World exclusive first looks at the future Unreal Engine

You've seen the sexed up trailer showing what games based on Epic's Unreal Engine will look like in the coming generation. Now join Kotaku and Gizmodo for the world's first peek at the tools and technology that will be used to create some of the biggest games on every platform from PC to iOS in coming years.

[jidery]

iOS? I lol'd

I don't want the next generation of game engines held back by phones...

[BK-201]

Its an easy to scale engine. I think its pretty powerful in that respect.

[awi5951]

I think its been held back im still running my old cards because besides crysis no games pushed them. And with crysis 2 console direct x9 im not going to bother to upgrade my cards since im running 3. Ill wait untill B3 comes out then ill get me 2 direct x 11 cards.

[sobekflakmonkey]

I think the engine looks great, you PC elitists need to chill out, consoles are not holding back engines and games neither are phones, its the fact that games cost a shit load more to make if you wanna use DX11 and such, gotta put more time effort and money into everything, i think developers are just kinda waiting, until they feel they can move forward, which i kinda hope is soon, i can definitely agree that there needs to be a new gen of consoles already.

[MaxXAttaxX]

the Gears games will start to have proper anti-aliasing instead of that blur effect.

[humbleopinion]

Gears of war 2 uses the only PROPER anti-alaising we have: MSAA.

You're probably mixing it up with games that use cheap AA alternatives like MLAA, Temporal AA, or QAA (which is probably the shittiest of all 3 because it blurs out the whole screen). All of these create artifacts but many games go for these alternatives because for the old consoles hardware MSAA is a resource burden and not all games can pull it.

[DERKADER]

I didn't want the current generation PC's held back by consoles, but you don't always get what you want.

[paintsville]

I didn't want xbox Crysis 2 held back by PS3 but you don't always get what you want.

[GamerSciz]

@paintsville

The general consensus is that the Xbox version of Crysis 2 looks better then PS3. That being the case your comment is null and void. Troll harder next time please.

[BlackKnight]

@paintsville & GamerSciz

The PC version was held back by the consoles. Xbox and PS3 are almost identical in power when compared to the HUGE GAP between console vs PC. While consoles have 512 MB of TOTAL MEMORY (both system and video), Gaming PCs have 4,000-8,000MB of system RAM and video cards with 768MB to 2,000MB of video RAM. You can buy system RAM for PC that is WAY faster than console RAM and 4GB worth for 40-50 bucks online these days. That is insane.

http://www.newegg.com/Produ...

The new 590GTX has 3GB of video RAM and the HD 6990 has 4GB of video RAM.

If anyone is holding gaming tech back, it is BOTH consoles.

[B1663r]

I just wanted to point out that regardless of which version is best looking (clearly the PC version) that this is an excelent time for a list, because my n4g stalkers like to pm me lists I thought I would just return the favor

CVG

"best looking fps ever"

IGN

"Crysis 2 on Xbox 360 has taken the crown for best graphics in a console game"

PSU

"best looking shooter on PlayStation 3"

Electripig

"Crysis 2 is outstanding in almost every department, not least its visuals, which are the very best either PS3 or Xbox 360 has to offer right now

GamesRadar

"Crysis 2 does run on consoles, and it does so beautifully. We're calling it now: Crysis 2 is possibly the best-looking console game ever."

justpushstart.com

"I find Crysis 2 visuals to be superior to similar shooters like Call of Duty: Black Ops or Killzone 3."

XG247

"Crysis 2 is definitely the best looking game on consoles and PC"

Denofgeek

"I honestly think that this may well be the single best looking FPS I've ever seen, on any platform. It really does look that good."

XXLGaming

The games visuals were just jaw dropping and I have to agree when Crytek says it is setting the bar in console gaming graphics. Just wow."

Joystiq

Though about the millionth FPS built around a plot of an alien invasion, give or take a few, it's also the most beautiful.

Gamezone

The game looks utterly stunning and is arguably one of the best-looking shooters on consoles.

[SnakeMustDie]

@B1663r

Game reviewers has been going downhill lately so I don't take most of their reviews as credible. Remember that most of them even gave MW2 graphics a 10.

