Epic Games is known for titles like Gears of War on the PC and on consoles. But the company is also working hard to make its Unreal Engine run on mobile devices such as the iPad. Epic’s Infinity Blade game (pictured) took the App Store by storm when it launched in December, taking the No. 1 spots for both top iPad and iPhone games.
The company’s Unreal Engine enables 3D games to run on smartphones and tablet computers. One reason serious gamers have been hooked to their high-end PCs and consoles is that those systems can really show off 3D graphics. So by getting its 3D software to run on mobile devices, Epic could bring hardcore gamers to portable devices — and those types of gamers are currently an under-served market on smartphones.
Getting 3D graphics to work right on a smartphone is one of the biggest technical challenges there is. Good 3D usually requires a powerful 3D graphics chip, which typically consumes a lot of power. But the best tablets and smartphones feature low-power 3D. If a high-end Epic Game can run on a tablet, that’s a big statement and a money generator.
Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, said in an interview that Epic is working to bring Epic’s technology to more platforms such as the Android operating system. Some of the game platforms may not be capable of running the best 3D games, but a number of the Nvidia Tegra 2-powered tablets will likely have great 3D quality.
Will Infinity Blade run on Android tablets? Capps isn’t saying yet. He does say his company has a close relationship with Apple, which supported Epic closely on the iPhone launch of Infinity Blade. He also said that Sony’s NGP, a portable game player launching this fall, has outstanding 3D graphics capability.
We interviewed Capps on the red carpet at the Interactive Achievement Awards to night at the Dice Summit.
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