Epic Games, in partnership with Nvidia, have revealed that their Unreal Engine 3 and supporting development tools have been ported to run on Windows 8 and ARM-based Windows RT tablets. A graphics demo called Epic Citadel (the same program that was used to show the engine running on the iPhone in 2010) was shown running on the just-announced ASUS Vivo Tab RT during ASUS' press conference at IFA earlier today. This marks the first public showing of an UE3-based app running on a Windows RT device.
Epic VP Mark Rein noted this is the complete version of the engine which uses the full DirectX 9 pipeline with shaders and materials - not a modified mobile version. The full engine will make it easier for developers to bring their content to Windows RT, Windows 8 and the Tegra 3 processor.
Epic didn't specifically mention if any of their popular titles like Unreal Tournament 3 or Gears of War would be ported to the tablet but we do know that code was made available to developers last week. This is good news for gamers as we are likely to see a wealth of UE3 titles show up on Windows RT devices, perhaps alongside tablet launches on October 26.
The Unreal Engine 3 has been a workhorse for years as the first titles to use it launched in November 2006. Since then, it has appeared on nine platforms and has been licensed for use in more than 225 games.