14 DAY TRIAL // The Unreal engine has been licensed for a variety of games. Most of them are games that focus on blood, weapons, destruction and death, much like the Unreal series itself does. But now, the engine technology has been licensed by a Korean developer named Nurien. And they want to develop "next generation social networking application" on it. Yup, you heard that right. A social network that uses the Unreal engine. Now I've seen it all...
The network is going to be named M Star and it will launch in Korea this year, and then in the United States next year. It will let players create an avatar - either a hunk of a man or an attractive woman. They will then be able to dress up the character, using a variety of clothing and accessory options, and then go around socializing. And yes, make-up will be made available. Using the same Unreal engine (I just can't stress the apparent absurdity of this enough).
As the game is developed, various mini-games, of the now trendy casual variety, will also be implemented and players will get currency for beating other players at those games. In the same gore-intended Unreal engine. The game will be free to play for everyone. Micro-transactions, which are increasingly popular in the South Asian market, will allow the player to get access to nicer clothes and better accessories. Advertisers will be able to use the game to promote products by making them available on-line for the players to use in their virtual form. And let me remind you that the Unreal engine will make it possible for South Koreans to virtually wear the next Prada jacket before it's even on sale.
The Unreal engine is powerful enough to make the game really fluid and to power some pretty interesting mini-games. A dancing game, where successful combos and moves are directly reflected in the characters appearance, and a fashion show mini-game were demonstrated and the developers stated more of them are in the works. And, of course, all of them are powered by the enemies-smashing Unreal engine.