UTIII in America this year? There's a "very solid shot"; Europe? Not so much.

by Jem Alexander { Nov 9th 2007 at 7:00AM }

We were wondering what had happened to Mark Rein - it's been quite a while since we've last heard word from him around the internets. However, an Unreal Tournament III event without him would just be plain wrong, so it's no surprise to hear another load of quotes from him surfacing from a event held in Birmingham yesterday. Eurogamer were there to ask him a few questions but, more specifically, they wanted to know the likelihood of the game being released this year.

In early October Midway revised their annual estimates with the expectation that Unreal Tournament III would ship in 2008, instead of late 2007. Mark Rein then went on record to say that Epic was still intending to get the game out before the end of the year and it seems like that will be the reality - for America. Rein told Eurogamer yesterday that Epic are "very close to a release candidate" and they "should have it finished by the end of this week." After that, it heads off to manufacture and distribution.

As for Europe, he suspects the release may slip into 2008. But it's not Epic's fault! It's all those pesky languages us Europeans speak. "Europe's a problem because the certification process in Europe takes longer." Rein says, "They're testing all these different languages in all these different countries, so I doubt it'll be released this year in Europe. But I don't know. We'll have to cross our fingers and wait and see." So there's a chance - but we won't hold our breath.

Tags: delay, Epic, Europe, mark-rein, Midway, unreal-tournament-3, unreal-tournament-III, UT3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JackMichael- @ Nov 9th 2007 7:27AM

What about the UK then? America has the same language as us so could we expect an earlier release than the rest of Europe?

Brucie B @ Nov 9th 2007 7:35AM

Sorry there's No Chance, 2008 it is!

SDF @ Nov 9th 2007 8:41AM

"America has the same language as us "
You couldnt be more wrong!

cookiemonster @ Nov 9th 2007 9:01AM

you speak our language americans never forget that..

american "english"

Rule Britania!
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

Popfrogs @ Nov 9th 2007 8:55AM

I don't get it when games with probably 10 lines of text total and a little dialogue take forever to port.

I guess UT3 has some deep story mode that we're not aware of. I thought it was more adrenalin-fueled running around shooting everything game.

R5 @ Nov 9th 2007 9:08AM

Me Fail English? That's Unpossible!

Kspraydad @ Nov 9th 2007 9:20AM

@Jack Michael...

Um...not so much.

Please...as your average American to try your spotted dick sometime.

organic_shadow @ Nov 9th 2007 9:50AM

HA! See, I KNEW there was something up with everyone that got their hands on the PS3 version saying it was smooth and basically complete. Why wouldn't it make 2008 if everything was going well?

We can just cross our fingers now and hope that the final build comes this week like he said and that it gets manufactured quickly and sent out to us. Wonder how long all that takes.

tomas_sharp @ Nov 9th 2007 10:29AM

Again, europe gets shat on, what a great week to be a european PS3 owner!!!

BlitzyMighty @ Nov 9th 2007 12:38PM

Stop whining guys. If Sony thinks that Euporeans MUST have their games in native languages, then they will take the trouble to do it. Why not just petition SCEA to release American/UK games in English everywhere and not do translation at all? The vast majority of Eurpopeans speak baic english anyway, while this most native english speakers aren't fluent in other languages.

leighmail @ Nov 9th 2007 5:34PM

I understand it would take longer for respective countries to certify the languages and thus cause release delays, but why not have a UK/Australia version, changed very little from the US version I would imagine, and a rest of Europe version with all the languages, that comes out later (sorry but it has to be that way). Man I'm sick of Australia being forced into the EU bracket, as far as geography goes we're closer to the US, and I watch too much American TV to care about any differences in language. All I can do is hope and dream, oh and complain of course. Woohoo for imports.

RPGJock @ Nov 9th 2007 10:05PM

I use to play the hell out of UT2003. Then they annouced that 2005 was coming out and I have be holding out for it. Its been three years now, and finally Unreal is coming and I don't have to upgrade my PC this time. I mean Ratchet and Clank Future, Uncharted (awesome demo) and very hopefully UNREAL MUTHA F-ING HEADSHOT TOURNAMENT! I won't care what anybody say after that, there will, no, there ARE good games only on the PS3.