Xbox 360 Fanboy

In a response concerning his earlier comments about Blu-Ray capacity, Epic's Mark Rein has once again commented on bringing user created content to Unreal Tournament III for Xbox 360. First, he noted that praising Blu-Ray's capacity was in no way meant as a slight to the 360's DVD format, adding that any extra content could easily be made available for download. Speaking about user created mods, Rein noted, "When it comes to user created mods on the 360 - we will work with Microsoft to find a way to support them." He added that Epic doesn't know what the solution is at this time, and that it will have to wait until after the PS3 and PC versions ships (as well as Gears of War for PC). After that (and some much deserved R&R), Rein promises that Epic will tackle the user created content problem and "figure it out."

[Via 1UP]

The metaphorical legal mud is flying today with Epic Games' Mark Rein commenting on and taking action against Silicon Knights and their lawsuit over the Unreal Engine 3.

This morning, Rein sent out a statement condemning the lawsuit Silicon Knights brought against Epic a few weeks back stating that they (Epic) "did nothing wrong" and that they are "committed to fully defending against Silicon Knights' unfounded allegations". Rein further expressed Epic's anger with the situation saying that "Silicon Knights wants to take Epic's Licensed Technology, pay nothing for it, and use it any way it pleases" and as a result are counter-suing Silicon Knights. Epic feels their counter-suit is justifiable and claim that Silicon Knights is accountable for breach of contract, copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets among other things and are looking for compensation no less that $650,000. Let's just say Rein and the Epic gang aren't going down without a fight and things are going to get a lot hotter before they cool down. Fight!

[Via Joystiq]

Remember the CVG interview in which Epic VP Mark Rein stated that Microsoft's E3 showing hurt Halo 3? Now the first part of the interview has been published in its entirety, giving a further look at Rein's opinions. One of the more interesting tidbits, after his spiel about the Halo 3 showing, he goes on to admit that Halo 3 will break all of the sales records set by Gears of War. According to Rein, "We've had a nice nine, ten months of being the record holder, and now we're going to get our ass kicked. In a good way." Good form, old man, good form. Rein goes on to discuss the various versions of Unreal Tournament III and Gears of War PC and the fate of its exclusive content (hint).

Also worth nothing, in the second part of the interview, which has yet to be published, Rein admits that the reason for the delay of the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III is that Epic has yet to sort out how user created mods will work on 360. Rein notes that in the "worst case scenario" Epic will submit user created mods to Microsoft for certification and offer them as downloadable content. Rein adds that, "hopefully between now and whenever it is we ship on Xbox 360, we figure out a user-managed way to do it." Our fingers are crossed.

Read -- Mark Rein interview, part 1
Read -- Epic struggles with UTIII mods on 360

Epic Games' very vocal and opinionated Mark Rein doesn't think Bungie should have shown Halo 3's E3 campaign trailer and believes it hurt them more than it helped. In a chat with CVG, Rein said that Halo 3 didn't win any best of E3 awards, because Microsoft didn't give the media any hands on time with the game stating that;

"I'm sure if they'd actually had a big Halo 3 presence, if Microsoft had set up eight machines or 12 or 16 machines so you could sit and play it, it would have won all kinds of awards. But they don't need to because, like me, everyone's already placed their order... So I think that worked against them at E3."

Hmm, interesting logic we guess. But Mark's comments further confuse us when he later tells CVG that it was a "smart move" to highlight other Xbox 360 titles and limit the amount of Halo 3 exposure. Hmm, didn't Mark just say he thought it was a bad move to not show a bunch of Halo 3? Well, now we're just confused Mr. Rein.

In the end, we like to think that the Halo 3 E3 trailer was good times and helped fans get a feel for what the campaign has to offer. But at least we can both agree that we don't have to be sold on Halo 3 and are buying it no matter what.

Epic's Mark Rein hopped on the official Gears forums to tell everyone that they are working hard on the next auto update and that they've included a few unexpected goodies. Not only are they tweaking the roadie run as promised, but they are adding some glorious NEW achievements to both the Annex gametype and the Hidden Fronts DLC, taking advantage of the new Gamerscore policy. Rein also goes on to say that the update will take care of random exploits and general housekeeping, but that they do not have a firm release date for the update yet.

Brand new Gears achievements simply rocks! It's something that I have been vocal about and to my surprise is going to happen. Now, for those of us who've earned the Seriously achievement, we can milk Gears for even more Gamerscore points. Dreamy isn't it? It's almost as if the Gears of War angels (Epic Games) have flown down from the heavens and blessed us once again.

[Via GamingTalkHQ]

In our report on Cliffy B's take on Jazz Jackrabbit and its potential for Xbox Live Arcade, he made a tongue-in-cheek remark about "potential sequels" for the Gears of War franchise. Some people took this and ran with it as confirmation that there "ToTAlLY iz a GEars sequaL!1!!". Mark Rein made an appearance on the official Gears of War forum and stated that Cliffy in no way confirmed the development of a sequel. Mark has also said that if popularity and room for innovation was still there, he saw no reasons to stop at three games. So, not that we're suggesting anything, but if there was enough story and progression in the gameplay mechanics, how far can you see the Gears franchise going?

[Via Eurogamer]

The other day we reported that Epic's lawyers were demanding that Emilio Lopez remove all Gears of War related material from his custom Munny doll. You, our fellow fanboys, had varying opinions about the whole thing to whether or not Epic was overacting or if they were within' their rights to send Emilio the letter. Well, we've received some clarity on the situation as Epic's own Mark Rein posted an apology on the official Gears of War forums. Rein acknowledged that their lawyers misunderstood Emilio's work, because they thought it was an actual product for sale using the GoW trademark. Rein went on to say that their lawyers did act over zealously and they now see absolutely no harm in Emilio's Christmas gift, but reinforced that they pursue hundreds of individuals who try captilizing on their trademarks illegally. In the end, no hard feelings and everyone can go their merry way.

We're glad that Epic came clean on this little situation and exposed it for what it was ... a misunderstanding. See, we knew Epic wasn't a corporate machine capable of doing such evil things ... we never doubted them for a second.

The oh so dashing Mark Rein posted a heart warming message to Gears fans on the official Gears of War message boards. Simply put, he stated that Epic was "going to support Gears of War and we're going to make improvements and enhancements for it." No dates or timetable was stated, but Epic just wants the fans to know that they are listening to us, hearing our complaints and praise, and will come out with updates and possibly new content in the near future. Now that's a real game developing company, actually caring about their customers and going the extra mile for them. Here's looking at you Electronic Arts, you're still grounded.

Following yesterday's BIG announcement that Gears of War will hit the US on November 12th and in the UK on the 17th of November, comes the news that there will not be a demo released before the game ships, or possibly ever. Speaking with TeamXbox, Epic VP, Mark Rein, had this to say:

"Demos take a long time to create and polish and we can't afford to get derailed like that if we want to have the game in stores by Thanksgiving. Given a choice of the game this year or a demo this year and the game next year I'm sure every one of you would rather have the game this year because you're already planning to buy it. No idea if we'll do a demo or not after the game ships."

Maybe that was the real BIG announcement. Seriously though, we all want a taste of GOW, but is there anyone out there waiting for a demo to make up their minds? If so, tell us why.

[Via Fraggerock]