When it comes to the global $50 billion video game industry, there's no game engine technology more ubiquitous than Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 (UE3). The same technology that powers Epic's own Gears of War 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 is being used for a vast array of games, including Electronic Arts Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment's (EA DICE) first-person adventure Mirror's Edge, Ubisoft's voice-controlled Tom Clancys EndWar, and Midway Games' TNA Impact!wrestling title.rnLeave it to a "former game developer, turned Hollywood executive, turned filmmaker" to utilize UE3 in a whole new way. Jason (Jace) Hall, founder of Hollywood entertainment company HDFilms, has spent the past year or so creating a pipeline that he hopes will change the way CG entertainment is developed for the Web and television.rnA short time back, Hall had overseen the creation of the Lithtech engine at Monolith Productions, developed in conjunction with Microsoft, and was the primary per-rnson responsible for licensing the technology to other developers. "Because of my background in developing games, I have a lot of experience understanding how in-game cinematics come together, what the limitations can be, and once you set the limitations, how rapidly you can make changes or get someone up to speed who has limited experience in constructing cinematics," explains Hall.
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