The free Unreal Development Kit has exceeded 50,000 users since its release one week ago, developer Epic Games announced today.

Providing access to the same Unreal Engine 3 tools and technology that power numerous retail titles, such as Epic's own Gears of War 2 and Unreal Tournament 3, the 563MB Unreal Development Kit is available for download from FileShack.

The company added that "this rapid adoption of Unreal Engine 3 technology extends to approximately 130 countries and 4,500 cities across the globe."

"We're looking forward to seeing amazing games and applications come out of it," said Epic VP Mark Rein. "We're also thrilled to finally be able to offer UDK free for schools and students so they can work with the same awesome Unreal Engine 3 tools used by many of the top game developers and publishers around the world."

Gears of War and Unreal developer Epic Games today released its Unreal Engine 3 dev tools as a free download, aimed at providing noncommercial and educational use of the technology that powers many PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games.

The 563MB Unreal Development Kit can be found on FileShack, with various Unreal Tournament 3 assets included to help you get started. Two UDK-crafted sample games are also available: Psyonix's vertical puzzler Whizzle and Toltec's The Ball.

"I'm excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don't otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours," said Epic VP Mark... Read more

After demonstrating the latest additions to its multi-platform Unreal Engine 3 at Game Developers Conference, Epic has released a video to showcase said features.

The additions include a content browser for artists to easily find game assets, the multi-purpose Unreal Master Control Program architecture that allows users to track various online play statistics, and a new lighting feature dubbed "Unreal Lightmass."

Utilized by Epic and various other developers for games such as Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, Unreal Engine 3 runs on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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During a panel at this year's New York Comic Con, Gears of War 2 writer Josh Ortega revealed that developer Epic has "a ten-year plan" for the action-centric franchise.

"Gears is long-term. The lancer is the new lightsaber," he added, according to IGN. The statements came in response to a question about a potential prequel.

Along with two video games, the series has spawned a comic book and a forthcoming feature film, which director Len Wiseman hopes will be the first of a trilogy. The initial game hit PC and Xbox 360, while the second has only appeared on Xbox 360.

Ortega also hinted that downloadable content may expand the single-player portion of Gears of War 2. After being asked about the possibility of single-player DLC, he told fans to "keep watching" and assured the crowd that they "won't be disappointed."

Developers could soon hit the limits of the Xbox 360's graphics hardware, guessed senior Epic employee Rod Fergusson.

"I think we're certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it," Fergusson told Gamasutra. In the near term, gamers are covered: "There will be games in development that won't ship until 2010, and I'm sure they'll look killer," he assured.

Epic Games' Gears of War 2

But 2010 releases leave two years before the Gears of War developer's own projections on the release of its next-generation graphics technology. Epic plans to deliver a console-focused Unreal Engine 4 in 2012. Crytek, the studio behind graphical powerhouses Far Cry and Crysis, also plans to deliver its next step forward in 2012.

Fergusson, for his part, is unsure of what's in store for the end of this console generation. "Just looking at all the demos we saw [at last week's Games Convention]--ours and others--it's clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar."

Following Epic's statement that the next iteration of its popular Unreal Engine development tools will target the PlayStation 4 and next Xbox first, president Mike Capps has roughly estimated that the next generation will run from 2012 to 2018.

"We've got Unreal [Engine] 4 in production right now," Capps said at GamesFest, according to Gamasutra "It's going to be in the next console generation--our rough guess is 2012 [to] 2018."

In its early years, Epic was primarily focused on PC software and technology with titles such as Jazz Jackrabbit and Unreal Tournament. Like many other formerly PC-centric companies, such as Microsoft, the studio has since become a major player in the console market.

"Version 4 [of Unreal Engine] will exclusively target the next console generation," founder Tim Sweeney said earlier this year. "Microsoft's successor for the Xbox 360, Sony's successor for the Playstation 3--and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also...PCs will follow after that."

The current version of Epic's Unreal technology, Unreal Engine 3, has proven to be a popular choice for numerous PC and consoles developers as they craft titles for multiple platforms while attempting to take advantage of each platform's strengths.