Unreal Tournament 2004

Heres what I read this morning 😄

The game is so close we can smell the plasma. Here's the deal: the world of fast-and-furious PC deathmatch and teamplay has been largely ignored in the past year or so. You have awesome World War II simulations (like Call of Duty) or single-player story-based games (like Max Payne), but when it comes to good old fast-paced multiplayer rocket-spamming blasterfests, action fans have been going hungry.

That's why Unreal Tournament 2004 is coming at just the right time. UT 2003 was fun but it wasn't really a standout -- we think that's going to change with 2004. It's got several new game modes, including a few with vehicles.

UT 2004's new team-based game modes are like the best of Battlefield 1942, Tribes, and PlanetSide all wrapped together in a sweet, blazingly fast package. You'll snipe! You'll blast! You'll drive! You'll fly! You'll capture flags, jump across moving trains, fly space fighters at motherships ... and in general you'll enjoy that brand of sweaty-palmed gameplay that you've been waiting for for years. And WE'VE got the scoop! Stick around for exclusive coverage for the rest of this week, starting tomorrow.

I can't wait for this game, the original UT, and UT 2003 were outstanding, exciting games, and the return of assault mode in UT 2004 is a huge plus that I'm very excited over.

Oh yes...me cannot wait. I've loved every UT game, so I'll definitely be getting this when it comes out.

lol... UT with vehicles? that sounds silly to me. Breaking the tradition of UT even. It only looks nice right now, but we'll have to see how those new gameplay implementations hold up when the players get thier hands on em

Can't really add more onto the previous comments that have been made in regards to this game but...I can't wait, agreed that the vehicle implication will be a break from tradition but in my opinion it will be a welcome break at that, as long as it doesn't turn into another vehicle based game (i.e. players waiting around for a vehicle rather then fighting CQB (Close Quarter Combat) style.

as long as the vehicle levels are huge .. then im for it

And really really fast with players absorbing unrealistic amounts of damage.

I HATE games where you can die from getting shot once.

Heres more news

Although DVD-ROM players have become common in most new PC's, the CD-ROM is still the overwhelming format of choice for PC games. While a small handful of games have been reissued on DVD-ROM, only one that we know of -- the PC version of Konami's Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance - has been released exclusively on DVD-ROM. In fact, there's only one other game we can think of -- Atari's Enter the Matrix -- that had an "alternate" DVD edition available at the same time as the regular CD-ROM version.

Atari appears ready to test the DVD waters again, as it's preparing a special 2-DVD-ROM edition of Unreal Tournament 2004, slated to be released at the same time as the CD-ROM version. Although we weren't given any definitive prices, it's expected that the DVD-ROM version will retail for $59.95, compared to $39.95 for the CD-ROM edition.

Why do a DVD version of UT 2004, you might ask? The rationale becomes obvious once you find out that the CD version of the game is shipping on 6 discs. (The minimum installation reportedly takes up a whopping 5.5 GB of hard-drive space.) All 6 CD's fit nicely on disc 1 of the DVD set, which (if nothing else) should make the installation easier and reduce the risk of misplacing or scratching various CD's.

This frees up disc 2 of the DVD set for a variety of special features not included with the CD set, including a number of behind-the-scenes interviews at Epic showing the making of UT 2004. Perhaps the most interesting use of the second DVD, however, is the use of VTM's -- "Video Training Modules" created by the staff at 3DBuzz.com. These countless hours of .avi tutorials ("a few hundred hours," as CliffyB puts it) will teach aspiring Unreal mod authors the ins and outs of creating levels, creating and importing characters, bot navigation, and anything else they'll need to build their own games within UT 2004. A special version of Maya Personal Learning Edition is also being bundled with UT 2004, that will allow modelers to create fully functioning models for the game.

The DVD packaging should be unique in itself, as it consists of 2 individual DVD boxes wrapped with a shiny silver metal case, similar to the the recently released hi-def DVD of Terminator 2. The first DVD (the game) will contain cover art similar to the CD version of the game, while the second DVD will be feature a cleaner white design with the single Unreal "U" on the cover.

If the extra DVD features don't seem worthy of the extra bucks, Atari is also bundling a Logitech headset with this special edition of UT 2004. The game has a number of features that make use of the headset, from voice-over-IP communication with other players, to voice recognition software that allows players to shout orders at computer-controlled bots in the single-player action.

If you have a DVD-ROM player in your computer and have been looking forward to UT 2004 for a while, the DVD edition seems like it could be a worthwhile investment. •

IN AN AGE where many publishers and developers tend to stick to "when it's done" regarding release dates, Epic's Mark Rein recently made what would have to be considered a brave statement, stating that the hotly anticipated demo for Unreal Tournament 2004 would be released "within two weeks." Since then, there's been no official word on when the demo would actually be out, and, despite our best efforts, even our recent trip to Epic's offices in North Carolina couldn't produce a firm date and time for the demo release.

