No PS3 To PC Online Play For UT3

[Psykoboy2]

It's tough at times. You've got a big crowd at say an E3, you want to make an impression, things seem good at the outset to make such statements, and then you really take a look at what you were trying to do and realize....it just can't be done. Such is the case in Epic's decision to not include the cross-platform play between the PC and PS3 for Unreal Tournament 3.

From Shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49146):

"The biggest challenge in doing cross platform play is synchronizing [sic] the builds such that the build on the PC is 100% compatible with the build on the PS3," said Rein. "Unfortunately (or fortunately) when you [develop] games on console you have a lengthy certification process to go through each time you release anything new."

"We looked at how this would impact our ability to respond quickly to things happening at internet speed on the PC side of the equation and realized that this would not be in the best interests of our very loyal PC userbase," he went on, "because we would constantly be holding on to updates to wait until they passed cert on the console platform."

The article goes on to say that the feature could be implemented later on down the line but "even then the likelihood is small."

You know what the best part is - the honesty. No bullshit saying that cross platform play is last-gen or something like that, just a complete thing: we looked at it closer and it's just not going to work like we'd want. Good on you Epic. Rather than give us some slapped together, half-ass approach, you drop the feature and put more focus elsewhere. I kinda like that.

[Gorvi]

Well, I guess this settles the matter of how mods would be effecting multiplayer.

[Telefrog]

I like that Epic is willing to sacrifice a feature for the good of the PC fans. Awesome. Epic has always loved it's PC fanbase, and this just helps to reassure people that they still love them.

[Vandenh]

Also remember that a few (and probably a bigger number of user made ones) of the maps do not fit on PS3 (and 360 probably) making cross platform a bit of a mess IMHO. User mods could also push the consoles out of their memory requirements. Pretty clear they chose the technically easy path as would I in the case of a game where the community will contribute in a big way.

[agentgray]

Translation:
We can't beta test our software on consoles. It's gotta be right the first time.

Maybe increase the QA standards on PC? I know that's tougher, but aim for gold.

[Kamalot]

Damn you Psykoboy2 and your lightning-fast fingers. My news item is posted below...

[Kamalot]

Unreal Tournament III is one of the big PS3 (timed) exclusives this fall, and there has been much discussion about how it will interact with the PC version of the game for mods and online play. In a recent interview with Epic's Mark Rein, ShackNews has clarified that no online play will be available between the PC version and the PS3 version (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49146) of Unreal Tournament III. This means that PC gamers will play against PC gamers, 360 gamers will play against 360 gamers, and PS3 players will play against PS3 gamers. While PC/PS3 online play could be added to the title at a later point, Mark noted, "even then the likelihood is small."

"We looked at how this would impact our ability to respond quickly to things happening at internet speed on the PC side of the equation and realized that this would not be in the best interests of our very loyal PC userbase," he went on, "because we would constantly be holding on to updates to wait until they passed cert on the console platform."

"We've been talking about the PS3 version a lot because the game is really something new for the PS3 customers and being able to do mods on consoles is pretty exciting to us," he said. "But we never forget that those mods COME from the PC community and the PC is still our lead platform for UT."

Unreal Tournament III will support a mouse and keyboard on the PS3, and the PS3 version will also support custom maps, but those maps will have to be created on a PC first, unlike Halo 3's included map editor.

The interview is chock-full (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49146) of great information and details. I suggest everyone give it a read.

Just a question, will PS3-players who want to make maps have to buy 2 versions of the game, or will the PS3 title also nab you a license for the PC map-maker software?

[Skampy]

LOL 3 links of this popped up on the mainpage, I was like I get the point! Epic knows that UT3 is going to be gold mine for them. This could just be a clever way for them to test the waters to see where the sell the most copies to make the most money. Its kind of sad to hear that cross platform play wouldn't exist. Not that I would expect it to exist but it would have been an extremely COOL feature that would have made Epic Games set the bar higher.

[Beelzebud]

Good. I don't want the PS3 holding back the PC multiplayer.

[Mozgus]

I share respect for Epic, and I also had some worries about their attention being divided. A little good news like this helps. They have treated their PC fans very well over the years. They kept patching UT2004 for so long, even when so few people were playing anymore, and included so much great content with each one without asking for any bullshit micro transactions.

[Dr.Finger]

Three reds submitted this same story within 3 minutes of one another. Crazy.

