Epic Showing Off Unreal Engine 4 Tech at GDC

Epic has announced that they'll be previewing Unreal Engine 4 during next week's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco.

But we're not likely to see a new eye-popping demo come out of the event, at least not right away. Apparently the tech will only be showcased to "select licensees, partners and prospective customers," with all interested parties required to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Details on Unreal Engine 4 are still relatively scarce, though Mark Rein told G4 earlier in the month that "people are going to be shocked later this year when they see Unreal Engine 4 and how much more profound an effect it will have," indicating a public reveal is on the way before the year is out.

At last year's GDC, Epic presented Samaritan, a tech demo designed to showcase some next-gen graphics technologies, though that demo was running on a modified version of Unreal Engine 3.

Earlier this year, Epic founder Tim Sweeney revealed that Samaritan took the equivalent of ten Xbox 360s to run in real time, though hopes are that Unreal Engine 4 will allow similarly impressive techniques with more modest requirements.