CVG

Mark Rein, the man who spearheads the Unreal Engine licensing operation, was unreserved in his praise of the new Microsoft slate.

"Microsoft NAILS IT," he said on his personal Twitter account. "Surface looks AWESOME! Can't wait to get some Unreal Engine games on those babies!" he added.

Microsoft Surface is a new line of dedicated tablet devices built by Microsoft. A illustrative tour of the new device can be found here.

Unreal Engine is already fully integrated into PC devices and the popular engine has in recent years expanded to iPhone and iPad. However, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 has become stranded in the games engine business - with the likes of Epic and Unity not working on the smartphone - due its lack of support for native app development.

The games development wing of Epic Games has embraced touch-screen devices with the Infinity Blade series. The likelihood of this franchise arriving on Microsoft tablets is slim by virtue of Epic Games' uncommonly tight relationship with Apple.

But Unreal Engine support for the tablet could pave the way for a new rush of games for the device.

Rein added: "I suppose, being a proper Windows 8 device, that Surface will fully support the Xbox game controller. If so: bravo!"

He added that it is "a great time to be a gamer".

"Future looks even better for gamers on all sorts of awesome platforms and I'm super happy that we'll power all sorts of great experiences... On all sorts of exciting next-gen devices from all the great hardware companies!"

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/354362/epic-exec-eager-to-support-microsoft-surface-tablet-with-unreal-engine/

Sounds like a smart direction. :) I expect several engines to support the platform$

Ohh I didn't think about the support for Xbox controller via USB... omg this is so awesome if true!!!

ok now im hyped