit. Tim is respected throughout the industry for his technological innovations, advancing many of today’s highly successful PC, console and mobile games. Tim’s development of the Unreal Engine and award-winning franchises such as the “Gears of War” and “Unreal Tournament” series have been catalysts in the evolution of gaming.

The AIAS Hall of Fame is bestowed on game creators who have been instrumental in the development of highly influential games and moving a particular genre forward. These individuals demonstrate the highest level of creativity and innovation, resulting in significant product influence on a scale that expands the scope of the industry. The 2012 Hall of Fame Award will be presented by Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein at the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. The Awards will be hosted by actor, comedian and game enthusiast, Jay Mohr.

“Tim’s vision has changed the face of gaming with the advent of the Unreal Engine and the commitment of Epic, as a studio, to bring both consumer and industry-facing technology to new heights.” said Martin Rae, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. “We’re honored to add Tim Sweeney to our Hall of Fame. His unrelenting and innovative work on behalf of developers and gamers has created the imaginative games that help to drive the success of our industry.”

“I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside Tim Sweeney for nearly 20 years. Many people in the game industry are aware of what a brilliant technical visionary he is, but what they might not realize is that he is also a great leader and thinks deeply about how to use technology to empower artists and creatives to be successful and realize their vision - not only at Epic but around the world in the studios who license our Unreal Engine technology,” remarked Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. “Tim’s sense of fairness and doing what’s right, not just for Epic but for the industry as a whole, is also what makes him so admired among the people who know him. I am very proud to call him my friend and mentor, and am thrilled that I will be able to present this well-deserved award to him. I wish everyone in the industry could know Tim as I do.”

Sweeney founded Epic Games in 1991, and released “ZZT” and popular games such as “Jill of the Jungle” and “Epic Pinball” in the early 1990s. In addition, Sweeney wrote the first iteration of the Unreal Engine, an integrated toolset that was the first to bring independent processes like AI, rendering and collision detection into one easy-to-use tool. The Unreal Engine became available to the community in 1998 upon the release of the first “Unreal” title; from there it became one of the fastest growing and easily adopted engines of its kind. The rise of the multimillion-selling “Unreal” game series shared momentum with the early engine middleware business, putting Epic’s signature fast and furious shooter gameplay and cutting-edge game engine technology into the hands of hardcore gamers and game developers alike. Easily modded, the Unreal Engine spurred one of the first creative tangents of our generation, giving homebrew and burgeoning developers the chance to help shape the direction of the industry.

From 2005 to 2006, Sweeney ushered in a new era for both audiences once again, with Epic’s release of “Gears of War” and Unreal Engine 3. Epic’s blockbuster Gears of War series has won more than 50 game of the year awards, resulting in a combined 230 awards and nominations, and it has sold more than 17 million copies. For the AIAS’ 10th Interactive Achievement Awards in 2007, “Gears of War” was nominated for 10 and received eight awards including Overall Game of the Year; “Gears of War 2” was nominated for nine awards in 2009 for 12th IAAs. Unreal Engine 3 has won the Best Engine Front Line Award every year since 2004 with the exception of 2008, when it was inducted into the Hall of Fame. It has won the Develop Industry Excellence Award in its category for the past four years as well.

Today, Sweeney continues to serve as Epic’s chief executive officer and technical director, with his efforts focused on developing Unreal Engine 4 and leading the independent developer to future success.

Epic Games Releases November 2011 Unreal Development Kit Beta

2011-12-02T16:35:05Z

Epic Games, Inc. has released the November 2011 UDK Beta, the latest version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides access to the award-winning toolset used in blockbuster video games, 3D visualizations, digital films and more. The latest beta is available now at http://www.udk.com/download.

UDK Showcase: Waves

This month’s showcase features the breakout indie game developed by Squid in a Box, which delivers addictive gameplay peppered with a confetti of striking visuals. To celebrate the arena shooter’s launch on Steam, we sat down with CEO Robert Hale to talk about his years spent making games and the decision to go with UDK. Read more.

