While music was to be the main attraction at last week's Apple event in San Francisco, there was plenty of news for gamers. One demo in particular that garnered plenty of applause and whistles from the crowd was a game called Project Sword (codename), an Unreal Engine 3-powered action role-playing game from Epic Games and developed by Chair Entertainment (of Shadow Complex fame).  Designed for portable iOS devices, this multiplayer-supported fantasy game was fully rendered in 3D, and featured a turn-based combat system controlled by finger swipes across the screen. In the live demo from Epic Games president Mike Capps and Chair's creative director Donald Mustard, two knights hacked and slashed at one another, until the bigger of the two adversaries took a number of blows to the head and body and ultimately collapsed in defeat. "The bigger they come, the harder they fall," joked Mustard.  It appeared each fighter had upgradeable attributes, such as strength and attack speed, and hit points were calculated based on the severity of the strikes. After the impressive demo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs shook his head, laughed and said: "It's on a phone."  You can get a taste of Project Sword through a free tech demo, Epic Citadel, that lets you wander around the game's castle environment.  Due out some time later this year, the game will also support Game Center, a new feature built into iOS 4.1 that provides a community-based online gaming hub for portable devices. Included in this free app is a matchmaking and challenge option, Top 10 game lists (showing what your friends are playing), global leaderboards and an Xbox Live-like achievement system.  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
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