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Mike Capps is a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences where he serves as one of its board directors. He is the President of North Carolina-based Epic Games, the developers behind the Unreal and Gears of War series, and the seemingly ubiquitous Unreal Engine.

AIAS: What's the biggest challenge you see facing the industry?
Mike Capps: Game development has grown so fast as a business, but not nearly so fast as a profession, and you see the growing pains regularly.

What's your favorite part of game development?
I love the people; so many fascinatingly cool people are in game development. I really enjoy playing a game, and then meeting the people behind the game, and understanding how they think. Shipping a game, developing a game engine, and running a company... they're all insanely complex maximization problems. What do you with your time and your money, every day, to make the best game, the most profitable company, the best technology? It's a blast.

With Shadow Complex setting very specific week-one sales records on XBLA, Epic and Chair would be kind of nuts to not consider a sequel. One job listing out of a recent crop on Microsoft's employment boards seems to out that likely scenario, implying that Shadow Complex is a bona fide franchise for Microsoft Game Studios and Epic. Said listing specifically calls for a Lead Producer to "lead the publishing side of games made by Epic: Gears of War and Shadow Complex."

Additionally, Microsoft appears to be looking for more able bodies to join its growing pool of Project Natal and 343 Industries employees. Existing job listings call for everything from designers to engineers to even a few artists. Sadly, the company isn't looking for MJOLNIR armor models yet, but just in case, Microsoft, you know how to reach us.

[Via Develop]

Epic Games announced that the free version of its Unreal Engine 3 development kit (UDK) has surpassed 50,000 downloads since it was released to the public last week. The UDK -- which affords developers the opportunity to create non-commercial games, or titles for sale with a royalty sharing option with the company -- has been downloaded in over 130 countries and 4,500 cities across the world, according to information Epic provided to news site Develop.

Epic vice president Mark Rein was "thrilled" the studio was able to provide the tools to schools and students, allowing them to use the same tool used by "many of the top game developers and publishers around the world." We're excited to see what the community can do with the tools, considering the issues certain teams have had with the engine in the past. Currently the tools only allow budding developers to create software for the PC.

Now that Epic's rolled out TU5 for Gears of War 2, it's geared up to celebrate the game's first anniversary of existence with a triple XP event spanning the next nine days. Starting tomorrow at 9 AM EST through Monday, November 16 at 9 AM EST, all players will not only get triple the delicious experience points, but also access to a new tactical mode across all game modes -- which adds increased weapon damage and decreased ammo counts. On top of that, there's going to be "a few subtle tweaks," including a longer down-but-not-out phase for revivals and individual playlists that will allow you to play the exact gametype you want.

For you masochists out there, Epic will crank up Public Horde's difficulty to hardcore -- and if you've been playing Gears of War 2 through all of its changes, odds are you kinda are.

[Thanks, Nick!]

No, Whizzle and The Ball aren't Cincinatti's crazy drive-time zoo crew, rocking WKRP with six hours of fart jokes, crank calls, and toilet-flushing sound effects – instead, they're two new indie games built entirely using the hey-isn't-that-expensive Unreal Engine 3. Or, if you want to get specific, built using the just-announced (though expected) Unreal Development Kit, or UDK for the acronymical out there. Sure, Unreal Engine 3 is super enough to bring you games like Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, but as long as you're using it for non-commercial or educational purposes, UDK is available totally free of charge.

You can download the Unreal Development Kit for yourself from Big Download, and while you're over there read their blowout coverage, including interviews with Epic Games, Whizzle's Psyonix Studios, and The Ball's Toltec Studios. We've got images and descriptions of both games, along with a video from Psyonix, after the break.

NECA's Gears of War inspired figures are heading to the UK in a special Delta Squad box set, according to Electronic Theatre. Originally available in various packages across North America, the special UK release of the Delta Squad package will include fan favorite characters (sans the Carmine brothers) Marcus Fenix, Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Augustus "Cole Train" Cole and Damon "The Annoying One" Baird, as well as new weapons and accessories exclusive to the set.

The series also includes a feature some gamers would prefer to do without: The ability to completely repel the opposite sex if located within 30 feet of your bedroom.

Epic's latest list of fixes to Gears of War 2's online multiplayer aims to satisfy what seems to be an ever-growing community of dissatisfied gamers.

The new Title Update (#5) reverts the roadie-run camera back to its state in the first Gears of War and fixes an exploit where "a player could modify the game's behavior due to a security vulnerability introduced in an earlier title update." The update also kills the ability to use turbo controllers with the game -- something folks have been using to increase their rate of fire -- and turns off the ability to mantle the shield in competitive multiplayer matches, eradicating the ability to escape the map or glitch certain pieces of geometry.

The fixes sound all well and good, but is it enough to bring folks back to the game and satisfy those still playing with a chip on their massive, hulkish shoulders? We'll all find out when the update goes live, which Epic's Rod Fergusson says could happen as early as today or Monday.

Like our sister site Big Download, you may have been asking yourself, "What was going on at Epic Games yesterday?" Well, we think we have the answer: According to the Joystiq Mole™ -- the same mole who accurately predicted NBA 2K10 Draft Combine and LucasArts' Lucidity -- the epic announcement will be the release of an Unreal Engine 3 PC toolset for consumers.

