MacBook Air and MacBook Pro just got a great free gaming upgrade

(Image credit: Epic Games)

published 14 May 2023

Unreal Engine powers many of the world's biggest games, and a lot of 3D tech for the entertainment industry too. But on Apple Silicon-based Macs such as MacBooks and iMacs it hasn't been able to deliver as much performance at some users would like. That's because the current versions have to be run in Apple's Rosetta emulation software. But that's now changed.

Epic has announced that with the 5.2 release of Unreal Engine, Apple Silicon Macs can now run Unreal natively – that is, without going through the emulator. That should remove a significant obstacle to Macs' performance in games and other Unreal content. It should also mean more stable performance.

This new iPad app is unreal too

It's been a good week for professional content creators who'd like to use their iPads: fresh from the announcement of Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro X for iPad, Epic has announced a new Unreal Engine creative app for iPad.

Designed for virtual filmmakers, the new in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) app promises to offer "an intuitive touch-based interface for stage operations such as color grading, light card placement, and nDisplay management tasks from anywhere within the LED volume." Pricing and availability have yet to be announced but Epic says the app is "coming soon".

TOPICS

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).