After delivering one of the most commonly used engines on 360 and PS3, Epic Games is working hard on Unreal Engine 4 and it's shaping up well, as shown in this new presentation video.
I,m hoping whatever they make next is not as "epic" as their previous games. Ie. shallow, steroid bound, dude-bro, armour wearing non-characters shooting things in the face. Their games are so unbelievably interchangeable i never know what game i'm looking at. So...something different would be hella welcome at this point.
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:31:09 In reply to GriftGFX
Posted by GriftGFX
Their games are interchangeable how? Have they even really made anything besides UT3 and Gears of War this generation?
It's pretty obvious that Gears of War would be interchangeable with more Gears of War.
Those 2 alone are pretty interchangeable environmentally, character wise and just general aesthetic wise. Throw in bulletstorm and you've got a trifecta of samey-ness. You can literally rip one character out of any of those games, throw them in the other and you wouldn't even notice. Either they all take place within the same universe, or epic games are creatively limited and "one trick".
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:43:30 In reply to GriftGFX
Posted by GriftGFX
Oh, I'm sorry.. I thought you meant the games were interchangeable. I don't play characters. I play games. UT3 and Gears Of War are pretty different.
"All Epic games are the same," he says while looking at the same games.
All their games look the same artistically. Which i find incredibly weird, especially for games that are not bound by reality or believability. Why do the characters of unreal, gears and bulletstorm all look like they shop for armour at the same store? Why do all male characters have no intelligence and look like they inject 'roids every 5 seconds? Are epic really that creatively stifled?
They need to release fortnite, if only to break the cycle of monotonous design principles.
I am skeptical of all these next gen engines. All shown running of a $500 GTX 680 and once scaled down they look like shit on consoles. IMO Quantic Dream's The Dark Sorcerer looked a shit load better than UE4 Ice demon demo.
I am glad I have a gaming PC but if I were a console only gamer, I would be fucking pissed!
Also lol @ epic. They still haven't shown the infiltrator or the ice demo demo on Xbone. And still no updates on the PS4 ice demon since February 2013. No wonder why no one is using this engine! Cause at the end of the day, how many people have a fucking GTX 680? Not many!
Unreal Engine 3 scales really, really well. That's one of the reasons people use it. It runs well on a huge scope of hardware configurations. And it's always been high end on.. the high end. And very popular!
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:38:44 In reply to KORNdog
Posted by KORNdog
I,m hoping whatever they make next is not as "epic" as their previous games. Ie. shallow, steroid bound, dude-bro, armour wearing non-characters shooting things in the face. Their games are so unbelievably interchangeable i never know what game i'm looking at. So...something different would be hella welcome at this point.
And yet you love killzone.
Atleast the "steroid pumped dude-bro" characters of gears have become somewhat iconic (most gamers this gen could recognise Marcus for example)..be hard pushed to pick out a character from killzone from the long list of generic shooters this gen.
I'm just hoping this engine has a similar range to Unreal 3's and is exploited in that range a lot more than U3 was this gen.
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:40:17 In reply to GriftGFX
Posted by GriftGFX
Unreal Engine 3 scales really, really well. That's one of the reasons people use it. It runs well on a huge scope of hardware configurations. And it's always been high end on.. the high end. And very popular!
You forgot to mention how UE3 ran well on Xbox 360 (the most popular last gen console). It started out a bit shitty but the quality improved big time soon after. I think Mass Effect is the worst performing UE3 game on Xbox 360.
Point is, UE3 games looked beautiful on 360 and ran at a proper 30 FPS most of the time. Meanwhile PS3 got sloppy ports.
The fact that they haven't even shown UE4 running on consoles at all is really worrying. And the brief glimpse they showed back in February looked awful...yea I dunno about UE4
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:52:19 In reply to GriftGFX
Posted by GriftGFX
And you expect to see third party UE4 games running on next-gen before you see Epic's UE4 game? Gears of War was the first real flagship UE3 game.
You're jumping to conclusions. It's mad early.
What is epic working on? I thought they were purchased by a Chinese company? All the notable employees left no?
Look at Crytek. Releasing the first Cry Engine game on Xbone at launch and it looks great. Seems to be running on a mix of high to very high settings @ 30 FPS.
or Dice releasing BF4 near launch..obviously both engines will continue to mature through next year but it's not mad early IMO
It would be very very odd if Epic didn't release a game to sell their engine first. I think it's gonna be a given we'll see something in the works by this time next year..weither it'll hit before somebody else releases something using the engine I dunno.. isn't the new fable using it? and a few other games already announced?