We have showcases of some of the most outstanding UDK projects at http://www.udk.com/showcase and http://www.unrealengine.com/showcase. Also be sure to check out the Works in Progress and the Released Projects forums.

November UDK Beta Upgrade Notes

Scaleform 4 Upgrade

Vastly improved rendering integration with multithreaded renderer
Added Action Script 3 support. Action Script 2 is still supported.
Includes CLIK 3.0 (Lightweight Interface Kit)
Major improvements to the AMP profiler
Updated UDN documentation

Unreal Landscape and Foliage

Landscape flatten tool tool is enhanced with a flatten to slope option

New Clay Brush makes sculpting of landscape vertex data much quicker and easier

Foliage scale axis locking allows for variable Z scale but uniform XY scale, plus z-offset settings

New reimport Heightmap / layer button for each layer

Updated Unreal Landscape documentation with info on new layer nodes
Updated foliage documentation with info on new features
Foliage now follows base component on copy/paste/move/rotate/move-to-level
Much improved brush painting behavior for both vertex and layers in regular (non-clay) mode. Repainting the same area no longer causes artifacts
Changed the regular paint tool behavior so that painting over the same area requires multiple brush strokes. The functionality is now consistent with Zbrush and prevent artifacts

Editor

You can now export skeletal meshes and animations from the editor, enabling bi-directional cinematic workflow
Added the ability to adjust sound class volume levels from a matinee track
The content browser’s ‘Packages’ view now returns to previously active view (hierarchical or flattened) when filter is cleared
Added support for turning off startup movies and toggling cinematic mode for matinee movie captures

iOS

High level Twitter UnrealScript-accessible support has been added
- You can now show the iOS 5 Tweet UI and optionally attach a local .png image and/or a URL, making use of the single-sign-on Twitter account(s) in iOS 5
- You can also submit a generic Twitter request (i.e., get the local user’s followers)
- Implemented for iOS 5
Added ADPCM sound encoding support

Mac OS X feature parity work

Additions and upgrades
- Added support for “Maximize” button
- Added full support for vertex texture fetch
- Minor PhysX library update, addressing some rare crashes, and adding “quickload” extension support
- Support for loops and secondary color attribute during shader generation
Fixed issues
- Instanced drawing now on full parity with PC
- Light shafts now render properly and have full visual parity with PC
- Full-screen rendering and MSAA
- Inconsistent lens flares compared to PC
- Inconsistencies with anisotropic filtering between PC and Mac
- Shadows from spotlight on dynamic / skeletal meshes

New and Updated UDN Pages

UnrealScript

FBX

Mobile

Misc

Epic Games and ChAIR Entertainment Launch iOS Blockbuster ‘Infinity Blade II’ on the App Store

2011-12-01T18:17:25Z

Highly anticipated sequel delivers epic sword-fighting action for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

CARY, N.C. and SALT LAKE CITY (December 1, 2011) – Epic Games, Inc. and its award-winning Salt Lake City-based development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, today announced “Infinity Blade II” has officially launched on the App Store. The highly anticipated follow up to the groundbreaking iOS sword-fighting adventure, “Infinity Blade,” “Infinity Blade II” combines addictive gameplay, breathtaking visuals and an engrossing story to deliver the definitive blockbuster experience on Apple’s world-class gaming platforms.

Powered by Unreal Engine 3, “Infinity Blade II” features new locations set across expansive and graphically rich 3D environments. Further piercing the story of this mysterious, timeless adventure, players explore an evolving game world filled with new types of rewards and treasures as they battle scores of new powerful enemies and bosses. New fighting styles and weapon classes coupled with deep role-playing elements provide even greater game play variation. “Infinity Blade II” also supports new iOS 5 features such as iCloud, which enables profiles and save games to transfer seamlessly between devices.

“With ‘Infinity Blade II’ we wanted to not only deliver a thrilling sequel to offer something new for fans but to also push handheld gaming even further with a unique new experience specifically tailored to iOS gamers,” said Donald Mustard, creative director, ChAIR Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to see the early critical acclaim that has greeted the release of ‘Infinity Blade II’ and hope gamers have a blast playing, too.”

