Popular engine and toolset Unity has unveiled its next big revision, Unity 4. New features include DirectX 11 support, the ability to create games for Linux, and a new character animation system named 'Mecanim,' which Unity acquired two years ago.

Developers and those interested in techy bits should check out the announcement, but for we hoi polloi, let's focus about shiny things. As well as DirectX 11 support, which brings dynamic tessellation and all that jazz, Unity 4 will pretty up lower-end hardware too, with real-time shadows and other jazz for mobile platforms. Flash exporting support is going native, too, having previously been a paid add-on.

Unity might not have the big name recognition of Unreal Engine, CryEngine, or id Tech, but it's widely used and especially popular with indies.

There's no word yet on when Unity 4 will launch, but it'll be shown off at the Unite 2012 developer conference in August. Look, here's a video demonstrating some of Unity 4's new features: