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The Game Bakers‘ fast-paced and creatively endowed strategy RPG, Squids [Free], is now available for the agreeable price of $0 from now until the end of the weekend. Grab it while you can — not only because it’s free, but because this new, lower price point makes Squids a better game.

In our review, we argued that its original pricing of $1.99 was a problem. The game, for all of its awesomeness, was too reliant on its IAP model during the late game. Free-to-play works best when the offering is, you know, free. Squids at no cost sort of erases any trepidation you have about buying a fistful of pearls or any of the store’s items.

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This is huge: Beamdog has revealed plans to bring Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition to iPad this summer. Enhanced Edition is a revitalization of the long lauded BioWare RPG. Expect new code, new content, and new, and presumably more modern, assets when it hits both PC and now iPad in the coming months. Talk about a surprise, right?

IGN Wireless has the first hands-on with a build, which apparently is fairly complete. Highlights from that write-up include points about a friendlier camera specifically for iPad, and its lack of technical oddities. Check it out.

[via Shacknews]

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In August of last year, Beeworks Games ported their quirky Nintendo DS adventure title Touch Detective [Free] to the iOS platform. The art style, presentation, and writing in Touch Detective were superb, but the difficult and illogical puzzles really marred the experience. As such, we thought it was just ok in our review.

One nice thing, however, was the business model of Touch Detective which gave you the entire 1st chapter of the game for free and let you buy the additional 3 chapters through IAP. The 1st chapter was worth a solid hour or two of gameplay too, more than enough time to determine for yourself if the game’s charm would outweigh its frustrating puzzles.

Today, Beeworks has released the 2007 sequel to the original game called Touch Detective 2 1/2 [Free] into the iOS App Store. It comes with 5 full chapters as opposed to the original’s 4, and there is an exclusive bonus episode for this version with 4 additional chapters centered around the character Funghi.

Touch Detective 2 1/2 uses a similar pay structure to the first game, too. You get a chapter and a half for free with the rest of the game broken up into 3 IAP chapter packs that run $3.99 each, or you can purchase them all at once for $8.99 and save a few bucks.

As a word of caution, the game isn’t compatible with the new iPad just yet. It’s not an iPad native game anyway, but if you were thinking of running it pixel doubled on the new iPad you’ll have to wait for a fix first, which is already in the works. Other than that, though, if you liked the series on the NDS or the first iOS release, there’s really no reason not to download the free chapters and give Touch Detective 2 1/2 a spin.

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The new iPad and its gorgeous high-definition display has been in our lives for over a week. Game developers have had one for the same stretch of time. Undoubtedly, you’re into new iPad, but what about the guys who make the media you consume on it?

Over the last few days, we’ve been asking a smattering of the highest profile iOS developers out there what they think of the new device now that they’ve had the time to use the thing. We’ve also been inquiring about commitment: will these major players support the Retina screen in updates and future releases?

Below is a list of who we’ve been talking to so far and their responses. As you’d suspect, everyone is still excited about the possibilities of the new iPad’s beefier hardware. Also, many updates are on the way.

Halfbrick chief marketing officer, Phil Larsen:

“We’ve had the new iPad and it goes without saying that it rocks. This screen is astonishing and we already have our guys hard at work making sure our current titles are up to speed. Imminent Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja updates will definitely address this. We’ll also be optimizing all of our new games from launch, and with the higher download limits we’ll be getting a bit more funky and adding some extra visual splendor. Barry Steakfries will be looking his best!”

We can't wait to see Om Nom in high resolution.

ZeptoLabs co-Founder and creative director, Semyon Voinov

“New iPad is a great device and we will of course make sure that our current and upcoming games will support it — because their look will benefit from the new high-res screen. There are some challenges from the development side like the increase of the app size and a wider fragmentation of the platform, but those are all manageable.”

Semi-Secret co-Founder Eric Johnson

“The screen on the new iPad is amazing. I use the iPad regularly for reading, and have already taken for granted the clarity of text rendered on the new display. I can’t wait to update our games with updated artwork to take full advantage of the retina display.”

Robot Entertainment lead designer Marcin Szymanski

“Everyone in the office just got the new iPad, and we’re very excited about it. It feels like it will be a transformative experience for many kinds of games, where players will forget that they’re looking at a computer display, but instead feel like they’re looking at a real scene. Robot won’t be immediately developing Hero Academy to the new specs since most of our iPad work was completed before the announcement, but it’s certainly something we’d consider for future development.”

