PS2 GETS UNREAL
March 21, 2000

Epic Games announced today that they have joined Sony's Tools & Middleware program for PlayStation2. The Unreal Engine for the PlayStation2 will use the same source code and be a full implementation of the engine. The engine includes new skeletal animation and large-scale terrain system that will be officially announced by Epic in the near future. The Unreal Engine comes with the Unreal Editor for level creation, Unreal Script programming language, source code for engine & editor, complete game source code for Unreal Tournament, and full support from Epic's technology team.

According to Mark Rein, Epic Games vice-president, "we believe that licensing the Unreal Engine will help developers reduce the time it takes to develop games for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and other platforms, while allowing them to concentrate more effort on adding depth and detail to their game rather than worrying about low-level coding."

The Unreal Engine for PlayStation2 will be shown at the Sony DevCon2k in Bedford, England, March 22nd - 24th at the Millbrook Proving Grounds. DevCon2k is Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's exclusive conference for PlayStation2 software developers.

The Unreal engine allows developers to create vast worlds with 3D environments and dynamic lighting effects, and features a powerful scripting language enabling programmers to control and customize all aspects of the game's environments and characters.

The engine provides a complete solution for game development from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and high-resolution graphics to texture mapping and multiplayer networking.

The engine is available for licensing to create games for multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and PlayStation2.