"We're multi-platform" - Rein

By Robert Purchese Published 16 August, 2007

No favourites at Epic.

Epic Games chief Mark Rein is disappointed we all keep suggesting he likes one console over another, and insists the developer has no favourites - and will optimise every game for each platform.

He was venting his frustration on the official forums, where he discussed recent comments saying he was happy about being able to fit more data onto Blu-ray discs.

"The simple facts state that the optical disc on the PS3 holds more data than the optical disc on the 360," said Rein. "If we exceed size of the 360's optical disc then we'll have to find alternative ways to get the content to 360 users such as making it downloadable."

Apparently Epic has already exceeded DVD storage with Gears of War, which if you piled all the downloadable content together with the game would be too large to fit on one disc. And given the track record of user-created mods for the Unreal series, he believes hard drives for both consoles will be put to good use.

Rein is confident any storage puzzles can be worked out in the future, but for the moment his focus is on getting UT3 ready for launch this year on PS3 and PC, as well as sprucing up Gears of War for PC.

"When it comes to user-created mods on the 360 - we will work with Microsoft to find a way to support them," continued Rein.

"We just don't have all the answers today and it isn't our chief priority at this very moment because we already have our hands completely full shipping UT3 on PC and PS3 as well as shipping Gears of War on PC."

"When we get those out of the way, and get a little time to spend with our friends and families, then we'll get back on this issue and figure it out."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • onyxbox #1 5 years ago

    "We're multi-platform," says Rein...

    no shit!


    edit: isn't that the whole point of middleware :-/
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 12:11

  • Cloudane #2 5 years ago

    Except the Wii, of course.

    :p

  • Genji #3 5 years ago

    "Except the Wii, of course."

    Beat me to it!

    :-D

  • Razorus #4 5 years ago

    Where are the bloody Wii games then, Epic? Chat shit.

  • The_Programmer #5 5 years ago

    "The simple facts state that the optical disc on the PS3 holds more data than the optical disc on the 360," said Rein. "If we exceed size of the 360s optical disc then we'll have to find alternative ways to get the content to 360 users such as making it downloadable."

    Why download it onto a small hard disk when you could just put it on 2 DVD's or as many DVD's as you like. DVD's are very cheap to manufacture.

    Has this man been getting lessons from the Sony PR department?

  • afghan_jones #6 5 years ago

    "The Wii isn't a console, it's a granny wrist stimulator"



    Flippin heck man, be careful, them Ninty fanboys will lynch you for such slander! Dont you realise it is the future?

  • Oldern #7 5 years ago

    ""When we get those out of the way, and get a little time to spend with our friends and families, then we'll get back on this issue and figure it out.""

    4 million Gears of War (Xbox 360) sold says no, Rein. If you want such money again from that, go back to work and figure it out - like, now? : )

  • afghan_jones #8 5 years ago

    "grannies with strong wrists, dosed up on pills will do anything for a chocolate biscuit. "


    I guess it does have a use then!

  • yupyup #9 5 years ago

    Flippin heck man, be careful, them Ninty fanboys will lynch you for such slander! Dont you realise it is the future?

    No, homoerotic macho shooters are the future. Obviously. Mark Rein just said size matters.

  • Dark_Stranger #10 5 years ago

    "grannies with strong wrists, dosed up on pills will do anything for a chocolate biscuit."

    You've been looking at those GILF sites again.

  • Katsumoto #11 5 years ago

    Damn, after reading the Bioshock comments I thought the Trolls had taken a day off today!

  • ManicDrunkMonk #12 5 years ago

    @afghan_jones

    Put it to bed for a couple of days, or put it in a thread in the forums where people who want to read it can.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 5 years ago

    Gears exceeded the DVD limit? Hearing that for the first time. In fact the DVD image doesn't even come close to 7gb. Both Crackdown and Forza 2 take up more disc space than Gears.

  • Fwing #14 5 years ago

    Since when does multi-platform = every platform?

    Tools

  • Skooch #15 5 years ago

    "I love the Wii, grannies with strong wrists, dosed up on pills will do anything for a chocolate biscuit."