“Infinity Blade II” is available for download from the App Store for $6.99 and is a universal app. The game is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3 (16GB+) and iPod touch 4.

Fans looking to delve more deeply into the fantastical fiction of the “Infinity Blade” universe can also download “Infinity Blade: Awakening,” a digital novella written by #1 New York Times bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson (“The Way of Kings,” “Mistborn,” “The Wheel of Time”). “Infinity Blade: Awakening” is available for $2.99 via the iBookstore®.

“Infinity Blade: Official Soundtrack” features the original music from “Infinity Blade” and “Infinity Blade II,” and is available now via iTunes, Amazon.com, Zune and Amazon on Demand.

To learn more about the “Infinity Blade” games and novella, follow @InfinityBlade on Twitter, ‘Like’ “Infinity Blade” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/InfinityBladeGame or visit the official website at http://www.InfinityBladeGame.com.

About Infinity Blade

About ChAIR Entertainment

Founded in 2005, Salt Lake City-based ChAIR Entertainment is a subsidiary of Epic Games, creators of the blockbuster “Unreal” and “Gears of War” video game franchises and the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3. Most recently, ChAIR introduced the award-winning sword fighting adventure, “Infinity Blade” for iOS, released in December 2010. In 2009, ChAIR released the modern and masterful, side-scrolling shooter “Shadow Complex,” published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for Xbox LIVE Arcade. The critically acclaimed “Shadow Complex” received numerous E3 and Editor’s Choice Awards and was named Game of the Year by more than 40 media outlets. Before that, ChAIR released the award-winning underwater action-shooter, “Undertow” for Xbox LIVE Arcade. In 2011, ChAIR was named #4 among Pocket Gamer’s list of the Top 50 Developers and ranked #29 among Develop’s Top 100 Game Development Studios in the World.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Square Enix Licenses Unreal Engine 3 for Multiple Games

2011-11-17T15:34:26Z

Epic Games, Inc. today announced an agreement with Square Enix Co., Ltd. granting Square Enix a license to develop multiple games with Epic’s award-winning Unreal Engine 3 technology. Epic Games Japan, which supports the company’s licensees locally, worked directly with Square Enix on the new license.

“It is a pleasure to provide Square Enix with an exceptional game engine that will help them bring thrilling new experiences to legions of fans all over the world,” said Taka Kawasaki, territory manager of Epic Games Japan. “Many Western games have achieved great success with the Unreal Engine, and this milestone reflects the Japanese development community’s trust in our technical prowess. We can’t wait to see how Square Enix fuses the power of Unreal Engine 3 with its beautiful characters, enthralling storylines and fantastic gameplay.”

Details about the games using the Unreal Engine under this license agreement will be revealed by Square Enix.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

About Square Enix Co., Ltd.

Square Enix Co., Ltd. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX®, EIDOS® and TAITO® branded entertainment content around the world. The Square Enix Group operates a global network of leading development studios and boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property, including: FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 100 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST® which has sold over 58 million units worldwide; TOMB RAIDER®, which has sold over 35 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix is a Japan-based, wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd

More information on Square Enix Co., Ltd. can be found at http://www.square-enix.com/jp/

Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 3, Unreal, Unreal Development Kit, UDK, Unreal Engine, UE3, and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. DRAGON QUEST, EIDOS, FINAL FANTASY, SPACE INVADERS, SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo, TAITO, and TOMB RAIDER are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Square Enix Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Train2Game and Epic Game Jam Produces Wave of iOS Games

2011-11-15T15:36:35Z

New iOS games to be revealed at Make Something Unreal Live competition during Gadget Show Live 2012

LUTON, UK and CARY, N.C. (November 15, 2011) – Train2Game and Epic Games, Inc. have selected the winners of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, a 48-hour event held November 4-6 at the University of Bedfordshire in which more than 100 aspiring game developers converged to create 10 playable games for iOS using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 (UE3). Game jam winners will vie for a commercial UE3 license for iOS in the grand final competition, Make Something Unreal Live, to take place at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, UK from April 11-15, 2012.

