Epic is incorporating GameSpy's multiplayer tech into its advanced engine. The partnership pertains only to the PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, and will enable cross-platform play between the two.

"Over the past months we have fully integrated a broad suite of GameSpy online technology in Unreal Engine 3 and have built a fantastic working relationship with Epic," said Jamie Berger, senior VP of consumer products and technology for IGN Entertainment. "We look forward to extending that relationship with a number of new technologies customized for Unreal Engine 3 to be introduced over the next 12 months."
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Epic VP Mark Rein is feeling the true force of the fanboy and decided to post an official response to their statement about PS3 disks able to hold more data than that of the 360. His post begins as follows:

"I continue to be disappointed that folks on the internet treat any positive thing we say about one platform as some sort of critique of another platform. We're a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one.

The simple facts state that the optical disc on the PS3 holds more data than the optical disc on the 360. If we exceed size of the 360s optical disc then we'll have to find alternative ways to get the content to 360 users such as making it downloadable. Adding a second DVD to a game like UT3 would be a challenge because when playing online you might not know exactly what map you're going to be playing next and we have to be able to accommodate users of the core system. So does that mean the disc on the 360 might have a map or two less? Possibly although it is too early to tell for sure. People love Unreal Tournament because we always ship it with tons of great content but that also makes it a bit of a disc hog - in a good way

Obviously, and as is true with most major games on 360 and PS3, you're going to be putting your hard drive to good use if you want to experience the full richness of content that UT3 will have to offer over the lifetime of the game. the fact that you can do this is a good thing."
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During a demo of the upcoming Unreal Tournament III at this year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Epic VP Mark Rein revealed a few more details about the upcoming PS3 timed exclusive. He confirmed that the team was still planning on a November release, stating that "We don't have an actual exact date, but we've told people that we're aiming for November." Sixaxis functionality for the title was revealed, with Rein stating that you could use it to control both the Redeemer and the Hoverboard. He also spoke about whether the game would feature PC/PS3 cross-platform play.
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As with every single other anticipated game, Unreal Tournament 3 will have a Collector's Edition too, for the die hard fans looking for at bit more. The UT3 Collector's Edition will come in a special tin box (much like Gears of War), and include an art book, a bonus DVD with the usual behind the scenes/making of-content. Other than that, there's not much else in the box, besides one gorgeous multiplayer shooter.
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During a playable demo of Unreal Tournament III at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, games-digest.com spotted something very interesting on the game's menu system. It's called Gamercard and it doesn't seem too unlikely a possibility that this will turn out to be a unique player identity system, not entirely dissimilar to the Xbox 360's Gamertag system that manages player stats and achievements.

Games-digest.com quizzed Epic's Mark Rein about and he did little to dispel our assumptions saying quickly "Oops, you shouldn't have seen that".
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Midway Games, the leading games developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for major videogame systems and personal computers, have officially unveiled their Leipzig Game Convention line up for this month.
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We got all excited this morning when we fired up our browser to see reports that the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament III will be cross-compatible with the PC version. Then our dreams were crushed. It would have been the perfect start to the day, considering Epic's Mark Rein previously confirmed that the PS3 game would be mouse and keyboard compatible. Unfortunately Rein himself has come out to foil the false reports, clarifying that cross-platform play is not at all as certain as some are ... » Read More

It has finally been confirmed that you won't have to buy a thousand-pound PC to play Unreal Tournament III with proper controls because the PS3 version will support mouse and keyboard. Get in! Epic's all-knowing Mark Rein confirmed the good news on the official UTIII forums. "I checked with Steve Polge [the lead designer] and he said that YES we are supporting keyboard and mouse in Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3," he firmly stated. "He is confident we are doing it in a way that will be balanced ... » Read More

HMV is offering pre-orders, release date of Haze and UT3 this year

HMV, who are currently offering Xbox360 version of MGS4 for pre-orders are also offering a pre-orders for PC/360 versions of Haze and UT3 which have all been confirmed by the game publishers and Sony to be a timed exclusive to the playstation computer entertainment this year.
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Mark Rein have confirmed today that, the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 2003 will support keyboard and Mouse. He is confident that it will be balanced and it won't feel gimped.
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We were under the assumption that Epic had pulled the plug on any cross-platform plans for Unreal Tournament 3, however it turns out that it's still under consideration. Speaking on official Epic forums, Mark Rein revealed that the developer's not yet decided about cross-platform play between PC and PS3. "We're not 100% sure that users want that feature," Rein said in a post, "but if we get time we'll play around with it and see how it works." He explained too that Unreal Tournament 3 on PC ... » Read More

Let the Cross-Platfrom will begin.
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Unreal Tournament III (or UT3 to its friends) is primed to be an absolute mind blower. We checked it out at last week's E3 and it's absolutely stacked with the sort of ideas that are going to help springboard it way over the heads of the competition. Amongst the highlights were our first look at the stealth-bender vehicle, which is cloaked when stationary; the Slow Volume deployable - a gelatinous blob that decelerates the velocity of projectiles (watching the flak cannon's fiery spit crawl ... » Read More

The PlayStation 3 verison of Unreal Tournament 3 will feature unlimited maps, mods, and skin downloads by using a PC editor and then moving the data to your PS3 through a memory stick.
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Epic's Lead Producer Jeff Morris told Kotaku that the mods will be created on a PC and then "cooked" to work better on a PS3 using a built-in option. That file can than be slapped onto a Memory Stick and imported into the PS3 version of the game with the console's built-in MS reader.

He said the company is also looking at ways of making the mods downloadable through an in-game browser on the PS3 and perhaps even Home.
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TG Daily 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."
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Sony's annual E3 press conference opened with what could have been the biggest reveal of the entire show if it hadn't been leaked last week: the new $499 price of the PS3, as well as the introduction of a new $599 model that comes with an 80GB hard drive and a copy of online-enabled dirt racer Motorstorm. This left biggy-wig Jack Tretton (who began the event speaking through his character in the PS3 virtual world Home) to launch right into the publisher's game-centric, four-part ... » Read More

Midway talks Unreal Tournament III PS3/PC exclusivity, BlackSite: Area 51 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat also on display.
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Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) held its annual press conference today at the E3 Media & Business Summit, making a series of announcements that demonstrated the strength and innovation of the PlayStation® family of products.

PlayStation fans will have further reason to get excited about growing their game libraries as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and industry veterans Epic Games announced a multi-stage agreement.

As a result of the agreement, Midway and Epic Games will make the platform debut of Unreal Tournament 3 exclusively on PS3 this fall.

"The raw power of PS3 and Unreal Engine 3 allow us to provide gamers the full Unreal Tournament 3 first-person shooter experience normally found only on a PC," said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games. "The PS3 is the ideal platform for us to deliver stunning visuals and awesome gameplay.

Also, releasing this fall, legendary PlayStation development team Free Radical Design and leading publisher Ubisoft have teamed up to deliver the mind-altering, technologically superior game HAZE exclusively for PS3 this holiday season.

Set for a simultaneous worldwide launch in early 2008 exclusively on PS3, a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid ® 4: Guns of the Patriots also was unveiled during the press conference.
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PS3 Attitude liveblogs the Sony keynote speech at E3 2007 to bring all the details of every Sony PS3-related announcement.
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