According to Richard Mitchell over at joystiq.com, the patch, which is available for both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and Windows), has tweaked and fixed several gameplay and stability issues. The autobalance has also been changed, and should now more aggressively try to place you with friends during matches.

What’s even more exciting is the announcement that there will be a double XP weekend this coming weekend, in order for players to celebrate the recent launch of the 2 new Section 8: Prejudice maps. The double XP weekend begins on Friday 3rd at 1AM EST, and will continue until Monday 6th at 1AM EST.

As noted over on the forums.timegate.com website, the recently released patch has also fixed a rare issue where a player’s controls would become unresponsive after they performed a fatality, as well as a rare lock-on crash that sometimes occurred during gameplay.

You can read what other fixes and improvements have been made via the forums.timegate.com website. Did you buy the new Section 8: Prejudice ‘Overdrive’ map pack DLC?

More About: Playstation 3, Section 8: Prejudice, Unreal Engine 3

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What’s even more exciting is the fact that the newly launched open beta has added a few new features to the multiplayer online game. According to a press release over on the sacbee.com website, this includes redesigned ‘witnessing’ game mechanics, new items and weapons and a brand new skill rating system.

There are more improvements scheduled to be released during the open beta period as well, including new clan-based combat mechanics aimed at the higher level players and additional match making improvements. Players can also expect new district and game modes in future updates.

As mentioned above, the open beta features a newly-improved ‘witnessing’ system, which is said to capture the core of the cops versus criminals game mechanics. When Criminals commit open-world crimes they gain a heap of dirty money, which then has to be laundered before players can earn it as a mission reward.

Enforcers are able to witness Criminals committing these crimes, and then opt in to a mini-mission to stop the Criminals. If the Enforcer successfully arrests or defeats the Criminal, the ill-gotten gains are then converted into evidence. Cops are then forced to race to the Evidence Locker in order to earn the cash.

The open beta launches with 10 never-before-seen weapons, as well as a wide variety of icons, vehicles, clothing and accessories. You can learn more about the new skill system via the sacbee.com website. Are you thinking about joining the APB Reloaded open beta?

More About: APB Reloaded, Unreal Engine 3

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We say old, but it’s still a pretty good engine, as you can see from titles such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Gears of War 1 and 2, Unreal Tournament and of course the upcoming Mortal Kombat game due out in April on PS3 and Xbox 360.

However, this latest deal by Warner and Epic ensures that the Unreal Engine will still be used on all future Warner games until 2014, as reported from Joystiq, which of course could include followup titles to Batman: Arkham City and Mortal Kombat 9 – How would you feel about this?

The graphics are looking pretty impressive for Mortal Kombat as it is, but are you perhaps disappointed that a potential follow-up to Mortal Kombat will use the same Unreal Engine 3, and not a brand new one, like Unreal 4 for example? Epic has stated that 2012 will be the year when the Unreal Engine 4 will be ready for developer use so, we’re hoping that things may change at this point next year.

We are probably jumping ahead of ourselves here, but we can definitely see another Mortal Kombat game in the pipeline. The 2011 game isn’t even out yet but you can already see that it is going to go down a treat with fans..see what 2D can do for you? Give your thoughts on this folks.

More About: Mortal Kombat, mortal kombat 10, Unreal Engine 3

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This may not sound like a big deal, however Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 is used by a wide-range of games, therefore the improvements made to the engine will allow any developer using UE3 to create games with better visuals.

Below we have embedded one screen showing off the impressive visuals created using UE3, if you would like to see all of the high-resolution images check out this link.

You can see a list of games which currently used the Unreal Engine 3 here, some of the most impressive titles using this engine include BioShock, BioShock 2, Borderlands, all three Gears of War games, Mass Effect 2, Medal of Honor and Blacklight: Tango Down.

A trailer video showing off the engine was played at GDC 2011, however this has not yet gone public, therefore we will have to keep you posted as it becomes available, are you looking forward to the next-gen of games which use the Unreal Engine 3?

More About: Epic Games, Unreal Engine 3

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