A number of ex-Midway employees, when asked about the publisher's downward spiral, had a variety of answers, but almost all of them mentioned Unreal Engine 3, the technology licensed from Epic Games that powers Gears of War.

"One issue popped up again and again: Midway's decision to license Unreal Engine and use it for ALL its games," wrote Variety's Ben Fritz of his interviews with former Midway staffers.

Epic's Gears of War 2, built on Unreal Engine 3

The technology had been licensed to give Midway a common technical base for its projects, but individual teams lacked the know-how to tweak the engine for their own purposes. "It was a ton of new technology which they just weren't capable of doing. It put all the games way behind schedule," said an anonymous ex-employee.

When those delayed games finally were released, they suffered at the hands of critics and sold poorly, forcing Midway to push bad games out the door in a desperate grab for revenue.

This isn't the first time Epic's technology has been implicated in another studio's misfortunes. Too Human developer Silicon Knights sued Epic for breach of contract over its Unreal Engine 3 license after the developer encountered a number of issues while working on the game.

Publisher Sega has extended its licensing arrangement for Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to include another unknown cross-platform title, with both companies refusing to disclose any further details.

Sega first licensed the popular PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 middleware last year for use in "several upcoming projects being developed in North America."

While the publisher did not provide any details at the time, that announcement likely referred to Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines (PC, PS3, 360) and Obsidian's spy-RPG Alpha Protocol (PC, PS3, 360), both UE3-powered titles revealed since that time.

EA DICE revealed that the free running action game Mirror's Edge (PC, PS3, X360) was built with Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 middleware, Joystiq reports.

Though DICE regularly makes use of its internally-developed technology, the Mirror's Edge project began early in the development of its Frostbite engine, prompting the studio to use Epic's technology instead.

"With Mirror's Edge we deliberately set out to create something that was different from Battlefield," said a studio representative. "Frostbite is a very powerful engine but this project started a long time ago, and at that time Frostbite was still being developed and was very closely supporting the Battlefield Bad Company team."

Epic's Unreal Engine 3 has been licensed for use in development by a number of studios including Konami, 2K Games, and John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks studio. For more on Mirror's Edge, be sure to check out the new trailer.

Electronic Arts will incorporate Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 middleware in more than five titles currently in development, the company announced today.

The UE3 engine is currently at use in several recently released multiplatform titles from EA such as EALA's Medal of Honor Airborne (PC, PS3, X360) and EA Montreal's Army of Two (PS3, X360). Neither company disclosed which upcoming titles would make use of the middleware.

"With the largest and most talented studio operation in the world, it's critical for us to give our studio teams the best tools they need to make great games," said EA president Frank Gibeau. "This agreement reflects our commitment to Epic's technology which, in combination with our own cutting-edge systems, allows us to create ground breaking hits."

Epic's UE3 engine has been licensed by several big studios including Square Enix, 2K Games, Konami, Capcom, Activision, and NCsoft.

Developer and publishing house NCsoft plans to utilize Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 in two upcoming MMOs, the company announced today.

The company originally licensed the UE3 middleware back in 2005. NCsoft said that the engine will be used to develop two unannounced and "top-tier" MMO titles, but did not specify further what those titles might be.

The company is no stranger to Epic's middleware, having previously utilized the company's Unreal Engine 2 in the development of Lineage 2 (PC) in 2004. The heavily-licensed Unreal Engine 3 is currently at work in projects at 2K Games, THQ, Konami, Square Enix and numerous others.

NCsoft is currently working on a new Lineage (PC) title, and late last year announced the acquisition of the City of Heroes property from series creator Cryptic Studios.

Following the announcement of Gears of War 2 last month during the Game Developers Conference, Epic has released two high-definition trailers showing off its various GDC exploits.

The first video is captured from Epic's press conference, and offers a look at the various improvements being made to the Unreal Engine 3. High-density crowds, realistic water effects, and deformable and destructible objects make the billing.

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Continue on for a behind-the-scenes video detailing Gears of War 2's GDC announcement, featuring a well-armed Cliffy B. ... Read more

38 Studios announced today that it has licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 middleware for use in the development of its upcoming MMO project.

The studio, founded by Boston Red Sox pitcher and avid MMO fan Curt Schilling, is currently developing the title with the help of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. The game is expected to ship in 2010.

Few details have been released concerning the game, but 38 Studios has noted that the MMO is part of a greater project based around a single original intellectual property, which is said to encompass multiple media forms beyond the MMO.

38 Studios also recently announced that it had licensed the BigWorld Technology Suite for the game's backend, server-side capabilities. Other licensees of the middleware include John Romero's studio Slipgate Ironworks and Lunar creator Game Arts.

BioShock (PC, X360) publisher 2K Games will continue using Epic's Unreal Engine 3 technology in its future efforts, Epic announced today.

