Nov 15, 2007
Epic hasn't even started on the 360 version of Unreal Tournament III yet, reveals company VP Mark Rein. He says Epic intends to finish the PS3 version before shifting focus to 360 "early next year", when we were originally expecting it to be released.
It seems Xbox 360 fans will have to wait a lot longer for their deathmatch action due to issues with running user-created mods on the platform.
In Rein's words: "The PS3 is an open system, and they embrace user-created content. But there isn't really a way to do that on the 360."
The PS3 version of UT III will be fully compatible with user-created mods made for the PC version - something that, according to Rein, isn't as easy to pull off on 360.
"So our job, when we finish the PS3 version, and we've taken a little break, is to sit down with Microsoft and to figure out how we can do mods on their system," he told Wired.
We asked Rein himself at E3 earlier this year about how the 360 version was coming along and, while we're not sure whether he misunderstood us or if he dodged the question, he said: "Unreal Engine 3 is a better engine today on Xbox 360 than it was a year ago and part of that is because of what we've done on PlayStation 3 with UT and the things we're doing with Gears of War on PC.
"So yeah," he added, "the engine's improved a lot since we shipped Gears of War and when we bring out the Xbox 360 version [of UT III] you'll see that."
Nowhere does he say UT III is running well on 360. Just the Unreal Engine.
Elsewhere, Rein confirmed that the PS3 version of the game will boast an install option, which will store around 3.5GB of commonly used data to the PS3 hard drive to greatly speed up load times. Plus, changes to the user interface will make options on the PS3 version easier to browse than that of the PC version, which has been criticised for its awkwardness.
The PS3 release date is still up in the air. Word got out that the game could be pushed back to early next year, but Rein remains optimistic of apre-Christmas release.
The PC version will be out on November 23 either way.
