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PC and PlayStation 3 gamers to play together in Unreal Engine 3 games

Epic Games today announced a licensing deal to incorporate GameSpy's suite of online technology into Unreal Engine 3. Under the terms of the agreement, the technology will be immediately available to any publishers or developers that license Unreal Engine 3.

The partnership will span both the PC and PlayStation 3 platforms within Unreal Engine 3, enabling PlayStation 3 and PC online functionality. This feature, along with communication tools and competition applications, will also be available to Unreal Engine 3 licensees.

"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. 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," said Jamie Berger, senior vice president of consumer products and technology for IGN Entertainment.

GameSpy multiplayer features include matchmaking services, instant messaging, friends lists, player profiles and leaderboard statistics.

"We're very excited to welcome GameSpy into the Integrated Partners Program," said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. "GameSpy is the leader in multiplayer gaming technology and has a vast amount of experience in developing rich and sophisticated multiplayer systems with community and commerce features that Epic and its Unreal Engine 3 licensees can directly benefit from. Having GameSpy integrate their technology into our engine and provide direct support for our licensees is a huge value-add for Unreal Engine 3."

Although Gears of War thrives on Xbox Live, Epic has said it is not interested in Microsoft’s online system – particularly with Games for Windows. While the Xbox 360 versions of Unreal Engine 3 games will have to adhere to the Xbox Live rules, it’s clear that Epic Games has made its choice for where PC and PS3 gamers will find their deathmatches. Could this mean that Xbox 360 gamers will be excluded from cross-platform play? Only time will tell.

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The big question:
By Frank M on 8/16/2007 9:39:41 AM , Rating: 3
Why would a PC player want to play on a dual PC-console server? As far as I've experienced, the online console crowd is severely lacking in maturity. Couple this with the auto-aim that generally comes with controller-based shooters, and you have a huge step down for most PC users.




RE: The big question:
By omnicronx on 8/16/2007 9:42:29 AM , Rating: 2
you shouldn't automatically assume auto aim would be enabled in online play :)


RE: The big question:
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/16/2007 10:28:03 AM , Rating: 3
I agree the online console crowd is severely lacking in maturity. But hey thats what the console crowd is.

On a site note, I can see someone loading up a speed hack and aimbot from their PC and beating the console guys senseless. Not like it would really be necessary. Can you see the moron kiddies on their PS3 trying to compete with a PC Unreal veteran? Yea I can't either. Oh well, it should give the PC guys something to talk about, maybe start up a website "http://consolekiddiesschooled.org/" to keep track of them, yea.


RE: The big question:
By ioKain on 8/16/2007 10:55:44 AM , Rating: 2
LOL, nice. I would love, absolutely LOVE, to play some console kids while I'm on my computer in an FPS game. Oh, I can hear the !@## talk now.


RE: The big question:
By MrHanson on 8/16/07, Rating: 0
RE: The big question:
By PAPutzback on 8/16/2007 11:26:21 AM , Rating: 3
Freaking duh! Of course we do. It is the higher pixel count on our 1600x1200 lcds and 100+ FPS that makes everything bigger.


RE: The big question:
By cbo on 8/16/2007 12:03:50 PM , Rating: 2
after 60 fps can you tell?


RE: The big question:
By Etsp on 8/16/2007 3:43:45 PM , Rating: 2
I honestly say that I can't. However, I can tell at a glance the difference between 60hz refresh rate and 75hz... 60fps is good enough for me...

But in CS 1.6 you gotta have that 100 fps else, "your bullets won't register" according to my former "CPL" friend (who never did go... after they got a sponsor to go WoW came out and their team kinda fell apart >.<;)


RE: The big question:
By 3kliksphilip on 8/17/2007 6:27:56 PM , Rating: 2
you can smell it.

It depends what refresh rate your monitor is. People can make out things flashed on screen for as little as 1/250th of a second. I guess that you need to experience it to tell the difference.


RE: The big question:
By hadifa on 8/17/2007 8:03:20 PM , Rating: 2
People are different. Some people are more sensitive.For example there are many people working in 60hz refresh rate and are not bothered by it. I have seen few who can tell the difference over 85HZ (and even that is usually achieved after I educate! them).

