Epic Games to look into PS3, PC cross-platform multiplay
This could probably be old news to cult followers behind Unreal Tournament since it released back in 1998 (Game of the Year by 1999). But just in case there are still people hoping for console first-person shooters to tag along with seamless online Unreal Tournament III (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Mac) play on PC, we thought this might interest you.
Lurking around the official Unreal Tournament III forums, we’ve found that Mark Rein himself stated that they will be looking into what the PlayStation 3’s open-network technology and the PC’s already-established networking capabilities could add up to:
We have not decided about cross platform play between PC and PS3. We’re not 100% sure that users want that feature but if we get time we’ll play around with it and see how it works. In the mean time we plan to be able to serve the PS3 from PC servers so that should help us gets lots of great servers going.
Unreal Tournament Classic, UTGOTYE, UT2003 and UT2004 have all been hosted upon various dedicated servers around the world, and thanks to the Sony‘s open-network infrastructure for the PlayStation 3, fans on the console won’t run out of servers to join online. 24/7 coverage, while amazing, may not even cover half of the Sony camp’s excitement over this development.
The question of whether these servers will be viewable on PC gamers’ server lists is still left unanswered, while concern for accidentally joining a match for PlayStation 3 players still looms over the horizon. If Epic does pull through with PS3-PC play, such a case would no longer be an issue. They might have to resort to control balancing issues instead, which will likely spark from the PS3’s control handicap – a viable aimbot that’s considered cheating to professional UT players.
From here on end, however, things look bleak for the Xbox 360, as Epic Games reiterated that Unreal Tournament III will not utilize Games for Windows LIVE for obvious reasons and critical repercussions that could stem from the loyal PC gaming community.
If Microsoft and FASA Studios’ Shadowrun was any indication of cross-platform play between PC and Microsoft’s next-gen console, things may not be ‘going anywhere’ for the Live Anywhere initiative – at least in the PC gamers’ perspective.
This could probably be old news to cult followers behind Unreal Tournament since it released back in 1998 (Game of the Year by 1999). But just in case there are still people hoping for console first-person shooters to tag along with seamless online Unreal Tournament III (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Mac) play on PC, we thought this might interest you.
Lurking around the official Unreal Tournament III forums, we’ve found that Mark Rein himself stated that they will be looking into what the PlayStation 3’s open-network technology and the PC’s already-established networking capabilities could add up to:
We have not decided about cross platform play between PC and PS3. We’re not 100% sure that users want that feature but if we get time we’ll play around with it and see how it works. In the mean time we plan to be able to serve the PS3 from PC servers so that should help us gets lots of great servers going.
Unreal Tournament Classic, UTGOTYE, UT2003 and UT2004 have all been hosted upon various dedicated servers around the world, and thanks to the Sony‘s open-network infrastructure for the PlayStation 3, fans on the console won’t run out of servers to join online. 24/7 coverage, while amazing, may not even cover half of the Sony camp’s excitement over this development.
The question of whether these servers will be viewable on PC gamers’ server lists is still left unanswered, while concern for accidentally joining a match for PlayStation 3 players still looms over the horizon. If Epic does pull through with PS3-PC play, such a case would no longer be an issue. They might have to resort to control balancing issues instead, which will likely spark from the PS3’s control handicap – a viable aimbot that’s considered cheating to professional UT players.
From here on end, however, things look bleak for the Xbox 360, as Epic Games reiterated that Unreal Tournament III will not utilize Games for Windows LIVE for obvious reasons and critical repercussions that could stem from the loyal PC gaming community.
If Microsoft and FASA Studios’ Shadowrun was any indication of cross-platform play between PC and Microsoft’s next-gen console, things may not be ‘going anywhere’ for the Live Anywhere initiative – at least in the PC gamers’ perspective.
About The Author
