Total Unreal

Total Unreal's weekly feature, the Unreal Retrospective, has had it's third segment released. Here's a little preview:

Well, here I am, ready to write the next part. I apologize for this taking so long to be posted but I took a small break from the site after E3. Anyway, let's jump right into this... By 2002 Epic had solidified its Unreal Tournament series as a thing of greatness for PC FPS games. Thanks to the success of UT2003 and the new Microsoft Xbox and it's online capabilities, the console seemed like a great idea for the franchise. Released on November 12th, 2002, Unreal Championship was essentially a mirror image of UT2003, just on a different system.

You can find the entire article here.

Gamasutra has a new article stating that Epic is producing Unreal Engine 4 for the "Next Generation" consoles (Not the 360, PS3, or Wii). Check it out:

Speaking at Gamefest in Seattle, Epic's Mike Capps has been discussing Unreal Engine 4, suggesting the next version of the dominant game engine is in production and will debut "...in the next console generation - our rough guess is 2012 - 2018."

Specifically, Epic president Capps - who introduced a Gamasutra-attended Gamefest panel that included notable Unreal Engine 3-using creators such as Gearbox's Randy Pitchford, mentioned that the Unreal Engine tools had a markedly "console focus" going forward, and then noted:

"We've got Unreal [Engine] 4 in production right now... it's going to be in the next console generation - our rough guess is 2012 [to] 2018."

This ties up with recent comments made by Epic's Tim Sweeney about plans for the next version of the dominant middleware engine, with the Unreal engine franchise's technical mastermind commenting in a March interview with TGDaily:

"Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation, Microsoft's successor for the Xbox 360, Sony's successor for the Playstation 3 - and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also. PCs will follow after that."

To read the whole article click here.

The Total Gaming Network staff have been working hard all this & last week to get as much E3 related news up in our new systems sections as possible. Now, we are putting together a list of all the major stuff that has come out of the gaming world & E3 for the week. (July 14-17) We are happy to present the...

E3 2008 has come to an end. Last week there was many major announcements by the gaming publishers and developers that were featuring their products at this years E3 expo. While many company's have pulled out of the ESA, which is the group hosting E3, this years E3 still did not disappoint, just like E3 07, E3 08 continued the new format of a smaller more professional expo. Which as many of you have read meant that the invite list was more exclusive.

Here is a brief round up of the major announcements by the console developers at E3 08.

Microsoft

• 60GB Xbox 360 Coming In August
• ......


Sony

• $399 80GB Playstation 3 Revealed (with 40GB Features: One Being No PS2 Support)
• ......

Nintendo

• Nintendo Executives Have Some Fun
• ......

Along with those major announcements by the three console developers, many publishers and developers at this years E3 had some big announcements and showed of some pretty cool games. Here are a few of the announcements by the two major publishers at E3.

Electronic Arts

• Dead Space E3 Trailer Too Scary For The ESRB (PC, PS3, 360)
• ......

Ubisoft

• I Am Alive Revealed (PC, PS3, Wii, 360)
• ......

Activision was one of the company's to pull out of the ESA and E3 this year but that didn't stop them from showing what they had to offer as they hosted a non E3 press conference/expo at a nearby location in Los Angeles. Here are some of the major announcements by Activision this week.

Activison

• Kiefer Sutherland Stars In Call of Duty: World at War (PC, PS3, Wii, 360)
• ......

Click Here to Read the Full Article

So be sure to check out the full article here. What do you think was the biggest announcement? Feel free to post your thoughts about E3 and our article right here on the Total Gaming Network.

To further discuss this article, visit this thread.

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Total Unreal's weekly feature, the Unreal Retrospective, has had it's third segment released. Here's a little preview:

By the early 21st century the first-person shooter genre was taking huge leaps forward. With games such as Halo: Combat Evolved stretching out to meet both console and PC gamers and the birth of the new Battlefield series, it was hard to imagine a way to make things any better. As was their fashion, Epic decided that since the market was such a challenge it would be the best time to create something remarkable.

Released on October 1st 2002, Unreal Tournament 2003 served as the sequel to Unreal Tournament. While not having the same type of impact on the community as the original, it was very well received. Introducing a few new game types such as Bombing Run, Invasion, and Mutant, it gave the community some fresh new modes to play with.

You can find the entire article here.

Total Unreal's new weekly feature, the Unreal Retrospective, has had it's second segment released. Here's a little preview:

Released on February 3rd 2003, nearly five years after it's predeccesor, Unreal II: The Awakening was released. Over the course of these five years Epic had remained busy with other titles but this was the first time they had returned to the original story. But was it the original story?

