NCsoft Licenses Unreal Engine 3 for Two MMORPGs

[GameBanshee News]

NCsoft sent out a press release this morning announcing that they've licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 for two upcoming MMORPGs.

NCsoft Announces Unreal Engine 3 License for Two Upcoming Projects

World-renowned online game developer expands on Unreal legacy

SEOUL, KOREA (March 25, 2008) – NCsoft® Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced that it has reinforced its relationship with Epic Games, Inc. by licensing Unreal Engine 3 to develop two unannounced, top-tier massively multiplayer online games. NCsoft has achieved spectacular results working with the Unreal Engine over the years, shipping the highly successful Lineage® II, and the soon to be released Exteel ™, using Unreal Engine 2.

“Unreal Engine 3 has a well structured rendering pipeline, and its graphical quality is superb thanks to advanced lighting and shadowing systems,” said Young-muk Choi, lead programmer, Development Unit, NCsoft. “Tools within the Unreal Editor empower us to instantly produce and optimize our outputs, and we especially love how the engine enables designers to easily prototype concepts without the need for programming.”

“NCsoft pioneered online game development using Unreal Engine, as evidenced by Lineage II, one of the most commercially successful and enduringly popular online games in history,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president of Epic Games. “We are thrilled to take this next step with NCsoft, and are fully committed to supporting their projects. We expect to be completely wowed by what they do with our latest technology.”

Developers and publishers around the world have licensed Unreal Engine 3 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Since Epic has shipped its internal titles across all supported platforms, the engine's content pipeline and technical capabilities have achieved unprecedented levels of maturity and accessibility. These advancements, combined with the continual incorporation of top quality middleware via Epic's prestigious Integrated Partners Program, has primed Unreal Engine 3 as the best possible offering for cross-platform game development for years to come. Through this licensing agreement, NCsoft will be able to take advantage of the latest enhancements to Unreal Engine 3, including dynamic ambient occlusion, a fracturing tool and runtime, a realistic crowd system and much more.

About Unreal Engine 3

The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and its best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 maintains those features while adding massive world support, multi-processor support, next-generation console optimizations, and one of the most mature tool pipelines in the industry. Unreal Engine 3's advanced toolset is designed specifically to accelerate developers' productivity for ultra-complex, next-generation content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained at www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its Unreal series, recently shipping Unreal Tournament 3 for PC and PlayStation 3. Epic’s breakthrough game, Gears of War, sold over 4 million copies and was awarded overall Game of the Year for 2006 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Game Developers Choice Awards, GameSpot, GamePro and many others. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best Console Game and Spike TV’s 2007 RPG of the Year Mass Effect by BioWare and the 2007 BAFTA Best Game and Spike TV Game of the Year BioShock by 2K Games. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder, and three-time consecutive winner, of Game Developer magazine's Front Line award for Best Game Engine. Epic was also recognized as 2006 Studio of the Year by Spike TV, 2006 Developer of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine and 2007 Large Company of the Year by the North Carolina Technology Association. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through the Epic Games Web site at www.epicgames.com.

About NCsoft Corporation

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft Corporation is the world’s leading developer and publisher of online games. Founded in 1997, NCsoft is home to the Lineage franchise, the world’s most successful online role playing game. Other successful NCsoft titles and franchises include City of Heroes®/City of Villains®, Guild Wars®, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa® and Dungeon Runners™. In coming months, NCsoft is poised to launch other online titles including Aion® and Exteel. NCsoft has offices in North America, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand. In fiscal year 2007, NCsoft posted revenues of KRW 330 billion. For more information about NCsoft visit http://www.PlayNC.com.

[DesR85]

I won't be surprised if any of those two games display performance issues online.

[Xandax]

Don't see why that should be the case as no graphical information is sent between the server and client, but all run on the client computer like a single player game.
I am however wondering what type of MMOs this will be, on top of the Tabula Rasa release.

[DesR85]

Originally Posted by Xandax

Don't see why that should be the case as no graphical information is sent between the server and client, but all run on the client computer like a single player game.

Weren't there complaints of performance issues in Vanguard, one of the MMOs powered by the UE3 engine?

[Xandax]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Weren't there complaints of performance issues in Vanguard, one of the MMOs powered by the UE3 engine?

Sure, but that doesn't stem from the graphics engine as such, as no graphical information is send from server to client. What is normally transmitted are positions, calculation results and all that mathematical information. Problems with the server comes when they can't handle all the load from thousand clients, not cause of graphical displays on clients.
If the engine cause problems, it is because it is too taxing on the client machine, not because it is "online", just as if it was - for example "off-line" Unreal 3 running on the rig.