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This week on The TouchArcade Show, the usual crew powers through a hostile host takeover, some New Years Eve discussion, and other offbeat topics in order to bring you the latest and greatest in iOS news, reviews, and TouchArcade business. At the top, we dig into Vlambeer’s awesome Super Crate Box. Later, we dive into the wonders of Photo Swap and other awesome games. In the second half, we talk about 60beat’s GamePad and address your awesome user questions!

We’ve set the bar for 2012, so it’s only down (or up) from here. Thanks for being awesome in 2011, and feel free to join us again this year. Speaking of that, if you’d like to listen you can do so via the links just below. The cool kids all listen to us on iTunes and Zune Marketplace, though.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-033.mp3, 42MB

Here are your show notes (with a bonus retraction at the end):

GAMES

• Super Crate Box [$.99]
• Hatchi
• Photo Swap [Free]
• Dungeon Raid [$2.99 / Lite]
• Justin Smith’s Realistic Sports Simulator [$.99]

JARED’S KITTY KORNER

• Very Hungry Cat [Free]

FRONT PAGE

• ‘Cthulhu Saves The World’ Coming to iOS
• 60beat’s GamePad
• ‘Infinity Blade’ Is Doing Well
• New TouchArcade Logo [Responses]

Retraction: Super Crate Box’s controls have been fixed in an update that hit between the time we recorded and the publishing of the podcast!

[source]

Rift, a fairly popular MMO from Trion Worlds, has a mobile companion app. Earlier this December, the studio pushed out a free “beta” build that lets Rift users do all sorts of cool stuff, like, for example, chat in real-time with friends and guild mates, as well as peruse “the latest wall postings.”

Rift Mobile [Free], as it’s called, also comes stocked with a trio of mini-games — Planar Invasion, Craft Critters, and Shinies — that give players, and apparently not just ones with a Rift account, a “chance” to win in-game crafting and artifact loot. These games all seem pretty simple, but hey, loot.

Trion describes this release as the “first stage” of an overall Rift Mobile rollout. The final launch, accompanied by an Android app, is expected in Q1. We’re pretty stoked to see where this goes — no-one has really nailed an MMO companion app, so it’ll be fun to watch it grow and, hopefully, become truly awesome.

[source]

If you were thinking, “Hey, I haven’t shot a zombie in awhile” this morning, well, we’ve got great news for you: Nexon Mobile has released Combat Arms: Zombies [$4.99], the first-person spin on the fairly popular series’ Fireteam mode. Users have been reporting all kinds of crash bugs since its release, but a new update might have firmed that out. Either way, it’s still available at its special holiday pricing of $4.99.

Earlier this October, we brought you a first-word because it looked so darn impressive. Functionally, the game does more than look pretty — it offers players “a hand-picked selection” of guns, has a ton of carnage, customization, and control schemes, and even gives current Combat Arms Online players free weapons in its combat shop with the redemption of a bonus code. Gotta love tie-ins.

[source]