GDC 2013: Oculus Rift dev kits to ship with VR-enabled version of Unreal Development Kit

Epic are throwing their weight behind the Oculus Rift with a VR-tuned custom version of their Unreal Development Kit, Develop report. It'll be distributed with Rift headsets and offered free to Unreal Engine 3 licensees next month. A VR-enabled version of the Unreal Engine 3 Citadel tech demo will be included, so users can push their faces into that finely tessellated stonework with REAL TIME PHYSICAL NECK BENDING.

Is the Oculus any good? The word on the hypewire is "VROMG." Owen went face-on with the device last year and said it was "amazeballs." The headsets were originally destined to ship with a VR-enabled version of Doom BFG, but that biz fell through . Luckily Valve have been working on a VR version of their superior game, Team Fortress 2, and modders are are already tinkering with VR Half-Life 2 and VR Crysis .

The Epic VR UDK only means more support for the goggles. What do you have to say for yourself, CEO and founder of Epic Games Tim Sweeney? “We view virtual reality as a massive technological step forward, and are arming all developers with the tools to create game experiences that represent the future. Our partnership with Oculus will bring the highest quality experiences to virtual reality games.”

Dan's is one of our mans in San Fran. He'll be wearing the Rift, playing TF2 and delivering his impressions later this week.

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.