UT 2K7 Slated for PS3 Launch

Gamespot is reporting that the next iteration in the Unreal Tournament series, UT 2007, has been announced as a PlayStation 3 launch title. From the article: "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 PlayStation 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."

Comments

Re:A very good looking game

[interiot]

If you want to play an FPS on a console, play it on an XBox 360. 1) the online part of the 360 is something that won't be available until the Playstation 4 (I'm serious: the 360's centralized online setup is so good that it's something that Sony will eventually realize it's a must-have... though like Nintendo did on the Gamecube, Sony and many others haven't realized how good it is yet), 2) 360's peer-ranking (trueskill matchmaking) means that in online play, not only are people encouraged to not be mean, sometimes they're even encouraged to actually show good sportmanship (eg. in racing games, when overtaking in a corner, sometimes people will let you know they're passing).

Will the PC version suffer from COD 2 syndrome?

[Rowan_u]

Unreal 2k3, 2k4, and GOTY have been staples at our LAN parties for ages. No, they don't offer quite the level of strategic depth of other FPS titles like Halo PC, Battlefield 2, or Call of Duty, but the UT series does offer a ton of benefits. Backward compatibility is a big one. UT will run like butter on damn near any crappy video setup, including GeForce FX and even some embedded cards. Also, platform compatibly is a big issue for our LAN parties. UT is one of the few games that has our Mac, Linux, and Windows users happily playing together with minimal fuss. The shear variety of gameplay offered is another staggering benefit. The number of vanilla install maps and gametypes is phenomenal. If 2k7 continues in these traditions, it will happily find a place in our future LANs as well.

My only fear with 2k7 being a PS3 launch is that the PC version will suffer for it. I don't mean graphically because I'm sure the new engine will look fantastic on every platform. I'm more worried about the problems that COD2 suffered from being a 360 title including many simplifications of gameplay to make it more accessible to a console audience. The grenade indicator and ridiculous recharging health system come to mind.

Re:Will the PC version suffer from COD 2 syndrome?

[Rowan_u]

I agree with you wholeheartedly on realism, health packs certainly aren't any better. However, what the recharging health system does for my experience is this. I cease to care about getting shot. With health being a finite resource, you have to care about getting shot, and plan your strategies carefully. I found that being able to duck behind anything for 5 seconds to recharge changed my play style in COD2 considerably. I would run into a room and gun down everybody Serious Sam style instead of shooting from cover and using my teammates like I did in COD1 by necessity. Granted, YMMV, and this may just be a personal thing with me.

On the other hand, I found the system in Halo 1 to be perfect where you had both a recharging shield and a finite health bar providing you with a little bit of room for error while preserving the need for strategic gameplay.

On the grenade indicator, I found the more subtle clues in COD1 to be more enjoyable. I felt plenty of panic hearing a grenade clatter across the floor at me, and part of the tension is created by not knowing exactly were the grenade is. The grenade indicator feels like supernatural ability to me, not something that your basic ww2 grunt possessed. In COD2 its more like, "Yawn, another grenade, I'll just step over here for a moment then . . ."

120 MILLION?

[Anonymous Coward]

120 Million?

Where'd you get that number from?
The Playstation 2 has shipped approximately 100 Million units with a large portion of those that were sold being purchaced as:

1)Replacements
2)Cheap Dvd Players
3)Systems to play pirated games on

The fact is that Sony will (hopefully) improve quality control, Blu-Ray will probably not catch on at the rate DVD did, and Sony will do anything in their power to prevent piracy; this means that, regardless of the quality of the system, the PS3 will probably drop in sales.

Now, using Nintendo's statistics on console sales, the number of households that own consoles hasn't increased all that dramatically since the NES days; the market has grown simply because people have bought 2 or 3 systems rather than one. There is no reason to expect that this pattern would stop, so you can assume that there will not be a dramatic increase in the number of single console owners but that people will be far more likely to own 2 or all 3 systems.

Re:A very good looking game

[drsquare]

PC games have gotten by amazingly well without a centralized system, better than they would have with one. XBox Live is nothing but a fad.

Yeah, and we've gotten by fine for centuries with candles. Electric lights are nothing but a fad.

A centralised system has obvious benefits, I don't see why you don't like it. You're probably one of those hardcore comic book guy PC gamers who spends 12 hours a day playing counterstrike and another 8 hours a day tweaking graphics and keyboard shortcuts, and the remaining 4 hours whining on messageboards thinking that your loudmouthed opinions actually represent anyone other than a minority of zealots.