OMG: Unreal Tournament III exclusive for PS3 for 2007

[Kindness]

I thought it was a joke at first, but, no …

But, then there was an update, it's a console exclusive. PC players will not have to wait like XBOX 360 players will after today's surprise announcement.

Excerpted from “E3 2007: Unreal Tournament III exclusive for PS3; At least, for this year... UPDATE: "console exclusive".” by Harry Milonas, palgn, 12 Jul 2007
One of the first surprises at Sony's E3 press conference was a timed deal that will see Epic and Midway's upcoming multiplatform multiplayer fragathon Unreal Tournament III released first on PlayStation 3.

For the remainder of 2007, the PS3 will be the only place to play the new UT, with Xbox 360 fans having to wait until an unspecified time next year to experience the next iteration of the Unreal Engine.

On top of announcing exclusivity of the game, Sony touted another feature of the PS3 optimised version of UT3 that will allow mods created on a PC to be ported over and played on a PS3. However, such a feature could test players patience in waiting to try it out, as it was not revealed whether the PC version of UT3 will suffer the same delay as its Xbox 360 brethren.

UPDATE: Mark Rein, Epic's VP, has said at the Midway press conference that UT will be launching on PC at the same time. It appears that Sony meant to say that this game is a console exclusive.

Posting by Mark Rein in Epic forums, July 12, 2007
PC and PS3 versions coming this November.

Excerpted from E3 07: Unreal Tournament III due in '07, PS3/PC exclusive 'til '08; Sony locks down console exclusivity until next year; PS3 version will ship with map editor months before 360 version.” By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot, Posted Jul 11, 2007 12:24 pm PT
… Today, the company revealed that it has also struck a deal with Sony that will certainly boost sales of its PlayStation 3 console. Today at Sony's press event, Mark Rein took the stage to announce that Unreal Tournament III will be exclusive to the PS3 and PC when it is released later this year, and it will allow the importations of mods made for the PC version to the PS3. That exclusivity will remain until "early 2008," when an Xbox 360 version will be released.

Speaking to GameSpot, the irrepressible Rein laughed off any suggestion that Sony might have offered Epic financial incentives to keep UTIII a PS3 exclusive. "There's nothing sinister about it," he said, laughing. "It's just the PS3 and PC version of the games are compatible, because Sony has an open-source platform." Rein didn't clarify if he meant simply that the development process was compatible, or whether the game would allow for cross-platform play.

[JoystickMonkey]

I was about to lose all respect for Epic for a second.

[SuperApe]

I wonder how much Sony paid Epic for this gem? There's more political jockeying for position among game companies this week for E3 that within the beltway or on the campaign trail.

[share_the_pain]

I don't know how well UT3 would play on a console. It always seems much harder and slower to play FPSs on consoles than PCs. I remember the first time I played Counter Strike on xBox 360, it was a lot slower and harder to aim/dodge bullets then the PC version.

/OT

[JoystickMonkey]

I'm just a little afraid there will have to be a fair amount of modding before UT3 plays well on PC. They probably have controls dumbed down so that everyone's on even ground... boo hiss lowest common denominator.

[Spiffness]

Seeing has how it's impossible to turn a profit on any expensive game due to how many PS3s are physically in peoples homes these days, this can only be a really, really smart move for epic. It's not like they have a good relation with Microsoft because of some other game that may or may not be popular right now.

Sony musta payed up real, real nice.

Though, who the heck here really cares?

I mean. Who was gunna buy the console version. Seriously.

[Kindness]

Originally Posted by share_the_pain

I don't know how well UT3 would play on a console. It always seems much harder and slower to play FPSs on consoles than PCs. I remember the first time I played Counter Strike on xBox 360, it was a lot slower and harder to aim/dodge bullets then the PC version.

/OT

Do you think that using a keyboard and mouse with the PS3 will make play any better?

[Kindness]

Originally Posted by Spiffness

… Who [here] was gunna buy the console version [anyway?] …

Good point, if I have construed it correctly.

[Spiffness]

Originally Posted by Kindness

Good point, if I have construed it correctly.

You have. It's really hot in Seattle and I'm running on very little sleep. Thanks for making my sentence make sense. :P