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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Silicon Knights president and founder Denis Dyack commented on the legal struggle between the Too Human (360) and Unreal Engine purveyors Epic Games, expressing optimism that "justice will be done" in the ongoing court battle.

"The trial is proceeding," Dyack told Develop. "We feel really good about our claims, and we're hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry."

The dispute centers around Silicon Knights' claim that Epic held off on delivering promised features in its Unreal Engine 3 middleware in order to focus on... Read more

The next version of Epic's popular Unreal Engine game development middleware will be initially skewed towards console development, according to company president Tim Sweeney.

"Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation," Sweeney told TG Daily. "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," he continued.

Epic's initial focus on console development reflects the movements of many studios towards the more lucrative console gaming market, which has grown exponentially in recent years.

The company has not abandoned its PC gaming roots, however. Epic announced late last month that it intends to participate in the PC Gaming Alliance, a consortium bent on revitalizing the platform.