Some rather interesting news out of the House of Mario, as Nintendo has licensed the Unity engine for the Wii U for both internal and external development.

Unity CEO David Helgason believes this deal is unprecedented for a platform holder, as it seems to be a long-term deal for "several years." The exact terms were not discussed, but Helgason is understandably happy about it regardless. Could a new Mario or Zelda game be powered by Unity? Potentially, although it may be a few years before that is realized.

One of the best aspects of this deal is Nintendo's apparent embrace of the independent or small developer area. Unity is a collaborative engine, in that a core engine exists but other developers can sell their own modifications through an extension store. Considering the million or so registered Unity users and the abundance of games using it, there is a chance the Wii U's gaming library could be the largest around.

Nintendo is working with the engine to optimize it for the Wii U, with a "deployment option" available next year. It may be some time before Unity-powered games arrive on the console, but at least it will happen.