PS3 Fanboy

It's not much of a deal, but if you want to pay "last-gen" prices for "next-gen" games, then you might finally bite the bullet and get Unreal Tournament 3 for this slightly discounted price. If you think about all the fun you'll have when it comes to mods, then you're pretty set when it comes to convincing yourself. It's definitely a good game to add to your PS3 library, so we're just tipping you off on what might be the eight bucks off you needed.

It's all very well being able to play as Master Chief or Marcus Fenix in Unreal Tournament 3, but what about Nintendo fans? Who can they play as? Thankfully, one skillful modder has created a Samus Aran character model to placate the UTIII playing Nintendo mob. The model itself looks excellent and we can't wait to try it out. You can find more information as well as links to the mod (cooked for the PS3, naturally) at ut3mod.com. Go check it out and let us know what you think.

Love playing Unreal Tournament 3? Love LEGOs? Then you're going to be thrilled by this bit of news. A talented gamer has created a LEGO-inspired UT3 mod for the PS3 version of the multi-platform shooter.

The coolest part of this mod has got to be watching the LEGO blocks break apart when you fire at them. It would've been equally fun to have the ability to build stuff back up, but that would probably distract players from killing each other like they're suppose to.

Hit the jump for another video clip or, if you're already planning on getting this mod for yourself, you can download it here. Make sure you thank the creator, too!

In spite of Microsoft's announcement of the XBL community arcade, there's apparently no progress on making Unreal Tournament III mods available on the Xbox 360. In an interview with Joystiq, Epic Games' VP Mark Rein noted that there's still no set release date for the 360 version.

More interesting than that bit of news comes from what Rein has to say about the PS3 version. He acknowledged the current mod system is "less than stellar." The cumbersome process of having to download files to a PC, properly format them on a Memory Stick, and transfer them to the PS3 is certainly an annoying one. Unfortunately, no specific details about what "improvements" will be made, or when they'll be available, have been announced yet. Considering how broken the current system is, we'd like to think that anything is going to be an improvement.

It was notable late last year the great job Epic did in ensuring Unreal Tournament III hit its promised stateside release before 2007 ended. While seemingly all the attention was focused on North America, gamers in Europe were left on the outside looking in as Epic couldn't nail down a firm release date for the region ... until now.

Eurogamer has learned from Midway that the game will be available on Feb. 22, ending the weeks of impatient waiting from the series' longtime fans. With the mod cooker released and user-created mods now showing up, it looks like European gamers will be in for quite the treat when they finally get their hands on it.

We've been harping on about this Unreal Tournament III mod "cooker" for a wee while now. For those of you who don't know, this update for the Unreal Editor on PC allows mods to be exported to a PS3-friendly format, allowing any of the current and future PC mod releases to be saved out and used on the PlayStation 3. Epic released a few mods to tide us over while the "cooker" was still being tested. Soon after that, it was released to an undisclosed number of people on the Developer Mailing list, for further testing.

Now, however, it's finally available for everyone to download. From here on out we expect to see a huge amount of user-generated content being released. But not all of it can be good, surely? We're aiming to bring you a round up of our favourite mods every couple of weeks or so. So if you're a mod maker, or if you've stumbled upon a mod you particularly enjoy, let us know at Jem [at] Joystiq.com.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We know exactly what you've been thinking everytime you load up Unreal Tournament III - "I wish I could see more of my character's back". Well help is at hand. One of the first mods to be released by the UTIII mod community is a third-person camera mutator. This allows you to play the game as if it was a third person shooter, similar to Uncharted.

The over-the-shoulder viewpoint gives the game a very different feel and comes with a few aesthetic restrictions. Firstly, bulky character models such as the Krall can obscure your view, so it's best to stick with something a little more svelt. The fact that you never see your weapon means that you also need to pay close attention to the shape of the crosshair, or you could end up blowing yourself up with a rocket launcher you picked up without noticing.

Other than these very small obstacles, this mod is excellent. Be sure to grab it at your earliest convenience. If you stumble across any other great PS3 UTIII mods, we'd love to know. Just shoot us an email at Jem [at] Joystiq.com

[Via Digg]

The ever-chatty vice president of Epic, Mark Rein, has posted on the official Unreal Tournament III forums to let us know that they're in the final stages of testing the public code that allows for "cooking" mod code for the PS3. Rein believes that testing should be finished sometime next week and the update can then be immediately released. This will open the flood gates and we will then see a huge amount of user generated content being played on the PS3. We can't wait.

Once the "cooker" is finally released, we at PS3 Fanboy will be running a new feature showcasing the best UTIII mods available for PS3. More on that next week, hopefully!

[Via N4G]

We know a lot of you were disappointed to find out that, even though Epic had promised, mods were not made available for the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament III on day one. Apparently they are still waiting on some paperwork from Sony and once that's in people will be able to export their mods for the PS3 version of the game. To tide us over until then, Epic has "cooked" some mods they've picked from the community themselves. The first piece, a map by the name of DM-Shrine, is available right now to play on your PS3.

As if that wasn't enough, Epic is releasing some more user-generated content for download from the modding community. A mutator, some new maps and even a new game type. This should easily keep us busy until modders can "cook" their own content - when that happens we advise that you hold onto something, because we'll be seeing a tidal wave of content being released for us.

Importing content is simply a matter of placing it onto the root directory of a memory stick or USB key, then importing it through the "My Content" section of the "Community" menu. Simple as that. The power of UTIII mods really becomes clear today and we can't wait to see what the modding community comes up with once the exporter is finally released.

It seems Epic's Mark Rein has remained true to his word that the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 would release before the end of the year in North America as he announced the game has gone gold and is now in the hands of North American manufacturing.

Although an exact release date probably won't be set until next week, Rein did say the game will hit shelves early next month. "My guess is that Midway will start shipping the title to North American retailers on Monday December 10, and it could show up in stores as early as December 11, but more likely toward the middle of that week," he said in a statement.

"I think PS3 owners are going to really enjoy UT3 this holiday so make sure you get it on your shopping list!" he said. While this is welcomed news for North American PS3 owners, we're sorry to say but our European friends will still have to wait until January or February for the newest entry into the series.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

If you so choose, you can play Midway's upcoming Unreal Tournament III with some data cached on your drive. It'll take a pretty sizable chunk: 3.5 gigs worth of data. According to Mark Rein, this will shave just a few seconds off of the already-brief load times, and is meant for the hardcore that'll undoubtedly play the game nonstop. "Yes there is an install option which places a bunch of the commonly used content on your hard drive to speed up loading and texture streaming times a bit. It does not install everything - you still have to put the disc in the drive to run the game. The install is absolutely not essential. The game runs just fine from the Bluray and load times aren't bad but if you're going to play the game a lot, and you've got an extra 3.5Gb on your hard drive, then you might as well do the install because the few seconds you save here and there will add up over time."

[Via N4G]

We were wondering what had happened to Mark Rein - it's been quite a while since we've last heard word from him around the internets. However, an Unreal Tournament III event without him would just be plain wrong, so it's no surprise to hear another load of quotes from him surfacing from a event held in Birmingham yesterday. Eurogamer were there to ask him a few questions but, more specifically, they wanted to know the likelihood of the game being released this year.

In early October Midway revised their annual estimates with the expectation that Unreal Tournament III would ship in 2008, instead of late 2007. Mark Rein then went on record to say that Epic was still intending to get the game out before the end of the year and it seems like that will be the reality - for America. Rein told Eurogamer yesterday that Epic are "very close to a release candidate" and they "should have it finished by the end of this week." After that, it heads off to manufacture and distribution.

As for Europe, he suspects the release may slip into 2008. But it's not Epic's fault! It's all those pesky languages us Europeans speak. "Europe's a problem because the certification process in Europe takes longer." Rein says, "They're testing all these different languages in all these different countries, so I doubt it'll be released this year in Europe. But I don't know. We'll have to cross our fingers and wait and see." So there's a chance - but we won't hold our breath.