Sega extends Unreal deal

Japanese publisher signs onto Epic's popular middleware solution for unannounced multiplatform project.

Last May, Sega joined a handful of other Japanese publishers, including Square Enix and Capcom, as a licensee of Epic Games' epically popular Unreal Engine 3. As part of its original agreement, Sega said that it would be implementing Epic's game engine into several projects currently being developed in North America.

Although the publisher was cagey on which projects specifically would be the object of the deal, current Sega games being developed in the New World include Obsidian's Aliens role-playing game and Alpha Protocol, Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Silicon Knights' unnamed project, which has been the subject of a lawsuit between the Canadian studio and Epic for its disputed use of Unreal Engine 3.

Today, Sega said that it would be extending its original Unreal deal to include one more game. Details on the unannounced title are slim, and Sega has stated only that the game will be a multiplatform effort and that further details will be revealed on an undetermined date.

Epic has received substantial support for its game engine in recent years. During this year's Game Developers Conference, the game maker drew especially large crowds thanks to a tech demo for the latest build of the engine, which featured new "fracture" animations, surface deformations, crowd generation, and a slightly revolting cube of meat. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 has powered a variety of games, including the company's own Gears of War and Unreal Tournament III, BioWare's Mass Effect, and Midway's Hour of Victory.

44 Comments

  • adamchuff

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 10:40 am PT

    yeah so aliens game isnt dead buddy, infact i was just searching around and found some screenshots of it and seen a quick clip, i just think they are being hush hush about it because what i saw actually looked really sick.

  • ToxinZA

    Posted Sep 14, 2008 2:32 am PT

    Is anything actually happening with this game news has been dead since may?

  • ElAmante

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 12:46 pm PT

    I REALLY hope this Is Shenmue III

  • greedygoblin45

    Posted Jun 11, 2008 1:32 pm PT

    Shenmue 3!

  • jknight5422

    Posted May 29, 2008 5:34 pm PT

    I really hope they can pull off a few successful Aliens games & not just dud-filled remakery.

  • Night_Owl

    Posted May 28, 2008 8:04 pm PT

    Thanks rustyw00t, always nice to see a rare rational and informed comment, like a gem in the rough

    /tips hat

    It's true, the reality is that a lot of good games on paper don't end up realizing their potential because of the enormous amount of development time and resources needed to build a 3D graphics engine from scratch. With a licensed engine, more focus can stay on the gameplay, story and such.

  • habit0422

    Posted May 28, 2008 5:14 pm PT

    @Jbeastly, I thought it would go without saying but I was talking about the graphics and physics. The story and setting clearly would have nothing to do with what kind of engine a game was using.

  • rustyw00t

    Posted May 28, 2008 7:57 am PT

    Hey, I hate to argue on the internet but I can't sit here and listen to what some of you guys are saying. For those of you who have no comprehension of the development cycle, an engine such as UE3 can be the difference between success and failure. There is no point in reinventing the wheel and Epic's choice to license their engine has made a massive difference to the quality of titles we have been seeing of late and will continue to see through this generation to the next.

    I would also like to remind some of you that the Crytek Engine, as brilliant as it is has little use in it's Crysis form as neither the PS3 or X360 can run it. It is however being 'streamlined' for these consoles, I am interested to see the differences between the Far Cry 2 titles.

    For those of you who ask the question; '@r thay gonna maek a S0nic of War?'. I would like to remind you also that out of all the engines currently and widely available (namely Source, Quake and Crytek) UE3 remains the most versatile and has produced a great variety of gameplay styles; third-person shooter, first-person shooter, party-based RPG, MMOs and third-person action/adventures. So to assume that any game released on this engine will feature gritty, war-hardened veterans with a passion for looking and sounding angry is simply un-intelligent. I will however admit that amongst a number of it's licensees many similarities can be found, such as the grainy post-processing but this is to be expected since it is for these reasons that a development house would purchase a license in the first place.

    However I don't wish to be a complete ass and would like to end on the note that regardless of engine, a game should just be plain good.

  • king_bobo

    Posted May 28, 2008 7:07 am PT

    But I thought Gamespot has mentioned the way that some publishers had issues with the engine. Well, let's hope all goes smoothly, which hopefully it will. Despite my concerns, there's loads of incredible games that were made using the engine, so there isn't really much to worry about...