All games created for the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam were designed around the common theme of Guy Fawkes, the English anti-hero celebrated each November 5 with bonfires and fireworks. UDK made it easy to get concepts up and running with minimum fuss so that teams could experiment with core mechanics directly inside the engine.

Top honors of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam went to The A-Team, who created a side-scrolling action game set in a 17th century provincial town. Second place went to Nova Eye, who impressed judges with their tongue-in-cheek attack on Santa’s workshop aimed to stunt the flood of holiday decorations thereby increasing fireworks sales. Second runner-up Team Gandalf developed a first-person puzzle game in which the ghost of Guy Fawkes haunts the player.

“The ultimate prize represents an opportunity beyond anything amateurs can come across by themselves. As well as the commercial license, there’s the coaching by industry veterans, the support of Epic and the fantastic exposure that will accompany the winning game,” said Train2Game Course Director Tony Bickley. “We’re hitting fast-forward on the careers of talented students whose games you’ll be playing for years to come.”

Teams behind the three top apps along with a fourth team comprised of game jam all-stars have been selected for participation in Make Something Unreal Live. Developers are now beginning production of four brand new iOS games using UDK, with projects being coached by senior members of Epic Games, Train2Game, Deep Red Studios and special industry guests to be announced. This assortment of iOS games will be unveiled at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees witness their making in real time.

“All the game jam participants can wear their battle scars with pride, and for the winners, it’s just the start of the biggest opportunity of their careers so far,” said Mike Gamble, European territory manager, Epic Games. “More surprises for this competition are in store. We are on track to bring new games to the App Store through this effort, and it’s great history in the making.”

Epic Games is known for its legendary Make Something Unreal Contest game development competitions, which utilize the Unreal Engine 3 toolset and reward grand prize winners with a commercial license granting full access to Epic’s high-end game engine technology. The $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest concluded in 2010, with multiple teams going on to ship commercially successful games based on projects made for the competition.

Tickets for the Gadget Show Live are available for purchase at http://www.gadgetshowlive.net.

About Train2Game

Created in 2008, Train2Game offers accredited courses in Games Design, Development, Art and Animation, certified by leading industry body TIGA. Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is coordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace. This year will see its first graduates enter the workplace after years of training.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games and Train2Game to Host ‘Make Something Unreal Live’

2011-11-01T16:10:30Z

New indie competition to take place in real time at the Gadget Show Live 2012

CARY, N.C. (November 1, 2011) – Epic Games, Inc., creators of the billion-dollar “Gears of War” franchise and the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, announce Make Something Unreal Live, an independent game development competition co-sponsored by Train2Game, the UK’s premier game development distance learning resource. This unprecedented event will take place over the course of six months and culminate in a spectacular real-time conclusion at Gadget Show Live 2012, the premier consumer show taking place from April 11-15, 2012 in Birmingham, UK. The winner of Make Something Unreal Live will receive a commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS.

Winners of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, happening November 4-6 at the University of Bedfordshire, will compete in the event next April. In both competitions, all games will be developed for iOS devices using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 which has been installed on more than 1 million unique machines.

Following this week’s game jam, development teams will benefit from a six-month incubation period in which a range of senior industry veterans will nurture projects by reviewing key milestones, providing guidance and shaping scope. During this time, talent will prepare for the final showdown at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees will watch them bring to life Unreal Engine 3-powered creations in real time.

“We are looking forward to working with Epic Games and Train2Game to bring a completely new element into the Games Zone at GSL 2012,” said Gadget Show Live Event Director Matt Hodgins. “A huge number of our visitors are into gaming, and will undoubtedly be excited to see how new games are developed and brought to life at the event.”

“Once they’re out there in the real world, our students will flourish based on their ability to create fantastic experiences under pressure,” said Train2Game Course Director, Tony Bickley, “this is one of the best opportunities they’ve had so far to prove themselves and create something they can be proud of that will springboard their burgeoning careers in gaming.”

