In the unfortunate case that you missed the original post on DM_Spectrum, Bradley describes the mod in a way that should make sense if the updated gameplay video above does not.

"Each coloured cube represents a different area of the map," Bradly writes. "When a player is in one of these areas the corresponding cube lights up notifying other players. As one learns the map they should be able to find enemies without to much hardship."

Download it here.

DM-Spectrum, writes Bradley, is designed on a concept that forces UT3 players to use the game's spectrum of lighting to navigate and kill opponents. Disco floor lighting highlights a player's current position, with seven cubes of lighting giving other players a global peek at where opponents are on the map.

"Each coloured cube represents a different area of the map," Bradly writes. "When a player is in one of these areas the corresponding cube lights up notifying other players. As one learns the map they should be able to find enemies without to much hardship."

A trailer is after this.

According to Bradley, DM-Spectrum also uses curved walls to prevent players from getting stuck in corners, with white track lighting indicating the borders of the level's three platforms.

That auto-generated soundtrack you're hearing in the trailer may not be reflective of the custom level's audio capabilities.

"I had intended to add a REZ style layered soundtrack but was foiled by a lack of programming and UnrealEd knowledge," Bradley says. "Maybe I will take some time to learn because I think it would have considerably added to the level. Subverting traditional playstyles further by forcing the player to use the audio to navigate."

Thanks to Stuart for the tip.

The free download adds two gameplay types (Greed and Betrayal), plus "the Titan mutator, 19 maps, the Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon weapons, the Stealthbender vehicle, the Slow Field power-up, and characters Kana and Nova."

There's a title update available right now, which also makes your PS3 copy of UT3 exactly 1 billion times better, thanks to added Trophies, split-screen multiplayer and other sundry improvements.

Free Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack Lands Tomorrow [PlayStation.blog]

The "Black" version of the game includes the v2.0 patch and newly released Titan Pack expansion. Titan added 16 new environments, three maps and a bunch of new weapons and stuff. But mostly the expansion tweaked the AI — especially vehicle game types — and fixed user interface issues and networking performance problems (which is probably why it was a free download).

Originally, you'd have to drop $19.99 for the whole shebang on Steam, but from now 'til March 15, it's 40% off. And for this weekend only, it's completely free.

PlayStation 3 owners are getting the Titan Pack, making their copy of Unreal Tournament 3 just as black, in two weeks.

Unreal Tournament 3 Black [Steam]

Originally timed for tomorrow's PlayStation Store update, adding new maps, units, vehicles, characters and more, Epic cites unforeseen certification problems. Instead, it will arrive on March 19th, two weeks later than previously expected. Epic's Steve Polge explains on the developer's official forums.

"Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, the certification process for the PS3 patch and DLC has taken much longer than we expected," Polge writes. "The PC patch contains updates that will improve mods cooked for PS3, so we'll be taking advantage of this extra time to work with mod authors to make sure the best mods for UT3 are cooked with the latest patch."

Polge also adds a little frowning emoticon, small concession to those looking forward to the new goods. But clearly it's hitting Epic Games hard.

Sorry kids!

Titan Pack and Patch for PS3 Update [Unreal Forums - thanks, Miker!]

There is no word yet on when or if the Titan Pack will be coming to the Xbox 360 version.

The Titan Pack introduces 11 new multiplayer maps for maps for Deathmatch, CTF, Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes, plus eight popular maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version. In addition, players will experience two new game modes: Greed mode, a "tug of war" style kill points battle, and Betrayal mode, a cutthroat style of play where alliances and teams can shift fluidly through a match.

The Titan Pack also rewards you for your successes in game, with 57 awards that can be attained as Steam Achievements for PC and Trophies for PlayStation 3.

The pack also includes a number of new units.

The X-Ray deployable field can be used to lay waste to foes since enemies inside it are extremely vulnerable, while the Link Station, a temporary repair unit, can be deployed to keep vehicles in top fighting condition. The Stealthbender comes equipped with a Link Station, an X-Ray Field, spidermine traps, and an EMP mine, but what makes this new vehicle especially lethal is its underlying Necris stealth technology, which renders it invisible for surprise attacks.

The Eradicator turret is a stationary long range artillery piece that can hit units almost anywhere in the map. The Stinger turret combines the fastest firing rate of any weapon in any Unreal Tournament game with huge knockback.

The pack will also include Nova and Kana as two new playable characters.

