Next week’s release of the Unreal 3 Engine based Infinity Blade is likely to set a new graphics milestone for iOS when it’s released next week, but it’s not likely to be the exception: Epic Games have just announced that they will soon release the Unreal Development Kit (or UDK) for iOS to developers, allowing them to use the next-gen Unreal 3 Engine in their games for free.

The UDK is Epic’s free version of their Unreal engine, and while it doesn’t necessarily allow full access to all the bells and whistles that become available when you sign up for a license, it will still allow developers to affordably get a leg up when it comes to Epic Citadel or Infinity Blade level graphics on iOS.

There’s no official release date for the UDK yet, but Epic says that as the launch date comes closer, they’ll release content and tutorials to the developer community. My best guess is that thanks to sophisticated iOS rendering engines like the UDK and Rage engine, 2011 is going to be the year when iOS is mentioned in the same breath as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a platform for cutting edge titles.