Having infiltrated Digital Extreme's high-tech HQ, our man escaped with a few new shots of this exciting X-Box first-person shooter. Read his report on what he could divulge from the secret documents he obtained, and check out the new screenshots. This page will self desruct in thirty-seconds. Or not.

Unreal Championship is the latest instalment in Epic’s burgeoning Unreal series, that will be hitting Microsoft’s powerful console, shortly after it’s European debut in Spring of 2002. The game seems to be based on similar values to those of the PC’s earlier Unreal-outing, ‘Tournanent’, based on a style of gameplay. Championship will be one of the first dedicated first-person offerings on the new machine, and as such the reception it receives should prove most interesting. This coupled with the multiplayer focus of the title looks certain to broaden the Xbox’s appeal - as well as perhaps prompting many of the existing user-base into their first bout of on-line action.

The game is built on the sturdy foundations of the Unreal engine technology; Epic’s ubiquitous software ‘motor’ powering many of the most attractive titles currently in development, such as Forever, Thief III, 2, and Rage’s upcoming Forces. This technology has been taken and enhanced by developer’s Digital Extremes, for the Xbox platform, and it has been enhanced by them still further, with an advanced particle system (providing visual flair in the way of smoke and weapon-trails, etc.) Apparently this advancement is at it’s most brilliant when a player runs through a of smoke and the cloud reacts by wafting realistically. The other ‘big thing’ they’re brining to the fold is a new shadowing system, which allows the designer to create far more realistic and detailed shadow effects, such as the shadow of a fan spinning and effecting the lighting of an environment and players in it. Such a feature must add enormously to the potential for generating atmosphere in an environment; and we look forward to witnessing this particularly. You can see this effect in the screenshots that adorn this page, too.