Personally, I cannot work with under 100Hz. using 85hz and lower gives me headache in less than 30 minutes. I can easily see the flickering in less than and equal to 100hz.

To me 120HZ is nice and I can work with that for 8-10 hours with no issues if the brightness and contrast are adjusted properly. That is why I use the odd resolution of 1280*960 for my desktop and almost all the games because for anything higher I cannot get 120hz.

You may not believe this but given certain condition, I can even notice the CRT flickering in over 140hz.

And then there is the issue of the games. Not all games are made equal. Adventure games can be alright in 30FPS but the faster the need for FPS. Twitchy games like UT and CS need very high FPS. I won't be surprised if people claim they prefer over even 100FPS.


RE: The big question:
By afkrotch on 8/21/2007 12:18:38 AM , Rating: 2
Wow, I never heard so much bull. You do understand that refresh rates don't mean jack with an LCD. Whether you have your monitor set to 60 hz or 120 hz doesn't mean squat. For an LCD, it's about response time.

Refresh rate is for phosphors dimming. Obviously an LCD has no phosphors, so it's all really just moot. You aren't going to notice any difference.

Response time is like refresh rate for LCDs. Response time is about how long it takes a pixel to go from active to inactive to active.


RE: The big question:
By hadifa on 9/14/2007 7:29:18 AM , Rating: 2
I was talking about CRT. While I didn't mentioned CRT in the beginning of the post, some common sense could help you


RE: The big question:
By psyph3r on 8/16/2007 12:06:59 PM , Rating: 4
you obviously either don't have a computer worth playing games on or you have never done it. PC's are inherently better in control, graphics, and speed. And when you need a 3000$ computer to play a pc game, it automatically makes the entire crowd much more mature due to pocket book restrictions. I've been playing UT since i was very little on pc...it's time to OWN some console kiddies! joysticks can never aim as well as a 3200 dpi mouse. hahahaha!


RE: The big question:
By ObscureCaucasian on 8/16/2007 2:20:11 PM , Rating: 2
You do know that the PS3 version will support Mouse and Keyboard too right? Just because it's a PS3 doesn't mean that the player will be using a controller.

Also PS3 users have the option of playing in controller only matches, or keyboard only, or both. I assume the PC has the same options.


RE: The big question:
By Alpha4 on 8/16/2007 3:06:20 PM , Rating: 1
The PS3 can use Mouse & Keyboard for UT3? I'll have to google that information, but for now do you have a link? That would be pretty kick ass.

BUT....... Thats not the end of it. The Dreamcast had a mouse & keyboard, of which I am a proud owner, but that didn't stop me from getting schooled in Quake III by PC users on Seganet. Users with patch 1.16n were able to log onto Seganet and compete/target practice against us console owners.

By the way, I've not heard about any controller-only server filters by Epic. It sounds smart, but that sounds pretty difficult to enforce on the PC end assuming PS3 will even have M&KB support. Plus I could see a determined PC user exploiting it and somehow joining with mouse & keyboard in the first place and owning up a shitstorm.


RE: The big question:
By omnicronx on 8/16/2007 3:11:17 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
. The Dreamcast had a mouse & keyboard, of which I am a proud owner, but that didn't stop me from getting schooled in Quake III by PC users on Seganet
Lol i said the same thing, Glad someone is with me!!! and yes the ps3 natively supports mouse and keyboard and UT3 will take advantage of these features.


RE: The big question:
By mars777 on 8/16/2007 4:18:12 PM , Rating: 2
You don't need a link. The PS3 supports any USB mouse or keyboard. Just read the specs.


RE: The big question:
By GreenyMP on 8/17/2007 11:01:14 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
You don't need a link. The PS3 supports any USB mouse or keyboard. Just read the specs.


That is true. But most games on the PS3 do not support mapping controls to the keyboard/mouse. The game has to explicitly support mapping the controls over.

This is the first that I have heard that Unreal will support this. Now I just need two 12' USB extension chords.


RE: The big question:
By