ION Storm to Get Unreal

ION Storm has announced that it has licensed the Unreal 3D game engine from Epic Megagames. The Unreal engine will be used in the development of Warren Spector's first title for ION Storm, a "role-playing espionage game" with the conceptual title of Shooter (which, Spector informed GamesSpot News in an interview, will not be the official title).

"Epic built Unreal to provide developers with the most powerful 3D engine," said Tim Sweeney, owner of Epic MegaGames and lead programmer for Unreal. "We know ION Storm's team of design visionaries will push the Unreal engine to the extreme, and we can't wait to play Warren's game."

While Spector noted that there was "a concern at some level" regarding Unreal not being out, he also stated that development is well on its way. Members of ION Storm flew up to Canada to view the latest builds of Unreal and were more than impressed. The two companies will work closely in developing the new title to the point where perhaps a member of the Unreal team will spend time in Austin with Spector's crew. The title is set for release in late 1998, to be published by Eidos Interactive. It will be the fifth title in development (similar license deals have been made with id Software and AnimaTek for new titles like Daikatana, Anachronox - both utilizing Quake II engines, and Doppleganger).

Epic Megagames has also licensed the Unreal engine out to many other developers, including MicroProse and Legend Entertainment for games such as Star Trek: First Contact and The Wheel of Time.

Spector, who had been responsible for the development of some of the most interesting and innovative games to come from Origin Systems, explained that, "Ever since I saw the first screenshots of the Unreal game a few years ago, I was blown away.... This engine offers us tremendously expandable code, incredible 3D world-building tools, and unsurpassed editing capabilities, and I am psyched to design my game around it."