Unity announces that their Indie version is now free.

The Unity engine is becoming even more affordable to students, educators, independent and hobbyist developers, as Unity Technologies has retired the $200 "Unity Indie" offering and replaced it with a free license, simply called Unity.

http://unity3d.com/

Unity Technologies Announces Partnership with Noesis Interactive

Educators around the world have begun to develop academic programs to teach students how to develop video games as part of a game development track, certificate or degree.  To enhance and accelerate this opportunity, Noesis Interactive will serve as a one stop shop for education customers to purchase both the Unity Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Noesis created Video Courseware at special educational prices, along with extensive instructional materials for the Winter Terms beginning in January 2010.

Noesis Interactive is currently developing two initial course offerings:

Unity Essentials - http://education.noesisinteractive.com/video-courseware-798.html

Unity Scripting - http://education.noesisinteractive.com/video-courseware-782.html

Unity Essentials will teach the fundamentals of the IDE interface and common practices as well as general workflow, asset management and publishing techniques. Unity Scripting will build on these fundamental skills and teach more specific methods for creating interactive game experiences within Unity through JavaScript.

In addition, Noesis Interactive will provide course outlines, online quizzes, assessment tools, instructor notes and teaching aids at no charge to participating academic institutions, in order for them to rapidly implement courses designed around the Unity platform.