3 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tech

http://www.gamefaction.com/news/101722691822897.shtml

"Mark Rein: Unreal Tournament 2 should hit store shelves around the end of June"

Check below for more Infogrames release date updates:

Unreal Tournament 2003: 28/6/2002

Will there be a demo for UT2003? Before or after release of the full game?

Yes! Before the game! (End of May, at around the E3 Games Expo)

Mark Rein: [...]As we did with UT we're planning to release a demo/test version of the game before it ships so we can get user feedback and testing results in time to incorporate what we learn from that into the final game. That helped a lot with UT - users were absolutely wonderful at giving us great feedback and really appreciate their help in this area and hope they'll do it again for UT2.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2857300-1,00.html

Q: Is the topic of the UT2003 demo's release/contents under gag order?

MarkRein: I think the topic of UT2003 demo content is under the "not figured out yet" order. Regarding release date: Don't know for sure, but I think we'd like to see it mid to late May. We're not there yet so who knows if that is optimistic or not. There's a lot of work to do before we're ready for the demo.

Mike Bastien: Sometime after E3 I believe. But nothing official there.

Q: But how are you gonna get enough feedback in only 1 month?

MarkRein: I think it's fair to assume, based on past experience, Epic and DE will get thousands of valuable feedback emails within HOURS of release of the demo. We don't need a month's worth of feedback :)

Why was the title changed from „UT2“ to „UT 2003“?

Schmalz explained that the sequel's name (which was changed from the original, tentative title "Unreal Tournament 2") is intended to sound more like a sports game; after all, hard-core fans of Unreal Tournament practically consider playing the game competitively to be a sport. In addition, the name is intended to reflect Digital Extremes' commitment to continuing to support the game after release.

Just as Epic and Digital Extremes released several free map packs and other add-ons after the original Unreal Tournament was released, the companies intend to continuously support UT 2003 with extra maps and other additions that'll help prolong the game's life. Schmalz mentioned that though there are already some 30-odd maps in development for the game's initial release, the developers have already planned several features to improve the game after release, ...

What’s up with a new UT game every year? No more free bonus packs?

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2857300-1,00.html

In addition, the name is intended to reflect Digital Extremes' commitment to continuing to support the game after release. Just as Epic and Digital Extremes released several free map packs and other add-ons after the original Unreal Tournament was released, the companies intend to continuously support UT 2003 with extra maps and other additions that'll help prolong the game's life. Schmalz mentioned that though there are already some 30-odd maps in development for the game's initial release, the developers have already planned several features to improve the game after release, ...

Tim Sweeney on yearly updates:

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=166333

The new name for "Unreal Tournament 2003" is official. But the idea of to releasing a new one every year is just another concept we've been debating internally. If that were seriously considered, we would have to avoid splitting the community every year.

The next-generation Unreal engine's network code and file formats are stable enough that we could potentially ship UT(year x) and include the maps from UT(year x-1) and maintain backwards compatibility with existing servers. This obviously couldn't go on forever, but could assure a lifetime similar to UT. Remember, in over 2 years of UT, we only broke network compatibility once.

Anyway, ongoing Unreal Tournament releases aren't an actual plan, just an idea we've been tossing around.

Mark Rein on yearly updates:

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2086602#post2086602

Please don't read things into the phrase "yearly updates". We had an update to the original UT the following year - the Game of the Year edition. So 1.5 years after that Digital Extremes has created a completely overhaul that is UT2003.

I don't see how this would cause the community to split into shards. The engine for UT2003 scales really well with hardware so as peoples' systems get better you can throw a lot more detail into your levels, characters, and objects without reaching a breaking limit. I think that gives mod makers confidence that the technology won't be out of date in a year or two. The original UT engine, because of its software renderer, was pretty limited in that respect.

http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?threadid=107815

Let's not forget that between Epic and DE we did FOUR free official bonus packs for Unreal Tournament. I don't know how all of this will play out and it's far too early to make any promises or predictions but I can tell that Epic and Digital Extremes are companies whose commitment to their products doesn't stop when the game ships. Because it is so much more expandible and then engine is so much more scalable than it's predecessor, we think Unreal Tournament 2 could have an even longer life cycle than the original UT did.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165299

MarkRein: Imagine that we had named the original Unreal Tournament game UT2000. Then the Game of the Year edition would have been UT2001. Infogrames went out of their way to make sure existing users knew that. They could download all the new stuff that came in UT2001 and didn't need to re-buy the game. BUT a whole huge buncha people bought UT2001 because they had heard such good things about UT2000 and wanted to jump in and play.

So.... If there is a UT2004 it will likely be a update version like UT2001 was and if that's the case we'll make sure people know what stuff is in it and where they can download it like we did for UT2001. So it was UT2000, then UT2001 and then we rested for 2 years and DE is making a completely (100%) new game for 2003 - UT2003. It's likely UT2004 will be a update and then, who knows, maybe UT2005 will be next or maybe waiting another year to UT2006 and it's a whole new game.

BUT.... (This is a big BUT) so not only can we do more maps for newer versions of the game BUT, as users' machines get more and more powerful we can throw more and more detail into the new stuff. So this is really a cool franchise that can do something no other franchise has done yet and expand not only with more stuff but also with much cooler stuff over time.

We don't want to split the community. Part of the value of doing the game more often (I doubt that we'll do it every year btw) is that it keeps people playing with something fresh and makes gradual transitions. This engine can last a long time so we want to take advantage of that.

Just so people know UT2003 is 150-200x time more detailed than UT was. There's nothing in the engine that prevents us from making content that is 500x more detailed once people have hardware that can handle it :)

Is UT2003 the same as ”Unreal 2”, ”Warfare” or ”Championship”?

There are lots of different games in the Unreal universe meanwhile. Make sure not to mix them up:

Unreal (Unreal 1, Unreal Classic) is the first game in the series, focused on singleplayer, co-created by EpicGames and DigitalExtremes for PC, released in March 1998. An expansion pack "Return to NaPali" was released later, made by Legend Entertainment under License from Epic.

Unreal Tournament is based on U1, using much of its techniques, weapons and characters, but it is focused on online multiplayer gaming. It was also co/created by EpicGames and DigitalExtremes; released December 1999 for PC and later for Apple Mac, Sony PlayStation and the Dreamcast Console.

Unreal 2 is the sequel to U1 currently in the making by Legend Entertainment. It is scheduled to be released Q4 2002. It is strickly a singleplayer game.

Unreal Tournament 2003 is the sequel to UT(1) currently in the making by DigitalExtremes. It is scheduled to be released in late June 2002. It is based on UT and is a multiplayer game, for online and offline play.

Unreal Championship is the “sister game” of UT2003 also made by DigitalExtremes. It shares much of the game content and technology, but is made exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox console. It is scheduled to be released together with the broadband online gaming service of the Xbox, expected in early 2003.

Unreal Warfare is the game currently in the making by EpicGames themselves, expected for late 2003. Nothing is officially known about it except the title. If you want to read more about it, check the Unofficial Unreal Warfare FAQ. It’s mostly rumors though. :)

Where can I find good descriptions, screenshots and videos for UT2003?

See section Links.

When can we expect more info, screenshots and a video?