“In a mere five days, these developers will kickstart their careers in an intense competition that will ultimately result in one team walking away a professional studio, with a full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS in hand,” said Mike Gamble, European territory manager, Epic Games.

Epic Games is known for its legendary Make Something Unreal Contest game development competitions, which utilize the Unreal Engine 3 toolset and reward grand prize winners with a commercial license granting full access to Epic’s high-end game engine technology. The $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest concluded in 2010, with multiple teams going on to release commercial games based on projects made for the competition. Developed by grand prize-winning team KTX Software and published by THQ, “The Haunted: Hells Reach” was released for PC on October 24.

Tickets for The Gadget Show Live are now on sale at http://www.gadgetshowlive.net.

About The Gadget Show Live

Based on Five’s prime time programme, The Gadget Show Live is aimed at an audience of families keen to see, try and buy the latest must have technology. The 2011 event attracted a record 105,000 attendees and 290 exhibitors, promoting the latest in computing, photography, mobile communications, gaming, home entertainment and in-car technology. The Gadget Show Live 2012 is open to the public from 11 to 15 April 2012 at the NEC Birmingham, with a dedicated trade and press day on Tuesday, 10 April. For further details and to book tickets visit http://www.gadgetshowlive.net. Press passes can also be applied for via the website.

About Train2Game

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games Releases October 2011 Unreal Development Kit Beta

2011-10-27T15:54:29Z

Epic Games, Inc. has released the October 2011 UDK Beta, the latest version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides access to the award-winning toolset used in blockbuster video games, 3D visualizations, digital films and more.

Epic is committed to providing the Unreal Engine community with regular software releases at no charge, and the latest beta is available now at http://www.udk.com/download.

UDK projects are promoted to the community in the Works in Progress and the Released Projects forums. Our full showcase galleries are available at http://www.udk.com/showcase and http://www.unrealengine.com/showcase.

UDK Showcase: Gyro 13 - Steam Copter Arcade HD

This month’s showcase features the critically acclaimed Gyro13 - Steam Copter Arcade HD for iOS by Cinemax. In Gyro13, players pilot a steam-powered helicopter through cavernous mines, save stranded miners and evade heavy mechanical obstacles.

The App Shack rates Gyro13 a 10 out of 10. “It’s incredibly immersive, has amazing graphics, superb animations, intelligent level design, great music, top notch physics matched with outstanding controls, and, of course, awesome gameplay.” Touch Arcade gives it a 4.5 out of 5 stars, noting in its round-up of the best iOS games of September 2011, “The graphics and sound are great, and the skill requirement makes completing objectives feel like a major accomplishment.”

Cinemax CEO Lukáš Macura remarks, “We have always considered the Unreal Engine to be one of the best AAA engines available, so when UDK came out and we found that it suited all our needs perfectly, we saw no reason to look anywhere else. For us, the choice was obvious.” Read more.

Unreal University

Epic Games will host the next Unreal University at the Montreal International Game Summit on November 1-2, 2011. Unreal University is an academic initiative that offers professional guidance to anyone using Unreal Engine 3. Sessions are free, and topics include level design best practices, mobile game development tips and tricks, and more. Thanks to Autodesk, these learning sessions will be streamed live via the Autodesk AREA community portal. Unreal University’s next stop will be the Dubai World Game Expo, which will be held November 30 through December 3.

