Epic’s Engine Comes In For More Criticism

Microsoft has chipped in criticism of Epic’s Unreal 3 engine.

Epic’s Unreal 3 engine has come under further criticism in the aftermath of a lawsuit filed by Silicon Knights alleging that lack of engine support caused delays in Too Human.

Microsoft’s Global Product Manager told an Ars Technica staffer that poor support and communication issues troubled the development of roleplaying game Lost Odyssey.

The issue was that Epic kept updating the versions, so it was hard to catch up. For example, if they released Unreal Engine 3, version 6.1, which has certain requirements and limitations for graphics, you wouldn’t have the tools. It was hard to get the tools and instruments necessary to produce the most updated versions of our software.

Also, the lack of bilingual staff made it hard for our coders to get the support they needed. Most of our staff is Japanese, and so the language barrier and the updates made it hard to do. These were some of the issues with the engine for us.

Claims that Epic keeps revising its code without releasing complementary third-party tools on time dovetails with Silicon Knights’ complaint that Epic’s licensing of the engine is primarily a means to subsidize development for the company’s own anticipated blockbuster, Unreal Tournament 3.

While some have speculated that other Unreal 3 engine-driven games are seeing delays for similar reasons, it is common for A-list titles to be pushed back.

The latest game to hit shelves that does use the engine is BioShock, which features arguably the most realistic fire and water effects seen to date.

Source: Ars Technica