[Telefrog]

Just a question, will PS3-players who want to make maps have to buy 2 versions of the game, or will the PS3 title also nab you a license for the PC map-maker software?[/I]

From what I understand in Epic's own forums, the only platform with the editor will be the PC. If you want to make maps or mods, you will have to buy the PC version even if you plan on making the mod available to the PS3 audience.

[Mozgus]

On the topic of the editor, one user asked whether UT3 will include a simple, stripped down editor similar to that of Halo 3's Forge. Rein used the opportunity to work in a slight dig at Bungie's tool. "You mean an in-game editor that lets you rearrange the furniture as opposed to the professional tool we actually made the game with?" he asked. "No, we give you the real editor we use and all the power you can handle."
Oooooo, fuckin burn!

[Arnage]

In a recent interview with Epic's Mark Rein, ShackNews ...

Just to clarify, shacknews got this info from a IRC chat organized by beyondunreal, which included lot of Epic employees that normally aren't part of the PR machine, so there's a lot of honest and interesting info in there, the full transcript can be found here (http://www.beyondunreal.com/content/articles/203_1.php).

[Psykoboy2]

Maybe a burn, but the Forge has some interesting gameplay opportunities in that you can actually play multiplayer while you "rearrange the furniture" and that brings a whole new game mode to the table.

[Roc Ingersol]

What they're trying to say, nicely, is that the network protocol is going to get hacked six ways to Sunday. They need to patch it when it does and they don't think the PC users will tolerate waiting for a console QA cycle.

They're probably also hoping they don't have to patch the console version quite as much - as hacked consoles and hack-proxies are more difficult to pull off than a hacked PC client, so the time between breaks is higher.

The only real solution is not to trust the client and not to send them any information they don't need, but that probably pushes the server processing demands up beyond what they're willing to ship.

[roboninja]

Nice, honest (albeit disappointing) answer. I think Epic may be the game dev company I respect the most, followed closely by Valve.

[Gott]

So...will there be crossplatform play for the PC-360???? Probably right?

[Gorvi]

So...will there be crossplatform play for the PC-360???? Probably right?
Doubtful, since the 360 won't (be likely to) support mods at all. I'd like to see PS3-360 play, but yeah, that'll never happen.

[Gott]

well hopefully the whole games for windows thing comes into play and they allow it. I'm not a pc gamer at all, so i'm not going to pretend i know how that would work. But i hope it does, if anyone is going to have PC-console online play it's going to be Microsoft...i knew the ps3 wouldn't be able to pull it off.

[oldjadedgamer]

Lame... even Quake 3 on the Dreamcast could support cross platform play with the PC.

[Mozgus]

Lame... even Quake 3 on the Dreamcast could support cross platform play with the PC.

It still does, as long as you run the server from a version of quake 3 using a specific older patch, and specific dreamcast modified map files.

[H.Bogard]

I don't get why people call UT3 a PS3 [timed] exclusive... the fuck is wrong with you? It's a PC game that's coming PC first. FFS.

[MrSatan]

I don't get why people call UT3 a PS3 [timed] exclusive... the fuck is wrong with you? It's a PC game that's coming PC first. FFS.

Its just the same reason that everybody calls games for 360 such as Bioshock exclusive. If they come out the same day for PC then they are not exclusive. PERIOD

[oldjadedgamer]

On the topic of the editor, one user asked whether UT3 will include a simple, stripped down editor similar to that of Halo 3's Forge. Rein used the opportunity to work in a slight dig at Bungie's tool. "You mean an in-game editor that lets you rearrange the furniture as opposed to the professional tool we actually made the game with?" he asked. "No, we give you the real editor we use and all the power you can handle."

So that "real" level editor is in the PS3 version... right?

[MacD]

Thanks for the link, Arnage...unvarnished dev talk is a rarity, and is usually quite interesting :)

As for cross platform FPS play...my guess is it won't happen, as the gamepad/mouse&keyboard devide is just too large a gap to cross fairly. There are other genre's where console/pc gaming might work, but FPS is just too response time determined.

And yeah, props to EPIC once again for being honest and doing what's right for their custumors (ie gamers, not MS/Sony).

[Johan]

Just a question, will PS3-players who want to make maps have to buy 2 versions of the game, or will the PS3 title also nab you a license for the PC map-maker software?[/I]

That's what I'm curious about...

It's a shame this won't work (PC to PS3 play). That would have been incredibly fun, I think, since the PS3 has the k/m support for it.

So that "real" level editor is in the PS3 version... right?

I'd be surprised, myself. Until that happens, it hasn't.