Epic Makes Unreal Engine 3 Run on iPhone!

[brandonjclark]

Tom's Hardware has an article up (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/epic-games-unreal-engine-iphone,9311.html) showing an iPhone running the Unreal Engine 3 tech.

The Unreal Engine has successfully cracked into the console space in a big way. Now the games engine, once exclusively a PC-based engine, is powering many blockbuster titles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Now the Unreal Engine 3 has made its way to the iPhone.Pzts8tsKuHs

Is it only a matter of time until we see Big Daddy's and Mad Moxxi on our phones, gloriously rendered in their native engine?

[brandonjclark]

*Edit*

I should've given the credit to Anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3695), not Tom's Hardware. Oops:p

[Demo_Boy]

ok thats pretty cool.
note thats the iphone 3GS which has the much better video hardware than the regular 3G
note the input method in the demo does not allow you to turn and shoot at the same time. it would be nice to see someone solve that problem.

[Jotoco]

ok thats pretty cool.
note thats the iphone 3GS which has the much better video hardware than the regular 3G
note the input method in the demo does not allow you to turn and shoot at the same time. it would be nice to see someone solve that problem.

Use a Nokia N900 instead.

Touch screen AND keyboard. Even WASD if you want! hehe.

I, personally, prefer nokia phones, but damn me if the Iphone isnt hot too.

[LostToys]

And didn't Epic not want to release an Unreal engine on the Wii because it was not powerful enough?

[Anenome]

O_O That's... that's unreal.

Still, the iPhone has rather serious gaming shortcomings, as DB pointed out. I don't think it'll ever be a serious gaming challenger for mobile games while it excludes a dedicated gaming interface. Time will tell.

[brandonjclark]

Maybe it doesn't need a traditional gaming "interface" like a controller or buttons. What's really missing from that on-screen gameplay besides shooting at the same time as you turn?

Hell, maybe in the future (near future) a Natal-like device could be built-in providing some sort of facial tracking for movement, leaving your right thumb free to fire away.

Obviously you need buttons for a durable handheld, though..... Right? Right?!

[saulob]

Man, that's really unreal :)
[ nice one Anenome ;) ]

I'm going to wait for Gears of iPhone!!

[Anenome]

I'm going to wait for Gears of iPhone!!
Lol, does it come with a chainsaw attachment?

[Sayshu]

I didn't know the Iphone was more powerful than a Wii. ;)

[Anenome]

I don't think it is. Just Epic saying they didn't want to port Unreal to the Wii doesn't mean it couldn't be done, not by a long shot. I don't blame them, Unreal is about top notch graphics and middleware. No one's likely to port much to or from the Wii to other consoles, and the others have the top-notch graphical capability. I would do the same thing in their shoes, focus on 360 and Sony.

[dub3000]

I didn't know the Iphone was more powerful than a Wii. ;)

actually, the iphone 3gs brutalizes the wii for RAM and probably GPU as well (screens are smaller anyway on the 3gs so the power per pixel on the 3gs is probably a lot higher). dunno how the CPUs compare.

wii:

* CPU: PowerPC-based "Broadway" processor, made with a 90 nm SOI CMOS process, reportedly† clocked at 729 MHz
* GPU: ATI "Hollywood" GPU made with a 90 nm CMOS process,reportedly† clocked at 243 MHz
* 88 MB main memory (24 MB "internal" 1T-SRAM integrated into graphics package, 64 MB "external" GDDR3 SDRAM)
* 3 MB embedded GPU texture memory and framebuffer.


iPhone 3GS:

* Samsung S5PC100 ARM Cortex-A8, 833 MHz underclocked to 600 MHz
* PowerVR SGX GPU
* 256 MB eDRAM

[Syl]

The iphone screen is exactly half the output of a regular TV.
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1299/480pxqvgacopyyt8.jpg

The iphone is actually rather similar to a Wii, but there is a lot more stuff in the iphones ram at all time than the Wii has to worry about. Half the resolution means a gigantic 153, 600 pixel difference in output.

The Wii's processor should actually be superior. But they're based around such different processes that i really have no idea how to compare them.

[brandonjclark]

Everytime I read about the Wii's hardware I'm just surprised they managed to sell so many units. You've got to hand it to them, that Wiimote was a fucking genius marketing move.

[Metal Jesus]

I recently downloaded Real Driving on the iTouch...and I was blown away at how smooth that game runs and how great it looks. And this is on the 1st gen iTouch. There is some real potential for devs on this platform.

[RMan]

The Wii's processor should actually be superior.
U3's pipeline seems highly dependent on certain rendering features that don't exist on the Wii, and the newest iPhone has. I doubt very seriously it has anything to do with general processing ability.

[01010]

Just an observation but who the hell wants to play a FPS where you thumbs obscure half the screen?

[forklord]

Just an observation but who the hell wants to play any higher end games on a phone until they vamp up battery life? I've had just about every brand of phone and anytime i play simple games like monopoly, poker king 2, brick breaker, cribbage, or bejeweled for a relative period of time the battery wont last very long. I can only imagine the unreal 3 engine will drain that sucker quickly. Every year they have a new model that does more stuff but the battery life actually goes down somewhat.

[brandonjclark]

Just an observation but who the hell wants to play a FPS where you thumbs obscure half the screen?

I would..... because who cares THAT much about the quality of the gaming on your phone? Hell, I'm old enough that I'm still amazed by cell phones.


Just an observation but who the hell wants to play any higher end games on a phone until they vamp up battery life? I've had just about every brand of phone and anytime i play simple games like monopoly, poker king 2, brick breaker, cribbage, or bejeweled for a relative period of time the battery wont last very long. I can only imagine the unreal 3 engine will drain that sucker quickly. Every year they have a new model that does more stuff but the battery life actually goes down somewhat.

I would... because I never game for that long on a phone anyway. Bathroom time is only so long.

[Anenome]

Just an observation but who the hell wants to play any higher end games on a phone until they vamp up battery life? I've had just about every brand of phone and anytime i play simple games like monopoly, poker king 2, brick breaker, cribbage, or bejeweled for a relative period of time the battery wont last very long. I can only imagine the unreal 3 engine will drain that sucker quickly. Every year they have a new model that does more stuff but the battery life actually goes down somewhat.
Sure you can only play Unreal 3 on iPhone for 35 seconds before the battery's drained totally, but it will be the best 35 seconds of iPhone gaming you ever experience ^_~

[forklord]

I would... because I never game for that long on a phone anyway. Bathroom time is only so long.

lol my ventures on a toilet have never been longer than 10 seconds so...ewww

[brandonjclark]

lol my ventures on a toilet have never been longer than 10 seconds so...ewww

You've never had Lynda's cooking!

[Anenome]

You've never had Lynda's cooking! (http://dieting.casubi.com/search/the%20ex%20lax%20cookbook)
http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1826429