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Unreal Engine 3 will power next-gen games for Apple's Mac OS X

Epic Games has released a new version of its Unreal Development Kit Beta that includes a preview of Mac OS X support for the toolset that will help power the next generation of Mac gaming.

The game developer announced the release of its September 2011 UDK Beta, the free edition of its Unreal Engine 3, earlier this week.

"The development process is virtually identical for games to be run on the Mac platform, but the packaging and deployment process does require some additional steps," the company wrote on its website.

Epic touted the dramatic increase to "every UDK game's potential user base" that will come as a result of the forthcoming Mac support. The latest beta is available at udk.com/download.

The new UDK Beta also includes multi-display support for iOS, via either HDMI cable or Apple's AirPlay standard. After seeing strong interest in its "Epic Citadel" tech demo, the developer released a version of the UDK adding support for iOS last year, with one executive for the company calling it Apple's mobile OS "the priority for now."

The finished product from the original iOS tech demo, "Infinity Blade," went on to become an instant hit, bringing in millions of dollars in revenue for the company. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs has called the iOS version of the Unreal 3D environment "remarkable."

"Infinity Blade has been a runaway hit with customers around the world and we couldn't be more excited about our success on iOS devices," Epic Games vice president and co-founder Mark Rein said in July.