JUNE 18, 2012 • Unity Technologies pulled the wraps off its upcoming Unity 4 development engine. The overhaul of the popular tools suite often used to bring strong graphics to online browser games includes an all-new Mecanim character animation system, DirectX 11 support, hypermodern mobile graphics, and the addition of Adobe Flash and Linux as new publishing platforms. Although Unity will be demonstrating the product, a release date for Unity 4 has yet to be announced.

Impact: Browser games are often criticized for their limited graphics. Unity is trying to help developers change that. Getting high quality games available through online browsers is critical to maximizing growth of the free-to-play model worldwide. Many consumers around the world will never acquire the blazing network speed necessary to make huge client downloads worth their time and frustration. So far the Unity suite has become the go-to tool that many studios rely on to create AAA content for play via browsers. Updating the feature set will only encourage browser game developers to shoot higher.