Set in a new part of the Unreal universe, the story follows ex-marine John Dalton as he patrols seemingly boring areas of space. He is called back to service to help retrieve seven pieces of an ancient artifact thought to create a powerful weapon.

Like Unreal, the game is shown from the first-person and is similar in it's playstyle. The player travels to different planets, blasting through enemies and solving puzzles along the way. One highly praised aspect of this is the diversification of the planets and their inhabitants.

You can find the entire article here.

CVG has posted their review for the Xbox 360 version of UT III. Take a look:

With Call of Duty 4 largely humiliating Halo in the Xbox Live popularity contest, and Frontlines (if it hasn't surrendered already) imminently preparing to hoist the white flag in preparation for Battlefield: Bad Company, you can't help but feel Unreal Tournament 3 has arrived late to a party already at full capacity. And yet... when something turns up in this kind of shape, it's always going to be welcome.

Stack this up against the glut of mutiplayer shooters on 360 and we'll award you no prizes whatsoever for guessing which is the offspring of a company that's been making arena shooters for almost a decade. Epic really know their stuff and it's never been more evident than on the killing fields of Unreal Tournament 3. Everything just feels so tight, so slick, so-self assured. Yes, it might take you five minutes to get used to the lightning quick, almost slippery feel to the controls, but when those controls 'grip', you start to realise you're being guided by one of the best.

The entire review can be found here.

Total Unreal's new weekly feature, the Unreal Retrospective, has had it's first segment released. Here's a little preview:

Let's go down memory lane to the late 1990's. Console gaming was booming with the Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation. PC gaming was beginning to pick up pace and was finally heading towards online play. With big titles like Half-Life and Starcraft being released, the pressure was on Epic Megagames to deliver something spectacular. They didn't disappoint.

Tim Sweeney had been working on his project for three years and fans couldn't wait to see what was behind the shiny packaging. Could it possibly stand up to the years best title, Quake II? Released on May 22nd 1998, Unreal was bound to be legendary. Its brand new, state of the art Unreal Engine was seen as revolutionary. You can't read anything about this game without finding praise for attention to detail. Whether it was a touch of lighting effects in a dark corner, or a harmless critter roaming around Na Pali, the critics loved every bit of it.

You can find the entire article here.

Game Daily has posted a new article about what can be expected with the 360 release of UT III. Take a look:

Today, Midway Games announced that Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 will have several new features, including split screen, five exclusive maps and two new characters. Additionally, the game will feature an exclusive video preview of Gears of War 2, with to-date unseen footage of the game's multiplayer modes. Design director Cliff Bleszinski and producer Rod Fergusson will narrate the video.

"We're very excited to be shipping Unreal Tournament 3 for Xbox 360," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, Inc. "This is a great title and, with two-player split screen support and some very cool new content, Xbox 360 players should be thrilled with this fantastic version of the game."

Will you be picking up the 360 version? Be sure to share your thoughts with the community.

The guys over at 3D Buzz have announced a new contest for all the modders/mappers out there for Unreal Tournament 3. Check out the details below:

We have been feeling lately that the Unreal mod community is not quite as big as it used to be back in the days of Unreal and Unreal Tournament. There just doesn't seem to be as much excitement or involvement in Unreal modding as a whole, and we think it's high time that we did something about it.

So we are launching a new contest that will hopefully give the mod community a much-needed boost! We're going to give 3 people the chance to earn some pretty sweet prizes, and one person the chance to have their level reviewed by none other than Cliff Bleszinski himself!

Now, we know what most of you are probably thinking. "There's no way I could enter a contest like that! I don't even know how to create a million-polygon normal map!"

WRONG! This is an old school contest in which contestants are ONLY allowed to use the assets that ship along with Unreal Tournament 3. NO custom content whatsoever is allowed. No textures, no meshes, no animations, NOTHING that isn't included and ready to use from a basic UT3 installation! All you need to know is how to make a fun-to-play map!

1st and 2nd runners-up will receive the following:
• A copy of Unreal Tournament 3 signed by the Epic Games development team!
• A PlayStation 3 game console (or $500 cash)
• An up to 30-minute screen captured gameplay review of your level by 3D Buzz's own Unreal gaming fanatics, Logan and Terry!

The contest winner will receive the following:
• $1,000 cash prize!
• A copy of Unreal Tournament 3 signed by the Epic Games development team!
• A PlayStation 3 game console (or $500 cash)
• An up to 30-minute screen captured gameplay review of your level by 3D Buzz's own Unreal gaming fanatics, Logan and Terry!
• An up to 30-minute screen captured review of your level by Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski!

For all the details on this new contest be sure to visit here.