Unreal Tournament
Epic Games is set to announce the future of the "Unreal Tournament" series of first-person shooters during a live stream on Thursday. Courtesy/Epic Games

Update 3:26 p.m. Details about the new "Unreal Tournament" can be found here.

Original story below:

Epic Games, the company behind the "Unreal" series of first-person shooters and the “Gears of War” series, is expected to discuss new details behind the return of “Unreal Tournament” in a live stream on Thursday.

Starting at 2 p.m. EDT, developers behind the Unreal Engine and “Unreal Tournament,” are expected to discuss the future of the first-person shooter, Unreal Engine 4 updates and developments in the company’s virtual reality efforts with the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus, followed by a live question and answer session.

Last week, Epic Games vice president Mark Rein sent out a tweet teasing the comeback of the first-person shooter franchise, which was released in 1999 on Microsoft Windows as a follow-up to the original “Unreal” first-person shooter.

Since the original 1999 release of “Unreal Tournament,” several new games have been released over the years, featuring new game modes and an updated Unreal engine. After the release of “Unreal Tournament 3” in 2007 and the “Unreal Tournament 3: Black Edition” in 2009, the first-person shooter franchise went dormant for a few years as Epic Games shifted attention toward the “Gears of War” series of games.

According to a forum post by Epic Games, several Epic Games staff will be present during the live 2 p.m. EDT live stream presentation including:

Joe “Dr. Sin” Wilcox, “Unreal Tournament” Senior Programmer
Steve Polge , “Unreal Tournament” Project Lead
Stacey “Flak” Conley , “Unreal Tournament” Community Manager

Unreal Engine 4 engine developers also participating in the live stream include:

Mike Fricker, Technical Director
Michael Noland, Senior Programmer
Nick Donaldson, Senior Designer
Alan Noon, Developer Relations Technical Artist

The announcement of the return of “Unreal Tournament” was well received, especially after the first-person shooter franchise went dormant for five years.

Watch the Epic Games “Unreal Tournament” live stream in the video above starting at 2 p.m. EDT or on the official Unreal Engine Twitch page.

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