Our mole tells us that the toolset will ship with example objects, like weapons and maps, and will show users how to build their own custom assets. Odds are, the kit being a product for consumers (read: nonprofessionals), that the cost won't be all that high. Of course, knowing who's going to get their hands on this (again, read: nonprofessionals), we're totally frightened by the inevitable flood of Delta Squad fanfics that will unfold on YouTube.

"Our experience with the first Gears of War was very frustrating," Dr. Michael Capps said at his Gears of War panel at Tokyo Game Show. He noted that translating into Japanese is no problem, but passing the censors? "Huge problem," echoing the sentiments of Square Enix's Yoichi Wada yesterday. Essentially, Epic was forced into making two different games: "Japan version and 'rest of the world' version'" A separate team was needed in customizing content and removing much of the violence featured in the game. "Every Title Update, and all Downloadable content, had to be done twice."

In spite of all the effort, Japanese sales of the first GoW represented "less than 1% of Gears sales worldwide," prompting Epic Games to simply give up on working on a Japanese version of the sequel. "We could never make a version for Japan that would fit our creative vision," Capps said, content with avoiding a Japanese release of GoW2.

"But our fans in Japan were very vocal about playing the new game." According to Capps, about 50,000 Japanese fans in Japan imported the game from America. With encouragement from Microsoft Japan, the team discovered that censorship had become a bit more lax since the release of the first game. Development ended, with a Japanese release of GoW2 in July, over half a year after the US release. Capps was happy with getting the critical reception in Japan, but the trials of the Gears of War franchise show the continuing problem of games censorship in Japan.

"Everyone expects sequels to be bigger and better," Dr. Michael Capps said in his Gears of War panel at Tokyo Game Show. While talking about visual prototyping, he showcased a new type of cover that was in development for GoW2 called "perching" that was ultimately removed from the game. This system would allow for the player to take cover behind a wall as usual, but by pushing up, Marcus would be able to grab the top of the wall, and pull up. Hanging from the top of the wall, players would be able to fire their gun, with an improved vertical vantage of the battlefield.

It looked really cool, yes, but Capps talked about how they couldn't implement it in the game because it simply broke the game -- especially in multiplayer. It would be unfair if players could see the entire battlefield, while still being able to stay in cover. Too bad ... because it did look really cool.

You wouldn't think a panel called "Adapting the 'Gears of War' Franchise for Global Consumption" wouldn't take place at Tokyo Game Show. Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps admitted that Gears of War was its biggest franchise, and that "Xbox is not the number one platform here in Japan." However, that didn't stop Capps from having some big news for panel attendees.

"We're hiring, in a speech at Tokyo Game Show," Capps said immediately following his announcement of a brand new Epic Games studio in Tokyo. The team will be responsible for providing support for the Unreal Engine to Japanese studios. It's a known problem that many Japanese teams have been unable to effectively work with the engine, most recently evidenced by the sluggish performance of The Last Remnant on Xbox 360.

The new team may eventually work on new games. Capps did admit that "we are fanboys of Japanese gaming ... We have deep respect for the long history of excellent Japanese games," pointing out to Epic Games' recently released Shadow Complex. Perhaps Epic can hire Kingdom Hearts' Testuya Nomura to make the chainsaw game of his dreams.

Microsoft had a good summer, according to the company's summary of Xbox Live events. 1 vs. 100 reached nearly 3 million gamers during its beta season by Microsoft's estimates, and the Summer of Arcade Xbox Live Arcade promotion enjoyed a reported 200 percent growth in revenue over last year's sales.

While Microsoft has already relished in Metroidvania success, a press release claims that Trials HD and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 also performed well in first-week sales; and both titles join Shadow Complex in the top five bestselling week-one XBLA games of all time. Sales were no doubt boosted by a cloudy economy that kept folks indoors and looking for inexpensive entertainment. Microsoft capitalized, too, by raising the average price of its Summer of Arcade titles.

During last year's promotion, three of the five Summer of Arcade games were priced at $10, but this year, only two of the five were $10 -- the other three costing $15 apiece. (It's unclear if Microsoft counts Battlefield 1943's sales toward revenue growth; the $15 title was not technically part of Summer of Arcade this year.)

Microsoft also saw success in its bold, new free entertainment department. 1 vs. 100 averaged more than half a million users during each of the game show's live sessions. According to Microsoft, the game's near "three-million" downloads within its 13-week availability places 1 vs. 100 within the top ten downloads in Xbox Live history. If we've learned anything on this gloomy fall morning, it's that people like summer gaming and Microsoft has way too many "top" lists cluttering up its offices.

That's, um, sales of single-player games (multiplayer ones don't count!). And, uh, you know, we're just talking about Xbox Live Arcade titles -- not that clarifying this awfully specific sales record is an attempt to take away from the much-deserved success of Chair's excellent Shadow Complex or the 200,000-plus downloaders (much of the Joystiq staff included) who didn't wait long to cash in 1200.

Still, we're not going to label Shadow Complex's sales Achievement® (as Microsoft does) the "New Era of Downloadable Games." It takes far too much effort to produce a decent Metroidvania experience than it does a mediocre dual-stick shooter, after all.

We will, however, join in on the not-so-subtle peer pressuring. Seriously, you still haven't purchased Shadow Complex? Shame on you. (So ... just direct deposit that check, cool? Thanks Microsoft!)