"Epic's VP announces Unreal 4 to the world and appeals for extra manpower and firepower to seal global dominance!

17:40 Not content with ruling the next gen with its all conquering Unreal Engine 3 - which has been licensed by Microsoft for the 360, Sony for the PS3 and just about every serious next gen PC developer worth their salt - Epic Games has already begun the march to global hegemony in the next next generation, with work on the previously unheard of Unreal Engine 4, now revealed to have begun over two years ago.

"Unreal Engine 4 will be totally groundbreaking and the way games will be done in the future," Rein continued. I don't expect it to be staffed up as a full team for several years. But when people come to work at Epic, they can come here with the knowledge that we're always keeping one eye on the future and they're going to be helping to shape the future of the videogame business" continued Rein.

Well our gobs were well and truly smacked at this bombshell, because we've seen what Unreal Engine 3 can do already and we're only at the beginning of it's potential going into the next gen. Imagine what it'll be like in three year's time when developers have got a full handle on it and can use it to maximum potential with Epic's mature toolset.

But Unreal Engine 4? Our minds veritably boggle at the prospect. God alone knows what Epic are cooking up there, but if it's the generational leap forward that Unreal Engine 3 is, then world look out. Rein hinted that it's designed for the next next generation of hardware. Epic feels they got a two to three year headstart on this generation when they started Unreal Engine 3 and aimed it for hardware that was only in the planning stages at the time. Their gamble paid off when Microsoft and Sony chose that level of hardware to power their upcoming next-gen consoles. Rein says the focus for Unreal Engine 4 is getting a leg up on the competition for the next major paradigm shift in computing hardware that is likely to see the light in future PCs and console systems that are mere concepts today." [more]