Unreal engine 3 updates

At GDC some improvements to Unreal 3 engine were demonstrated. At Gametrailers site you can see the HD video of these. The list includes:

• ambient occlusion - adds more realistic display of the individual objects in the level by generating more realistic shadows
• advanced character lighting - this really helps to see the actors. Check the video to see the difference!
• high density crowds - now you can blast away hundreds of enemies
• dynamic fluid surfaces -now water looks very real
• matinee improvements - now with real time preview in editor
• soft body physics - now famous demo with "meat cube" showing incorporation of Ageia's technology for soft body physics and liquids.
• destructible environment - an extension of PhysX engine. Just check the video to see new level of realism that can be achieved.

Here are some examples in relatively low quality (screen capture from the video)

Horde

Fluid surfaces

Soft body

Destructible environment

My favourite feature is destructible environment. If used wisely in a level it can influence gameplay in a really good way. Let say we have a level with multi level buildings but with destructible components (roofs, walls and floors). The battle starts and as the time progress top level(s) or building(s) crumbles and changes the way you play - there is no more cover or it is greatly reduced.

DM-Lego map for Unreal Tournament 3

This looks like a fun map to play. It is simple and destructible! To see what I mean heave a look at the video.

If you like it get it from here.

If you would like to know more about UE3 updates check this inverview with Tim Sweeney on Team Xbox site - 4 pages long.

Ender's Game will become a game

Not too long ago Chair Entertainment announced on their News & Press page that they have bought interactive rights for Ender's Game. The plan is to bring this novel to all next generation consoles and PC.

If you are not familiar with Ender's Game I would recommend you go to the bookstore and look for a copy. The novel was published in 1985 by Tor Books. Of course, I won't re-tell the story! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. As reassurance of my recommendation this book won Nebula award and Hugo award next year as well!

Personally, one of most memorable parts of the book are the 'Battle Room' war games descriptions. Quite often I would find myself imagining the battle in zero-gravity and how I would tackle the situation instead of reading the book. Now I will have a chance to do that!

From technology point of view, game will use Unreal 3 (U3) engine. The U3 engine is one of the leading game engines on the market right now. The best examples of capabilities of it check out games like Unreal Tournament III, Gears of War, Bioshock and lots of other titles. As core technology U3 engine is supporting Ageia's PhysX hardware acceleration. If you read my previous post there are some really exciting news on that front.

Lets' wait and see if all factors will fall in place (nVidia making cheap PhysX cards in mass production, Chair Entertainment doing a good job and U3 engine handling game content) and hope we don't have to wait too long.

Ageia + nVidia = Awesome!

Well, well, well.

Today nVidia has announced that they will aquire Ageia Technologies Inc.

This in not a surprize, really. Ageia has really exciting technology but didn't manage to gain a considerable market share. Of course stroke a deal with Sony for Playstation 3, but appart from that not many PC stores are selling them successfuly. I think I don't have to say anything about nVidia. It is very likely that you have their product in your PC.

What is really exciting is that now we could expect to have one of two options:

• nVidia starts mass production of Physx cards with little or no modifications. This would hopefully bring the price down so we mere mortals can afford one
• new breed of cards will emerge - graphics + Physyx. This would take more time to develop but would have better penetraction to the market, e.g. high end graphics cards have physyx chip bundled

Let's wait and see what will happen. Anyway I think we (gamers) will benefit from this aquisition.

Don't waste time nVidia, bring on the goodies!

Starcraft II - Crucio siege tank

Yet another one of Terran units is revealed. This time it is Crucio siege tank. It is an updated version of the Arclite siege tank. Here is a brief description what is capable of:

Originally designed to serve as a "final defense" security
cannon, the siege tank adopted a two-stage configuration in its final form:
a mobile assault mode and a deployed siege mode that brought
its massive shock cannon to bear. The immense flexibility of
an armored battle tank that could advance and then deploy itself as heavy artillery was a huge success, and the design was widely copied.

The Crucio has been designed for increased survivability with
an enlarged, reinforced turret and hull. The new turret layout also
features an upgraded assault-mode armament package so that the Crucio can
fend for itself more successfully in an open battlefield. Force deployment
costs for the Crucio have increased over the older Arclite, but the increased versatility of the powerful new siege tank more than compensates for the additional
expense.

"Official" details about armament are:

Builds From: Factory

Armament: Twin 90mm Cannons (assault mode)120mm Shock Cannon (siege mode)

Role: Armored Support and Mobile Artillery

What does this mean for other players, like Zerg?

This is powerfull unit doing a lot of splash damage to basic units. Check the video on Starcraft II page. My approach would be to attac it with large number of units like zergling from multiple directions. Zerglings are fast and they do a considerable damage to buildings. The problem would be in narrow passages where couple of crucio tanks could hold off large number of troopers. Another option would be to use a unit with range longer than crucio's like Guardian.

Another aspect mentioned here is that this unit is expensive and hopefuly you won't encounter them very early in the game.

For now we don't know much about Zerg units but let's hope we won't have to wait for too long Blizzard starts publishing Zerg unit details.

Starcraft storyline

If you are not familiar with storyline of original Starcaft you can read it on Startcaft 2 web site, or keep reading (for a very very short version of it)...

Terrans explore the space, run into Protoss, Protoss runs away. Terrans run into Zerg and Zerg kicks their butt. Protoss fights Zerg and Terrans. Zerg captures Sarah Kerrigan and she serves the Overmind. Protoss kills Overmind but Zerg is still undefetead. Yeah!

Now back to the full storyline. It is nice to see the chronological events for Starcaft just in case you never paid too much attention to intro animations or bothered to read the novels.

There are few screenshots and animations showing key events from the plot. Soon we can expect the storyline for expansion set The Brood War.

Starcraft 2 s

Unreal Tournament 3 released

Unreal Tournament 3 is finally out, at least in US. Unfortunately, in New Zealand we have to wait until 29th of November if release dates are correct.

There are few retail versions of the game and the one I am interested in is Collectors Edition. When ordered from GP Store you get:

• Special Tin Box packaging
• •Game on DVD
• Hardback Art Book
• Separate Collector’s Edition disc containing:
  • •Hints and Tips video
  • Concept art montage set to music
  • The Unreal Tournament story – From humble beginnings to massive success
• Bonus character in-game

All of that will cost NZ$119.95. There is a LOT of media available on UT3 and if you still don't know where to go to see it here is a short list:

• Beyond Unreal
• Planet Unreal - 50 minute video
  
• Planet Unreal - 200 screenshots
• Gametrailers

Of course, there are plenty of other sites that have previews, reviews and other bits and pieces about the game. I have played the demo only (for now) and I love it. I do have to say I agree with my brother-in-law in statement that in this version levels are lacking colour. Most of the levels are in very similar shades or gray, dark green and brown. Some of levels give very ominous and gloomy feel. For example beloved DM-Deck (AKA Deck 17) look something like this now. I tried to take a shoot from UT 2004 from more or less the same spot so you can see the difference for yourself. I have to say I love the look of the green acid/slime/goo...




























Here are few other shots from the UT 2004 version.






When I get Unreal Tournament 3 I'll see what kind of textures are available and maybe give it a go at re-texturing of DM-Deck...