Skip to Content

Unreal Engine 3 running on the iPod touch

by Mike Schramm Dec 22nd 2009 at 2:00PM


Whenever you talk about games on a mobile platform, you usually have to also mention that while things like high-end 3D graphics are certainly possible, there are usually some concessions that have to be made. But in the case of the iPhone, perhaps not: Epic Games has apparently been showing Anandtech their Unreal Engine 3 on Apple's handheld, the same graphical engine that runs modern console hits like Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. There's even video, and the thing looks pretty darn incredible. It's possible that in the hands of a skilled developer, you could have a very impressive realistic graphical game running on the iPhone hardware.

Some of the iPhone hardware, that is -- the engine was shown off on the 3GS and the 3rd generation iPod touch, so only those have the speed and power (and the OpenGL ES 2.0) to pull this off. But it's impressive nevertheless. Epic hasn't licensed this version of the engine yet as far as we know, but they promise to show off more in the future, so we'll be keeping an eye out. One more version of the iPhone, and we might be looking at games that can compete graphically with even modern consoles.

[via Engadget]

View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

Gaming Hardware Software Odds and ends Developer iPhone SDK iPod touch

Whenever you talk about games on a mobile platform, you usually have to also mention that while things like high-end 3D graphics are...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

11 Comments

Filter by:
edddeduck

It might be a version of unreal 3 but it is not the same unreal 3 engine that exists on the PC and Console. I would not hold out for BioShock levels of graphics on the iPhone. If a 128MB graphics card has problems with the higher settings on UE3 games I think the iPhone will be overwhelmed. The news does mean making basic versions of Unreal 3 console / PC games for the iPhone might be easier than before though.

To summarise it looks really cool and I am sure some good games will come of it but the comment in the article "we might be looking at games that can compete graphically with even modern consoles" is a pipe dream. No way can a small portable device compete with a dedicated gaming console which has been designed and optimised for games and games alone.

December 23 2009 at 4:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to edddeduck's comment
FantomRedux

What you've gotta think of s the resolution of the iphone screen is nowehere near as big as a typical PC monitor, so the textures don't have to be as detailed because you aren't going to see the difference anyway. That's why the PSP graphics can measure up to PS2 graphics, even though its hardware shouldnt be able to run PS2 standard games.

That, and less pixels = less required power.

December 23 2009 at 9:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
FantomRedux

Gah, stupid spelling mistakes. As they say on WoW.com, WTB edit button.

December 23 2009 at 9:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sara

Good article!
I just got new the iPod touch as a gift. I think i found this site at right. I was looking exactly this kind stuff since a few days. I am glad that now i can look such a powerful games on my iPod touch. I will surely get UE3 and will post feedback again.

wii spiele

December 22 2009 at 10:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DA360

So this is built for the 3GS/3G Touch graphical hardware... This shows what the two devices can do, the graphics here are very impressive, then again, the U3 engine has been known for that.

I just hope to see some games built from this for the 3GS/3G Touch here soon. Stinks though that people with older hardware will be left out on this. As I said about all modern iPhone games, they need to develop them to have two automaticly switching (based on hardware ID) modes so it will look better on a 3GS/3G Touch but still work well and look good on the rest of the iPhone/iPod Touch hardware.

December 22 2009 at 4:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mr Lizard

Watched the video.

Having to rub your thumb across the screen to move around obscures the view, which is no good at all for an FPS.

December 22 2009 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
NavStar

Man, I would pay real money for someone to make a snap-on gamepad for iPhone/Touch. Two PSP-like analog nubs, a couple shoulder buttons and a couple action buttons and it would be a total game machine.

December 22 2009 at 2:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to NavStar's comment
Nick

I'm surprised nobody has. iPhone OS 3.0 allows apps to use peripherals - so color me stunned that Activision hasn't whored Guitar Hero onto the iTouch yet.

I agree that the lack of tactile control is holding iTouch games back, since the control scheme shown in the video makes it look somewhere between difficult and impossible to aim and shoot at the same time.

December 22 2009 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Rose

They have, the iControlPad. http://www.tuaw.com/2009/01/19/video-working-icontrolpad-adds-buttons-to-the-ipod-touch/

December 22 2009 at 3:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Janichsan

Okay, when the UE3 can run on the iPhone... why do we still have no frigging UE3 port for the Mac????? >_

December 22 2009 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Janichsan's comment
DA360

Its because sadly it seemed the company Epic gave UT3 to port stopped working on it all-together. Then again, Epic should of ported it themselves like the rest of the UT games in the past (which came out almost simultaneously on all three major OS platforms)

December 22 2009 at 4:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.