Tag: Unreal Engine 3 »

It's safe to say that Infinity Blade was awesome in every sense of the word. It set a benchmark for many other games thanks to its truly impressive use of Unreal Engine 3 to give iOS gamers graphics like they've never seen before. A plethora of updates adding the likes of new armor, an increased level cap, new areas to explore and even multiplayer has kept Infinity Blade feeling fresh over the past year.

Now, it's been announced that Infinity Blade 2 is set for release on December 1st, less than two months away! Few details have been released as of yet but the news is that the game world will be filled with new types of rewards and treasures, plus plenty of new powerful enemies and bosses. New fighting styles and weapon classes will also be provided along with deep role-playing elements to spice things up. Extra online functionality will also be included such as Clash Mob, enabling players to participate in 'massively social' challenges to unlock new items and weapons.

Pretty cool, huh?

We'll be sure to keep up to date on Infinity Blade 2's development but for now, check out the teaser trailer.

Gameloft has announced that they are entering in a licensing agreement with Epic Games to utilize the Unreal Engine 3 in some of their upcoming games. While no specific games have been announced, four titles in particular will be utilizing the titles over the next two years. According to Gameloft's vice president of production, Julien Fournials, "using Unreal Engine 3 allows us to push game visuals with remarkable lighting and high-fidelity environments. We are confident that players will enjoy the games powered by Unreal Engine 3." Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games (who also had a hand in releasing the first Unreal Engine title on to the App Store, Infinity Blade) also says "There is no doubt that the four games running on Unreal Engine 3 will be visually stunning and take advantage of the powerful mobile gaming devices. We are thrilled to provide our technology to Gameloft and look forward to a lasting collaboration.” The agreement will cover releases for iOS, Android, Playstation Network, as well as set-top boxes.

The importance of this announcement is twofold - one, it shows that Gameloft is definitely leaving older devices behind for good, especially as games like Sacred Odyssey and Starfront Collision have only supported 3rd generation and later devices. Second, their games should be getting some major graphical improvements from the use of Unreal Engine 3. Third, and most importantly, Gameloft may be preparing for multiplatform game development. Games like Dungeon Defenders: First Wave have been developed using Unreal Engine and have been easily made to support the various platforms that Unreal Engine 3 now runs on. This move may have been in part to help get their games running on Android and even consoles easier, particularly as the budget for their games likely outclasses most of the other games on the App Store, so maximizing the value they get from their games by releasing them across as many platforms as possible may be the goal here.

Considering that Gameloft is one of the power players in the mobile gaming industry, this move to take advantage of Unreal Engine could signal a wider-reaching movement in the mobile gaming industry. As well, Epic Games has recently announced that they will not charge any royalties on projects made with the Unreal Development Kit for revenue under $50,000, raised from the previous $5,000 floor. With this move, there's a chance 2011 could see lots more titles made with the Unreal Engine 3 on the App Store from all kinds of publishers and developers big and small.

Last month we told you that Dungeon Defenders: First Wave would be landing on iOS in the near future, and now it seems the time is officially upon us. Developer Trendy Entertainment has announced that the tower defense/RPG hybrid will be making its App Store debut on December 16th. The game will also be available for PC early next year, and players will be able to port their characters from one version of the game to the other seamlessly.

Perhaps the most interesting detail about Dungeon Defenders is that it's powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3, the same engine which was featured in the recently released Infinity Blade. A key difference however, is that Infinity Blade was handled by Epic itself, while Dungeon Defenders is a third-party affair. So, how well will an outside party handle Epic's tool set? We'll find out for ourselves tomorrow.

If console and PC gaming is anything to go on, then this should all work out rather well. Epic has licensed its engine for quite a while in other mediums, and the results have been mostly positive. Developers have enjoyed access to a powerful, yet easy-to-use engine which creates very impressive visuals. The downsides are that after a while a lot of games start to look alike because they're all made with UE 3, and while outside parties can still make very nice games of their own, Epic knows all the tricks behind their own tools, so they're the only ones who can truly unlock all the power of Unreal.

Still, it's a net gain for the industry and we look forward to seeing what Dungeon Defenders can do once it makes its grand debut. We've been looking forward to this game for a while now and the wait is finally over. Here's hoping we're in for pleasant surprises rather than massive disappointment.

[via Dungeon Defenders Blog]

Last month we told you that Epic's impressive looking Infinity Blade would make its way to iOS devices in time for the holidays. Now we have even more specifics, as Epic has officially announced that the game will be available on all iOS machines on December 9. In case that sounds far off to you for some reason, remember that it's actually next week.

The action RPG is poised to be one of the most graphically impressive games to come to iOS, considering it's being powered by Unreal Engine 3. As the studio which created UE 3, Epic is well-versed at getting the most out of the engine, and if early screenshots are any indication, this title is going to be absolutely gorgeous.

It seems we may also have to pay a premium for those tantalizing visuals, as Epic has also announced that Infinity Blade will retail for $5.99. For many iPhone owners there may be a bit of sticker shock associated with such a price, especially considering a lot of perfectly nice looking games sell on the App Store for $0.99. Is this game really going to be worth the money?

While we can't say for sure if Infinity Blade is worth your money, signs are pointing in a positive direction. The game appears to be polished to an incredible degree, and Epic as a studio is known for their high-quality work in creating compelling gameplay experiences. Past performance may not be an indication of future results, but Infinity Blade really holds a lot of promise. For iPad owners this game is a near no-brainer, as the $5.99 price tag easily falls in line with what they're used to paying for apps, and may even be considered a bargain in some respects. UPDATE: Our source does indeed say "Universal App" so the screen resolution shouldn't be an issue. Thanks to Twitter fan @enygmadraco for catching that! The trade-off is that there is no iPad-specific version of Infinity Blade planned, so the pretty visuals may be stretched and lose some resolution if you expand them out to fill the whole iPad screen. But we'll stop trying to sway you one way or the other, in a week you can decide for yourself.

[via Joystiq]