Thu, Mar 24, 2011 | 07:27 GMT
Ubisoft says 3DS is “powerful,” has Unreal Engine up-and-running
Many have doubted the technical prowess of Nintendo’s latest little-handheld-that-could – Epic’s own Mark Rein being perhaps the most vocal – but Ubisoft thinks that’s all hogwash. And, more importantly, the publisher apparently has enough tricks up its sleeve to prove it.
“The 3DS is powerful, and we are able to run the Unreal engine on this console, which is pretty impressive for a handheld machine, and the 3D doesn’t affect the performance (thanks to my amazing programmers). The architecture is different compared to a Wii or some other platforms that we had to work with here at Ubisoft Montreal,” Splinter Cell 3DS producer Fabrice Cuny told GameSpot.
“The 3DS can be much more comparable to a platform between a DSi and a Wii. We are able to create games anywhere from a puzzle game to very high-end game such as Splinter Cell 3D. The tools on the 3DS were brand new, and with every development phase, we had some tools with bugs and crashes. But with version after version, Nintendo provided us a set of tools and the support to help us debug and optimize the game.”
So, will the 3DS be bench-pressing benchmarks alongside the NGP and iPad 2? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean you should write it off before the battle’s even begun. (Also, seriously, try to discount the thing after taking Ocarina of Time for a spin in 3D. It’s your childhood, but better. Say what you will, but Nintendo’s mastery over the forces of nostalgia is an otherworldly power that’d we can only imagine came from, well, a magical croissant-shaped flute.)
19 comments
#1
DeathJynx
24/03/11, 7:32 am
Did you really add ipad 2 to the handheld list… *sigh*
#2
mojo
24/03/11, 7:34 am
“the publisher apparently has enough tricks up its sleeve to prove it.”
and where is the proof?
#3
Zurtech
24/03/11, 7:50 am
I’d love to see someone put an ipad2 in their pocket! ^_^
#4
DaMan
24/03/11, 7:54 am
well, since we’ve a $599 blu-ray player which could only run Genji and stuff for almost two years, why not add the potential contender which iPad undeniably is.
#5
Gekidami
24/03/11, 8:06 am
^ lol Pointing out somethings price then praising an ‘i’ product. Hilarious.
#6
DaMan
24/03/11, 8:11 am
praising? you fanboys are depressing.
I was drawing analogies software library wise, while it’s certainly lacking, the fact that it has many muliplatform titles and many publishers see it as a viable platform makes it a potential handheld.
#7
RockTwist
24/03/11, 8:17 am
Let’s add laptops to the handheld list too while we’re at it. Ooo and Amazon Kindle… ooo oo and GPS units.
#8
Crysis
24/03/11, 8:35 am
Well my $150 unlocked phone has a stronger cpu, Epic’s recommended minimum clock speed is 800Mhz & their recommended memory is 512MB.
#9
Lounds
24/03/11, 8:47 am
I grew up with mega drive and PS1, only rich kids had N64
#10
Nozz
24/03/11, 9:02 am
@9 yeah, I was that little dude with a hand-me-down Commodore 64 and a Sega Master system.
#11
DaMan
24/03/11, 9:06 am
well, correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve seen the laptops have been already added to gaming sections on every single website under the name ‘PC (Windows)’.
unless there’re dozens of variations of the device all running various OS, it is a platform. if it is supposed to run games, it’s a gaming one. otherwise you might as well say PCs should be dropped, since they aren’t dedicated toys either.
#12
RockTwist
24/03/11, 9:07 am
Err, yeah but they aren’t handheld which is the point.
#13
mojo
24/03/11, 9:12 am
an ipda is a tablet computer
3ds is a mobile gaming console
simple as that.
i mean, even an airbus has wheels, seats and an engine. does that make it a car?
#14
Lounds
24/03/11, 11:13 am
@10 well i’m only 20 so im guessing you’re a few years older than me
#15
Mark Rein
24/03/11, 11:59 am
The game in question is a reworking of a game from 2005 which was based on Unreal Engine 2. Unreal Engine 2 supported PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox (1), and Playstation2. We shipped Unreal Tournament 2003 (which we shipped in September 2002), Unreal Tournament 2004, and Unreal Championship on this engine. Ubisoft has done some amazing work with our engines. They also ported Unreal Engine 2 to Gamecube, Wii, and PSP. The original version of this game was on Xbox (1), PS2, PC and Gamecube if memory serves correctly. Way to go Ubisoft!
#16
ManuOtaku
24/03/11, 12:04 pm
obviously will have more power than the DS, it will be close enough to the wii, so for me is pretty good for a handled if you ask me, and nintendo always has graphics tricks on their consoles, like with the SNES with the SUPER FX chip in games like doom and donkey kong country, or like the N64 memory expansion pack for games like donkey kong, therefore i dont see why this cannot happen on the 3DS, so epic you should take notice, you are the ones who made the Unreal Engine afterall, and Ubisoft is giving you a class on how to use it? o_O
#17
Erthazus
24/03/11, 12:28 pm
“and where is the proof?”
Unreal engine 2.5 is proof.
#18
Nozz
24/03/11, 12:53 pm
@14 only by 3 years!
#19
Lounds
24/03/11, 1:07 pm
Unreal Engine is hyped too much, it’s nowt special, but it was great in 2000 when UT came out o_0
well my parents never encouraged gaming so I had to shave my pocket money up to buy my shit, ah i remember seeing an article in a playstation mag about the psp back in 2004 and me and my mate decided to save up so we could get it on release date.