The new D+PAD is up and out there. The cover feature is on God of War: Chains of Olympus with an accompanying review. There are also reviews of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Dark Mist, as well as a preview feature on Resistance 2 and a discussion feature on premium downloadable content. it’s highly recommended.

D+PAD

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Well thanks to all for taking part, there was a huge response. If you are one of the lucky five then get in touch with your mailing address and the game will go out in the post. Click through to see if you are a winner…

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Another week, another genius competition. We have five copies of Unreal Tournament 3 to give away and all you have to do to win a copy of the game is answer this simple question.

Q: What is the name of the Necris High Inquisitor?

Email your answer to blog@threespeech.com and if you’re one of five names pulled from the draw at midday next Friday, a copy of the game could be yours.

Put UT3 in the subject of your email and, sorry, but this competition is only open to UK residents.

Released in the US last year Unreal Tournament 3 sees a UK release today. Featuring lightning fast gameplay and stunning visuals thanks to the UT3 engine, Unreal Tournament 3 is definitely one of the best reasons to own a PS3 right now.

The press have had their hands on UT3 for a while now and the reviews look good. Ign and Eurogamer both gave UT3 9/10 and ‘worth playing’ and PSX extreme gave an even higher score of 9.5/10. For more reviews of the game head over to Game Rankings. If you would rather watch a review check out the GameTrailers Video Review.

The story of UT3 involves a race called the Necris invading your character’s world. With them having slaughtered all of your fellow clan members, you set out for revenge. Multiplayer gameplay is by far the most rewarding part of the game, although a single player campaign is included where you battle advanced AI bots across various game modes.

The game features over two dozen weapons for players to try out. Vehicles play an important role in the game and have been upgraded and enhanced for maximum killing potential. The game also features a variety of game modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Warfare mode.

One thing Unreal Tournament has always been noted for is its user generated content in the form of Mods and Maps. We all know what maps are, but Mods are programs that allow game modification ranging from simple view changes to complete alterations. One example of a new map can be found here. It’s entirely made of destructable lego parts.

One of the first Mods available for UT3 on PS3 was the third person view Mod, which changes the players point of view from first to third person. Check it out in this video. It’s also worth noting that the PS3 version of the game also supports all content created for the PC version.

It’s looking good to us. What do you think? Is it on your shopping list this weekend?

While those in the states have had Unreal Tournament 3 to enjoy since just before Christmas, we’ve been left out in the cold due to localisation issues. Well, good news for those who are after it – Midway have confirmed that they are planning to release the game on European shores on February 22. Less than three weeks to wait, folks.

VideoGamer.com

Three Speech’s intrepid reporter Steve Boxer recently got to chat to industry legend, games engine expert and Epic Games guru Mark Rein. With Unreal Tournament III hitting the stores soon it seemed a fitting time to catch up with him and put some questions his way regarding the forthcoming title. Over to the interview.

How long is Unreal Tournament III going to be an PS3 exclusive for?

Right now, I can’t say. The big reason, the main reason, we brought it to PS3 first, is the mods. You know how important mods are to Unreal Tournament and we love user-created content. And remember, our user-created content isn’t just about re-arranging the chairs on the deck of the boat - it’s about making a new boat, right. I mean, it’s making a plane, it’s making a car! It’s making whatever you want to make, so we’re pushing the envelope on user-created content. PlayStation 3 is an open network and so when we went to Sony and said, ‘we want to make this game support mods’, they were like, ‘we’re an open network, you can do that’. We’re like ‘ha ha, really, we’re going to challenge you on that!’ And sure enough, they’ve embraced it, and they’ve stuck to their word, and supported it. And I mean, Jack (Tretton) even talked about it on stage at E3, which was very kind, so they’re right behind the idea of real honest-to-goodness user-created content.

Do you think it’s going to be the game that really kickstarts the PlayStation Network?

I hope so. I mean it’s such a great game. It plays really well over PSN. And one of the things that we can do that’s really unique about this game is that you can run the PC server and surf for PlayStation 3 users. Theoretically, if the game’s popular, we could go and get a bunch of good quality, high value servers and stick them on and run really dedicated service to the game, really good service. That’s a clear benefit. The other thing is, the customers are going to decide how popular a game is. We’ve done our job in making the best game we can - the users will decide whether it is the best game for them online. I hope so because I think it’s a great game to play online and it’s an equally good game to play completely offline, to play against bots or to play against LAN.

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Morning all. Just a quick one to see who got Drake’s at the weekend and, if so, what do you think of it? Where are you up to? Anyone stuck? Anyone complete it over the weekend? Let us know what you think.

According to Mark Rein – Epic’s Vice President, there’s “something special” about playing UT3 on the PlayStation 3. In an interview with Pro G, he says that he’s “really proud” of the PS3 version.

“People are going to be pleasantly surprised. It’s a really high end experience that pushes the graphics bar up even higher than Gears Of War. There’s more polygons, there’s more stuff going on, there’s more explosions and there’s more things happening”.

Hit the jump for the more on the gameplay itself, and Mark Rein on developing for the PlayStation 3.

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Three Speech reader and UT3 event attendee Murlphalus reports back from Thursday’s event in Birmingham.

‘After making myself known I was shown to the conference room where the PS3 demo was to take place. The room was set up with eight LAN linked systems and 42 inch Samsung LCD TV’s at the eye watering range of two feet but great for the experience.

To my pleasant surprise I was invited for some hands-on time which I indulged in with relish. First up “Deathmatch” Mode - UT3 delivers on every level, its fast colourful with lots of choice of guns and gun modes. Controls are very familiar to any FPS enthusiast and I was straight into the action in seconds. 10 out of 10.

Next up “Vehicle Capture the Flag”, team based action very much in the vane of Warhawk, and well up to spec. Vehicles get a little getting used to and it is possible to get then stuck, I found it best to abandon and move on. Vehicles then cover the usual mix of fast and vulnerable or slow and destructive, but all have something to offer.

A nice aspect is the “whisp arrows”. These are chevrons on the floor guiding you to your destination. Great for new players but switch offable like most other things for more experienced players. Lastly “Warfare” mode. During the presentation we were told that this is the favourite mode among the Epic development team and its easy to see why. Similar in concept to the linked base concepts seen in Killzone online and Fall of Man and possible unending fun.

Overall for work in progress a polished demonstration of the power of the Playstation 3 and a game engine being squeezed until it leaks.’

In a press release issued by Epic Games and Gamespy today, it was announced that the Gamespy multiplayer and community technology will be incorporated in the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the Unreal Engine 3. According to the press release, this will enable cross platform play (between PS3 and PC), communication tools and competition applications as well as the ability to store statistics enabling online player profiles. Here’s a snippet from the (very long) press release…

“By incorporating GameSpy’s online technology into Unreal Engine 3, the two companies have created an integrated one-stop solution for game developers looking to leverage the world’s most advanced multi-player technology and game engine in one package. The partnership will span both the PC and PLAYSTATION®3 platforms within Unreal Engine 3, enabling seamless PLAYSTATION®3 and PC online functionality. Functionality available to Unreal
Engine 3 licensees via Gamespy will include cross-platform gameplay, communication tools and competition applications.”

It has not been announced whether the cross platform play will be enabled on Epic’s upcoming Unreal Tournament 3 – although bear in mind the PS3 version accepts Keyboard and Mouse as controls, so it’s definitely possible. First PC mods playable on PS3 and now cross platform play – looks like Epic is really keen on sharing things between the two.