Details on the specific titles are slim, with Epic merely listing the projects as "unannounced." However, 2K president Christoph Hartmann praised UE3 for the ease at which it allows simultaneous PC and console development, suggesting that the games could hit PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

At least one of those titles is likely to be a sequel to the UE3-powered BioShock, as 2K owner Take-Two Interactive has expressed its interest in turning the underwater shooter into an ongoing franchise. Another title in the UFO-centric X-COM series has been rumored as well.

Last fall, job listings indicated that the next project out of 2K's Boston studio would utilize UE3. Formerly known as Irrational Games, 2K Boston and 2K Australia were the studios directly responsible for BioShock.

2K Games also recently announced the opening of 2K Marin, a new studio located at 2K's headquarters in Novato, California. No projects have been announced for the studio, though it reportedly consists of ex-BioShock staff.

We knew designer American McGee was at work on American McGee's Grimm, an episodic take on the classic fairy tales for GameTap.

Now a post on American McGee's blog has revealed the developer's second project as an "[Unreal Engine 3] based, big publisher, multi-platform, twisted tale project."

The unannounced game is in pre-production at Spicy Horse, American McGee's Shanghai, China-based studio.

"At the moment this is purely for recruiting purposes - an official announcement will come when the time is right," wrote McGee, who is seeking to fill a long list of production roles. "This is going to be a world-class product, and we're hoping to attract world-class talent to the team."

A game based on the Lionsgate's cringe-inducing horror film franchise Saw will torture unknown platforms alongside the theatrical release of the next movie in October 2009.

Word of the title came from a teaser shown recent Brash Entertainment press event, with series puppet-villain Jigsaw (pictured left), confident in the belief of betterment through torture, informing IGN that games journalists are wasting their lives.

No developer or platforms were specified, though the company did note that the game is powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3, a move that suggests PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 editions. Thanks to involvement of the filmmakers, the title will tie into the events of the movies. A teaser site has also been launched, though at this time it only features a sign-up form for eventual related e-mails.

Founded last summer, Brash Entertainment focuses on outsourcing video games based on licensed properties, with the licensed property bit described by co-founder Bert Ellis as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game."

Brash is also known to be working on a video game adaptation of Jumper (PS2, X360, Wii) and Zach Snyder's 300, and was responsible for last winter's Alvin and the Chipmunks (PC, PS2, Wii, DS).

Shacknews can exclusively debut the first screenshots from Virtual Heroes' upcoming sim Ultimate Team Play, announced yesterday. The Unreal Engine 3-powered simulation game includes independent NPCs, branching dialogue, and multiple player classes: housekeeping, food service, engineering/maintenance, and reception. It is expected to be released to Hilton Garden Inn employees in January 2009.

Virtual Heroes develops training simulation software for many corporations and organizations, including the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Special Army Command, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Discovery Channel Canada.

Employees of the worldwide Hilton Garden line of hotels will gain a bizarre edge over the competition thanks to new training software powered by none other than Epic Games' ever-increasingly popular Unreal Engine 3. An announcement today by Hilton Hotels claims that the software is "the first interactive training game to be used in the hospitality industry that utilizes game-based technology"--not likely to be contested.

Ultimate Team Play, as the hospitality training software is called, contains numerous elements common to many commercial video games, particularly RPGs--branching dialogue trees, NPCs with unique motives and moods, numerous types of interactions with the world and characters, and rankings based on virtual performance.

Like many RPGs, Ultimate Team Play also contains a capitalized acronym describing its score system, in this case SALT, for Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking. It is also worth noting the video game-esque adjective "Ultimate" in the title.

Players apparently even play the game as one of various classes, be they in the housekeeping, food service, engineering and maintenance, or reception fields.

"Ultimate Team Play allows our hotel team members to play their hotel specific role and show them how their various actions directly affect the guest and the hotel," said Hilton Garden senior VP Adrian Kurre.

The software is being developed by Virtual Heroes, which has created training software for such companies as the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Special Army Command, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Discovery Channel Canada. Said Virtual Heroes founder and CEO Jerry Heneghan, "Ultimate Team Play leverages cutting-edge games-based technology in a realistic and immersive virtual Hilton Garden Inn environment."

Shacknews has sent a request to Hilton Garden for Ultimate Team Play screenshots.

Shacknews has learned that multiple Unreal Engine 3 licensees have been served with subpoenas in an effort to obtain their confidential engine contracts for use as evidence in Silicon Knights' coming court battle with Epic Games.

The two companies became embroiled in a legal feud after Silicon Knights filed suit against Epic last July. As part of its lawsuit--the allegations of which include Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, and Breach of Contract--Silicon Knights demanded all profits from the Epic-developed blockbuster shooter Gears of War in the form of awarded damages.

The subpoenas mark the first time that developers other than Epic have been entangled in the dispute. Companies that have licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3, and are potentially now involved in the suit, include Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Ubisoft, and the United States Army, among many others.

"I'm leaving the litigation to the lawyers but, if this is the case, I'd like to apologize to any of our licensees who Silicon Knights have inconvenienced," remarked Epic VP Rein when contacted today by Shacknews. "We know that, like us, they just... Read more

A game based on the Gregory Widen-created Highlander franchise is in development for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, publisher Eidos has reaffirmed. Developed by Widescreen Games, it is expected to arrive this fall.