However, it now appears that Epic and Atari are ready to make good on that promise. Although the specific time and date are yet to be revealed, GameSpy has learned that Epic is set to make an announcement regarding the UT 2004 demo around 9AM PST Wednesday morning, and everything seems to be pointing towards an imminent release, possibly as early as Wednesday afternoon.

The demo, which reportedly weighs in around 290 MB, contains five multiplayer levels, many of which we had a chance to take a look at in our recent visits to Epic and Atari. Among them is "Torlan," a large outdoors map that shows off UT 2004's new "Onslaught" mode. In the new mode, teams fight for control of "power nodes" (the number varies from map to map; Torlan contains seven), in an attempt to build a chain to the enemy team's base, with the ultimate goal of destroying the enemy's power core. Torlan features many of UT 2004's new vehicles, including the Manta hovercraft, the airborne Raptor fighter, the Scorpion buggy (complete with newly added retractable blades), and the Hellbender jeep.

Also included with the demo is "Convoy," a level for the returning Assault mode, itself a remake of the classic "Train" level from the original Unreal Tournament. The map has undergone a facelift in the months since we saw it last, with lots of extra graphical touches. One thing that hasn't changed is the dominance of UT's powerful sniper rifle over outdoor areas -- at times during our playtesting, it was hard just getting across the access ramp to our early objectives.

The three other maps included with the demo represent three other modes: "Rankin" (deathmatch), "BridgeofFate" (Capture the Flag), and "Colossus" (Bombing Run). While we didn't get to play the aptly-named Colossus in Bombing Run mode, we did get a chance to play it set for CTF, and it made for one of the more memorable games in our recent visit to Atari (for that, check back Friday for our full report).

While this is a lot for one demo, there are at least a few things that you'll have to wait for the full version of UT 2004 for. In particular, none of the single-player ladders will appear in the demo, nor will any mutators -- for the demo, Epic wants the focus to remain squarely on the five included modes, instead of suddenly having tons of servers running Onslaught instagib games with big-head players running about.

We've had a lot of fun playtesting UT 2004 in recent weeks, and we're expecting the UT 2004 demo to be one of the most popular online releases of the year. Check back throughout the day as we'll have the latest on when the demo will be released, and be sure to check out the rest of our special exclusive coverage of UT 2004.

Do you know if it will be on any other consoles

I hope it's gonna rock

SWEEEET! *dance of triumph* I'm soooo getting the DVD-ROM set.

Heres a link to the demo 😄 💃

http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/136843.shtml

💃 💃 😄 😄

i never liked Unreal Tournament...its fun but its too unrealistic.

*smack* Begone realist nerd! 🙂

Seriously, I HATE realistic shooting games. I can't understand why anyone finds Counter-strike fun.

I just downloaded the demo, and let me tell you IT ROCKS!!!

Me too. Freakin' AWESOME game. Try the Onslaught mode-you'll be a vehicle believer in no time.

Yes, the demo was rock solid.

Argh...so addicting..can't...stop...playing...

Same here rifle anyway heres more news 😄

With anticipation regarding Unreal Tournament 2004 just starting to hit its peak, it might seem like an odd time to start asking the team at Epic what they'll be doing next. But hey, we're annoying journalists and that's what we get paid to do, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask the team where the franchise is headed. While we still have some questions, we did walk away with a few nuggets of info.

First and foremost, Epic lead designer Cliff Bleszinski confirmed something that probably won't come as much of a surprise: "There will be another Unreal Tournament." It's unknown if that game will carry a "2005" branding (hey, we're already thrown out of whack with UT 2004 actually being released in 2004, a rarity among games), but it would be highly unlikely that we'd see it this year.

On the consoles, the Xbox version of Unreal 2: The Awakening is literally arriving in stores right now. Unlike the PC version (which originally shipped without multiplayer of any kind), this version includes full Xbox Live support and the "XMP" mode recently released for the PC. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Xbox version, however, is support for splitscreen co-op -- something which was a huge hit in another sci-fi shooter Xbox fans may be familiar with: Halo.

The other console title we asked about was Unreal Championship, which was part of the original Xbox Live launch in 2002. Could there be a sequel in the works? While we couldn't pry anything concrete out of Epic on the topic, we certainly got the feeling that it's something being discussed ... and things may be even further along than that.

Finally, we had to ask: could there be an Unreal 3? "There's nothing to say at the moment," says Bleszinski, "but if we did it, I'd like it to use some next-gen tech." We know that there are new engines on the horizon for games like DOOM 3 and Half-Life 2, but if the guys working with the impressive Unreal engine are thinking about "next-gen tech," we'd have to believe that's pretty well off in the future -- if ever.

For more on Unreal Tournament 2004, be sure to check out our special exclusive coverage today and throughout the rest of the week.