Epic extends Unreal Engine with 3d functionality

Epic announced at GDC that it has added 3d support to the Unreal 3 engine in conjunction with Nvidia. According to Epic, an update for licensees will be available in the near future.

Epic chose Nvidia’s for implementation 3D Vision-system. This technique uses a 120Hz monitor in combination with active shutter glasses. The high refresh rate of the monitor is necessary because each eye only sees half of the calculated frames. Users of the Unreal Development Kit, a free version of the engine for educational and nonprofit institutions, can also expect the update.

In addition to the special glasses and monitor, at least a Geforce 8800GTX is required. Users running Mac OS X, Linux or Windows XP are fishing for the net. Only Windows Vista and 7 are supported.