14 DAY TRIAL // Epic Games, the developer of massively successful hardcore shooters like Gears of War or Unreal Tournament is quite excited about the Kinect, highlighting that its Unreal Engine 3 has already been used to develop experiences with the motion and voice sensor for the Xbox 360.
The Kinect is rapidly becoming a must have accessory for any Xbox 360 owner, as the sensor is to receive a lot of brand new titles made specifically for it, while regular games like Mass Effect 3, Forza Motorsport 4 or Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, have support for some of its functions.
Epic Games is also very excited about the record-breaking Kinect, with its vice president, Mark Rein, talking about the sensor with OXM.
"The very first Kinect app - I shouldn't call it an app - the very first Kinect game, Kinect Adventures, was on Unreal Engine 3," Rein said. "So I think we have a little bit of history there. Obviously we've been a close partner for Microsoft for a long period of time. And Unreal is just a great technology for doing that sort of stuff."
Rein emphasizes his statements with Kinect Fun Labs, a brand new collection of interactive tools with which Xbox 360 and Kinect owners can create their own experiences, that is based on the Unreal Engine 3.
"Kinect Fun Labs is a great example," Rein went on. "Everybody goes: 'Woah, you can make a shooter with Unreal'. Clearly you can make something that's not a shooter with Unreal, there's the best example there. And you can hook it up with all kinds of cool technology of your own and do something impressive. So I'd love to say we're the gold standard and the default but people like to use all kinds of technology to make games."
Seeing as how its own technology is being used successfully with the Kinect, Rein admits that Epic Games is anxious to get in on the action, but declines to say just what projects it currently has in mind for the motion and voice sensor.
"People love Kinect," he added. "I'm really happy to see this second generation of Kinect games show up, see that they're still going strong and that people have lots of cool and amazing ideas for them. So yeah, we're dying to be a part of that."
Epic's next game is Gears of War 3, the last chapter in the hardcore third-person shooter trilogy, exclusive to the Xbox 360, which is out on September 20.