Imangi designer Keith Shepherd

“We love it!  The screen is beautiful, and it’s wicked fast. We’re already working on an iPad Retina optimized version of Temple Run and it looks incredible. The graphics horsepower is fantastic as well. We have Temple Run optimized and running on the new iPad at retina resolution using MSAA and high resolution textures all at 60fps without any hiccups.  Everything is so crisp and sharp that you don’t even notice the screen, it’s like a window into another world –perfect for games and immersive experiences such as Temple Run.”

So, retina updates for Cut the Rope, Temple Run, Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride, and possibly Hero Academy iPad are all coming? Our hearts are about to burst with joy. We’ll keep asking devs what they think, by the way, but it sure feels like everyone just adores the new iPad and can’t wait to do something new with it.

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Since getting the new iPad last Friday, I’ve been having a blast playing through the games that have been updated to take advantage of the beautiful new screen. Of course, gameplay reigns king when it comes to any game, but the visuals are important too, and it’s pretty crazy just how much a big bump up in the graphics department can add to a gaming experience.

So far, my favorite example of this has been Zen Bound 2 Universal [99¢], which was just updated with Retina iPad visuals. In early 2009, the original Zen Bound was a technical showpiece for the iPhone in terms of its striking visuals as well as its incredible use of multi-touch. Right off the bat, the sequel followed in these same steps by being a launch title for the original iPad back in April 2010, and a few months later for harnessing the power of the iPhone 4’s gorgeous new Retina Display and Gyroscope capabilities.

And here we are again, not even a week into the launch of the long-awaited Retina Display iPad and Zen Bound 2 Universal is again a stunning showpiece of the new technology. The high resolution textures and fancy lighting effects combine to create remarkably realistic in-game models. If there was such thing as an uncanny valley for tiny carved sculptures, this would be it. Everything runs at a silky smooth framerate too, further making the visuals feel like they just pop right off of the screen.

The enhanced visuals have got me hooked on Zen Bound 2 all over again, just as I was when it first released, and if you haven’t checked out the game previously now would be an excellent time if you’re an owner of the new iPad. It’s a perfect game to show off the screen of the new device to people, and the unique multi-touch gameplay is just as impressive as ever, too.

With its slow-paced, meticulous gameplay Zen Bound 2 isn’t for everybody. But if you’re intrigued by the look of it and want something to show off your new iPad then it’s totally worth its current sale price of 99¢. The bonus is that if Zen Bound 2 is your cup of tea, it comes equipped with more than 100 puzzles to work through that can very easily eat up your free time if you aren’t careful, made all the better with the gorgeous new Retina Display iPad visuals.

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Well, that didn’t take long. There’s been rumblings over on TechCrunch for a few days now that Zynga was in acquisition talks with OMGPOP as a result of the smash hit Draw Something [$0.99 / Free ]. The original suggestions were that the purchase price would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $150m to $250m, as OMGPOP itself is a company that’s already fueled by $17m worth of investor cash as is.

Zynga scheduled a call at 3:00 PM Eastern today to discuss a “news announcement,” but the guys over at All Things D have the scoop early: Zynga has picked up OMGPOP for a cool $200m, which isn’t too shabby considering two years ago they doled out $53m to buy Words With Friends creator Newtoy.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this news. On one hand, I’m glad that OMGPOP is reaping the rewards of creating a fantastically successful game. Zynga has proven in the past that they talk acquisitions first, but if you turn them down, they have no problem ruthlessly cloning your game instead. On the other, I really like Draw Something as it is now, and I’m really not looking forward to Zynga, well, Zynga-ing it up. But, I suppose Word With Friends is still a fun game, so, whatever.

I imagine the guys at OMGPOP will be popping some champagne bottles this afternoon, if they haven’t already.

UPDATE: It’s official. OMGPOP is now a part of Zynga. Also noted in the call: picture saving and chat as possible updates, people don’t like the word “latrine,” and over 1 billion drawings have been created since the game’s launch. The more you know!

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The little things matter in flight games. When you crank up an engine, you want the jet exhaust to grease up the screen. You want to hear the thick, thunderous crack of a sound barrier break. And you want to feel like the world is insignificant as you slice through the air at 1500 MPH while a song that vaguely sounds like the one from that weird Cruise flick pounds in the background. Namco Bandai’s Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy [$4.99] nails a lot of these little things, and while the premise sucks and it occasionally doesn’t look so great, few iOS games deliver as consistently as this one.

Backing up, Sky Gamblers is an arcade flight game that feels pretty similar to the Ace Combat series. It plays it loose with things like, say, physics and reality, but doesn’t try to pretend to be anything else other than an insanely fast-paced, action shooter in the air. It’s really good at leveraging these aspects, too: the sense of speed is fantastic and the maneuvering and shooting components feel blessedly fluid. These things define the experience.