October 2011 UDK Beta Upgrade Notes

iOS

Facebook
- Added dialog support for creating wall posts
- Added friends list download support
- Added support to request additional permissions from a user
Input changes
- Added support for tilt/touch outside of MobilePlayerInput, moved support up to Input/PlayerInput (MobileInputZone handling is still in MobilePlayerInput)
- Added Kismet events for generic key/axis input (for key presses and mouse/tilt)
- Added a new Kismet event for touch handling
- SeqEvent_MobileMotion/MobileRawInput still work, but they are now marked with [Old]
- Added aTouch and aBackTouch axes to PlayerInput.uc, so script code can get touch events easily

Foliage Settings Paint Tool

Added a new paint tool for applying settings to foliage quickly and easily!
The following foliage settings can be painted:
- Slope alignment, randomized angle and scale settings
- Cull instances based new on slope, height or landscape layer criteria
- Minimum radius between foliage instances
- General density of foliage instances (add new foliage, or thin out areas)

New Unreal Landscape and Foliage Features

Paint tool: Added feature to paint layer weights to a certain fixed weight amount, with stroke history to handle falloff for overlapping strokes
Flatten tool: Changed behavior for painting layers to be the same as when painting heights
Noise tool: Added painting to a specified noise value and scale
LandscapeLayerBlend node now supports order-independent height-based blends between layers
Added dialog to the move-to-level tool to allow the user to move shared resources (material, layers) out of the persistent level into a shared package
Prevented painting on landscapes in locked and hidden levels
Component tool now considers brush size
Added a landscape info panel to UI, with component count, size, etc.

Other Improvements

Unreal Editor
- Matinee recorder now works in DX11 mode
- Static mesh LOD now works on InstancedStaticMeshComponents used for foliage
- Unreal Kismet: Added a debugger callstack window
- Added hotkeys Ctrl+G for grouping, Shift+G for ungrouping and Ctrl+Shift+G for group mode toggle
- Added options in the Tools menu to Lock/Unlock read-only levels so they can’t accidentally be modified
- Node connections can now be moved from node to node or connector to connector by dragging a connection between to ‘like’ (input/input or output/output) connectors in the Material Editor
- “Copy TranslationBoneNames to Selected AnimSet” now copies to all the selected animsets, not just the first one selected
- Added new confirmation prompt when placing Actors into hidden levels
  - Objects added to Layers now have their visibility updated immediately
FBX
- Fixed morph targets not importing when using “T0 as Ref Pose” option
- Fixed Matinee cameras importing with wrong orientation
- BSP surfaces can now be selectively exported
- Added subtractive brush export support
Particles
- Added a new option to ribbon particle emitters that, when enabled, will spawn a particle as soon as the emitter begins to move
- Added MacroUV override to the particle emitter’s Required Module so that it can now be applied on a per emitter basis
Misc
- Settings are now saved in UnrealFrontend any time a setting is changed
- Flurry analytics implementation for game stats added
- Audio feature: Ability to add EQ presets to a Volume similar to the Reverb Volumes Paint tool

New and Updated UDN Pages

Nexon Mobile Licenses Unreal Engine 3 for its New iOS title, ‘Combat Arms: Zombies’

2011-10-24T17:16:01Z

The 3-D First-Person Shooter to Be Revealed at G-Star 2011 Prior to November Launch

Oct. 24, 2011 – (Los Angeles, Calif.) – Nexon Mobile Corp., the innovative mobile game development arm of Nexon Co. Ltd., will launch “Combat Arms: Zombies” for the iOS platform in November after an unveiling at G-Star 2011, the biggest game expo in South Korea. “Combat Arms: Zombies” was developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, giving the popular first person shooter (FPS) unmatched graphics and rich content for mobile devices.

“Combat Arms: Zombies” is based on the zombie infested cooperative Fireteam Mode found in “Combat Arms,” one of Nexon’s most popular online FPS’ that has millions of players across North America and Europe.

Nexon Mobile has combined the gameplay of the original “Combat Arms” with diverse attack patterns of the 3-D zombie mode, top-notch visuals and a variety of weapons systems. Nexon Mobile expects to provide users with regular content updates with the intent of delivering massive game content approaching that of the original online game.

“Using Epic Games’ cutting edge Unreal Engine technology, ‘Combat Arms: Zombies’ will set a new standard for graphics and quality gameplay on mobile devices,” said Nexon Mobile’s CEO, Albert Rim. “‘Combat Arms: Zombies’ has been a major effort for us and it will help establish Nexon Mobile as a top developer of multi-platform games.”