Most interesting, though, is the pack's Titan mutator which turns someone with enough frags under their belt into a 15-foot-tall creature which has the effects of every Power Up in the game at the same time.

Run away!

Rein didn't apparently provide any further details, such as platform, price or planned delivery date. But we hope the armor will be much, much bigger in Unreal Tournament 3: Major Expansion but doesn't go so far as to cover up the cleavage of any of the in-game combatants. That wouldn't be right.

Rein outs "major expansion" for UT3 [Eurogamer]

The content exclusive to the Xbox 360 version is comprised of five maps, two new characters and the previously-released DLC. It's also got splitscreen. Full announcement after the jump!

Midway and Epic Games Announce Unreal Tournament 3 to Ship July 7, 2008

Xbox 360 Version of Highly Anticipated and Award-Winning Franchise has New Features, Exclusive Content and Gears of War 2 Multiplayer Video.

CHICAGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Midway Games Inc. (NYSE:MWY), a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, and world renowned developer Epic Games, today announced Unreal Tournament 3, for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, is scheduled to ship globally on July 7, 2008, with several new features including split screen, five exclusive maps and two all-new characters, as well as all previously released downloadable content. Unreal Tournament 3, the award-winning first-person-shooter, is currently available for the PC and PLAYSTATION®3 system.

In addition, the game will feature an exclusive video preview of Gears of War 2, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.7-million-unit selling blockbuster third-person action game. The exclusive video content will include never-before-seen footage of the game’s multiplayer modes featuring new maps, new modes, new weapons and new gameplay elements. The video is narrated by design director, Cliff Bleszinski, and producer, Rod Fergusson.

“Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 will deliver fans the award-winning gameplay of UT3, complete with exciting exclusive content that will make it a must-have title for the Xbox 360,” said Mona Hamilton, vice president of marketing, Midway Home Entertainment.

”We’re very excited to be shipping Unreal Tournament 3 for Xbox 360,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, Inc. “This is a great title and, with two-player split screen support and some very cool new content, Xbox 360 players should be thrilled with this fantastic version of the game.”

About Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3, the world’s premier PC first-person shooter, will make its debut on the Xbox 360®. Unreal Tournament 3 unleashes the full power of Unreal Engine 3, taking graphics, gameplay and challenge to a whole new level. Players engage in intense battles with other human players online, or against Unreal artificial intelligence that sets the industry standard. With the most powerful futuristic weapons and vehicles available, this is FPS action at its best!

Unreal Tournament 3 is rated “M” for mature by the ESRB.

We're eventually going to get to the point where someone recreates the Old Testament as Klingon musical theater in Unreal Tournament 3, but until then, we'll have to settle for custom characters and UT2D gameplay mods and user-generated content like this Super Mario Bros. style map. If only we could add mods to cancer research or something. The cure would be on the internet with a Creative Commons license by the weekend.

UT2D-SuperMario_Beta [PC/PS3] [Epic Forums - thanks, Samuraidino!]

We're still trying. We're working with Microsoft to try to figure out how to support it, but regardless of what happens, mods will play a part somewhere along the line. We'll make sure we get a fair share of mods working. We'll figure that out.

Now the user-based developers behind Tactical Ops (a classic UT mod similar to CounterStrike) are talking about bringing Tactical Ops 3 to consoles. While the team doesn't think that the first release of TO3 will support the PS3 or Xbox 360 (due to issues like button mapping), they're confident in the possibility for future releases. And when console mods become the size of full games, we can't stand behind a waist-height object fast enough.

Huge Unreal Tournament III mod whets PS3 appetites [CVG]

We may be jumping the gun a bit here, as the modder currently slaving away on Old Snake is still, well, slaving away. But the attempt by modder "genZ" is already looking solid. Pun unfortunately intended. Who out there with some Zbrush or 3D Studio Max skills is willing to whip up a very threatening Mega Man?

MGS4 Old Snake [UT3 Forums - thanks, Esq!]

As Microsoft explained before, there's nothing illegal about creating or downloading such mods. But that doesn't mean Epic will pay you $1,000,000 for one. Their Make Something Unreal Contest bans the use of "third party intellectual property, including, but not limited to software, images, characters, logos, names and trademarks." Still, some pranks are so good, they're worth the free work.

Character - Samus Aran [UT3Mod via PS3Fanboy]

I remember loading Facing Worlds from the original UT on my first bohemeth 19-inch monitor and feeling dizzy as I looked to the Earth below, making my stomach churn. A few years of innovation later, my 46-inch HDTV should force an alien baby through my shirt.

