Electronic Arts Licenses Epic Games' 'Unreal Engine' For Several Titles

Epic Games

, Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest videogame developers, is licensing the Unreal Engine 3 from the Raleigh-based gaming company for use in several forthcoming titles.

Unreal Engine 3 provides the core technology around which developers can create games with minimal programmer assistance. It is used in a wide variety of game genres. The engine is just one reason why Epic's "Unreal" series of first-person shooter titles have generated global appeal for years.

"At EA, we give our development teams the tools they need to make great games," Paul Lee, president of EA studios, said in a statement. "We license cutting-edge tools like the Unreal Engine 3 and combine them with our own systems to create state-of-the-art development technology."

The deal is just the latest for Epic, which continues to grow. The company is looking to hire at least seven people for a variety of positions, based on listings at its Web site.

Epic generated major headlines within the gaming industry when Microsoft announced recently that Epic's highly anticipated "Gears of War" would hit store shelves as an Xbox title on Nov. 12.

The game pits Earth against the "Locus Horde", and it was declared the critics' choice as best console game at the E3 games show in Los Angeles a few weeks back.

"As Marcus Fenix, you fight a war against the immense Locust Horde, which not only out-powers but outnumbers you, your squad, and the entire force of the Coalition of Ordered Governments," Epic says on its Web site. "Gears of War is the only game to blend a deep and disturbing story of human survival against an endless mass of nightmarish creatures, a next-generation tactical combat system, and unsurpassed visuals and special effects. The story unfolds as a ragtag group of soldiers uses every last ounce of strength to survive the onslaught from the forces of evil, which begins on the historic Emergence Day."

But there's much more to Epic than game titles, as the EA deal demonstrates.

Epic Games' Unreal engine has been used in such titles as "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" from Ubi Soft, which was named PC Gamer's Game of the Year in 2000. It was also used in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" from Electronic Arts.

For the latest on Gears of War, see:

www.gearsofwar.com/about/