Gazillion Entertainment has licensed Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) to power its upcoming free-to-play MMO, Marvel Heroes.

“We love Unreal Engine 3’s streaming system. It’s made our entire technical approach possible and is easy to work with,” said Jeff Lind, studio director of Gazillion’s Secret Identity Studios. “We also love the flexibility we get from the actor components, which have empowered us to make all kinds of customizations without sacrificing the built-in features of the engine.”

Secret Identity Studios Art Director Josh Book added, “Our artists love the Unreal Content Browser, the visual art pipeline, and how functional UE3 is with different 3D packages. We had assets in the game within hours of starting work with the engine. In addition, Unreal Lightmass is a very advanced global illumination tool that has helped push the look of our game further than we thought it could go.”

“Capturing the distinctive moments of such revered fiction within a game environment is no small task, and it’s critical to use the very best tools and technology to deliver the production values fans expect,” said Joe Kreiner, North American licensing manager, Epic Games. “Having grown up with Marvel’s iconic heroes and villains, we’re really honored to help Gazillion and Secret Identity achieve their creative vision and quality bar for the game.”

For more information on the game, check out www.gazillion.com .