Following the adventures of Immortal Owen MacLeod from ancient Pompeii to futuristic New York, the title is being written by Highlander television series writer David Abramowitz and will be powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3 technology.

Eidos claims the game will take full advantage of MacLeod's status as an Immortal, allowing him to perform feats such as disarming foes by impaling himself with their weapons or conducting electricity through his body. As players master the game's sword-centric combat and behead other Immortals--remember, there can be only one--they will gain new abilities.

"The interactive experience permits players to gain a completely ... Read more

Red Mile Entertainment today announced it is licensing Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 for use in its upcoming Sin City video game adaptation.

Sin City the game will be based on the popular comic series by Frank Miller, rather than the recent Hollywood film. No release dates or platforms have been announced, though based on this news, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 releases are possible.

"The Red Mile team has impressed me with its dedication to creating Sin City video games that will remain true to Sin City as I've always seen it," said Miller (pictured left) in May.

According to a Gamasutra job posting that now appears to have been slightly changed, members of the BioShock development are forming the core of a new game studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, probably at 2K's new headquarters in Novato, California. The company is calling for a lead animator with no less than eight years of experience.

Though the phrase is no longer part of the listing, Google caching reveals the sentence, "Some of the creators of the award-winning 'Bioshock' are starting up a new studio in the Bay Area and are looking for a Lead Animator." BioShock was developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, formerly collectively known as Irrational Games.

A separate post on Gamasutra calls for new artists to join the 2K Boston team for the studio's new game, which is listed as targeting Xbox 360 and PC. Some outlets took this to mean that the developer would be shunning Sony's latest home platform, but a number of posts on the 2K Boston jobs page specifically call out for PS3 experience.

The 2K Boston posts do, however, make numerous mentions of Unreal Engine experience being beneficial, suggesting the studio will again rely on Unreal Engine 3.

The Unreal Man: Mark Rein Speaks is a Gamasutra interview with the Epic Games VP about Unreal Engine 3, PlayStation 3, Japanese developers working with Epic's technology, PC development and more.

Speaking on the development of Midway Austin's recently-released FPS BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, X360), creative director and industry veteran Harvey Smith described the entire project as "so fucked up."

Smith elaborated on the difficulties he and his team faced during a presentation at the 2007 Montreal International Game Summit, reports Game|Life. Before joining Midway, he served as lead designer on Ion Storm's Deus Ex and project director on the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War.

"With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails," Smith noted. An emphasis on shared technology with another title was one obstacle, which he said resulted in "eight months to get one thing working."

Much like several other Midway-developed titles, BlackSite: Area 51 is powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3. The company has publicly admitted that it had issues getting Unreal Engine 3 to function properly on PlayStation 3, resulting in PS3-only delays of Stranglehold and BlackSite.

Another issue came from Smith's lacking interest in the title as he was... Read more

The motion filed by Epic Games in attempt to dismiss Silicon Knight's lawsuit against the company has been denied, reports GameDaily BIZ. Barring an out-of-court settlement between the two companies, the case will now process to trial, though no date has been set.

"Epic had asked for the entire case to be dismissed. Judge Dever denied this request, which is not unusual," explained Epic VP Mark Rein. "Often these requests are denied. It is important to note that this was not a decision on the merits of Silicon Knights' claims. We are confident that the evidence will show Silicon Knights breached its license with Epic Games and violated our copyrights and trade secrets."

Dever's decision comes after Silicon Knights filed a rebuttal against Epic's motion to dismiss. "Epic’'s Motion to dismiss should be denied in its entirety, Epic should be ordered to answer the Complaint, and this case should proceed to discovery and trial," it read.

Charges filed against Epic in the lawsuit, which centers around Silicon Knights' experience with Epic's Unreal Engine 3 while developing Too Human (X360), include Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, and Breach of Contract. Epic maintains that all of the issues Silicon Knights encountered while using its technology are covered under the Unreal Engine 3 License Agreement.

Topping off a day of delays, THQ announced it will be pushing three of its fourth quarter fiscal year 2008 titles into fiscal year 2009, which begins April 1, 2008. Sandblast Games' Destroy All Humans!: Path of the Furon (PS3, X360), Kaos Studio' PlayStation 3 version of Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC, PS3, X360), and Blue Tongue's DS version and Helixe's Wii version of de Blob (Wii, NDS) will now be released sometime after the start of the new fiscal year.

Note that only the PlayStation 3 version of Frontlines: Fuel of War has been delayed, as the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game are still on target for an early 2008 release, along with the previously confirmed Xbox 360 demo of the game coming in December.

"We still plan to ship the Xbox 360 and PC versions of Frontlines in the March quarter, as we are pleased with the quality on these platforms and believe this is the best launch window for the game," said THQ CEO Brian Farrell... Read more