Expect an official website shortly and a major wave of info during the E3 games expo in late May as the latest.

CliffyB: Infogrames is working on a UT2 website. It has taken far too long!

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Mark Rein – [...]After the January publicity we put a gag order on all the Unreal games to allow the developers uninterrupted time to bust their buns and the marketplace time for a breather and it really paid off nicely. Between now and the two releases Jay Wilbur and myself will pick up the majority of the PR duties so the teams can concentrate on delivering the products with the least amount of distractions. I don't think the people out there realize how much effort it takes and how exhausting it can be to feed the hungry press.

HomeLAN - What are Epics's plans for GDC and E3?

Mark Rein - At GDC we have what is called an "Exposuite". It is a fairly large but fully enclosed (i.e. private) booth [...]

At E3 Infogrames will be showing UT2, Unreal2 and Unreal Championship publically in a BIG way. It's going to be a lot of fun and I think people will be blown away by how good these games will be. [...]

I personally think our PR plan for UT2 is the right way to go - say nothing about the game for as long as you possibly can and spring it on people when it is not so far away. From now to June you're going to see Infogrames hype machine really rolling out for UT2. The cool thing is that as all the hype is building the product is actually nearing release so it won't be the big, seemingly endless, tease that often happens with major PC game releases.

Who made the music for UT2003?

Starsky Partridge, DE Musician & Audio Engineer (mostly)

Q: Who is doing the UT2003 music, and what will it be like?

Mike Wagner [DE]: The majority of the music is done in-house by our composer Starsky Partridge. Some real kick ass stuff in there.

Pancho Eekels [DE]: Maybe we'll release some music for you guys to listen to!

Will UT2003 be published in localized language versions?

Yes, UT2003 will come in 5 different languages.

What is the current situation of including a french based voice pack?

Mike Wagner [DE]: We'll be localizing, and providing various languages :)

James Schmalz explained in his Interview on XGR webradio:

UT2 will ship in the 5 major gaming languages:

- English

- French

- German

- Spanish

- Italian (added by Mr. Rein on IRC)

What happened to DE's other project ”Dark Sector”?

It has been slowed down for a while, but will be resumed after UT2003/UC.

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Voodoo Extreme -- You've really done a lot with the game in the few shorts months you've had it in development. Did you use any assets from Dark Sector to accelerate UC's development?

XceptOne -- We actually had the dynamic shadow and light casting techniques plus the volumetric particles already working in Dark Sector for many months. So it was a no-brainer to include it into Unreal Championship.

Voodoo Extreme -- What's going on with Dark Sector?

XceptOne -- Dark Sector in terms of content has been delayed a bit since our focus is Unreal Championship. This will be for the better in the end. Dark Sector will bear the fruits of Unreal Championship on many fronts. It gives us great opportunity to bend the warfare engine to our will and to move everything we will have done so far over to that code base. By the time Unreal Championship is done, our team will have great experience with this new way of making content, since the amount of detail that you can use is massive compared to the UT engine. It also gives us more time to add depth to the immersiveness of Dark Sector. We have planned great things for Dark Sector and the community that will grow from it. Digital Extremes is commited to deliver great gaming experiences for both Unreal Championship and Dark Sector.

3 Tech

3.1 General Tech

Hardware requirements for UT2003?

No official minimum hardware requirements have been published yet.

Q: Are you able to release minimum sys requirements or sys recommendations yet?

Mike Bastien[DE]: No

Pancho Eekels [DE]: Epic is optimizing as much as they can so, the lowest machine etc is still being looked at..

MarkRein [Epic]: Radio Shack Color Computer will definitely not be enough :)

Mike Wagner [DE]: it runs REALLY sweet on a ti4600 though :)

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

As for the systems that the player will need, we are trying to scale it for lower-end PCs to the absolute high-end PCs. I can't be more specific, as we are still optimising the game at this time.

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: Will UT2003 run on my 1ghz athlon with 64MB Radeon and 512 RAM?

MarkRein: Sounds like a good system to me.

Mike Wagner [DE]: I think it's safe to say yes.

Looking at the level of detail of the maps and models and at the amazing lighting and particle effects it is MY PERSONAL GUESS that for a satisfying game experience you'll need at least a CPU 800 MHz upwards and a 2nd generation T&L video card (GeForce, Radeon). Regarding T&L see also next question.

The best way to test if your PC is capable of running UT2003 will be to play the UT2003 demo, which will be released before the game. The demo will also include a unified benchmark test, to get comparable numbers for different systems. For the time being, these UPT 2002 results may give you an idea how different video cards perform on the Unreal engine relative to eachother. Note that the UPT 2002 is not UT2003!! It is an extreme stress test to compare hardware for future games. In-game framerates in UT2003 will be considerably higher!

http://actionvault.ign.com/features/specials/ut2003gdc.shtml

"Mark Rein: The Unreal Performance Test 2002 is basically a fly-by of a level that has its detail level pushed way upward to where we think games running on high-end hardware need to be in one to two years from now. So this isn't something you would run on your PC today and say "hey my PC sucks because it only scores 13 fps on UPT2002". For this reason we've decided not to give the test to the public or show it publically. We're going to give it to select press, under NDA, who run extensive performance labs but not to end-users. What we do plan to do instead is put some of the performance gathering information from the UPT into the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2 demo. So the UT2 demo will provide the functionality of the Unreal Performance Test but at a level that represents the retail version of UT2."

Will UT2003 require a hardware T&L video card?

It is not strictly required, but strongly recommended.

The owners of video cards without hardware transform & lighting chip (such as Kyro2, Voodoo, TNT, …) will be glad to hear that UT2003 will run on such cards. However, no promises are made regarding the performance. If your video card does not have H-T&L, then your CPU has to be considerably faster than the min requirements to compensate for the additional load.

At the other end of the spectrum, James indicated the game should run on a TNT2-class system, albeit with all the bells and whistles turned down or off.

However, Voodoo3 cards or lower are explicitely not supported!

MarkRein[Epic]: Tim Sweeney says NO Voodoo3 support at all. The new engine is 32bit only and requires stencil buffering (two features Voodoo3 doesn't have) so the minimum card would be a TNT2. Sorry for you Voodoo3 users. Voodoo3 was a great card for us in the past but technology marches on.

How big will UT2003 be?

Exact size unknown

How big will UT2003 be? 2 CDs? 3? 2 gigs installed?

Mike Bastien[DE]: The size won't be known till the end.

What platforms and OSs will UT2003 be released for?

Initial release will be for PC only. For Xbox there is Unreal Championship. Mac and other platforms may follow later.

In parallel to UT2003 DE are making Unreal Championship, a game that shares much of the game content and technology with UT2003, but is to be released for Microsoft's Xbox console only.

Ports of either UC or UT2003 to Apple Macintosh or Consoles (PlayStation 2, GameCube, ...) are likely to follow later if the game sells well (which is a given ;)), but this is not officially confirmed.

Q: Will UT2003 make it to Linux? If so, server, client or both?

MarkRein[Epic] We will do a Linux server for sure. Don't know yet about a client but it will probably happen eventually. Somebody will probably do a client but I don't know when or how supported. We'd definitely like to see it and I know Dan Vogel is talking with some friends of his who would like to do it.

Q: Will OpenGL be supported?

