Ubuntu and Unite 2012

We’ve already written about Unity Technologies, supporting publishing applications to Linux in the next release of their platform, Unity 4.0. Canonical attended Unity’s Unite developer conference in Amsterdam, held 21-24 August, to meet with the nearly 1,200 Unity employees and developers and see first hand what to expect in Unity 4.0.

In Amsterdam, the Unite keynote kicked things off with an overview of the past few years and the evolution of Unity. Famed game designer Peter Molyneux, took to the stage and wowed the crowd with his latest game, the soon-to-be-renamed, Curiosity. The afternoon was filled with sessions geared towards developers who use Unity to create amazing games for all sorts of platforms. Thursday had a great session about how to use networking in Unity to create multiplayer games and how the new features in Unity 4.0 can make games come alive.

We already knew that Unity 4.0 is going to be unbelievable! The games that were showcased and won the Unity Awards really raised the bar for Unity development. You can get the lowdown on what Unity 4.0 has to offer, how to upgrade and what you need to run it from the FAQ. The free version of Unity 4.0 will, when released in a few months, include the new Mecanim engine and everything you need to start making incredible games right away. If you need a bit more power, additional effects, more streaming options and other tools, you’ll want to take a look at the Unity Pro 4.0 version. Either way free or pro, the great news is that publishing to Ubuntu is included.

On Friday, David Pitkin and I presented to a eager crowd about how Ubuntu and Unity’s new publish-to-Linux feature would open up their applications to millions of users who have a keen interest in getting their game on and buying games on Ubuntu machines. During and after the sessions we were bombarded with questions about how to get started with Ubuntu and submission requirements for the Ubuntu Software Center. We can’t wait for so many awesome games to arrive on Ubuntu in the coming months.

We had a great time at Unite, met some wonderful developers, played some excellent games, and got the word out on Ubuntu Software Center and publishing games to millions of Ubuntu users.

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