Xbox is Unreal

One of the press releases which we missed amongst the annual announcement avalanche that is E3 has confirmed that Digital Extremes are working on a new Unreal title for the Xbox, due to be published by Infogrames in the spring. Unreal Championship will build on the successful online shooter Unreal Tournament while adding a host of new features, as well as graphical treats from Epic's latest generation of engine technology, including outdoors terrain, swirling fog, and smoke which drifts realistically in the wind.

"Having co-developed Unreal and Unreal Tournament with Digital Extremes, we feel they are the perfect partner to continue delivering the excellence required in a next generation Unreal product", Epic's Tim Sweeney is reported as saying. "James Schmalz and his team are building a top notch Xbox game from the ground up."

Because while the game is clearly inspired by Unreal Tournament, it is effectively an entirely new game, with thirty new levels mixing both indoors and outdoors areas, as well as higher resolution textures, more detailed player models and animations, and even air and land based vehicles to drive around in. Taking full advantage of the Xbox's capabilities, the game will include both a four-player split-screen mode and support for up to 32 people to battle it out over the internet using the console's broadband adapter.

Are we excited? Yes, we are actually.