MarkRein[Epic] OpenGL will be the API used on Mac (when a Mac port is released) and if there's a Linux client it will use OGL. But there will be no OpenGL driver for Windows this time around - it's not necessary anymore.

Q: What operating system are you running UT2k3 on? Will it work on Windows 98?

MarkRein[Epic] Windows XP is the recommended operating system but 98 and ME should work fine. DirectX 8 is required. Oh yeah we work on 2000 as well!

Q: Will Epic or someone else be porting UT2003 to other OS's.

MarkRein[Epic] Unknown. Right now Linux server is planned and there will likely be a Mac version. But others are unknown.

What rendering system will UT2003 use? (D3D, OpenGL, Glide, ...?)

Initial launch will be Direct3D only. OpenGL may follow later.

As mentioned above:

http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/gdreview/zones/previews/apr01/unreal_tourn_2003.html

Q: Will OpenGL be supported?

Epic's Tim Sweeney explained why, in VoodooExtreme's "Ask Tim Sweeney":

Q: Being a Linux and free software supporter I favor non-proprietary and and open standard API:s. So for game development I would go with OpenGL/Mesa as my 3D-API of choice, mostly because of ideology. [...] So where do you stand in this issue, if we are considering ideology?

A: Right now a DirectX game is more likely to work on the typical non-techie consumer's PC than an OpenGL game, since drivers are more polished and more widely available. I guess the point is that our customers care a great deal about our game working on their PC, and aren't necessarily very interested in our ideology. [...]

Q: Today OpenGL-drivers are not a problem (at least if you own a Nvidia card, which most people do), and I believe Daniel Vogel has proven that the Unreal engine can run as well, or even better using OpenGL in Windows or Linux (OpenGLrenderer has more features, i.e. s3tc support) instead of using Windows only Direct3D. So are there still today any major advantages with choosing Direct3D? As mentioned OpenGL is more open, modular, and also cross-platform.

A: Dan wants to get the OpenGL code back up and running, but not until our next-gen features are essentially complete. I'm not sure whether he'll have the time, but we'll see. We certainly don't have anything against that idea; the only limitations are time and resources.

Q: Also what is the chance of future Epic releases being available to Linux users?

A: We'll definitely have Linux server support, since a significant number of game servers run Linux. Regarding client support, it's too early to say. The stronger Linux has become as a client OS (by the time our next game ships), the more likely this is to happen.

Epic's OpenGL master Daniel Vogel himself explained his position too when asked about the matter by VoodooExtreme:

Q: DirectX or OpenGL? The age old Question....

A: Personally I prefer OpenGL because it's not tied to the Windows operating system, but D3D8 has come a long way since D3D7 and if Microsoft continues this trend, D3D9 will be very nice. I just wish they had a real specification instead of the current fuzzy documentation. D3D8 also still has some issues I can't believe they didn't notice or care about, but it is largely usable. Changes to OpenGL (unlike with D3D) have to be thought through more carefully as breaking compatibility is not a viable option for OpenGL's Architectural Review Board (ARB), so it usually takes them longer to implement features into the core API. I tend to prefer the extension mechanism OpenGL uses over the D3D approach of changing the API drastically. It allows IHVs (independent hardware vendors, e.g. ATI or NVIDIA) to fully expose their functionality and provides a test bed for usability and feasibility before it finds its way into the core API. But this can create issues with intellectual property as seen with the OpenGL equivalent of vertex shaders.

As you can see I'm largely torn when it comes to my API of choice on Windows. But in the end it's not the API you choose that will determine how good or bad your game looks - it's what you do with it ;-)

Will UT2003 make use of the features of latest video cards?

Considering that UT2003 is developed in parallel with UC and UC is an Xbox game and the Xbox has a graphics chip that fully supports shader technology, I think it is a safe bet that those who have a video card featuring shaders (ATI Radeon 8500 or Nvidia GeForce 3 or 4) will see some nice effects based on this!

Players with pixel and vertex-shader enabled videocards should be in for a particular treat, with a material systems shader in place, as well as dynamic particle effects - for example, smoke that billows as missiles pass through it.

(Author Note: As far as I know the particle effect are NOT based on shaders.)

Will UT2003 support multi CPU systems (SMP)?

No. The Unreal Engine is not coded to support multi-threaded processing.

Tim Sweeney made a statement on VoodooExtreme's "Ask Tim Sweeney" on 21 Jan 2001 that is not very encouraging:

Q: With dual processor motherboards being cheap (and stable) nowadays, and a relatively large amount of home computer users actually having an SMP system, I can't help but wonder when (or if :| ) the "SMP Revolution" will take place. Right now, the only released game engine that has some kind of SMP support is Quake3, and even that doesn't really do as good as a fully SMP-supported engine would benefit from dual processing.

A: SMP seems to be dying right now. Athlon's don't support SMP yet, and Pentium 4's don't support SMP.

I don't have any market data on this trend, but I see it here at Epic every day: we're gutting old high-end dual processor Dell workstations and replacing them with high-end consumer PC's. My current development system is a 1.2 GHz Athlon with DDR from Micron, which only cost around $2500 -- compared to around $8000 for the Dell's we used to buy. We buy these PC's because they outperform workstations in most real-world applications.

I think SMP will be revived, but the revolution will depend on single-chip SMP support, which is rumored to be in the works from both AMD and Intel. The really critical factor for any new technology to be successful is price: the price needs to be reasonable enough that high-end gamers can afford it. Sticking two processors in a PC just isn't a very reasonable economic thing to do, but if you can cram two CPU's on a single chip, then why not? The added cost might be only a couple hundred dollars.

My interpretation: That probably means that the U engine will not make use of SMP in the near time. :/

What music file format will UT2 use? MP3?

No, not MP3. Rather Ogg Vorbis

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2761895,00.html

Q: Has the idea of a built in mp3 player been introduced? :)

MarkRein [Epic]: An MP3 license is NOT cheap - Ogg Vorbis is just as good and there are converters available anyway.

Q: Is module music stuff supported?

MarkRein [Epic]: I don't think it is supported with the new sound code

Q: Is the galaxy sound system totally out?

MarkRein [Epic]: Galaxy is long gone. The new system won't cause so many support headaches.

3.2 Engine

What engine will UT2003 use?

UT2003 uses Epic's Unreal engine, with modifications by DE.

UT2003 will use the latest, much improved version of the Unreal engine, also known as the "Warfare" engine, modified by DE in some respects (particles, lighting, model animation, …).

For details see Epic’s UnrealEngineNews or Unreal Developer Network.

Features:

- Realistic outdoor terrain and plants, seamlessly linked to indoor areas.

- Dynamic lighting and shadows

- Map detail is 100-200 times higher than in UT

- Models are 2000-3000 polygons, with smooth skeletal and facial animation

- Particle effects (smoke, fog, rain, ...) that are affected by moving objects

- Realistic water surfaces

- Realistic physics using MathEngine’s Karma™

- DirectX 8 shader effects

- Many more ...

While putting all of this new gameplay to test was enjoyable, it was watching the whole experience that blew us away. The folks at DE are simply infatuated with smoke, shadows, and lighting. As we sauntered around a temple area, torches cast my character's shadow on the floors and walls. When rockets or plasma bursts were fired, the resulting fire and shells cast their own shadows. Sparks from close range machine gun fire also brighten and darken an area's ambient light.

