Epic Games has released v4.3 of the Unreal Engine, code that undergirds many desktop, console, and mobile games. Although most of the changes are of interest only to developers, the update also includes the first support for Metal, Apple’s new 3D graphics API. Developers must be using the Xcode 6 beta to compile it, and it’s not enabled by default. It can however be toggled on via a game’s Project Settings.
The addition should allow a number of high-end iOS 8 games to further development as they prepare for the firmware’s launch this fall. Metal is designed to reduce the OpenGL overhead for iOS titles, making it possible to render console-level detail and effects.
