PS3 Fanboy

For the Unreal devotees, it shouldn't come as surprising that Unreal Tournament III is shaping up quite nicely. Already far along in development, this PC/PS3 first person shooter is pushing the boundaries of the already-impressive Unreal Engine even further. Not only are the weapons demonstrated in this video, but the vehicles are, as well. Some of them are quite creative, we have to admit.

While we're impressed, we're worried that the current popularity of Warhawk may deter fans from switching to yet another multiplayer shooter. While UTIII and Warhawk have very different approaches to the genre, we hope that gamers don't get too burned out from their endless Warhawk sessions.

[Thanks, Daichi!]

The rumour mill is working overtime today, churning out bags and bags of delicious untruthes. The latest of which is that Unreal Tournament 3 will feature PC to PS3 cross play and that the PS3 will be the only console to support the feature. We contacted Mark Rein for clarification and he responded exactly as we expected him to. "We have not made a decision on PS3 vs. PC play."

To clarify further, for those confused, the PS3 version of UT3 will feature keyboard and mouse but PC to PS3 cross play has not been decided on yet. Rein listed some hurdles that need to be jumped before the feature could be implemented during his interview with Joystiq. One of those hurdles? Control differences. So with that fixed, it's a possibility. They just haven't decided yet. Yes, we're really driving that point home.

Keep those rumours coming and we'll keep debunking them. Probably.

We got to see Unreal Tournament III running side by side on PC and PS3. Both versions obviously looked fantsatic, and it was great to see how nearly identical they look. However, the incredible resolution of the PC version made it the clearly superior offering. A representative from Epic told us that the PS3 version is still being tweaked, and that details about the resolution and framerate it will run at won't be revealed yet as they're still trying to optimize the performance for the console.

UTIII will feature the return of many fan-favorite weapons, but we saw a couple of a new additions. Of particular note had to be a weapon that generated a time-warping field. A cube can be created, and within that cube, all time gets slowed down significantly. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the field, we saw the Flak Cannon shoot into the field. As the spray entered the field, it came to a crawl, and the player was able to run past the flak and see it exit the other side, at full momentum. We don't know if this will make a significant change to battles, but it certainly was a cool effect, nonetheless.

In addition, UTIII will feature a greater variety of vehicles. The coolest addition has to be the hoverboard, which is readily accessible at all times. This allows players to move much more quickly, and can be used while holding a CTF flag. A new single player mode was briefly demonstrated, and it shows a lot of potential. The offline single player from previous Unreal Tournament titles were slim on story and options. In the newly updated single player campaign, players will be able to watch a story unfold, and choose a non-linear path through various missions.