Smoke effects take the focus on detail to further extremes. Animated windmills and falling rocks can brush smoke plumes aside as they move. When a rocket was launched through a plume of smoke, it dissipated - an event that caused other show goers in the room to exclaim an awestruck "Oh my." Each weapon or character movement interacts with smoke and lighting sources with realistic clarity - so much so that one rocket can even adjust another rocket's smoke trail.

As far as environments themselves, each of the game's themed levels is large and multifaceted. Jungle levels feature plenty of foliage to hide behind or short hills to climb; Temple levels are dotted with pharaoh statues, traps, and aquatic pools; Arctic areas feature blowing snow, tumbling rocks, and ice-borne structures; and Volcanic levels actually have flowing lava beds and violently erupting volcanoes - complete with dangerous flying rocks. To date, no console FPS game has contained such large environments. For PC gaming fans looking for an analogue, Unreal Championship's stages make those in Delta Force look like cooped up meadows. Since the game was so unfinished, most stages were missing the majority of the background environment effects. By the time the game is complete sometime in 2002, clouds, weather, rockslides, rivers, and blizzards will be fully implemented.

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

GS: Does the game use the same graphics engine that we've seen in the Unreal II demonstrations?

PE: Yes, it is basically the same. The engine is very powerful, so in terms of visual complexity, there will not be much difference. The Unreal engine also has all the multiplayer aspects that are needed built right in, so there are almost no extra or special adaptations needed to optimise the multiplayer aspect of Unreal Tournament 2. The impressive graphic capabilities that Unreal Tournament 2 has are at the moment projectors that can project shadows or light effects, as well as the particles that interact with the characters, weapon effects, and projectors.

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Voodoo Extreme -- Have you made any modifications to the Unreal engine, or are you leaving the tech stuff to Tim Sweeney?

XceptOne -- We have made many enhancements and modifications to 'tech' aspect of the engine, things that were extremely popular at E3. Our volumetric particle systems which is definately something new, people were blown away when we were making smoke rings in steam with weapons. Our texture projection system is also very sexy, within it we can simulate complex lighting and shadow, even so far as casting shadows on particles. Now we are extremely focused on the gameplay. People always like to hear about new tech, but a very important part of a new game is actually game programming, believe it or not. In the meantime we'll be getting all the new tech from Epic as we go along.

Will UT2003 have destructible environments, like RedFaction's GeoMod engine?

No.

Will there be any environmental deformation? (a la Red Faction GeoMod)

Mike Wagner [DE]: No GeoModding planned for this release.

This is not a matter of UT2003. The U engine simply doesn’t have such a feature (yet?).

What Legend's Mike Verdu stated for U2 in this Q&A on Unreality, published on August 23, 2001 applies for UT2 as well:

We support a very high level of interactivity with the environment (as any good FPS should). We don't have fully destructible environments, but then again I don't think any product has really pulled that off quite yet.

Will the realistic Karma physics be in UT2003?

Yes. It is not yet included, but by the time the game ships, it should be.

In October 2001 Epic announced a cooperation with MathEngine to include their Karma™ physics engine into the U engine, which allows for realistic collision effects.

Most gamers were amazed by what they saw in this video by Giga.de and this video by GameMag, especially the “ragdoll” effect. However, as you can tell from the models and weapons in this video, this is not UT2003, but a generic U engine built. Even in the built of UT2003 that was shown at the Game Development Conference 2002 the Karma physics were not yet included, which made some sites speculate that the game might ship without this feature, for example:

http://www.gamehelper.com/articles/159.htm

As to whether this effect [Karma physics] will be implemented in Unreal 2003 has yet to be seen. Someone hinted that it actually would NOT be used. I guess this effect is being reserved for Unreal II.

But this sounded better:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/356/356046p1.html

As with all games at this stage there's still a bit of polish left to be done. But there are some other big-ticket features that need to be included. "The next merge with Epic's stuff will include the rag doll effects," says James. "It'll be amazing to see the kind of deaths that people achieve with that kind of stuff."

And finally Tim Sweeney confirmed:

http://www.gamespy.com/gdc2002/sweeney/

GameSpy: You keep mentioning Karma technology and Karma Physics engine. Was this something that was developed in-house at Epic or was it created by another development house?

Tim Sweeney: It's actually a physics engine built by the Math Engine guys, they're located in England. They contacted us about six months ago and said, "Hey we think we can improve your physics dramatically with Karma." We said, "Yeah sure, prove it to us." So we gave them the source code. We didn't think they'd do much, but six weeks later they came back with a really impressive demo and they showed us all of this stuff they had been talking about and it really worked well in Unreal. That convinced us it was feasible. Now we're going to be using it in all upcoming Unreal games - Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Championship and Unreal II.

However, Mark Rein said that the use of Karma in UT2003 will probably be limited:

http://actionvault.ign.com/features/specials/ut2003gdc.shtml

Q: Will the Karma physics engine definitely be integrated into UT2003 before release?

Mark Rein [Epic]: I'm pretty sure DE will be making some use of it for UT2003 but it will be limited because of time constraints.

Is it called the ”Warfare engine” or the ”Unreal engine”?

Note that the Warfare engine is still the Unreal engine, just the latest version! Strictly speaking it should be called the "Warfare generation of the Unreal engine".

Epic's Mark Rein explained about this in this Interview on FGN Online, published 23 Jan 2001:

Q: Do you continually evolve the engine's technology and what is the Warfare engine?

A: [...] This is why you'll occasionally hear us or licensees refer to the 'Warfare' version just as we referred to the 'Tournament' version of the engine to represent the feature set of the engine built between the releases of Unreal and Unreal Tournament. The name of the engine is still the Unreal Engine but internally we'll refer to Warfare build xxx where xxx is the latest actual version number.

Builts 0xx-3xx are the classic Unreal engine; builts 4xx-5xx are the "Tournament" generation, builts 6xx upwards are the "Warfare" generation. The latest built is somewhere around 8.60 (Status: Mid March 2002).

For more detailed information and news regarding the Unreal engine, check Epic's Unreal Engine News.

What other games use the U engine?

Plenty

There are a number of past and future games that use(d) the Unreal engine under license of EpicGames:

Past Games: Deus Ex, Clive Barker's Undying, Deep Space 9 : The Fallen, Wheel of Time, NerfBlastArena, Rune, Harry Potter, Mobile Forces, ...

Future Games: Duke Nukem Forever, W.A.T.E.R.(?), Thief 3, Maelstrom, Devastation, Deus Ex 2, ATMA, New Legends, Seraphim, Postal2, Y-Project, XIII, VampireHunter, Lineage 2, ...

... plus some more that I have forgotten or that are not yet announced.

3.3 Model, Maps & Mutators

How many maps can we expect?

Thirty-something for all gametypes together

Featuring more than 30 action-packed arenas, …

DM and TDM will most likely be played on the same map. Maybe “Survivor” too.

If CTF, BombRun and DOM2 will share certain maps is currently unclear.

Will some of our favorite map(pers) from UT make a return in UT2003?

