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Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

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E3: UT3 exclusive to PS3

Until the end of the year.

Sony announced a unique partnership with Epic Games at its E3 conference earlier today, no doubt in an effort to sully the tabloid grabbing relationship Microsoft has enjoyed with the Gears of War developer in the past.

It means Unreal Tournament 3 will be exclusive to PS3 this autumn, following on Xbox 360 and Windows at a later date. Plus you'll also be able to bring popular PC mods to Sony's version over the PlayStation Network.

Sony America boss Jack Tretton went on to announced that Unreal Engine 3 was being fully optimised for use with PS3, as another part of the "multi-stage" deal with Epic.

"The raw power of PS3 and Unreal Engine 3 allows us to provide gamers with the full Unreal Tournament 3 first-person shooter experience normally found only on a PC," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games in complementary press release.

"The PS3 is the ideal platform for us to deliver stunning visuals and awesome gameplay. But now, with the PlayStation Network, we're also delivering a great community experience and robust user-created content - everything that gamers have come to expect from the Unreal Tournament franchise - for the first time on a home entertainment system."

It follows news from the Microsoft conference that Gears of War is finally confirmed for PC, and that the publisher had signed an exclusive deal with Epic to include Games for Windows support as an integral part of Unreal Engine 3. We can't work out who Epic's best friend really is.