A recent Gamespot article has details on the recent showing of the latest build of the Unreal Engine 3.0 at this year's Game Developer's Conference. While videos of the engine are still being held in check, Gamespot noted several features that should pique the interest of gamers.

One of the features shown was the engine's ability to create seamless level transitions. Not only is the engine capable of loading several levels simultaneously, but it also determines where the player is headed and reacts accordingly. This was shown by driving a buggy around a huge futuristic city, with transitions from streets to a park being shown.

They also showed off a powerful physics engine by using an avalanche display:

To demonstrate this, Epic showed an Unreal Engine 3 demo in which boulders rolled down a hill. In Unreal Tournament 2003, the engine could calculate and display about 10 boulders rolling down a hill at a time. Unreal Tournament 2004 increased that number to about 20. Both of those combined are nowhere close to the number of physical objects that Unreal Engine 3 can handle at the same time. To illustrate this, an avalanche of more than 600 boulders rolled down the hill, each reacting realistically to collisions and each casting its own shadow.

Gamespot - Unreal Engine 3.0 Demo

Epic Games

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