The music industry has spoken out about the five British developers and publishers going after illegal file-sharers in the UK. What of the other players in the gaming industry? We have yet to hear any official word on the matter from other developers or publishers, but Peter Moore - in his personal capacity - has talked about it, and he'd have to agree... with the music industry.

British game developers have launched an all-out war against illegal file-sharers. They're not about to take piracy in the industry sitting down. But the music industry, another victim of the pirates, aren't backing them up on this cause. It's an apparent disagreement in approach and disposition.

Although not especially high in Epic Games' priority list, interconnected multiplayer sessions between PC mouse-twitchers and PlayStation 3 analog-fumblers may be more than a probability now. Next Generation has reported that IGN's GameSpy has just signed a licensing agreement with Epic Games.

 

As a result, GameSpy's online multiplayer technology will now be incorporated into Unreal Engine 3, permitting the connectivity of PC (and therefore, also Mac) gaming's online infrastructure with that of the PlayStation 3's open network infrastructure. Along with the interconnectivity features, additional online helper applications, which include communication, statistical, and competition tools, will follow.

But more importantly, the licensing of GameSpy tech will now allow all other UE3 licensees to cross the Mac-PC-PlayStation 3 gap. That's a list that includes Codemasters' Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.

GameSpy now joins a slew of other companies in Epic Games' Integrated Partners Program, while offering the quick solution to Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 networking capabilities. Director Todd Northcutt of GameSpy Technologies told Next Generation that Epic decided not to develop the engine's networking technology and searched for a third-party solution instead.

And yet the interconnectivity scenario continues to broaden. Despite the fact that Midway's Unreal Tournament III (Mac, PlayStation 3, Windows PC on DVD, Xbox 360) will not be supporting Microsoft's Live Anywhere initiative, GameSpy added that it would offer its own solution to bridge the Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and PlayStation 3 gap.

"We're huge believers in cross-platform play. It's something gamers would love to see, to be able to play with one unified community no matter what platform they're on. We certainly have the technology to make that happen," said Northcutt.

Now the only hurdle left is whether Sony and Microsoft would even agree to such a move.