Unreal Tournament 3 Gets Another Free Weekend

Epic Games is sending word that its multiplayer shooter, Unreal Tournament 3 Black, is set to get another weekend in which it will be free to play to all the gamers who are interested in it. The game can be enjoyed without pay beginning this Thursday and all those who want to be ready at midnight can now begin the preloading sequence. The only way to play the game is through the Steam service, which is provided by Valve and allows for easy matchmaking.

Preloading makes sure that all the files get downloaded to your hard drive gradually so that you are ready to play as soon as the game becomes free, without further waiting. Preloading as soon as possible is a good idea, considering that the Steam servers might get pretty crowded later.

It's not the first time that Unreal Tournament 3 Black goes free for one weekend. When Epic and Valve previously partnered to pull the move, the videogame enjoyed a surge in popularity, with huge crowds of gamers playing it and a financial performance to match.

The game was the first on the bestseller list during that week and Valve says that Steam sales of Unreal Tournament 3 went up by no less than 2,000%. Epic is probably interested in seeing similar performance this time around and more videogames could get the same treatment if this free weekend is a success.

Epic probably had high hopes for the third installment in the Unreal Tournament series, but the game did not perform as expected. Many gamers chose to stick to playing the older but familiar Unreal Tournament 2004, while the series itself was overshadowed by the release of the Gears of War series.

The company is still releasing content for Unreal Tournament 3 Black and there are rumors swirling around about a new Unreal game in the making.