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High Voltage To License Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine
by Christian Nutt [PC, Console/PC]
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August 12, 2009
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This February, Texas-based Terminal Reality announced that it would be licensing its engine tech -- which can be used to develop Wii, PSP, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC titles -- out to third parties.
Today, the company has announced a partnership with Illinois-based High Voltage Software, which has been granted a lifetime license for the title. It will be used for the studio's PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 development. This augments its internal Quantum 3 engine tech, most recently seen in Sega-published Wii shooter The Conduit.
Gamasutra spoke with Joe Kreiner, Terminal Reality's VP of sales and marketing, and Kerry J. Ganofsky, CEO and founder of High Voltage, about this move.
Ganofsky describes why the studio was drawn to the Infernal Engine, highlighting its "robust" physics package and cross-platform functionality. He also says its focus on the PlayStation 3 as a "first-class, if not primary" platform is impressive.
"We are tremendously excited to take our talented teams to other current generation consoles [besides Wii] utilizing the Infernal Engine," says Ganofsky.
A lifetime license to an engine is unusual. Kreiner says High Voltage will use the engine "whenever it makes sense to do so," and that the license covers all supported platforms.
Says Kreiner, "This not only allows them the security of having access to the technology, but also allows them to invest their engineering resources long term without fear of having to switch to another engine technology."
On the other hand, adds Kreiner, "Our typical licensee is a per-title, per-platform fee structure, with what I like to call 'developer friendly' terms. We want to cater to our customer's needs, so we're open to non-standard licenses like this one with High Voltage Software."
Since the announcement, Terminal Reality has added Streamline Studios, Namco Bandai, and now High Voltage Software (plus many smaller studios) as licensees. "In total, we have a dozen companies using Infernal Engine currently," he says, and promises more announcements coming.
Kreiner also provides an update on his earlier promise that the Ghostbusters codebase will be delivered to Infernal licensees. "We're currently in the process of rolling out the Ghostbusters code and assets to our licensees," he says. "We're hoping to do this with all future Terminal Reality releases -– including Rapstar, our upcoming title with 4MM. Rapstar is as different from Ghostbusters as you can get."
For more details on Infernal Engine, you can read Gamasutra's March interview with Kreiner.
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