Today is an exciting day for all of us here at Unity Technologies as we’re now shipping pre-release beta builds of Unity 3.0 to the first 100 people that pre-purchased the licenses since they went on sale earlier this year (reference)! These folks are the first public users (those not on our staff or in our private alpha/beta test groups) to get their hands on the new release, but they’ll soon be followed by everyone else that has pre-purchased a Unity 3.0 license as those will be rolled out in the next few weeks. But what does that mean in terms of a final ship date? Well, it means that we’re closing in fast and we’re now within a month or so of our launch date. So let this be your call to action if you haven’t yet pre-purchased a Unity 3.0 license, on launch day the prices go back to their normal list rates instead of the pre-purchase discounted rates we’re offering now. Get ‘em while the gettin’ is good!
If you’re not up to speed on what to expect from the Unity 3.0 release then please take a look at this:
When you’re done with that have a look at the following blog posts our engineering team has made that describe some of the new features in more detail:
Unity 3 Feature Preview – Asset Management
Image Effects Video
Introducing some of the new Image Effects
3.0 Upcoming demo
Unity 3 Feature Preview – Snapping & Marquee Selection
What’s more is that we’ve lifted the embargo on public discussion about this new release. What that means is that those who have been testing beta builds already can now talk about the coming features openly so the Unity Community Forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are all afire with chatter about the coming coolness that is Unity 3.0. And with that, let the countdown begin!
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22 replies on “The first Unity 3.0 pre-purchase betas are now shipping!”
@Pete: sorry for not getting to your comment sooner! In the 3.0 release itself we don’t have any specific improvements on offer, but we do plan on having some nice new features on the 2D front during the 3.x product release cycle as a whole so look for those in the near future.
Tom, I’ve tried the evaluation version of Unity IPhone 2.7 and I’m not convinced about 2D rendering. I know there is a third-party Sprite-Management API in the forums to be used freely but it is not a built-in solution. What’s being done in this regard with the upcoming v3? Will it offer a performing built-in solution for sprite management? Thanks.
Yup, as Aras said we’re sending out build information to a new batch of people on a regular basis, it’s just that we’re not doing a press push and making noise about it. That type of activity is really best used for that first group only… :)
@Danilo: we’re sending it to about 100 pre-order customers each day
Nice job guys, but.. how about to open it to the next 100 betas?? ;)
Thanks, I will.
@tino: as Bart said, that’s why we have a tiered license system, start with one and upgrade when necessary.
@Pete: nothing yet but as I understand it we should have an update soon, as always keep your eyes here on the blog for information on that front
> Like everyone else who preordered, I can’t wait! I especially can’t wait to see what improvements were made to iPhone/iPad. Unity for iPhone already rocks.
Speaking of the devil, I’d love to pre-order the Unity IPhone but I’m hesitating to do it because there’s been no official confirmation that Unity3D is safe.
Any news about this, Tom?
@Kevin: yes, you can use GLES2.0. The preferred way in 3.0 is actually to write shader once in Cg/HLSL, and it will be compiled for all platforms (we cross-compile it into GLSL ES for iPhone/Android, and that works). The cross-compiler is continued development from ATI’s HLSL2GLSL library; we have open sourced our patches/fixes/improvements here: http://code.google.com/p/hlsl2glslfork/
Like everyone else who preordered, I can’t wait! I especially can’t wait to see what improvements were made to iPhone/iPad. Unity for iPhone already rocks.
Are OGLES 2.0 shaders now available? I really want to do bumpmapping!
@Bart Libert, I know, I’m just eager to play with unity 3 :)
And if I make some money Unity will be one of first company’s that I will invest into…
Arghh the waiting begins… :) hope all other people get v3 soon!
But nerveless Good job on the new version! love the new features!
Hope to have a beta copy to play with soon!
Thanks!
[…] Wie schon für die Unity Version 2.6 ist auch bei Unity 3 die Basisversion wieder kostenlos. Nähere Infos und eine Featureliste findet ihr auf dem Unity Blog in diesem Beitrag: http://blogs.unity3d.com/2010/06/23/the-first-unity-3-0-pre-purchase-betas-are-now-shipping/ […]
Yes I listened to the call for action and pre ordered unity iphone pro upgrade, Hope to have a beta copy to play with soon!
Thanks!
Oh, And I just forgot to nominate the unity crew for the name «THE U-TEAM» :)
@Tino, that is why there is the FREE version too. Pro really has nice features, thats true, but a good gamemaker can make their first steps (even profitable ones) with free too.
If you really want to make money with unity, then consider this. I prefer to pay $1200 and never having to worry about royalties anymore. If you have to pay a percentage of your earnings, then this complicates a lot and if you really mean to earn nice money with your software, you will pay a lot of times your $1200 instead of just 1 time
Awesome! I’m waiting my time! :)
Nice work guys, i wish i could afford it :(, maybe soon…
It would be cool if you could have some sort of contract that if someone can’t afford unity pro, can use it and if they make any money, first revenue goes straight to unity… that would be cool…
Congrats guys!!! We can’t wait to get our hands on this release!!!
Already pre-ordered. Hope I am not to far down the list…
argh, I preordered but I guess I wasn’t fast enough :(
First!
Congrats to the Unity team! As a reward, I just pre-purchased. I look forward to working with this wicked awesome tech.