Epic has been working on whatever for a long time. The last game they released was Gears 3 and that was ages ago. Then a lot of good employees left the company.
I think they have been working on UE4 for a long time as well. I think they were demanding 2.5 TFLOP from the console guys in order to push their engine
Well we started seeing demo's for the engine 2 years ago now? long before E3 anyways. Remember that one with a guy smoking, set in some blade runner style city? I have a feeling one of these demo's will end up being full blown games..least I hope so.
Like I say, I don't think there's much doubt we'll see a game from epic hitting next gen. The main money for them is in selling the engine, and like Crytek, the best way to do that is demonstrate what the engine can do by releasing a game that pushes it. What will be interesting though will be if their first game will be multiplatform or if sony/ms will cough up the cash to try and get the exclusive...maybe deals are currently in progress so nothings been announced yet
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:19:03 In reply to bleachedsmiles
Posted by bleachedsmiles
And yet you love killzone.
Atleast the "steroid pumped dude-bro" characters of gears have become somewhat iconic (most gamers this gen could recognise Marcus for example)..be hard pushed to pick out a character from killzone from the long list of generic shooters this gen.
I'm just hoping this engine has a similar range to Unreal 3's and is exploited in that range a lot more than U3 was this gen.
Main character wise, killzone is no better. I prefer killzone as a game, but characters are shallow as hell, rico in particular. But at least their enemies are iconic. Which is more then i can say about anything in epic games, characters or enemy wise, which are all a bunch of rico's.
When GG announce their new IP and it looks like it place in the same universe as killzone (assuming it doesn't actually take place in that universe), then we'll have something similar, and i'll find it equally weird to fall back on samey designs when you're working within a genre that allows for literally.... anything. (Sci fi)
The blade runner-esque demo for unreal 3.9 was the most intriguing, stylistically different concept for them i've seen in years. And sadly it looks like that was all it was...a tech demo.
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:21:23 In reply to KORNdog
Posted by KORNdog
The blade runner-esque demo for unreal 3.9 was the most intriguing, stylistically different concept for them i've seen in years. And sadly it looks like that was all it was...a tech demo.
My only issue with this rant: you keep making it sound like they've generated a ton of IP that looks the same, when they've basically only made two games this entire generation.
Posted by KORNdog
BTW: knack uses UE4 i believe.
I think Medal of Honor Airborne or whatever made it out before Gears as well.. but the first big flagship game will be Epic's.
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:28:41 In reply to GriftGFX
Bulletstorm was co- developed by epic. And frankly it shows, cos the characters and enemies in that look like they'd fit right at home in gears and unreal tournament. So that's 3 games, 3 universes. 1 style.
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:28:56 In reply to KORNdog
Posted by KORNdog
Main character wise, killzone is no better. I prefer killzone as a game, but characters are shallow as hell, rico in particular. But at least their enemies are iconic. Which is more then i can say about anything in epic games, characters or enemy wise, which are all a bunch of rico's.
The helghast are iconic? they're as generically designed as gaming characters get! its my biggest gripe about killzone that theres very very little in the way of character/personality and variety. The enemies in Gears I would certainly say are less generic and offer more in the way of variety and personality than anything killzone as a franchise has shovelled out. But each to their own.
Very cool tech. Means a (character) texture artist no long has to paint or mask in each and every surface texture onto the diffuse (color) texture sheet itself, which will really streamline everything and should result in much higher quality textures and materials. B)
Commented on 2013-09-25 23:33:00 In reply to INDIGO
Posted by INDIGO
Very cool tech. Means a (character) texture artist no long has to paint or mask in each and every surface texture onto the diffuse (color) texture sheet itself, which will really streamline everything and should result in much higher quality textures and materials. B)
What does that even mean? You still have to mask out the materials, and i mean in UE3 or something like that you basically just had Diff, Spec and normal maps anyway?
The re-usable material though seems like a nice idea to be able to do in-engine, but keeping consistency up for something like that isn't very hard anyway.
Commented on 2013-09-26 03:22:15 In reply to GangStarr
Yes because every game after Gears used weird "crouch slightly to make your character sprint" feature. Seriously I always thought that looks like one of the stupidest things in this franchise. How would that make you run faster.