    Quote of the day! That's some funny sh*t! :D

  • green_nifta #16 5 years ago

    Every platform, except PS3 of course until they get a blummin version of Unreal Engine middleware to work properly for it...

  • speedtrax #17 5 years ago

    "Gears exceeded the DVD limit? Hearing that for the first time. In fact the DVD image doesn't even come close to 7gb. Both Crackdown and Forza 2 take up more disc space than Gears."

    GoW weighs in at 6.5Gb. So it's not hard to imagine it exceeding the dvd limit with the downloads.
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 13:28

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 5 years ago

    There is 2gb worth of DLC for Gears?

  • peterfll #19 5 years ago

    He doesn't support the Sega Master System - the bstard!

  • SomaticSense #20 5 years ago

    If this guy really wanted the wider public to see how 'impartial' he is, then he really should be making a point to releasing all games with equal content across all platforms. Ie, Gears on PS3, UT3 released simultaneously on PC, PS3 and 360, and the 360 getting the PC's extra Gears content and the PS3's UT stuff via download for free to account for the Blu-Ray's extra space.

    I know that approach isn't necessarily feasible, but by making sure every version is different on each system, he is only fuelling the hate between those that feel attached to their chosen format. He might well be impartial (my personal opinion is that i think he is), but by using the approach he is currently, instead of every fanboy loving him or only one section not liking what he is doing, he is attracting the bile from every quarter for totally different reasons.

    For example, the PS3 users hate Epic's stance on Gears, 360 ones regarding UT3, and the PC ones because they didn't get Gears the same time as the 360.

    Upsetting everyone is not the best business plan as far as I can see as opposed to upsetting no one, and so he shouldn't really be surprised that the non-neutrals can't see any evidence of his 'impartiality'.
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 13:35

  • skillian #21 5 years ago

    If this guy really wanted the wider public to see how 'impartial' he is, then he really should be making a point to releasing all games with equal content across all platforms... I know that approach isn't necessarily feasible...

    Nor is it particularly desirable. They should give each platform the best game they can, regardless of what they did with a "rival" version. If that means more content on one and better graphics on another, then so be it.

    This is videogames, not party politics - impartiality and fairness aren't necessary.
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 13:48

  • SomaticSense #22 5 years ago

    Skillian -

    I actually agree. I acknowledged that it may not really be possible. But he shouldn't really be complaining about it though, should he. I mean he, more than anyone, should know by now how fickle the gaming community is.
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 13:58

  • Fwing #23 5 years ago

    "If this guy really wanted the wider public to see how 'impartial' he is, then he really should be making a point to releasing all games with equal content across all platforms... I know that approach isn't necessarily feasible... "

    Sony and Microsoft both INSIST you make changes and add unique features to their platform's version of any given game. They won't approve the concepts otherwise.

  • Fwing #24 5 years ago

    "I mean he, more than anyone, should know by now how fickle the gaming community is"

    Fickle, noisy, whiney, idiotically partisan, yet still buys the games anyway despite all the piss and wind.

  • Lacero #25 5 years ago

    "If we exceed size of the 360s optical disc then we'll have to find alternative ways to get the content to 360 users such as making it downloadable."

    But the 360 doesn't come with a harddrive as standard? So some 360 owners don't get the full game, PS3 owners get a bad engine and pc owners get things six months late. Like SomaticSense says, they're upsetting everyone.

  • skillian #26 5 years ago

    Fickle, noisy, whiney, idiotically partisan, yet still buys the games anyway despite all the piss and wind.

    Like crack addicts with a bad supply then. :)

  • absolutezero #27 5 years ago

    Epic's Mark Rein continues to talk.



    No one cares.

  • dsmx #28 5 years ago

    For all you people saying why not put the content on another disk, do you really want to change disks everytime a map changes? Because in the worst case scenario that is what you will be doing.

