Gameloft just announced that they have made a long term, multi-platform licensing agreement with Epic Games, Inc for the Unreal Engine 3. Julien Fourniais, Vice President of Production at Gameloft had this to say:

"Gameloft is very pleased to partner with Epic, especially with their ability to stay ahead of the curve and continually place the best game engine technology in developers' hands at any given point in time. Using Unreal Engine 3 allows us to push game visuals with remarkable lighting and high-fidelity environments. We are confident that players will enjoy the games powered by Unreal Engine 3."

Ever since Epic Games first revealed the Unreal Engine 3 for iOS, we've been excited to see what developers might come up with. Uptake, however, has been slow possibly due to licensing fees.

Gameloft's been no slouch from a game engine perspective as is. Gameloft is planning to release four new games with the Unreal Engine 3, two in 2011 and two in 2012.