Its like Uncharted without a jump button and missing the next gen engine (at the time) and next gen animations.
Unreal 4 engine though, bodies should stay there double the time now, class. So 20 seconds then?
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All comments (32)
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:14:24
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:19:13
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:22:30It's pretty obvious that Gears of War would be interchangeable with more Gears of War.
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:31:09 In reply to GriftGFXIt's pretty obvious that Gears of War would be interchangeable with more Gears of War.
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:33:55"All Epic games are the same," he says while looking at the same games.
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:40:36
Commented on 2013-09-25 19:43:30 In reply to GriftGFX"All Epic games are the same," he says while looking at the same games.
They need to release fortnite, if only to break the cycle of monotonous design principles.
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:30:12I am glad I have a gaming PC but if I were a console only gamer, I would be fucking pissed!
Also lol @ epic. They still haven't shown the infiltrator or the ice demo demo on Xbone. And still no updates on the PS4 ice demon since February 2013. No wonder why no one is using this engine! Cause at the end of the day, how many people have a fucking GTX 680? Not many!
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:36:19
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:38:44 In reply to KORNdogAtleast the "steroid pumped dude-bro" characters of gears have become somewhat iconic (most gamers this gen could recognise Marcus for example)..be hard pushed to pick out a character from killzone from the long list of generic shooters this gen.
I'm just hoping this engine has a similar range to Unreal 3's and is exploited in that range a lot more than U3 was this gen.
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:39:57I think Epic needs some new blood. New designers. But I'm more on about game design. People Can Fly was a great pick-up though. Those guys rock.
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:40:17 In reply to GriftGFXPoint is, UE3 games looked beautiful on 360 and ran at a proper 30 FPS most of the time. Meanwhile PS3 got sloppy ports.
The fact that they haven't even shown UE4 running on consoles at all is really worrying. And the brief glimpse they showed back in February looked awful...yea I dunno about UE4
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:43:34 In reply to Doom_BringerYou're jumping to conclusions. It's mad early.
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:52:19 In reply to GriftGFXYou're jumping to conclusions. It's mad early.
Look at Crytek. Releasing the first Cry Engine game on Xbone at launch and it looks great. Seems to be running on a mix of high to very high settings @ 30 FPS.
or Dice releasing BF4 near launch..obviously both engines will continue to mature through next year but it's not mad early IMO
Epic is way behind
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:53:17
Commented on 2013-09-25 20:56:29I think they have been working on UE4 for a long time as well. I think they were demanding 2.5 TFLOP from the console guys in order to push their engine
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:07:17Like I say, I don't think there's much doubt we'll see a game from epic hitting next gen. The main money for them is in selling the engine, and like Crytek, the best way to do that is demonstrate what the engine can do by releasing a game that pushes it. What will be interesting though will be if their first game will be multiplatform or if sony/ms will cough up the cash to try and get the exclusive...maybe deals are currently in progress so nothings been announced yet
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:16:16
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:19:03 In reply to bleachedsmilesAtleast the "steroid pumped dude-bro" characters of gears have become somewhat iconic (most gamers this gen could recognise Marcus for example)..be hard pushed to pick out a character from killzone from the long list of generic shooters this gen.
I'm just hoping this engine has a similar range to Unreal 3's and is exploited in that range a lot more than U3 was this gen.
When GG announce their new IP and it looks like it place in the same universe as killzone (assuming it doesn't actually take place in that universe), then we'll have something similar, and i'll find it equally weird to fall back on samey designs when you're working within a genre that allows for literally.... anything. (Sci fi)
The blade runner-esque demo for unreal 3.9 was the most intriguing, stylistically different concept for them i've seen in years. And sadly it looks like that was all it was...a tech demo.
BTW: knack uses UE4 i believe.
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:21:23 In reply to KORNdog
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:28:41 In reply to GriftGFX
Commented on 2013-09-25 21:28:56 In reply to KORNdog
Commented on 2013-09-25 22:17:11
Commented on 2013-09-25 23:33:00 In reply to INDIGOThe re-usable material though seems like a nice idea to be able to do in-engine, but keeping consistency up for something like that isn't very hard anyway.
Commented on 2013-09-26 03:22:15 In reply to GangStarrIts like Uncharted without a jump button and missing the next gen engine (at the time) and next gen animations.
Unreal 4 engine though, bodies should stay there double the time now, class. So 20 seconds then?