  • Oldern #29 5 years ago

    "Because in the worst case scenario that is what you will be doing. "

    You can create a system where you either
    a. Install the maps from the second disc to the hard drive
    b. If you lack hard drive, you have to switch the discs - this will require no "auto map change" from server-side, or only 'disc1 map -> disc1 map1' / 'disc2 map->disc2 map' map-changes (which is a pain in the you-know-where)


    Many people who got HD in their Xbox 360 would not feel bad about option 'a'.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #30 5 years ago

    You could put content that is regularily needed like multiplayer maps on both discs. It's definetly a bit of wasting space but imagine you'll have 2 x 6 gb to use for singleplayer content compared to 1x9 gb for sp content. Could very well work, you just change the disc once during the campaign and if you play multiplayer either disc will be fine.

  • kangarootoo #31 5 years ago

    @Oldern

    Given the 360 HDD is barely larger than a weasel's pencil case, I would mind about option a.

  • Triggerhappytel #32 5 years ago

    So, they are multiplatform except when someone pays them enough money to release a game exclusively, right?


    EDIT - clarity
    Edited by 1 at 16/08/07 @ 15:18

  • Caimbeul #33 5 years ago

    "and the best thing about Gears was that it was optimised really well to be played on a pad."

    FOMCWL! it was just about playable you mean!

  • reddevil93 #34 5 years ago

    Fair play to the guy for actually coming out and addressing fans.

  • Arwin #35 5 years ago

    The Wii already had an Unreal Engine long before any other Next-Gen game. It's called Unreal Engine 2.0, and that supports all features you need, including the ability to mod it to support a wii-mote.

    Epic themselves have said as much, and I haven't heard anyone disagree. Probably because developing for the Wii is so easy you don't need middle-ware in the first place.

  • Lim-Dul #36 5 years ago

    Hmmm... Haven't we got something called HD-DVD that also has a "tad" more space on it than a normal DVD? Or am I missing something? Blue-Ray Disks are friggin expensive to produce and difficult to burn (because of the hard-coating) and always will be... I refuse to believe that the 15 GBs of HD-DVD compared to the 25 GBs of Blue-Ray won't be sufficient for now (I mean - game sizes haven't suddenly quadrupled overnight, have they?) OK - Blue-Ray is built-in and HD-DVD must be bought separately but well...

  • Vandrius #37 5 years ago

    I was quite impressed with his comments. He came across as a straight-shooter who was annoyed at his comments having hidden meaning read in.

    Well said, Epic dude.

  • -TKF- #38 5 years ago

    Yo!

    Please read what DISC says here, it´s a unknown FACT that the limit on XBOX 360 DVDs is something like 3.5 GB PR LAYER!

    THAT IS A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 7 GB ON THE SLOWER STREAMING DUAL LAYER DISCS

    SEVEN GIGABYTES NOT 8.5 OR 9

    Good thanks to caps maybe 2 people will know this now, and ohh fuck it let the rest of the world think that is 9 GB it´s not like 25% less space than something that wasn´t alot to start with... noooooooo

  • Les #39 5 years ago

    "Why is it so hard for Microsoft to understand this is the way to go? Why all the SKUs? Why didn't they integrate HD-DVD? Why pay 160 Euro for 120 Gb when I can put in 250Gb for 99 Euro on a PS3?"

    Because MS is a company and wants to make money. As we all know, they lost billions on the original xbox hardware. Determined not to make the same mistake again, they embarked on a strategy with relatively cheap SKUs with premium priced add-ons. And it's a strategy that seems to work if you read the typical post around these forums: 360 is seen as relatively cheap, the PS3 is way too expensive. Never mind that the typical poster around here has probably invested more than 600 euros in his 360 and its peripherals… ;)

    But of course, for the few people that want a base 360 with no thrills, the option is available, which can’t be said of PS3.

    And as a disclaimer: I’m not judging MS’s decision to go with this strategy. They’re here to create value for their shareholders. Just want to put some context to the eternal price comparison debates around here.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #40 5 years ago

    disc: Thanks for clearing that up, I didn't know that.

  • Moz #41 5 years ago

    "Why download it onto a small hard disk when you could just put it on 2 DVD's or as many DVD's as you like. DVD's are very cheap to manufacture. "

    Because of the online nature of the game, if it was split over 2 discs you could find yourself having to swap discs each time you start a new map because it happened to be on the other disc!