Yes, some maps will return and some of the well-known mappers from both DE and Epic will contribute map.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2106107#post2106107

Well, it [Deck 16] is lit best for player visibility and yes, it is a kickass map. Hey, maybe it will return in one form or another!

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: Will classic maps be added. Or will there be entire new maps?

Mike Bastien [DE]: At this point entirely new ones. IF we have enough time I believe we may redo some of the old. Even though Pancho is redoing LavaGiant... it is basically new from the ground up and much more complex.

http://www.unrealops.com/pancho-interview.htm

Irix - Will we see a Lavagiant][? :D

Pancho - Yeah Lavagiant 2 will make it in. This time it will be balanced bases. On that note, lavagiant took a while to get balanced as much as possible, I don't have the time to do that again.. :)

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168390

Inoxx is making maps for UT2003.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168094

Alan ["Talisman" Willard] is, in fact, currently building a map for UT 2003.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168187

I'm working on a map right now for UT2003.

Cliff [“CliffyB” Bleszinski]

With that new terrain system, will maps generally be much larger than in UT?

There are some large ones, but the majority is smaller, like UT.

http://forums.prounreal.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4200&forum=55&start=160&199

Q: Please don't turn UT into Tribes 2. Huge maps blow.

Mike Bastien [DE]: We have a wide range of map sizes. They're not all terrain maps. Far from it actually. There's a sweet balance to it all.

Mark Rein [Epic]: You don't have to worry about UT2003 being too much like Tribes. That's not our game.

The maps are NOT anywhere near approaching Tribes size (not saying that Tribes was a bad game, just saying that UT2003 is a much different game then Tribes). The maps are very similar in size to UT1 maps.

Will UT2003 come with a new version of the UnrealEd map editor?

Hell, yes! And with a new prefab system.

As mentioned in several previews and interviews, UT2003 will definetly come with a new version of UnrealEd (2.x?). Furthermore in this video DE are showing off their new and easy-to-use prefab mapping system.

Pancho Eeekels in http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167974 :

Nope, you don't need any 3d app to make levels. As soon as you get your copy of UT2003 you can start making levels.

Also, we plan to do some tutorials for you guys to add prefabs and whatnot to the game. I will do a Lightwave7 step by step tutorial from start to finish that I will put up on our website, around the time we ship.

Mark Rein added in the same thread:

This is kind of low-res (1024x768) but it gives you an idea what the editor looks like these days:

(from Game-Over.net)

More pics, courtesy of GameStar.de

What polycount will we see in UT2003?

Models are 2000-3000 polys. Map polycount 100-200 times higher than UT.

Mark Rein - Making UT2 a better game than the original is what Digital Extremes (DE) has planned to do all along. From a graphics standpoint alone they're already working with 100 to 200 times more details than the original had

http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108760

Voodoo Extreme -- How many polys are the models (characters, weapons, etc)?

XceptOne -- The polygoncounts of the models range between 2000-3000. We are taking extra care in the shape and uniqueness of each character so that they nicely stand out. Of course this was all part of the concept behind each one. We call it 'the silhoutte detail'. The same rule goes for the weapons.

What is the texture resolution for maps and skins in UT2003?

UT2 article in February PC Gamer magazine:

the textures are being created at 1024x1024 but will default to 512x512. In a couple of years, more powerful video cards will ramp up the level of detail to breathtaking new heights.

Mario "StrangeFate" Vasquez, Digital Extremes:

you can go with 1024, most of the map textures and prefab skins are 1024x1024 too

Can UT maps, models and mutators be used in UT2003?

Yes, but not without a manual conversion.

Pancho Eekels on http://www.unrealops.com/pancho-interview.htm

Pancho - People will be able to convert the old maps to UT2 btw.

Keep your pants on, folks. He just said it is possible. He didn’t say it would be easy. ;)

The ”Warfare” generation of the Unreal engine has some major improvements and changes over the ”Tournament” generation. This unfortunately breaks backwards compatibility, but it is necessary to make the progress possible.

Legend’s Matthias Worch put it nicely in this thread on Infogrames U2 forum (talking about U2, but the same applies to UT2):

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and if you want a new game that pushes the technical boundaries you can't keep all the old code, you have to rewrite stuff. U2 would not look half as good as today if we'd kept all the old code.

However, UT2003 still have many things in common with UT and those who want to convert their work (be it map, model or mutator) from UT to UT2003 won’t have to start from scratch. Conversion in UnrealEd should be fairly easy, compared to conversions from a totally different engine.

Will UT2003 have support for Gmax?

Tim Seeeney on Gmax support:

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2090334#post2090334

Regarding gmax support, we're all big 3D Studio Max fans here at Epic. It's a great product.

The next-generation Unreal engine, which is powering Unreal 2 and Unreal Tournament 2, ships with plug-ins for both 3D Studio Max and Maya for exporting objects with animation, multiple channels of mapping coordinates, and vertex attributes. This makes it pretty easy to get content out of these modelling packages and into Unreal based games.

gmax is a (very) stripped-down version of 3D Studio Max that Kinetix is encouraging game developers to use instead of writing an engine-specific editor like UnrealEd or Worldcraft. It's fine for games that fit the mold of Max's feature set, but I don't think it's nearly as powerful or visual enough for a really thorough engine like Unreal, or id's or Valve's upcoming stuff. It's more like "A level editing tool for teams who don't have the time to write a level editing tool".

The upcoming Unreal games will ship with the next-generation UnrealEd, which includes all of the features of past versions plus way more new stuff: terrain building and painting, graphical material editing, animation control, cinematic sequence editing, and a lot more. It's a lot of fun to use.

3.4 Multiplayer Tech

What netcode will UT2003 use for online gaming?

UT’s netcode, with some improvement

http://www.unreality.dk/news/news_small.asp?Number=4033

3. What netcode are you using? UT's or an enhanced?

We are using UT's netcode updated to the latest patch and then we will improve upon that over the next year. So we are starting with something great and making it even better.

And the latest UnrealEngineNews (Built 829) say about netcode:

Network, [...]also received updates including: Improved multiplayer networking code, with significantly lower bandwidth use and better client-side simulation of other players.

What is being done against online cheaters in UT2?

Epic are making the netcode more cheat-proof, and are working together with CSHP

In November 2001 Epic hired Dr. SiN, the founder of the anti-cheat project CSHP. Just recently Mark Rein confirmed that Doc SiN has been given the task to make the U engine netcode more cheatproof:

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167807&postid=2109767

Folks,

Several months age we hired Joe Wilcox (a.k.a. Dr. Sin) who created the CSHP (client-side hack protection) for Unreal Tournament. He will be addressing security issues for UT2003. Because he now works for Epic, and has access to Digital Extreme's UT2003 source code and the engine C++ source code, he has the ability to implement a much lower level, and more secure, hack-protection system than he previously could with UnrealScript.

But it must be said that when you have a game that is designed to be heavily modified it is impossible to implement a 100% secure solution. We often have to balance the need to keep the cheaters out with the need to allow the mod-makers to have some power and flexibility.

Joe “Dr. SiN” Wilcox himself commented on the matter on the BeyondUnreal forums:

http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108413

There are 3 keys to attacking cheats. The first is to realize you will can never win, only draw. Second, the developer has to do everything possible before the game ships and third is that community must be ready to take over afterwards.

