With the E3 2009 just literally around the corner, we've got publishers and developers alike scrambling to put the finishing touches on their presentations lined up for the event. Epic Games is no different, and has now revealed their plans for the said event. Full plan list after the jump.

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 is getting a beast - that is, the illumination system called the Beast. Illuminate Labs, who developed the technology behind the Beast, will be joining Epic's Integrated Partners Program and will be incorporating their lighting tech into the Unreal Engine 3, the engine that powers Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3. Find out what's in store for the Unreal Engine 3 in the full article.

Back in June, independent next-gen development studio Fantasy Lab quietly introduced its Fantasy Engine. It created quite a buzz as the game engine features Global Illumination system. Back then, it wasn't known to which platform the game engine will debut. In an exclusive interview with PS3Land, Fantasy Lab President Michael Burnell talks about the amazing technology that will power some PS3 games.

Global Illumination, as used in 3D computer graphics, calculates the light that reaches a surface using both direct light from light sources and indirect reflecting off other surfaces. As a result, images are more realistic and natural looking.

Besides Global Illumination (GI), the Fantasy Engine also has another unique feature. Burnell explains, "I think our combination of subdivision surfaces with displacement mapping is unique. It lets us render very complex geometry in a realistic way from any viewpoint. Computer graphics is about creating an illusion. If you see an object up close and it is obvious that it is rendered with normal-mapped polygons then you lose the illusion. Thereafter the viewer knows that the object is just some normal-mapped polygons and it no longer seems as real."

Burnell points out that the most noticeable difference between GI renders and other shading techniques is the "diffuse inter-reflections." This makes images look more real no matter what materials are rendered. It doesn't give out unnatural lighting as seen in the Doom 3 engine.

The usual methods for for computing GI could take several hours even on typical scenes, but Fantasy Lab utilizes  an "extremely" efficient technique that's ideal for running on parallel computing hardware. The studio believes that the PS3 is "powerful enough to render complex scenes in real-time with global illumination".

The studio is currently working on a PS3 title but they didn't provide any more information other than the game will have an "E" rating. They're also looking to offer the GI technology as middleware on the PS3.

You can watch the Global Illumination in action as Fantasy Lab released a clip showing an animated model lit by the sky geometry.


Download: [Fantasy Lab - Rhinork Clip]

Without much fanfare, independent video game developer Fantasy Lab Inc. introduces its Fantasy Engine, a game engine that features real-time global illumination system.

Global illumination algorithms, as used in 3D computer graphics, not only take into account a path directly from a light source (direct illumination), but also light which has undergone reflection from other surfaces  take into account not only the light which has taken a path directly from a light source (direct illumination), but also light which has undergone reflection from other surfaces (indirect illumination).

The Fantasy Engine supports an environment where any surface can emit light (glow), reflect light and shadow any other surface in the environment. This means that images created using global illumination are more photorealistic and natural-looking than images lit with direct light only. The global illumination method also allows developers to render complex geometry that deforms correctly when animated. The amazing part is that unlike ordinary global illumination renderers, Fantasy Engine runs in real-time. This is quite amazing as the technology has only been done on big budget CGI movies, such as Shrek 2.

It hasn't been decided for any specific platform, but you can take three guesses.