Rumors Debunked: Unreal 3′s PS3 exclusivity

Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein went online on Epic Games’ fan forums to debunk rumors of a November 2007 release date for Unreal Tournament 3 and the games exclusiveness to the PS3 console.

During Sony’s E3 conference in June 2007, Sony representatives announced that Unreal Tournament 3 would be exclusive to the PS3 in 2007, with publisher Midway later confirming a November 2007 release date followed by Rein’s comment during the event when he said:

“The game takes full advantage of the power of the PlayStation 3 system, and Unreal Tournament 3 will, for the first time, allow users to create robust user-created content, known as ‘mods,’ on the PC version and play them on the PlayStation 3 system. We’re extremely excited about this, and we feel this will bring a level of creativity, innovation, and replayability not previously seen on home consoles.”

This news had fans of Unreal Tournament so excited they must have forgotten that it was mentioned during the conference that any delays in the development of this game may be push the Xbox 360 release date to early 2008.

“The PS3 console exclusivity is not in doubt. We are shipping the game on the PS3 well before the Xbox 360 version ships,” Rein said in an interview with Games Industry Biz. “That’s the version we are working on right now. We do not have a date for the Xbox 360 version. Nothing has changed at this point. We’re working toward a November release.”

On the Epic Games fan forums, Rein personally addressed fan comments a little disappointed that they have been counting down the days using the countdown timer posted on a German fan site.

“Not to cast doubt on our plans but rather to debunk the countdown timer on a German fan site that listed a specific release date. “We don’t know the specific release date yet and I think it is always prudent to remind our fans that we value quality over release date. I continue to be disappointed that folks on the internet treat any positive thing we say about one platform as some sort of critique of another platform. We’re a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on, every one.”

Rein went on to explain to fans that the reason they were working on the PS3 version first was because of the PS3′s ability to hold more data than the optical disc on the Xbox 360 and they were working on finding alternative ways to get the content to 360 users while providing the same quality product. He continued to explain that if they tried to add a second DVD to a game like UT3, it would become frustrating for players trying to game online because it would constantly lag to search for the correct maps or even other game content.

“When it comes to user created mods on the 360 – we will work with Microsoft to find a way to support them,” he wrote in the forum. “We just don’t have all the answers today and it isn’t our chief priority at this very moment because we already have our hands completely full shipping UT3 on PC and PS3 as well as shipping Gears of War on PC. When we get those out of the way, and get a little time to spend with our friends and families, then we’ll get back on this issue and figure it out.”

Read [Game Industry Biz] Also Read [Mark Rein's Message] Site [Epic Games]