No online based protection is 100% secure no matter what anyone tells you. The objective has to be to stop as much as possible and ANYTHING public. It's really just that simple. If someone wants to cheat, hell and high water won't stop them. As the developer, it's my job to make it EXTREMELY difficult for them to do. So out of the box, UT2003 should have solid protection. But my job doesn't stop there. I work with the attitude everything I do will eventually be broken, so in addition to making sure it's solid upfront protection, I'm making sure there is a second layer of tools..

Tools that can be used by a community organized defense against cheaters. I've said this all along (ie: when CSHP started and well before coming to Epic) that protection after the game ships ABSOLUTELY must come from the community. The developer/publisher can't fight this one. Often the anti-cheating community needs to react immediately to a threat. The developer can not do this. Every release requires testing for many issues, man power, etc. This means in fact, the original developer simply are not up to the task.

Now, let me also set the record straight. A lot of people have complained or accused Epic of not acting to stop cheating. This is really a false statement. Epic always supported CSHP with funds (our forums and site were paid for by them), support (we had access anyone we needed from Tim or Steve or NgStats) and even full access to the source. But it is a battle that logistically they (now we) can not fight. So they turned to the community and being a strong community, we responded.

For UT2003, I'm sure we will be there to support any community based effort to keep the game clean. I also know there will be a community there to take up the gauntlet. And yes, I'll be there to offer any assistance. There is an added bonus of being able to push patches automatically when a player connects so many of the issues that held CSHP (or UTPure) back are gone.

Remember, with CSHP, we had to work within an extremely confined set of rules (while the cheaters had free reign). This isn't the case now.

Read more in this Interview with Dr. SiN.

Lets hope that we can play UT at least for a few months until it is cracked, and once it’s cracked the community anti-cheat projects like CSHP will have an easier job busting those llama asses with Dr. SiN supporting them from inside Epic.

What are the player limits for multiplayer?

32 players

http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/previews/jan02/unreal2.html

The game promises maps supporting up to 32 people online, ...

What improvements have been made to the server browser?

UT2 will have an improved filtering system, incl. a buddy search

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2857300-1,00.html

Schmalz mentioned […] meta-mutators, which is an icon-based system that'll let you quickly and easily tell what sort of mutators--major or minor game modifications--are being used in online games so you can jump into exactly the ones you want.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2106107#post2106107

Request: have the server browser display the mutators, gamespeed, whether password is required, and translocator status of the maps more prominintly: for ease of use

Answer: In the works.

Request: add some sort of player name search to find players currently playing online.

Answer: Planning on making server filtering support.

Will UT2003 have an in-game IRC chat client, like UT?

Yes!

http://pc.ign.com/articles/356/356046p3.html

Q: Will UT2003 have an in-game IRC chat client like UT.. and if so, what will be the default network to connect to?

Pancho Eekels [DE]: Still deciding on that. So far it will behave the same as in UT in that regard.

Will UT2003 have voice communication built in?

DE are working on it.

Voice support is supposedly in the works (which makes sense given the team-oriented nature of the game).

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: Will UT2003 definitely have voice comms?

MarkRein [Epic]: Undecided.

Will UT2003 have a respawn protection?

Yes!

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2106107#post2106107

We are making sure that spawn camping will be reduced, if not made impossible, in UT2003.

Hehe, that should change CTF-Face gameplay quite a bit. :)

Certainly the fact alone that players will spawn with all weapons will help to fight respawn killing quite a bit.

Will UT2 have an online stats system (ngStats or similar)?

DE/Epic are working on it.

Q: Will there be an ngStats type of stat reporting in UT2003?

Mark Rein [Epic]: We're working on that

Q: Will the stats be a little more organized this time?

Mark Rein [Epic]: I hope so.

Will UT2 have a UID / CD key system for clear player identification?

Most probably yes

Q: Is UT2003 going to be copy protected?

Mark Rein [Epic]: No copy protection is planned but we're expecting to have CD keys required for multiplayer and a valid key required for installation and auto-download capabilities. Plus a few more things the CD key will enable that we're not going to talk about.

Q: Any info on whether or not UT will require a unique CD Key to play

Mark Rein [Epic]: Probably a CD key.

Mike Bastien [DE]: That's being worked on now, I believe.

Mark Rein [Epic]: No safedisc copy protection. It sucked last time.

Q: Are you not concerned that valid keys could be defrauded cause someone used a key generator?

Mark Rein [Epic]: I don't think it would be possible to write a program to generate our keys.

Q: Will the CD key interact with servers or stats in any way for verification of player's identity?

Mark Rein [Epic]: I think CD keys will help for that. CD key will be the key for stats as well

How many player IDs can be recorded in the stats system per CD key?

Mark Rein [Epic]: Undecided - probably 3

Q: CD key to play online = no aliasing?

Mark Rein [Epic]: Yes to aliasing. You can use any name you want.

4 Gameplay

What is the UT2003 Background Story?

An interstellar alien empire that has taken Liandri Corp's tournament to the next level: Six teams fight on six different planets.

http://www.gamespy.com/gdc2002/ut2003/

In the century after the events of UT Liandri Mining Corporation flourished, expanding their operations to include over seventy five percent of colonial space. While performing planetary surveys out on the colonial rim, a Liandri scout ship encountered the first wave of a vast armada of ships bearing down on human space. The arrival of the alien warships took mankind completely by surprise, and soon all of human space had fallen under the rule of a vast interstellar Empire. The laws of the Empire were harsh by human standards, but it became safe once again for cargo vessels to travel the shipping lanes without fear of privateers.

At first Imperial edict banned the tournaments as decadent and barbaric, but the Emperor's advisors observed that with proper management the contests could be used to make the newly absorbed colonies more pliant. This led to the formation of the Leagues, organized combative sports utilizing enemies of the Empire, criminals, and volunteers. With the public wagering on the outcome of the contests, the Imperial Treasury increased the wage of civil servants while quietly recouping the added expense at the betting kiosks of the League halls. One hundred and twenty years after the introduction of the Leagues the sports have become even more integral to society than the original tournaments, with convicted felons fighting for their freedom and volunteers fighting for riches and glory, and all of them fighting for their lives.

What are the teams you can pick your character from and what are the environments you fight in?

The 6 teams from the 6 planets are:

1. The "Juggernauts", gene-boosted humans from Ice planet Alleria

2. The "Anubans", neo-egypt theme humans from Desert planet Anubis

3. The "Gen Mo'kei", aliens from Forest planet Arborea

4. The "Automatons", robots from Space Station Premaka

5. The "Nightmare" team, freaky humans from Lava planet Purgatory

6. The "7th Battle Fleet" aka "BlackOps", human mercenaries from Rock planet Sanctuary

How many characters are there in UT2003 overall?

More than 25 models and more than 50 skins/faces.

With UT 2003, 50 completely different characters with their own identities - it gives the game a more unique feel.

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: How many characters will there be in UT2003?

Mike Wagner [DE]: There are 48 characters, 6 teams of 8 characters for you to select from in multiplayer. Plus others. :)

Note: Some sites have incorrectly stated that there will be 50 models in UT2003. That is not correct. Each of the teams comes with “only” 4 unique meshes (models), but each mesh comes with 2 skins, so that’s 6x4x2=48 characters.

