EPIC GAMES AND NVIDIA ANNOUNCES GRAND PRIZE WINNERS IN THE $1,000,000 NVIDIA MAKE SOMETHING UNREAL CONTEST
Red Orchestra and The Journey Take Top Honors in Contest Recognizing and Rewarding the Art of Mod-Making
RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 24, 2005 -Epic Games, a leading developer of cutting-edge 3D technology and games, today announced the grand prize winners of the $1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal mod-making contest.
The grand prize for Best Mod is awarded to Red Orchestra, an immersive combined arms infantry and armored vehicle combat simulation set on the eastern front of World War II. The development team behind the winning entry receives $50,000 in cash and a coveted Unreal Engine commercial license worth approximately $350,000.
Taking top honors in the Best Non-Interactive Real Time movie category is The Journey. The short animated film, which chronicles an adventure into the unfamiliar, was created by Friedrich 'fiezi' Kirschner, who receives $25,000 for his work.
The announcement of the grand final winners marks the culmination of the multi-round $1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal Contest,” hosted by Epic Games and sponsored by NVIDIA Corporation, Atari, Inc., Digital Extremes, AMD and Alias®. Designed to publicly recognize and inspire up-and-coming 3D artists and programmers, the contest generated more than one thousand entries from individuals and student teams who took advantage of the Unreal Editor to hone their development skills and learn what it takes to create a commercial game. The Unreal Editor is a free tool that was included with the best-selling Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 PC games developed by Epic Games and published by Atari.
"The $1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal contest did an incredible job bringing the whole Unreal Tournament 2004 mod scene to the public’s attention. The contest has been a great event to be a part of and an incredible learning experience. All the late nights, tight deadlines, and hard work has given the team invaluable experience that will, no doubt, help us in the future,” said John Gibson, lead programmer and producer for Red Orchestra. “We are immensely excited by the opportunities that have opened up for the team and look forward to what the future holds for us. Thank you to Epic, NVIDIA and all of the contest’s sponsors for giving us the opportunity."
"The breadth and quality of the mods submitted in this contest utterly amazed us. People came together to create some of the best game modifications ever created. The ultimate beneficiaries were not only the thousands of Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 players who got to experience some of these great mods, but the game industry as a whole which uncovered some incredibly talented people who will continue to make contributions to the industry for many years to come,” said Mark Rein, vice president at Epic Games. “Epic Games and all of the contest sponsors would like to extend our congratulations to the grand prize winners, as well as all of the contest participants, for showing us that the spirit of independent game development is continuing to challenge the best the industry has to offer.”
For more information about the grand prize winners, or to download winning entries from all five rounds of the $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest,” please visit the official contest website located at www.makesomethingunreal.com.