If you do rely on review sites, there are some like Gamespot that said that it is a gorgeous game but it's not in the same league as KZ3 on consoles.

[sobekflakmonkey]

@B1663r

Although all that sounds great and all, ive played both console versions of crysis 2, and to be honest, Uncharted 2 still pretty much takes the cake for me, mainly because theres like ZERO glitches in the single player campaign that have to do with graphics, and the game just looks retarded amazing, Crysis 2 is like my favorite FPS right now, but graphically Uncharted 2 is still the winner, and may i remind you, this is my opinion and i know it differs from others :p

[Enate]

BlackKnight Even if developing at the highest end was what someone had in mind doing so also requires the highest cost. An yet it will more then likely yield the lowest return. Money is always a factor in these things. Not to mention current cards still can play some amazing looking games. Look at the Witcher 2 for instance gtx 260 recommended. Not everything has to say 6970 + required to look good.

There is still time for perfection in the current gen and if you ask me it needs a bit more. Optimization is all over the board especially in pc's. This card can play this, this and this and not this even though it should be able to with no problem. I can't tell you how many times I have run into that issue as of late.

Leaps don't happen over night, just because games are not coming out tomorrow that put a hurting on cards like the 6990. Doesn't mean console are the sole cause. There are multiple reasons for one the gpu's don't just make stuff happen on their own. New engines need to be developed and then usually, tons of optimization there after. Time and money and more factors I'm sure. I know some people would like to think it so simple and in same cases it may hold true but not all.

Now if you would like to cough up a 100mil plus for a game. Based on the current height of pc technology I'm sure someone would get right on that for you. Though we are talking a minimum of what? 2 to 4 years to develop the game, so by then that wouldn't be cutting edge. An at best you could slap on some Dx12 (or whatever it will be by then) features for a little better end result.

[BlackKnight]

@Enate

I listed the 590 and 6990 just to show what high end is. Earlier in my comment listed a range of video memory in cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Produ...

You can see here, you can get a video card with 768MB-1GB of memory and the GPU in these run CIRCLES around the consoles.

http://www.techspot.com/rev...

Here you see the 460 1GB getting an average of 32 FPS at 1200P and on the HIGHEST settings on PC, AND this was the beta build of Crysis 2, not final. That is more than 2x the resolution of console and the highest PC settings all for an entry level video card.

Even entry level cards can pull off the "max" of Crysis 2. I am not saying a 6970 "required" as you put it. I am saying make USE of the 6970 and 580GTX, not require.

I am not saying we need new consoles. I own both AND a PC, I have 20 xbox games and 10 PS3 games. My point is that devs DO NOT put as much effort into PC as they do in consoles ever since this most recent generation of consoles. That is the problem.

And "recommended" settings given by devs no longer means "at max" settings, its for mid-range settings, some high, and an FPS around 30.

And the whole thing about 2-4 years is WAY over exaggerated. Learning DX12 features is minimal to a dev that already worked on DX9, DX10, DX11 paths. Most game time is spent on design choices and content generation and polish and bug testing. Many developers use licensed engines even, so that is no dev time for engine/tech, just polish and tuning. The issue is many devs are sitting on DX9 and not moving past it, due to consoles. There are hopes such as BF3 and others that will make use of the PC platform. We will have to wait and see.

[zeal0us]

East Coast Game Conference 2011 coming up, Epic is offer unreal university(learning session and preview of some stuff)

The engine itself looks pretty nice wish the vid was an actual game.

[50Terabytespersec]

some scenes looked like Heavy Rain, Some look like cutscenes from a tired old Engine.
I have to say I am more impressed by hardware than Anything else.I'will take a racing game in 1080p with actual crowds of 50+ people in the background with the detail of say charachters from those UFC games and Car Models like GT5 and backgrounds brimming with action and physics. Ill be impressed .What I just saw is just same old engine with touchups.. meh .... GIve us massive worlds with Uncharted Graphics or God of war three . please!!!

[Muffins1223]

it wont,but its amazing that they made a iphone have console like graphics

[BlackKnight]

Wow, I didn't realize the Samaritan demo actually rendered each hair on his head and each hair on his face, holy shit. Wish we could download it and run it at lower resolutions and inspect everything to really get a feel for it's detail without video compression and color loss.

