The Unity Engine is best known for being the technology behind mobile and browser-based indie games. However, it soon looks like Unity will be making its console debut with the release of the Wii U.
Recently it was revealed that the Nintendo Wii U will support the Unity Engine and that Nintendo will offer first- and third-party developers Pro-level engine access to Unity’s tools for development on the Wii U. This partnership also grandfathers in all existing 1.2million Unity licenses to the Wii U platform. That means that just about any game that is made using the Unity engine could potentially be ported over to the Wii U.
Granted, this doesn’t do much to push the Wii U as a hardcore platform, but I could certainly conceive of a scenario where a kid plays a simple touch-based mobile game on the Wii U tablet while an older gamer plays Assassin’s Creed on the big screen.
Unfortunately, Unity support will not be fully integrated into the Wii U platform until 2013, so we won’t be seeing any Unity games at launch. Still, this new partnership is likely to make the Wii U look very promising to indie developers everywhere.