San Francisco, Calif. - Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for 3D interactive content on the Web, PC, Mac, Wii, and iPhone platforms, introduces Unity 3.0 at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). In addition, Unity Technologies announces that it will expand its list of supported platforms to include Android, iPad, and PlayStation 3.
Among a host of updates in this release are major updates to Unity’s rendering capabilities, its physics features, and optimizations to its core systems to make targeting multiple platforms easier for developers. For improved performance and fidelity in its rendering, Unity now includes integrated licensed technology from Illuminate Labs and Umbra Software. Used in games such as Mirror's Edge, Illuminate Lab’s Beast lighting software provides Unity developers with a global illumination solution for photorealistic scene lighting. Ensuring performance for games with large, open scenes and complex geometry, Umbra’s occlusion culling software is also integrated in Unity 3.0. Both Umbra and Beast are included in Unity Pro at no additional cost.
Unity Technologies’ iPhone product, Unity iPhone, is also gaining improvements for Version 3.0, including streaming audio support for smaller build size, Bluetooth multiplayer support, faster in-game GUIs, and a very fast 2D sprite engine, as well as numerous performance improvements to provide faster frame rates.
For Version 3.0, Unity Technologies has kept Unity, its entry-level product, free for commercial use. Its premier product, Unity Pro, will retain its current price of $1500 per developer seat. Current Unity Pro owners will be able to upgrade to version 3.x for $750.
A final release date is planned for summer. Developers can gain first access to beta builds of Version 3.0 prior to the final release by pre-ordering Unity Pro 3.0 from the Unity Web site at http://www.unity3d.com . Pre-order customers will also get their Unity Pro 3.x licenses at a substantial discount: $1200 per seat for new licensees and $500 per seat for 2.x upgrades.
Also seeing significant general and platform-specific improvements, Unity iPhone and Unity iPhone Pro will be available for pre-order immediately at similar discounts: $300 per seat for new licensees of Unity iPhone ($100 per seat for 1.x upgrades) and $1200 per seat for new licensees of Unity iPhone Pro ($500 per seat for 1.x upgrades).
To get the current version of the free feature-packed Unity to create games and interactive visualizations for the Web, PC, and Mac or to get a free 30-day evaluation of Unity Pro or Unity iPhone, go to http://unity3d.com/unity/download/.