Epic showcases next-gen graphics with Unreal Engine 4 videos

Epic Games starts your day the right way by officially unveiling Unreal Engine 4.  Designed for the next-generation of PC and console hardware, it wouldn't be terribly surprising to learn that the console giants will be ones trying to accomodate for the upcoming game engine!

The tech demo footage, previously showcased behind closed doors at GDC 2012, provides a closer look at what looks to be some of UE4's biggest draws: its real-time particle, lighting and volumetric effects.  Good lord will there be particles.  But don't miss the other touches like the lava flow, fire effects and all that environmental destruction.

Equally impressive is the fact that the tech demo itself was running on a rig using NVIDIA's (admittedly very expensive) GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, already launched with retail partners pushing their own branded versions.

Good news for PC enthusiasts, but meanwhile Epic is hoping to encourage console giants to raise the bar for their own upcoming next-gen console game hardware.  In fact, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski had boasted that it will be his company's "huge responsibility" to ensure the next round of console hardware will represent a "quantum leap" forward in technology.  In other words, console giants gunning for the new standard in production values will likely want to keep UE4 in mind when planning their hardware tech specs!

Now that you're seen the tech demo footage, it's time to see Unreal Engine 4 put to work.  Epic's next UE4 showcase introduces us to Epic's Senior Technical Artist Alan Willard, who walks us through some of the features of the new engine's which help deliver the dynamic, real-time effects you've already seen in the trailer.