[sobekflakmonkey]

Agreed!

[DeadlyFire]

Don't worry in a couple years when the UE 4.0 SDK is available or at least for people to license you can get to it.

While some features possible on UE3.x. Alot will not be until the full scale of UE4.0 is released. Only thing holding the release of such a thing is the power it requires to run the engine. Only 1-3 years at most til its ready.

[montyburns000]

inb4 the armchair developers start telling us how UE is dated/sucks/looks shiny

[HeavenlySnipes]

this engine is amazing. The best part is that because most devs use this engine, most multiplat games will look WAAY better.

[B1663r]

Lol, armchair developer here, I can't wait for this because us armchair developers will get to play with the old version of the tools now without laying out 30k dollars;P

[karl]

i dont really understand much of pcs but..

for u pc fans outthere.. could u run that demo with a current gen PC?...

just curious. ...

[BK-201]

Yes easily. Many would have framerate issues though.

[BlackKnight]

Short answer, yes, just depends on what resolution and framerate you want.

Long answer, as long as you have a DX11 card, you can do anything there, it depends on what kind of DX11 card you get, a 100 dollar one or 500 dollar one or three 500 dollar video cards (you can add multiple video cards on PCs, meant for gaming on multiple monitors or TV's which causes the resolution to basically be 1080P time number-of-monitors). There are many video card speeds to choose from for the price you want.

The Samaritan demo is running all effects from DX11 (I believe, if not, 90%) and many high quality effects all at the same time while using a PC with 3 500 dollar video cards. But they didn't say the framerate or resolution. It was at least 1080P and 30FPS.

I only have 1 of the 3 video cards they used, the 580GTX, which is the fastest single video card/single GPU out right now. If they were running that demo in excess of 90FPS, I can certainly say my single 580GTX could run it at the same exact settings and get 30 FPS (give or take).

[cannon8800]

yeah dude there are at least ten or so video cards from nvidia and ati alone that already have directx 11.

[Karum]

Certainly looks to be extremely capable, needs devs to be able to get the most out of it though.

End of the day I couldn't care less about the engine used, give me an awesome game that performs well on a technical basis and I'm a happy gamer.

[theonlylolking]

The trees, grass, etc... looks the best I have ever seen in a video game.

I think they should just call this UE4 since it really is not UE3 anymore.

[I_C_PEE]

Please for the love of all things holy can the devs just focus on effects next gen like completely destructible worlds, upgraded physics, animation and all that other stuff instead of pumping out a gazzilion polys. Id take a beefed up Mass Effect/Bad Company 2/Red Faction hybrid any day of the week.

[therapist]

mmmmmmmmm

next gen is gonna be tasty!!

right now i game mainly on pc but i got love for my consoles too...

any multiplat is pc though, without a shred of thought

true native 1920x1080 with 16x AA and AF running at a sexy smooth 60 frames...so nice

Cannot wait for the new consoles though,,,soon i hope

[gypsygib]

Naturally it's visually very impressive but I was hoping the next gen of graphics would emphasize destructive environments with very detailed destruction.

If I shoot a rocket launcher at a brick wall with a metal rail, I want the wall the react realistically, not have a simple burn mark the metal should fragment and bend. Or if I throw a grenade in a wooded area, trees and branches should fall apart, and the ground should be indented.

I think a lot of realism comes from how realistically the environment reacts (physics and destruction) not just how real it looks.

[spacetoilet]

That is why I love BFBC2 so much. I mean it may not look on the surface the greatest graphics (though it does look amazing) but the destruction and physics in the frostbite engine just adds so much to it for me. It's the way forward.
I can't even touch COD or other FPS games now, where you could hide from an airstrike or a rocket in a wooden shed.

[spacetoilet]

Wow! Looks great. The DX-11 implementations look sweet!!

[reddeadite]

Off topic but imagine playing the orange box on ngp

[zero_cool]

or team fortress 3 on NGP!

[zero_cool]

This topic isn't about crysis 2 so gtfo with that shit! Anyways unreal engine 3 new tweeks & adjustments looks more like an update but still a plus because it extends the life of the engine which is never a bad thing!

[Finger-Eater]

Epic Games is Epic.