CVG article about Xbox 360 (YES we're doing it!) and PC system specs

[Mark Rein]

CVG took a quote from our President out context and started a rumor about UT3 on Xbox 360. We are absolutely still planning to release UT3 on Xbox 360 in 2008. The writer also made a confusing comment to imply the game wouldn't run on lots of PCs which is completely wrong. Here is an excerpt of an email I sent off to him this morning...

Andy,

Re: http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=173703

In your story entitled: Epic: Unreal Tournament "just on PS3" I believe you took a quote from Mike Capps out of context. We are going to release UT3 on Xbox 360 in 2008.

In addition I would like to challenge your assertion that "you're PC won't be able to handle [UT3]". I would think most of the people who read CVG would actually be able to get a great experience with Unreal Tournament 3. We spent a considerable amount of time and effort making sure that gamers will be able to enjoy UT3 even with older gaming rigs. The reason we put out a BETA version of our demo was to get feedback on how well the game runs on older hardware. One thing we're finding is that our routine which figures how to set the game to cope with your hardware can occasionally get overly aggressive and choose settings well below what some hardware is capable of.

We're trying hard not to confuse users with a hundred different graphical settings and come up with the right balance of installer-selected settings, easy configuration and end-user documentation. The beta showed that we still have some work to do in these areas but that we're making very good progress. I can't stress enough how important it is to have the latest video drivers regardless of the age of your video card. For example one user was reporting all kinds of problems running the game (including corrupted graphics, garbled text in the UI, and having to run at a lower resolution) an upon installing the latest NVIDIA drivers found everything worked properly and that he could have a fantastic experience on that machine.

In addition it should also be noted that we purposely left out some of the higher detail content in the beta demo levels to keep the download size reasonable and because, as you implied, it is generally already known the game runs well on high-end hardware and we didn't think an over-2Gb beta would get downloaded and tested as much as we'd like to see. I myself have installed and tested it on four different PCs and that wouldn't have been as likely if the demo had been much larger.

I see they've now posted the majority of the text now.

So there is no change. Xbox 360 still in the works for 2008. In addition I'd like to point out that PS3 version of the game is coming along extremely well. We had some fan sites in here last week to play the game and one of them reported that they didn't see any difference between UT3 running on a high-end PC and running on the PS3 which is pretty amazing considering that our play test lab contains some pretty high-end PC hardware. Tomorrow I'm heading to San Francisco to take a few copies of UT3 PS3 to play at one of the major magazines and let them see how cool it is as well.


Mark Rein
Epic Games, Inc.

Visit us at http://www.epicgames.com

[Lert]

Excellent news all around, Mark. Thank you for posting this.

[BloodWolf806]

Yay! Now let's see some GOW Characters in the Xbox 360 UT3!

And punch the Microsoft Rep in the face if he refuses user mods.

[unrealkiller]

Originally Posted by Mark Rein

We had some fan sites in here last week to play the game and one of them reported that they didn't see any difference between UT3 running on a high-end PC and running on the PS3 which is pretty amazing considering that our play test lab contains some pretty high-end PC hardware.

is there any chance that you can post those system specs .. i m planning on buying a new PC just for UT3

[VACkillers]

nice post mark, thx... i personally have had absolutely 0 problems running it on this machine... you guys are doing an excellent job at the optimizations.... i love the feel of the game, the way it works... and the bloom stuff is simply brilliant which i think gives it that next gen feel.... dont be discourage by too much on the forums mark, i think its comming along jus fine (pls dont deley the release) lol

[Kusimeka]

yes i agree, my computer is almost 3 years old, i can run it perfectly on medium, even high, and it's smooth as silk, i was VERY suprised it even run at all, probably the best opimizatoin i've seen for a game, great job well done epic!

[icecone]

Thanks Mark
Anymore information concerning the 360 version, like which quarter or mod issues?

[Brutal]

TY for the information !!

[mrthundercleese]

+100 points for clearing up that bit of confusion. If you were a police officer I'd say "You're a credit to the force", but instead you get a "MarkFTW!" . haha.

[imaballa]

Mark Does This mean there is an excellent chance we could get UT3 for PS3 before Christmas if all goes well?!!??

Of course nothing is set in stone, and I know you are afraid to be taken out of context but if all goes accordingly is there an excellent chance of UT3 before Christmas????
Please say YES!

On a side note: I've been asking with no answer, could there be a 3rd person view option for the PS3 like "behindview 1" ???

Thanks for the update!