On top of that there are a few secret bonus characters (like Xan in UT). So that’s more than 25 models and more than 50 characters overall!

Which game modes will be in UT2003?

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

Deathmatch - The Classic. Shoot everything that moves. If it doesn't move, shoot it 'til it does.

Team Deathmatch - Shoot everything that moves, unless it has your team’s color.

Survivor - A special fighting style game mode. No details known. LastManStanding style? RocketArena style?

Capture the Flag - Classic CTF: Two team trying to steal the opponent team's flag and carry it home into their own base to score a point.

Domination 2.0 - Two teams fighting over control points. The change to UT's DOM is that this time there are only 2 control points. As soon as a team dominates the two points in the map, they'll have to defend it for a certain amount of time. If this team succeeds in doing so, they get awarded a point. Both domination points will then become neutral for again a certain amount of time. During that time, no one can dominate the two points until it activates again.

BombingRun (Name subject to change) - Football with a bomb. The bomb will spawn in the middle of the maps. It is your team's goal to pick this up and deliver it to your opponent team's base, where it will detonate and award your team with a point. Your opposing team is trying to do the same thing, so watch out! You will be able to easily pass the bomb back and forth with your teammates to make the action even more fast and furious. The bomb will also bounce, like a ball. An interesting twist to this game type: You can’t fire your weapons when you carry the bomb!! You will need good teamplay and cover for a successful run.

ß DM HUD ß BR HUD ß CTF HUD

How does the weapon/ammo/health pick-up system work?

Recharging stations are used to collect ammo, health and armor.

Originally DE planned to let players spawn with all weapons, like in RocketArena. This is currently under checking.

The following explains the system that DE had in mind:

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

"In other words, we are focusing more toward the actual skill of the player rather than luck. The idea of spawning with all weapons (all customisable, of course), except the superweapons, is not an old one. This reduces the time you spend looking around for a weapon and gives you the chance to jump into the fray right away when you spawn. However, you start out with a low ammo count, so you'll have to find an ammo recharger if you want to take full advantage of your weapon loadout.

We have also implemented the concept of recharging stations that recharge your health, ammo, or shield. Now, this doesn't mean that every time you pick up ammo, health, or shield that you have to stand still. This is because each recharging station has an initial holographic icon floating on top of it, which has a charge of, say, 25 percent. It takes time for that to reappear again after you've zipped over it and picked it up (just like a regular pickup). But if you are greedy, you can stay on the station for a full refill. This causes the station to get drained, and it takes time for it to fully recharge; you can't camp on top of it. All of this still gives you the opportunity to control certain areas of the map if you want to, since there are still physical stations that are very important to your arsenal, health, and shield."

Note: Lately DE have hinted that they are reconsidering the concept of spawning with all weapons, at least for DM, maybe in other gametypes too. Players may spawn with a limited amount of 3-4 basic weapons instead (Shieldgun, AssaultRifle, …)

With the recharge stations, will there still be power-ups to pick up?

Yes!

http://forums.prounreal.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4200&forum=55&start=160&199

There are still powerups in UT2003 (map control will still be a very key focus for high level competition)

The bioenergy will add few new powerups that work in a very different way and replace some of the original UT powerups. I really think you'll like this but more testing is still to be done of course.

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: Will there be pickup weapons like in other FPS games, or will there just be base stations to get your weapons and armors?

Mark Rein [Epic]: Right now there are pickups like in the original UT.

Q: What exactly can I pickup other than weapons and ammo?

Pancho Eekels [DE]: You will be able to pick up shield for sure

Q: Are powerup times in UT2k3 going to be random spawn times, or a set interval?

Pancho Eekels [DE] Powerups are currently at set intervals.

Which Weapons will be in UT2003

11+ instruments of mayhem, some of our old favorites (with a new twist) and some new ones.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/356/356046p2.html

Big changes are also being made to the game's arsenal of weapons. It's important for James that the weapons in Unreal Tournament 2003 rely less on blind luck and more on skill. Eleven weapons are included in the game (with one or two likely to be added between now and release) and, with some small exceptions, most of them are either completely new or heavily modified versions of older weapons.

As a summary of various previews, especially UnrealOps and an article in Gamespot.de magazine:

1. Translocator - The TL has be toned down a bit compared to UT. It now has recharging ammo, like the dispersion pistol in Unreal 1. The recharge rate is currently tweaked and will be further tweaked based on the feedback from the demo.

Furthermore Mike Bastien from DE said: “There's a cool new 'feature' for the tranny, and there'll be some other minor tweaks.”

2. ShieldHammer - Primary fire is UT2's meelee weapon, similar to UT’s ImpactHammer. It can be used for jumping too. Secondary fire is an active semi-sphere shield (green glow) that deflects most weapon fire.

Shield in Action

3. ShockGun - UT2's version of the ShockRifle, aka ASMD. It comes with the (in-)famous "combo".

1^st person view: Combo:

4. FlakCannon - Basically the same as UT's, but less spammy. Shards spread and bounce less and do less damage with distance.

5. MiniGun - Primary fire spins up fast and is very precise. Secondary spins up slower, is less accurate and consumes ammo faster, but fires explosive shells that do a lot of damage.

6. AssaultRifle - Primary fire is the good ole' machine gun type allround weapon. Secondary is a grenade launcher. The longer you hold down the trigger, the further the grenade flies.

7. RocketLauncher - No FPS game is complete without a RL. On primary fire you can load up to 3 rockets. Secondary fires single, homing rockets. The grenade launcher feature known from U1 and UT has been moved to the AssaultRifle.

8. LightningGun (SniperRifle) - Instead of firing a bullet the new SniperRifle aka LightningGun will fire a bolt of lightning. This means instant hit; but as the price to pay the light beam gives away the sniper's position. The secondary fire is a zoom tha comes with infrared vision, so you can see heat signatures of players hiding in shadows.

3^rd person view

1^st person view Zoomed in

Lightning Gun in action Old design

9. LinkGun - This is the new version of UT's pulse gun. It comes with a very special new feature, which gave it the new name: When you fire the secondary stream at a teammate, then instead of hurting him, your weapon will link with his weapon and work as an amplifier, so his weapon will do 3 times the normal damage. If 3 players link this way, then they can do 5(!) times the normal damage. This form of teamwork will probably play an important role in teamgames especially clanmatches. But be carefull: If the first player's beam touches the last player's, everyone in the chain dies. Like the Ghostbusters said: ”Don’t cross the streams!”.

10. More weapons ... not yet known ...

Some of these images are pretty old and the weapons may have been replaced with new designs.

In addition there are two "super weapons", to replace UT's redeemer. You will not respawn with these weapons; but you'll have to pick them up.

1. IonCannon -You "paint" (mark) a target with it, which will activate a satellite that fires (with a little delay) a devastating laser out of space; instant destruction even for vehicles. It obviously works only outdoor.

2. Redeemer - A warhead similar to UT’s redeemer, except that it is slower and hovers near to the ground. You can steer it or let it home automatically.

How do the special moves work?

There are a number of special moves, both defensive and offensive. For some of them you need to have a certain amount of "Bio Energy", which you collect from corpses and earn for special kills.

