Splashed out on a Sony PlayStation 3 only to be underwhelmed by the software available for it at present? Itching for...ooh ...a bit of Gears of War love? Don't lose any sleep over it, says Epic Games' vice president Mark Rein, you're better off without Gears of War… in a way.

In an interview with Eurogamer the Epic Games boss explained that the Microsoft Xbox 360's head start over the PS3 has given the studio time to hone its skills where the Unreal Engine 3 is concerned (UE3 being many developers' first choice as a tool to produce next-generation games), which can only end up "benefiting" PS3 owners:

"We're a little ahead on PlayStation 3 compared to where we were at this time on Xbox 360, and what I mean by that is our code and our level of completeness, and that's because we have shipped a game with Unreal Engine 3 already," said Rein.

He added that the upcoming 'timed-exclusive' release of Unreal Tournament 3 on the PC and PS3 this coming November (the Xbox 360 receives it next year) will show just how far the developer has utilised the capabilities of the Unreal Engine 3, pushing it "up another notch" as he puts it.

Talk about a back-handed compliment.