iPhone Dev: technologies being used for 3d games?

Question

I have an idea for a 3d game for the iPhone and I'm wanting to get a feel for what is used mostly for iPhone 3d game programming. Are 3d games being developed in opengl es only or are 3d models being used as well?

I'm just trying to get an idea of some of the technologies being used for iPhone 3d game programming.

For instance, I think the following game will be really cool and would like to know what is being used to create it.

http://vodpod.com/watch/2623062-yes-plastic-for-iphone-ipod-touch

Also, are people using any 3d modeling tools like maya, 3ds max, or blender with this 3d game engines?

Answer 1

Unity is a popular 3d engine that supports iPhone

Answer 2

There's a good overview on this blog, but it may be a bit out of date.

Answer 3

SIO2 is an open source 3D engine for iPhone development.

Answer 4

There are lots of different ways to make 3D games. As the two above answers, you can use things like Unity and SI02. However, the vast, vast majority of games are developed with OpenGL, mainly because there's already so much existing material on game development with OpenGL. If the game's not too graphically intense, you can even try using core animation -- but don't expect the same performance as other things.