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

The special moves are really an extension of dodging from the original Unreal Tournament. Dodging became synonymous with Unreal Tournament when it was first introduced; it is hard to imagine playing the game without it anymore. So what we are doing in Unreal Tournament 2 is to add more of those movement choices as you fight in a level to make the game more dynamic. Some of the more advanced special moves depend on bioenergy that you gather from opponents you've killed in the game. By collecting their bioenergy, you can save up for these special moves.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2803203,00.html

Called the "Bioenergy meter," the bar sits right under your life bar and is constantly filled as you take out enemies. Once it's full, you'll enter a berserk state, during which you'll inflict more damage and suffer less. You'll also use bioenergy to power some of the game's combos. Though Digital Extremes didn't demo nor mention any in specific, the Infogrames producer present did mention that a host of variables would factor into their specific mechanics: things like your character's race, whether or not you're jumping, and the types of weapons you're using will determine exactly how these combos will behave.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2761895,00.html

Unlike Unreal Tournament, where character choice has no impact on defensive skills or speed, the characters in Unreal Championship each feature their own vital skills based upon the armor and outfitting they wear. For example, a character with protrusions from their arms can use them as shields, while an opponent with heavy battle armor is able laugh off small weapons fire, at a cost of slow movement and poor jump range. Playing the game at the show, it's apparent that the developers are having a fun time with this feature. Time and time again I was able to bat away Flak Cannon shots with THX-1138's forearms, but also quite vulnerable to close-range rocket fire thanks to the character's thickly armored legs.

In addition to utilizing a character's armor for defensive purposes, the game also includes the option to duck down and block. If you're the type of person who doesn't mind taking minor damage, you can block incoming fire, switch weapons, and target overly aggressive opponents as they approach. The implementation of this aspect at the show was minimal, but still plenty enough to make for some wacky retribution style duels.

The statement about the different speed of the different characters seems to outdated. DE have changed it, or at least it is not valid online:

Q: If characters have different running speeds, how fast is the fastest?

Pancho Eekels [DE]: By default everyone online will run at same speeds.

Some more info on the special moves in the XGR chat log:

Q: Will there be dodging in UT2003? And if so, will it be done the same way as the one in UT is done

Mike Wagner [DE]: The dodge has got some special love. ... What it is.. you'll see :)

Q: Will “bunnyhopping” be limited?

Mike Bastien [DE]: There's double jumping in now. It by it's very nature limits bunny hopping. And it is cool. If you jump again at the apex of your first jump... you'll effectively 'boost' from there.

Q: Will there be more powerups? Like different types of jumpboots, amp, shield belts?

Mike Bastien [DE]: These now fall into the category of 'combos'. So a combination of skill and bio energies that the player will accumulate and be collected. This is currently WIP. Very cool though.

How fast is the gameplay in UT2003?

Just as fast as in UT.

As you can see in the available gameplay footage videos, the speed of the players is about the same as in the original UT.

http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/interviews/0,2160,2102638,00.html

Q: How fast do you run in UT2 Does UT2k3 involve as fast-paced gameplay as UT has?

Pancho Eekels [DE]: You run as fast as in UT (or very close to it). UT2003 IS FAST action packed first person goodness!

Mike Bastien[DE]: Still being tweaked. I'd personally like to see it sped up, but that's something that'll probably be in mutator territory.

Is UT2003 a game for ”newbies” or ”pro” players?

Both. :)

DE have shown in interviews that they are well aware of the requests and concerns from the “hardcore” fans. Issues like camping and spamming will be addressed. DE want to make a game that suits for competitive play. Having said that, they won’t forget about the average, occasional players and the beginners, to ensure that UT2003 will be fun for everybody and even more popular than ist precedessor.

From the UC Dev Diary Update #5

Game related; we are implementing some elegant solutions to the old 'hardcore' vs. 'regular players' game play debates and topics (spamming is one of those). I will not go further into it other then to say that it will ease the pain suffered on both fronts.

PE: Well, initially that was a tough call, but we decided that having the emphasis on sports would be the most fitting direction for Unreal Tournament 2. The name already implies competition with the use of 'tournament,' so it seemed a natural progression. We listened to many clans and members of gaming leagues and are including many features in Unreal Tournament 2 - ones that will make it a product that supports that audience right out of the box.

Will you have to manually reload you weapon in UT2 (i.e. are there ammo clips?)

No.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168974

Pancho Eekels [DE]: There is no reloading in UT2003.

What’s with that yellow triangle above players’ head? No more teamcolors?

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169101&pagenumber=2

Tim “Xen” Hess [Infogrames]: Teammates only and yes, you can turn them off.

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169844

Pancho Eekels [DE]: Right now, the teams have team lights on their armour. And the triangle show up on top of your own team members. Maybe an option to turn them off will be included.

Now all this is still subject to tweaking as to where do the triangles 'shrink' when up close or even fade away. So any screenshots will at this point not represent the true size of the triangle. We want them to be small, but big enough to quickly see your teammate.

The team lights do a nice job at giving away on who's team you're on, so this will be enough for people that don't like 'the triangles'

Will Friendly Fire be on or off per default in UT2003?

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170203

CliffyB [Epic]: I can tell you that, without a doubt, it will be defaulted to OFF and at best will be kept to an option.

Will UT2003 have vehicles?

Probably not for the initial release. They may be added later with a patch. Vehicles will play a much bigger role in UC.

Whether it is because DE is under big time pressure for the June release or because they want to establish a destinct difference between UT2003 and UC we don't know, but it looks like vehicles won’t play a big role in UT2003. With UT2003 having the translocator, that shouldn’t be a big problem. However, in UC the vehicles will take over the role that the translocator has in UT2: Letting you cross long distances quickly, so you don't get bored running.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2857300,00.html

HomeLAN - There has been some talk about UT 2 having vehicles in the game because of the plans to have vehicles in DE's Xbox title Unreal Championship. Will UT 2 ship with vehicles?

Mark Rein - I'm not 100% sure what role vehicles will play in UT2 if any. I expect they will play a greater role in Unreal Championship. From an engine standpoint we expect to have some pretty cool vehicle support ready for the game (in fact we'll be showing some of it at GDC in about two weeks) so this maybe something put to more use by mod makers than by DE at least in the UT2 release timeframe.

In this report on GameSpot (2 weeks later) things sound a bit more promising:

UT 2003 will also feature a modified physics engine that allows for some very realistic death animations, as well as for vehicles. Vehicles won't be critically important to UT 2003's gameplay, but if nothing else, they'll be a good way to get around quickly.

Finally DE confirmed in the XGR interview that vehicles probably won’t be in the initial release due to time constraints:

http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/UT2FAQ/xgr_irc.htm

Q: Will vehicles take the place of the TL as the more commonly used form of transportation?

Mike Wagner [DE] Vehicles probably will not make it into the initial release, but follow at a later time. And the translocator is still a zippy way to get around a map. :)

Will UT2003 have an announcer and taunts?

Yes, both. And even better than UT. UT2003 will have a female and a male announcer.

As you could hear in the Giga.de video, UT2003 will have a female announcer (voice simular to the one in the UT tutorials). And there will be a male announcer too:

http://ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170930

Remember the 'Tutorial' voice in UT?

Don't worry, the annoucer you are talking about will be in game.