Santa Monica (CA) - The Xbox 360 may have a robust online community, but the PS3 is more attractive for developers, according to Epic Games's lead producer Jeff Morris.

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Check out the ambitious Unreal Tournament III

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We went through a demo of Unreal Tournament III with Morris and got a fairly good glimpse at what this guerrilla warfare title will bring to the PS3 when it comes out in November.

In just a quick 15-minute demonstration, we saw five different vehicles, including a hovercraft, a massive tank, and an orb-like device that moves with autonomous claws on the ground (kind of like Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2).

Over 40 maps, 14 death match maps, and 16 vehicles will grace the new Sci-Fi shooter game.  We saw alternating gameplay sequences between the PC and PS3, and the PC version looked just a little bit crisper.

There's really no reason to knock the PS3 build we saw, though.  Real-time physics were implemented everywhere, from environmental elements to characters' clothing.  It was also cool to see a defensive plasma-type "box" that players could run into.  Shots fired through the box would move in slow motion, giving players a Matrix-style defense.

Of course, Unreal Tournament has lived for quite a while mainly on the PC.  With custom mods and constantly circulating game additions, it was a system that previously could not have fully worked on a console.  The PS3 is the best platform to bring that stuff out of the PC realm, according to Morris.

We could tell right away that the game was really tailored for the PS3, even though an Xbox 360 version is slated for next year.  For example, a new hoverboard is controlled using the controller's motion sensitive Sixaxis technology, and allows the character to move at twice the speed of foot travel.

"I don't even know how we'll do mods on the Xbox," said Morris.  He said the PS3 online network is very developer-friendly.  Mods could even be downloaded directly from the PS3 via the Internet browser, or brought over from a PC by way of a Memory Stick.  Xbox Live has a very closed system, and takes around two weeks for a developer to get a new piece of content on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

This week we also saw a couple PS3 games coming out from independent developers.  It gives hope that game creators are now fully starting to understand the infrastructure behind the PS3.

Horrible Excuse

Jul 13, 2007 16:08     

I can remember when EA would make a stink about how Xbox Live was a close system and blah blah blah...Let's see EA is now a major backer of Xbox Live, because they have control over their content. Sega did it too with PS Online as well as SquareEnix with FF Online. Personally, I never got into online FPS, but call a spade a spade. Yes, I play Halo, but I am no good online. I play it for the Story as I did with Resisitance Fall of Man.

Richard report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Epic testing the waters with Microsoft?

Jul 16, 2007 02:34     

Dangerous words from Morris. Gears of War had some free content that cost Microsoft a pretty penny last year. I would not bite the hand that fed and may feed you! But maybe the development side is easier for adding content on the PS3. However, Epic have been working on this game for over a million years. I pre-ordered the game back in Jan 06, it has already been delayed a year and a half.
Gabriel Asseily report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Nothing wrong with a good closed online system

Jul 16, 2007 05:10     

2 weeks is peanuts so his complain sounds very week. Hell how are they implementing HDR, high colour range and dynamic effects? Because up till now including all stuff from E3 again did not show that the PS3 is capable of HDR antialiasing, high range of colour and top notch dynamic effects. C'mon Sony show us some of that stuff. I'm almost certain that they wont be able to pull that off because the GPU subsystem is weak at that. It is strong in high polygon counts but thats not enough for me.

DingieM report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Mods excuse

Jul 16, 2007 14:46     

I think the plan is that PC players and PS3 players will be able to share the same mods. The PS3 has a browser (which constantly tells me the system has run out of memory) so you could right to a site and download as if you were on a PC. The excuse still seems odd. Maybe Epic wants to same MS into releasing a browser, or loosening up the reigns on XBL.
J report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0