Free DLC Now Available for Unreal Tournament III [Gaming Today]

US ONLY
- Made compatible with Euro version (both are patched to the same level)
- Fixed reversed ping sorting in server browser
- Fixed some rare crashes (shutting down, saving with low HD space, AI, etc)
- Fixed a client crash while connecting to server while server it switching maps
- Minor rewordings of various messages
- Fixed mutator mods to not be always loaded, only load mutators when needed
- Added mod import verification for inter-mod package name conflicts
- Fixed weapon/effect sorting in DM-Gateway snow
- Fixed extraneous "Player" entries in campaign scoreboard
- Fixed some getting stuck and outside the world bugs
- No longer display "Player is on red/blue" messages in campaign
- Fixed a Torlan bot pathing bug
- Fix for too many custom characters causing texture corruption
- Keyboard jump now does Smart Jump
- Fix for tilt controlling player sometimes
- Removed Warfare Score Limit of 0 in UI
- Disabled 3d sound positioning on mission briefing sounds
- Fixed exploits with ViewNextPlayer in rare cases
- Fixed some HUD positioning bugs
- Fixed a Darkwalker AI bug
- Fixed some teleporter timing bugs
- Fixed low-bandwidth, large player count connectivity

EURO AND US
- Mods now on root of memory device, can download easier from PS3 web browser
- Fixed VOIP quality issues
- Fixed some headset connection issues
- Added support for full character mods (heads/premade whole characters)
- No longer need to reboot after importing a character mod to see it in menus
- DLC no longer acts like a user mod (being listed in MyContent and causing disable mod crash dialog)
- Fix for bootup and import slowdown with many mods installed
- Add a VOIP icon when VOIP is active (button held down)
- Fixes for corrupted the auto-mod-download cache
- Fix for flickering auto-download text
- Fix for getting stuck in multiplayer menu if you get in before gamespy connects
- Fixed a mod problem with switching between mod and shipping maps with clients teleporting randomly
- Fixed a mod problem with multiple gametype mods installed, only first one imported would work
- Fixed Leviathan deploy icon
- Bots now respect players feigning death (depending on bot skill level)
- Bots now respect sandstorm "blindness"
- Fix for bots picking linkgun mode

Of course, Epic still has Gears of War and the oft-licensed Unreal Engine. So they're not going hungry or anything.

UT3 and Stranglehold hit 1m sales [MCV]

...we're hopeful. Microsoft hasn't said "no" yet, but then they haven't said "yes" either. We need them to say "yes," and we need them to do it soon.

If it doesn't work out with Xbox 360, depending on sales of the game on that platform, I imagine we'll find a few of the best mods and get them on Xbox Live Marketplace. I don't think 360 users are going to suffer drastically - they're just going to miss out on a lot of crazy, cool fun stuff and the ability to exchange it among themselves. They may also end up paying for content that is free on other systems because Microsoft now has to host it and certify it.

The guys over at Epileptic Gaming have put together a couple of quick videos to show off just how easy it is to import Unreal Tournament 3 mods from your computer to your Playstation 3. Hit the jump for a video that shows you how you can add mouse and keyboard support for the PS3 version of the game.

Epileptic Gaming

Epic's Mark Rein dropped into the Epic forums last night to let people know that the PS3 cooker for the Unreal Engine 3 editor is in the final stages of testing and could be out as early as next week.

Folks,

I just wanted to give you an update:

We're very close to releasing an update to the Unreal Engine 3 editor, that comes with the PC version of UT3, that will allow UT3 mod-makers to cook their mods into the required PS3 format. We've been doing some internal testing and we're hoping to expand to a wider group tomorrow or Friday. If all goes well then we should see the update released next week which is what I expect will happen. Obviously the process works, as we put out a few mods before Christmas and people seem to be playing them, but it is the update to the editor that we're testing.

Happy New Year!

I can't wait until the mods start flooding the PS3, I'm hoping it could convince a lot of companies build in their own truly user-created content into console games.

PS3 mod cooking update [Unreal Forums, via Evil Avatar]

Who out there has been playing a lot of UT3? And is anyone eagerly awaiting the 360 version? Do you still care about the franchise?

Mark Rein: We don't have a solid release date for UT 3 on Xbox 360 [maxconsole]