Providing access to the same Unreal Engine 3 tools and technology that power numerous retail titles, such as Epic's own Gears of War 2 and Unreal Tournament 3, the 563MB Unreal Development Kit is available for download from FileShack.

The company added that "this rapid adoption of Unreal Engine 3 technology extends to approximately 130 countries and 4,500 cities across the globe."

"We're looking forward to seeing amazing games and applications come out of it," said Epic VP Mark Rein. "We're also thrilled to finally be able to offer UDK free for schools and students so they can work with the same awesome Unreal Engine 3 tools used by many of the top game developers and publishers around the world."