A good chunk of Apple’s faithful should know this game already. It was one of the two titles given a substantial demo at the new iPad press event. As expected, it delivers on a visual level. The assets, and particularly the planes, are rendered with a healthy respect for the new iPad’s higher resolution screen, and most of the environments look alright, too. It also boasts a ton of atmospheric and effects touches that bolster the pace-pumping, action scenarios that dot its content landscape.

But while it nails a lot of the little things, it flubs a few, too. In particular, some of the texture work on ground details and buildings and infantry are straight up ugly, and don’t reflect the work put into the rest of the title. The tutorial in particular is a mess, and the voice acting isn’t so good, either.

The thing that it gets the most wrong is its own story. Told through a jumble of comic book-style entries as if it were a Max Payne, the premise is a mess of poorly constructed context and devices. From what I can gather, you play as a hotshot pilot who, suddenly, finds himself without an army to call home. After a canyon run, you meet up with a group of lovable mercenaries and then join up.

There’s just enough reason in its madness to justify the fact that you’re in a plane and charged with killing people — a lot of people, in fact, across a campaign that tries to feature every environment, objective, enemy type, and color in the Game Design Handbook.

In the first mission, for example, you’ll fly alongside a squad on a quest to kill enemy fighters across a field and over the top of a city. Later, in a dessert level, you’ll be asked to rip through enemy fighters while bombing ground infantry shortly before moving to a Bomb the Base objective. These layers and the sheer scale of each level hammer home the sheer speed your craft can go, and that adds a palpable thrill to each confrontation or traveling section. Dogfights on the other hand reinforce the gracefulness of flight, as you’ll need to spiral or otherwise dance away from lock-ons, circle for position, and hunt your prey airplane-style.

The latter is an important point: since Sky Gamblers doesn’t care about natural laws, there’s a distinct, teeth-rattling speed inherent in the combat design. Fights are all about how many bullets you can let loose while doing crazy stuff, like, say, flying upside down with the throttle all the way up. The same old flight game strategies still apply: you do want to get behind the enemy and execute successive passes, but the way you go about it in Sky Gamblers gives it an awesome edge. Everything just feels so fast; it’s bliss.

Flight games, strangely, have found a home on iOS. The controls seem to work, and this is no exception. The casual pro scheme in particular is great; the d-pad that controls the movement is robust and floats, and the pitch doesn’t get in the way. You can also use accelerometer controls, but those never clicked with me.

If the campaign doesn’t do it for you, then there’s a bounty of bonus modes and missions to check out. Team Deathmatch, Bomb the Base, and several survival modes are all ready to be played from the get-go. You can take these online, too, and the component seems, surprisingly, solid. I’ve yet to experience lag and the matchmaking is sharp.

If you have a new iPad, this is clearly one of THE games to get, as its boasting some of the best 3D, high resolution visuals at the moment. If you dig explode-y things and moving really fast, you’ll probably want to give this a look, too. Smart design bolsters both of these aspects. Check it out.

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As I mentioned yesterday, I can’t get enough of OMGPOP’s Draw Something [$0.99 / Free ]. All of my iOS device owning Facebook friends seem to be playing it, and we all seem to be equally horrible when it comes to drawing things. The dudes over at IGN, however, apparently are playing games with people who aren’t horrible at drawing.

Take a look:

There’s even more where those came from. Seeing this sort of talent really makes me wish Draw Something had a better social sharing component, as I’d be great if I could mash a button and automatically tweet one of my drawings, and, in the process, be able to look through the drawings of others.

Have you saved any particularly incredible drawings either of yours or of your opponents in Draw Something? Drop ‘em in the comments, I’d love to see them.

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On the heels of the release of Canabalt across PSP, PS Vita, and PS3, Semi-Secret’s Adam Saltsman is asking fans if they are interested in a possible 2-player mode for the phone versions of the often celebrated endless runner. “Would y’all be interested in seeing a 2-player mode in Canabalt [$2.99] on iOS and Android,” he asked, simply, on Twitter.

Speaking with us, Saltsman says that he’s trying to gauge if such an endeavor would be worth it. He wants Canabalt, which debuted in 2009, to stay relevant, but he also understands the risk involved with post-release feature additions, no matter how simple they are to implement. The time it would take to do this, for example, is time that could be spent on another of his fresher projects. He says that any input into this matter is invaluable. He also says that he has other ideas for content, and if this stuff takes minimal effort, it’ll probably be worth it.

For what it’s worth, we’re screaming “yes” to everything at our monitors right now.

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