Unreal Engine 3 Now Fully Playable in Adobe Flash Player 11

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Epic Games, one of the leading studios in terms of graphics systems, thanks to its massively popular Unreal Engine 3, has presented a fully working version of the technology working inside Adobe's brand new Flash Player 11.

Unreal Engine 3 is being used by a variety of games these days, ranging from shooters like Gears of War 3, to side scrolling titles like Shadow Complex, or mobile games like Infinity Blade and its recently announced sequel.

After appearing on platforms like the PC, consoles like the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, or the iOS, the Unreal Engine is now fully playable inside Adobe's Flash Player 11, meaning you can experience console-quality titles right from your web browser.

“With UE3 and Flash, games built for high-end consoles can now run on the Web or as Facebook apps, reaching an enormous user base,” said Sweeney. “This totally changes the playing field for game developers who want to widely deploy and monetize their games.”

As you can imagine, Adobe is even more excited, going so far as to call the new Flash player the "console of the web."

“We’re excited that Epic Games is tapping into the latest capabilities in Adobe Flash Player 11 to power its Unreal Engine 3,” said Emmy Huang, group product manager, Adobe Gaming Solutions. “As the console of the web, Flash is delivering immersive gaming experiences across screens and we’re thrilled to have Epic Games using Flash Player to deliver its blockbuster, premier 3D games on the Web.”

The demonstration given by Epic Games and Adobe showcases the older Unreal Tournament 3 running straight from a web browser (Mozilla Firefox) thanks to the new Adobe Flash Player. Both companies emphasize that this will translate in a massive boost of quality for Flash games including Facebook applications.

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CryEngine 3 Adobe Flash Support Might Appear, Crytek Says

Crytek, the studio behind critically acclaimed games like Crysis 1 and its sequel, has confirmed that its impressive CryEngine 3 technology may soon get a truly cross-platform solution, after seeing that its rival, Epic Games, presented a version of its Unreal Engine 3 running in a web browser through Adobe Flash technology.

Epic Games and Crytek have been competing in recent times for the title of the most advanced game engine out there, with Epic's Unreal Engine 3 having a considerable market share, being used by many studios, while Crytek's CryEngine 3 showcasing its full force with Crysis 2 and the console release of Crysis 1.

Now, after Epic presented the Unreal Engine running in a web browser through Adobe Flash, Crytek's director of global business development, Carl Jones, confirmed to Edge that it's an avenue of growth currently being examined by the studio.

"It is an interesting approach we've been investigating as well," he said. "We're developing a unifying technology to create high quality social and gaming experiences on all platforms including browser, smartphones, tablets, etc.

"We hope to be able to tell you more about it soon when we present our truly cross-platform solution."

Epic Games impressed quite a lot of people by demoing its older Unreal Tournament III game running in an Adobe Flash 11 window, straight from popular web browser Mozilla Firefox.

Now, it seems that CryEngine 3 might also follow this route, although nothing concrete is known.

Crytek is currently working on a free-to-play multiplayer shooter called Warface, designed for Asian markets, so perhaps know-how from that project will allow the technology to grow beyond platforms like the PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

With both the Unreal Engine and CryEngine being capable of running on more devices, gaming would certainly benefit, especially in terms of browser-based experiences that will be able to replicate current generation visuals and gameplay.