BioWare Licenses Unreal Engine 3

BioWare Corp has announced a deal with Epic Games, in which Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 will be used in an upcoming, as yet unspecified title. The game, which BioWare indicated is the developer's "third new intellectual property", following the creation of Jade Empire for publisher Microsoft on the Xbox, and Dragon Age for an as yet un-named publisher on the PC, is apparently already in active development at BioWare's Edmonton, Alberta studios. Meanwhile, BioWare's Dr. Greg Zeschuk pre-emptively addresses concerns that the company might abandon its in-house engines (variously, the Odyssey, Aurora, and Eclipse engines), stating specifically: "BioWare will continue to independently develop our own cutting-edge engine technology for future titles." Nonetheless, Dr. Ray Muzyka commented enthusiastically: "The Unreal Engine has powered some of our favorite games, and we’re looking forward to upholding the great history of this engine with an awesome game from BioWare." Some online commentators are speculating that, given the history of Unreal Engine titles, this new title could be more action or even FPS-oriented, but the official Unreal Technology site indicates the engine is evolving into a much more multi-purpose beast. Thus, the genre is very much up in the air - BioWare have, so far, taken pains to be non-specific about the game's genre and hardware platform.