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

A very good looking game

[rAiNsT0rm]

Personally, the UT games have grown stale as far as gameplay... however, there is no denying the graphical prowess of UT2k7. I have seen the engine demos in person twice and both times I was left in awe of what I was seeing. To imagine a console pumping out those graphics at a silky smooth frame-rate is pretty amazing, now if only some more substance and gameplay would get mixed in... I just might actually play an FPS on a console.

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).

Re:A very good looking game

[Pxtl]

Rumour has it that the gameplay in UT2k7 will be pretty good too. They're keeping a lot of the UT2k4 vehicles and weapons but makign some nice changes - for example, the unpopular and useless Scorpion is getting it's weapon replaced with a rocket launcher and a kamekaze attack. Also, the biorifle, grenade launcher, and mine launcher are being rolled into a single variable-load launcher weapon.

There have been some comments about the game being "easier" and action being "more in-your-face like old UT" that suggest that the game will be returning to the slower, more manageable pace of UT99.

So all in all, I expect it to kick ass in every way. I find it odd though that they're releasing actual UT on the console, rather than the consolified fighting-game style Unreal Championship titles (which are supposedly really good, but completely different from the PC counterparts).

Re:A very good looking game

[vertinox]

Personally, the UT games have grown stale as far as gameplay... however, there is no denying the graphical prowess of UT2k7.

Actually, Epic just makes the UT part mostly to sell the engine to other developers. The game itself is mostly a big advertisement of what the engine can do.

Re:A very good looking game

[KDR_11k]

It's what the eagle did with the turtle to the inquisitor in Small Gods.

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.

PS3 Will Be The Most Dominant Console Ever

[Anonymous Coward]

Right now we are looking at least four confirmed PS3 launch titles:

Lair
Warhawk
UT 2007
Medal of Honor: Airbone

And Sony will surely be announcing more in the next month or two for the March launch.

Microsoft and the 360 have pretty much flunked out of the console race and really aren't relevant any more unless you are part of the niche hardcore Xbox and Dreamcast demo(probably around two to five million console owners).

Nintendo and the Rev look like they have a good chance of being cheap and fun enough to have a huge number of PS3 owners adding a Rev in addition.

We are looking at a two horse console race this next console cycle.

PS3: 120 million
Nintendo: 25-40 million
Microsoft: 8-12 million

Virtually every PS1/PS2 owner will be buying PS3 + natural market growth + a decent chunk of former Xbox owners

Nintendo looks to be the default 'second console' for the PS3 demo + natural market growth + a potentially very large influx of new people to the market

Microsoft is pretty much trying to salvage as much of their core Xbox as possible. They have lost the pc gamer crowd which was a fairly large segment of their user-base. And they have lost most of the 'teh most powerful console' demo to the PS3. Leaving pretty much the Sony hating/Halo/Dreamcast demo left.

The fact that a pc developer was able to get their engine up and running on the PS3 in about a month supports what most developers have been saying about the PS3 being the easiest to develop for. I am hearing that Sony is really going to have a huge amount of stuff to show at CES and the Sony show a month later leading up to the March launch. Unless a planet killing comet hits or something of that scale, we are looking at the most dominant console launch ever.

Unreal Tournament 2700?

[metamatic]

Who are these people who call themselves nerds and don't know that a 2K7 resistor is 2700 ohms, not 2007. Sheesh.

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 . . ."

Ooh, if only i'd saved those mod points...

[AlanN]

(Score:-1, Rabid Fanboy)