First Step into the Next Generation of Games.

Just when you thought E3 wouldn't offer anything 'new', there comes Epic Games. Not to show off a new game but to everyone's surprise, it's next iteration of game engine - Unreal Engine 4 (UE4).

During the show they showed us a demo of 'Demon Knight' and another 10-minute walkthrough of the actual UE4 technology. Both of which, were mind-blowing...

Now, it is universally known how successful Unreal Engine 3(UE3) was (and still is) since it's debut 6 years ago. Games such as Epic's own Gears of War series pushed the graphical boundaries of Xbox 360. But, PC is where Unreal Engine truly shines. Unreal Tournament 3, Mass Effect, Devil May Cry, Borderlands, Batman, Dishonored and plenty more games certify this. So, Epic Games is no stranger when it comes to shocking the Gaming World with it's ground breaking technology.

So, your wondering how much of a leap will UE4 take from its predecessor? Well, it's going to be huge. Epic Games threw together a live presentation of its new Unreal Engine 4 in the latter stages on the last day of E3. The walkthrough was presented by Epic's senior technical artist Alan Willard, who showed a room full of journalists the capabilities of its next gen engine. Not only will it have better Lighting effects but also power upto a million GPU-powered particles in a scene at once, up from mere hundreds under Unreal Engine 3. If that wasn't enough, the new engine also provides built-in support for "full eye adaptation," impersonating the effect of going from a bright room to a dark one (or vive versa). Everthing from the editor to the in-game functionality(Im coming to this) and graphical features was astouding! 

One major addition in UE4 is it's new version of Kismet called - Kismet 2. A pseudo-programming environment that has been brought along and fully revamped from Unreal Engine 3. Bigger and better, It will help even the most inexperienced programmer to work his magic. Infact, Willard goes on to say," I'm a complete moron when it comes to actually writing C++, but I sit there and use the scripting tool all day long and write complex scripting behavior, because that's how it's designed to be used, by someone who doesn't necessarily have to know how a programming language works." Everybody were impressed with the ability to test the design environment in real-time while the engine compiled the code at the exact same time! How about that? An easy-to-use platform of one of the most powerful game engines the industry has seen, for Novice programmers. What more can one ask for? 

But it's not just Epic Games, who are hard at work to scale the next generation of consoles and utilize the power of high-end PCs. Infact, EA were the first to start and the result was the most ground breaking game engine the gamers had seen yet with - DICE's Frostbite 2. Not to forget Crytek's extraordinary CryENGINE 3 which looks just as promising in its Crysis E3 demo. Both EA owned. Then there is Ubisoft with the AnvilNext; whose power was witnessed in Assassin Creed 3's E3 Gameplay trailer. Then comes Square Enix with it's just announced - Luminous Engine, which will power it's ever so popular Final Fantasy games. Not to forget Sony's own Naughty dog and Quantic Studios, who with their games(and game engines) pushed the PS3 to it's absolute limit..

You guys might have read Squee's article of Star Wars 1313's E3 demo, the new game in the long running franchise. That game was pretty impressive considering it was a pre-alpha footage. After watching it though, you will be surprised that it utilizes Epic's UE3. Taking this in mind, you can imagine the sheer graphical prowess, UE4 will show us when it finally debuts. 

In the end though, this is just another evolution which will lay the foundation for the Next Generation Games, ready to "wow" us..again. So are you excited about the new development of game engines? Do you really think it's time to take the leap to the next generation of games? Enlighten us with your thoughts below.