  • Mega-Tom

    Posted May 28, 2008 5:17 am PT

    @ damariners what are you talking about?
    Crysis is the best looking game out there and thats enouth to say its not like any other FPS, if you think that then wow, I cant belive someone has that much little knowledge about game.

    Personally I dont care about the engine although it seems like everything is made on the Unreal Engine at the moment. If the game has awesome graphics and awesome game play its going to sell crap loads regardless of the engine.

  • JazzVoid

    Posted May 28, 2008 3:28 am PT

    Unreal Engine anyway is leading now as it did 10 years ago. Crytek brought players a few cool games, but to be on top engine should not just show us great graphics. Engine must be technically advanced, can be ported on other platforms easily and of course should not consume performance of any hardware thrown to it.

  • GreyFoXX4

    Posted May 28, 2008 3:27 am PT

    Unreal engine is way overly hyped. Most games do not even make good use of it unless you are epic. All others trying to use this engine has really failed in comparison. Just can't wait for something really new and more impressive of an engine to start getting used besides the unreal engine.

  • 1q3er5

    Posted May 28, 2008 12:20 am PT

    next to crytek'z engine Unreal's engine blows...

  • damariners

    Posted May 27, 2008 11:09 pm PT

    i dont care whether use unreal engine or cry engine2 or whatever.. the most important is getting the most of awesome experience in playing whatever genre of games... last year cod4 and gears pc gave the most extreme awesome experience in playing it.. even the most high end game crysis just not great enough it just like another fps.. this year?? who knows GTA IV is crazy awesome games so far.. but mgs4 and gears2 is coming!!! hehehe

  • Viral-venom13

    Posted May 27, 2008 10:57 pm PT

    Extending deals may be great and all but how well the games are made will be the cream of the crop here as no matter what engine a game uses it doesn't compensate for its awesomeness as real gameplay fun comes from the creativity of the developers and how well they can execute their ideas!!

  • Intrakitt

    Posted May 27, 2008 9:51 pm PT

    jtthegame316 must be living under a giant rock because he has failed to witness the deluge of crap games coming from Sega recently. In my opinion, they've just lost their touch. I honestly don't think they can hang with the good next-gen developers. The SEGA symbol has become more of an icon for "Meh, I probably shouldn't get this game" instead of an indication of quality like jt likes to fantasize about.

  • LiliShake

    Posted May 27, 2008 9:47 pm PT

    It had better be Jet Set Radio Next. :3

  • _guenter_26

    Posted May 27, 2008 9:44 pm PT

    I would like some one to use it as good as Epic does so maybe GOW might have a graphs challenge.

  • Taegre

    Posted May 27, 2008 9:32 pm PT

    Incubus420 "And what game are they gonna make Gears of war with Sonic?"

    That would actually be pretty badass. Sonic's spin attack now saws people in half!

  • peeweeshift

    Posted May 27, 2008 7:25 pm PT

    hour of victory made me cry. turok made really good use of the engine too. i thought mass effect looked awsome but didn't harness the engine well. the artform and talented artists at bioware are what saved it for me. its good that companies use another engine under license. it means more games out the door faster

  • Thatsmypunk

    Posted May 27, 2008 7:01 pm PT

    FPS Sonic game? I hope not.

  • Nate401

    Posted May 27, 2008 6:23 pm PT

    Totally cool. Sega is an awesome company. What would really be cool is a MONSTER HUNTER made with the new Unreal Engine released on the 360. It's OK to dream.

  • revelations

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:45 pm PT

    Do you have a space marine game? Looking for an engine?

    ...Well look no further!

    Sega rules. With the ultimate power of unreal, nothing can go wrong...right?......RIGHT?!?

  • CageFury posted May 27, 2008 3:36 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    CageFury

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:36 pm PT (hide)

    Oh yea, SEGA rocks, check out that Sonic game that came out last year... awesome! Oh and don't forget Phantasy Star Universe.. woooo.. HOT!

  • jtthegame316

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:29 pm PT

    when i load up a game and the opening word that comes up on the screen is sega that is a good start case they are just an awesome developer and and the mojority of games i play that are made by them are awesome which was why i use to get there consoles. in fact i miss there games being on one format although as they don't have there own format now i am glad they support all three formats and do not just put everything on one and try to get one format over more than the other like some third parties do. unlike some third parties out there they remain nutural just as all cool third parties do. i hate third parties that try to push playstation cause the fact is third parties should be nutral. them third parties that do that kinda thing sony are laughing at you cause people who don't know much about games will think your work is sony's work.