Prior to its launch later in November, ‘Combat Arms: Zombies’ will be unveiled for the first time at G-Star 2011 on Nov. 10 at Busan BEXCO. Visitors to South Korea’s top games expo, will have hands-on access to the game via iPads and iPhones at the Nexon Mobile exhibit.

About Nexon Mobile Corp.

Nexon Mobile Corporation is a multi-platform game development company that has introduced many smartphone games of diverse genres to the market, along with wired and wireless integration services. The company has also recently been strengthening its position as a global publisher of mobile games. Leading Nexon Mobile’s success is the “MapleStory” series, a successful mobile game that boasts a total of 14 million downloads in Korea. In addition, “MapleStory Thief Edition,” released in August of 2010 to worldwide acclaim, has been downloaded more than 1.85 million times. In addition, “KartRider Rush” on iOS exceeded 1 million downloads just one week after being released in March of 2011 and continues to grow in popularity, having had a total of more than 4 million downloads to date. Nexon Mobile Corporation, with “Fun Everywhere” as its motto, continues to develop a variety of content that transcends platform and location, and is poised to become a leader in the mobile games market. Additional information about Nexon Mobile can be obtained at http://global.nexonmobile.com.

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

Grounding Licenses Unreal Engine 3 for ‘Project Draco’

2011-10-20T16:28:08Z

‘Project Draco’ Harnesses the Unreal Engine to Put Kinect Gamers on Dragonback

TOKYO and CARY, N.C. (October 20, 2011) – Grounding Inc. announces the studio has licensed Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 for its upcoming game, “Project Draco” (tentative title). First exhibited at Tokyo Game Show in 2011 and scheduled for release in 2012 by Microsoft Studios on Xbox LIVE Arcade, “Project Draco” is a 3D action game that takes players into the sky on the wings of a dragon, battling a legion of enemies through the power of Microsoft Kinect. The award-winning power of Unreal Engine 3 breathes realistic life into the beautiful scenery and fantasy world of “Project Draco.”

“Because this is Grounding’s first high-definition game, we looked at many technology options and picked Unreal Engine 3 as the best solution,” said Yukio Futatsugi, director at Grounding. “We began development in September 2010 when Microsoft first announced the title. While our team size is only 15 people and we had merely one year from the start of the project, the productive tools and efficient processes of Unreal Engine 3 meant we could come up with a high-quality playable demo in a very short time.”

Futatsugi added, “While none of our team had experience with the Unreal Engine before, the devoted support of Epic Games Japan ensured a very smooth development process. We feel like there’s an invisible teammate named ‘Unreal’ sitting with us. With crunch time coming up, it’s reassuring to have such a dependable partner on our side.”

“Unreal Engine 3 is usually seen as a solution for a big team working on a large-budget title, especially in Japan,” said Taka Kawasaki, territory manager of Epic Games Japan. “‘Project Draco’ provides a great example of how smaller studios can still fully enjoy the power of Unreal Engine 3. It has been especially impressive to see Grounding harness the capability of Unreal Kismet, our visual scripting system, to design complex, intertwined flight paths for playable dragons and enemies in three-dimensional space. Mr. Futatsugi has always delivered cool games with very unique settings and gameplay design, such as ‘Panzer Dragoon’ and ‘Phantom Dust,’ and I can’t wait to see the new world he brings to life with Unreal Engine 3.”

About Unreal Engine 3

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at http://www.unrealengine.com.

About Epic Games

About Grounding Inc.

Grounding is a Japanese developer located in Tokyo, founded in 2006 by Mineko Okamura (“Space Channel 5,” “Rez”) as CEO and Yukio Futatsugi (“Panzer Dragoon,” “Phantom Dust”) as CKO. They have worked on high-quality downloadable titles, such as “PictureBook Games: Pop-up Pursuit!,” “PictureBook Games: The Royal Bluff” for Wii and “Hot Keys” for iOS. Additional information about Grounding can be obtained at http://www.g-rounding.com/en/.

Epic, Epic Games, Unreal Engine, Unreal Kismet and UE3 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.