Unity iPhone 1.7 released

Unity has launched version 1.7 of its iPhone engine, adding iPad functionality.

The new version includes iPad deployment for both Unity iPhone Basic and Unity iPhone Advanced; iPad Simulator support so developers can create iPad apps, even if they do not yet have iPad hardware; and universal application support so that apps can be designed to automatically work on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

The update comes as Apple launches the iPad – and there are over 15 Unity-authored iPad-specific games already in the iPad App Store. There are already over 600 Unity-authored games currently populating the iPhone App Store.

"We’re really pleased to see so many Unity developers leap at the chance to bring new gaming experiences to future iPad owners," said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies.

"To have this volume of quality games at launch really underscores our commitment to developers, providing them with the best tools and platform to reach the most exciting devices."

Unity provided testimonials from key iPhone developers to the press as part of the 1.7 and iPad announcement,

"Unity is a phenomenal platform and made moving to the iPad a snap," said Mike Rasmussen, El Presidente of Republic of Fun, creators of iPad launch title Slug Wars: To Shell and Back. "We were able to re-use our old game assets (this is a sequal to an existing game) and get something up and running quickly."

Monster Ball Co-Creator Thomas Hentschel Lund added: "Getting Monster Ball onto the iPad was literally just a matter of setting up a few player preference parameters in Unity and hitting build. The Unity GUI system already took care of aspect ratio changes, so the iPad port was simple, pain free—it just works. Once again the investment of using Unity has paid off."

And Seweryn Panczyniak, lead programmer at Infinite Dreams, which has released three iPad launch titles iQuarium HD, Sailboat Championship PRO HD, and Jelly Invaders HD – all built using Unity – added: "We were able to get our games submitted and accepted to the iPad App Store without ever seeing hardware. Unity is a wonderful piece of software that let us do things fast and with minimum level of frustration and maximum level of creativity."