  • NeonNinja

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:16 pm PT

    Unreal Engine 3 does amazing things when used well, like In BioShock and Gears of War. But Lost Odyssey didn't look nearly as hot as the two I mentioned. It was fun, but I mean, the boys making these games for Sega had better be using the engine properly.

  • Incubus420 posted May 27, 2008 3:10 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Incubus420

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:10 pm PT (hide)

    And what game are they gonna make Gears of war with Sonic?

  • akiwak

    Posted May 27, 2008 3:01 pm PT

    I hope it means that there will also be more some improvements to the engine since everyone is using it.

  • Generic_Dude posted May 27, 2008 2:46 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Generic_Dude

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:46 pm PT (hide)

    It's SEGA. Who cares?

  • kos1085

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:44 pm PT

    Hopefully sega puts the unreal engine to good use.

  • jbeasly

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:42 pm PT

    Habit0422"Bioshock reminded me of Deus EX 2" ummm Deus ex story and setting is nothing like Bioshock

  • galerian86

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:37 pm PT

    Hour of Victory. LOL. Can't you picked a better Unreal 3-powered games? Say like Lost Odyssey or Stranglehold. Never in my mind I associated UE3 with Hour of Victory.

    But, the looks of the engine is getting old. Don't get me wrong, it still looks amazing in the right hand. I just thought that maybe the licensees could try to modify the engine to fit their games, like what Mistwalker did with Lost Odyssey and DICE with Mirror's Edge.

  • BigDaveyDogz

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:29 pm PT

    I like how they threw Hour of Victory in there. Hey just cause an engine makes beautiful graphics doesn't mean its a beautiful game lol!!!

  • habit0422

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:23 pm PT

    Don't get me wrong the engine is damn pretty, but to many games use it. There are many times when i'm playing a game I get the sense that I've seen it or done it already (ex Bioshock reminded me of Deus EX 2). I know it's time and resource consuming, but I wish more developers would make their on engine.

  • teirdome

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:09 pm PT

    Epic has developed what is turning out to be one of the best graphical engines ever, and continues to support it well. I'm blown away by the things that they're doing with it in Gears 2. They've developed an impressively scalable tool that greatly reduces game development costs for the current gen. The entry point has gotten so high for modern graphics that an engine like this is required.

  • chewyblack

    Posted May 27, 2008 2:01 pm PT

    What About House Of The Dead 4 I've been waiting for that game to come out forever

  • nate1222

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:46 pm PT

    I'm a fan of both Sega and Epic. I realize there's been some issues with the 'Unreal Engine 3' (or UE3 for short). But I'll watch where this goes before I jump to any conclusions. I just hope this deal doesn't jack up development costs too much. That'd keep us (fans) from getting anything other than another urban/military shooter. And I'm pretty damn tired of those at this point.

  • Rich1631

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:37 pm PT

    The Unreal Engine is so overused. I wish it would just go away. Stranglehold, Turok, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, Rainbow Six Vegas 1&2, Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Army of Two, Blacksite, UTIII, Gears of War, Brother's in Arms, Borderlands, Lost Oddessy, EndWar, etc. all use this engine which suffers from severe pop-ups/texture loading. JESUS, DOES EVERY OTHER NEW GAME HAVE TO USE THIS DAMNED THING!

  • HaRiZ420

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:28 pm PT

    Aliens: Colonial Marines is gonna pwn!

  • lamprey263

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:26 pm PT

    It's about time another Aliens FPS came out. I just hope it's actually good. Maybe SEGA should have given this to Monolith, who did a great job recently with the Condemned and F.E.A.R. series. I also thought AVP2 and Tron 2.0 were both really good, also by Monolith.

  • Neo1O1

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:15 pm PT

    I've only been an Epic fan since UT3, but any positive news on the company is much appreciated. UT3 is an amazing game!

  • klugenbeel

    Posted May 27, 2008 1:04 pm PT

    You kidding me, eagerly awaiting any game with that Aliens name on it...Aliens vs Predator 1 and 2 were both wicked sick games!

  • funnysplay

    Posted May 27, 2008 12:55 pm PT

    Eagely awaiting, Aliens:Colonial Marines

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