Gamespot has posted an article stating that Epic Games has struck a deal with Sony to make UT3 an exclusive console title for PS3 only for the remainder of this year. The Xbox 360 version will be released in early 2008. The PC version is not affected and will be released along side the PS3 version in November. All of this came to light during Sony's E3 press conference that took place earlier today.

Regarding the newly announced agreement, Mark Rein had these words to say:

Speaking to GameSpot, the irrepressible Rein laughed off any suggestion that Sony might have offered Epic financial incentives to keep UTIII a PS3 exclusive. "There's nothing sinister about it," he said, laughing. "It's just the PS3 and PC version of the games are compatible, because Sony has an open-source platform." Rein didn't clarify if he meant simply the development process was compatible, or whether the game would allow for cross-platform play.

Does this mean PS3 and PC cross-platform game play is coming? It certainly would be less obtrusive to PC gamers considering the PS3's support of keyboards and mice, as well as it's ability to use game servers.

Update, 6:45 PM EDT: After some minor confusion about the availability of the PC version this fall, Mark Rein made a post on the official forums with some clarification:

When they say "exclusive" they mean a console exclusive which means no other console this year. The exclusivity does not affect the PC versions in any way. Our plan is to ship on PC and PlayStation 3 this November. After all how would people bring those great mods over from the PC to the PS3 if we didn't ship the PC version?

There are also new screenshots available. Some are better quality images of what was already shown in magazines.