Unreal Tournament 2007 to be PS3 launch title

Gamespot ^ | 12/21/2005

[Panerai]

Seven months after a snippet was shown at E3, Midway and Epic's shooter is confirmed for Sony's next-gen console.

As part of its pre-E3 PlayStation 3 conference in May, Sony brought Epic Games cofounder Tim Sweeney on stage. Besides saying that Epic had already received a PS3 software-development kit--which he said was "easy to program"--Sweeney also performed a tech demo of a shooter running on PS3 hardware.

The game on display appeared to be Unreal Tournament 2007, the flashy-looking, Unreal Engine 3-based successor to the popular PC shooter Unreal Tournament 2004. However, neither Sony nor Epic would confirm when--or even if--UT 2007 would arrive on the PS3.

Seven months later, the two companies have broken their silence. The January 2006 issue of PSM Magazine proudly proclaims that, yes, UT 2007 is coming to the PlayStation 3. Inside, the magazine also reveals that the game will be a launch title for the PlayStation 3, which is tentatively slated for a spring 2006 launch.

UT 2007 for PS3 is the second Epic shooter announced for next-generation consoles. However, the first, Gears of War for the Xbox 360, is slated for a general "2006" release date, meaning it could conceivably come out after the PS3 UT 2007.

For more on Unreal Tournament 2007, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of the PC version of the game.

[Panerai]

[Panerai]

Unreal 2007 on PS3 ping

[Terpfen]

Note that this undermines the rumor that Sony isn't going to have a centralized online system for PS3.

[JTN]

I was told today by my brother-in-law that Sony went back to the drawing board with the PS3 when they saw the Xbox 360, and would probably not be ready by Spring. He's pretty pro-Xbox though.

[Echo Talon]

Will PS3 except a keyboard and mouse? I hate playing FPS with a controller! thats why I wont but another counsel!

[Echo Talon]

buy even.

[JTN]

Also it's "console" not "counsel".

[Echo Talon]

yea that too... any idea if you can use a keyboard and mouse with it?

[MinorityRepublican]

Sony got fat and rich off PS2 so that's why they were slacking off for the whole time. The same thing happened with Nintendo a couple years ago.

[JTN]

any idea if you can use a keyboard and mouse with it?

Don't know.

[Brett66]

Yeah, the keyboard & mouse are far superior to a controller. I won't even consider buying one unless they use a keyboard and mouse. I also like strategy games and consoles are mostly FPS type games. I'll be using a PC for the forseeable future.

[Sofa King]

Video game ping!

If you want on or off this list, Freepmail me

[Sofa King]

How so? Epic may just be creating their own online service like online games for the PS2 have had to do.

[Terpfen]

Unlikely. If they had to do that, they'd probably be releasing Unreal Championship 3 on the PS3. Instead, they're releasing UT2K7, which will likely allow PS3 players to play on the same servers as 360 and PC players. You can't really accommodate a player base that large with just a few company-run servers, especially for a company Epic's size.

It looks to me like Sony must have SOME online service going, otherwise Epic wouldn't bother releasing the game on the PS3.

[Terpfen]

Unlikely.

For one, Sony's said they're still on track for a Spring release date. The thing is, they've never said if Spring 2006 applied to the US or not. Most likely, it's a Japan-only release date, as Spring is when the PSX and PS2 launched in Japan.

Your brother in law is letting his bias show.

[Obadiah]

Wow. I resisted buying an Xbox 360 because I think the PS3 will be superior. We'll see if I bet right, but having Unreal 07 in the launch line up is a very good thing! Also, I cannot fathom how Sony could even entertain the thought of not having a central online play option. I mean, that is where virtually every game is going? What was Sony thinking?

[Terpfen]

The PS2 has third-party keyboards and mice. If the online support is even half of what people expect it to be, such accessories will be even more prevalent.

[Sofa King]

"If they had to do that, they'd probably be releasing Unreal Championship 3 on the PS3. Instead, they're releasing UT2K7, which will likely allow PS3 players to play on the same servers as 360 and PC players."

You're assuming an awful lot here. It would also probably be a lot easier to link a PC, 360, and PS3 game together using a system built from the ground up than trying to get Xbox live and PS3 whatever-you-call-it to play nice together. And, since the PS2 already has some online games, you apparently can accommodate a player base with company run servers.

[Terpfen]

You're assuming an awful lot here.

Not really. I'm assuming two things: one, that Epic will allow all 3 versions of the game to be played together. This is very likely, especially given that console versions of FPS games as far back as Quake III Arena for the Dreamcast were playable with the PC version. Of course, the Dreamcast players got their butts kicked, but that wasn't their fault. And two, Epic will continue to allow the community to make their own servers, rather than forcing them to play on Epic's servers. I'm sure Epic will run their own servers, but only a few: they'll be vastly outnumbered by the fan-hosted servers available. This is how it's been done for years, and I'm really not seeing a reason why they wouldn't allow console players to join those fan-hosted PC version servers.

Unreal Championship is Epic's version of UT for console players who may not want to play online. Epic could have kept UT2K7 on the PC, and just released another UC game for the 360 and PS3. But instead, they consciously chose to release UT2K7 for all 3 platforms. This strongly suggests that Sony has an online strategy that's at least good enough to handle UT.

[Echo Talon]

it would be nice not to have to use third party keyboard and mice.. just a standard USB