TouchArcade.ru

TUAW's Mike Schramm tracked down Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein and asked some questions on Epic Citadel [Free] and other things to do with the iOS platform. The whole interview is worth reading, but what really struck me is that the iPhone 3GS, not the iPhone 4, was what originally interested Epic Games in porting their engine to the platform:

Epic Citadel is most popular on the iPhone 4, but Rein actually says it was the iPhone 3GS that really sold Epic on the power of gaming. "The iPhone 3GS is a very powerful device," he told me, "and it was really the first mobile phone that broke over the line of something we could actually run Unreal Engine 3 on without making significant compromises." Of course, Epic Citadel is just a demo for the game code-named Project Sword, a full RPG title that Epic is releasing soon. And while I did ask, Rein didn't offer up a price or date yet.

Also of note is that Rein hinted that Project Sword, the Unreal Engine powered game unveiled at Apple's September keynote address would be more expensive than your typical iPhone game, even citing higher-priced premium titles that have succeeded on the platform.

If you haven't yet, now is a great opportunity to give Epic Citadel a try. The things the Unreal Engine is capable are able to do on iPhone hardware is absolutely breathtaking and will completely blow you away.

Now, to get back to waiting for more Project Sword details…

[via TUAW]

[source]

11 is somewhat of a milestone for EA Sports, being the number of players each team has on the field. As such, there were lofty expectations of Fifa 11 [App Store] to deliver something really special. Things start out great with Fifa 11– when you first load up your first game, you are treated to some of the best looking soccer ever created on the iOS platform. Retina support is crystal clear and ultra sharp, but even the older models will enjoy the brilliant and believable life-like animations and the finer details as EA have tried (and succeeded, we think) to give a fair bit of recognition to their player models and stadiums.

Of course, EA's licensing credentials mean that all the 31 leagues and their respective squads are well represented, and appear to be largely up to date. There are also a very respectable 50 stadiums to play on, fortunately only a few of which are generic models. The iconic stadiums from around the world nearly all feature here and look terrific in both the day and night settings available.

Regretfully, the overall visual appeal of Fifa 11 was marred for us during our review with a frustrating slowdown bug. This affected both our 3GS testing device and the iPhone 4, with many users on our forums indicating similar problems. We're hoping that EA address this in a fix soon, as we could barely get through a game without requiring a restart to get the game back to speed.

That problem aside, when it was working well, the gameplay in Fifa 11 is definitely a more measured approach than what we're used to. No longer can you press for a through ball and get a perfectly weighted pass to your runner. Passes now have a power indicator, and a degree of skill is required to do what was previously effortless. Of course, this is dramatically altered by your difficulty setting, with the lowest settings giving you that extra helping hand.

If you do struggle with the controls, you'll appreciate the default 'casual' settings, which offer a limited, but descriptive control set. Instead of the advanced A, B and C buttons, casual mode includes a context sensitive pass, shoot and through buttons, which change to switch, tackle and slide when you're in defence. Pressing longer on the pass button will intelligently lob the ball, as the game tries to second-guess your intentions. If you're after greater control though, you can't pass up the Advanced mode, which offers the more skill intensive slide-off buttons, where lobbing requires you to slide your thumb off the pass button, and through balls are performed by sliding from the middle C button to B.

This latter button combination caused more frustration than it should have, particularly for an action as frequently used as the through ball. It took alot of wrestling with the controls to get used to, and I can't help but feel there was a better way to go about this. On the flipside, I really liked the new touch gestures in Fifa 11. Tapping on the screen would perform a skill move such as a step over; dragging on a teammate would cause them to sprint forward into space; and tapping a player in defense would switch control of that player to you. I appreciated the fact that a little thought has gone into making the most use of the iOS interface.

The Fifa series is reknown for the quality of features that support the actual gameplay. In some respects, Fifa 11 doesn't depart from this. The fully voiced commentary (that thankfully doesn't seem to make as many mistakes as previous versions, and has the voice-work for even the smallest of teams) that contributes to the hefty 858mb filesize is easily the best of these. The availability of 3 game modes on top of the exhibition games (a cup mode, league mode and practice arena) also serves to keep things fresh. I've yet to see a comprehensive manager mode as the console versions have enjoyed, and it seems like we may need to wait a while longer for that to happen.

The menus and options in Fifa 11 also depart a bit from the expected standard. There seem to be far too many greyed out and inaccessible features in Fifa 11, the largest of these being an exciting multiplayer mode which I cannot wait for. Team strategies present a large list of toggleable options with only few of these actually available for each formation, which are largely rigid and canned. I'm not sure what the deal is with this, but it's certainly odd to see a lack of tactical flexibility. I're also disappointed to see no tooltip assistance is given on any of the options, making them prohibitive to new users and those not familiar with the soccer jargon.

I can comfortably say that Fifa 11 is the prettiest soccer game to grace our devices. I can't overstate just how life-like the player interactions are, whether it's jostling on the ball, celebrating goals, or performing cute dribbling maneuvers; the iOS platform has closed the gap dramatically with its console cousins and is a definite step up from last year's offerings. Unfortunately, the release build's nagging performance issues really hampered my time with Fifa 11, so we do advise caution until a fix is released. That aside, the scaleable difficulty and greater emphasis on player input and skill should prove a blessing to both experienced fans and newcomers alike. Ultimately, the verdict is still out on whether Fifa 11's gameplay can stand up to the other heavy-hitting soccer sims such as Gameloft's recently released Real Soccer 11 and Konami's Pro Evo 11 (if it ever arrives). We still feel there's room for improvement though, particularly where the finer controls are concerned, and we're sure that EA's starting 11 will have to look a little different next year to continue to impress.

[source]

I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all — not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yohann Magnien's Modizer [App Store]…and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results. Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. That script, plus its associated audio samples, all bundled together into a single file were called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers soon adopted MODs as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats thanks to its use of the MODPlug and UADE players (the latter of which actually emulates an Amiga 1200 computer), switchable in the settings menu. A variety of OpenGL-based audio visualizers can be enabled to accompany playback, a feature that will be much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic. And it all runs smooth as glass without missing a beat.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections — about 215,000 tracks in all — that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

UPDATE: We just got word from the developer that he's currently working on a v1.1 update that includes various bugfixes as well as a number of enhancements:

• Some optimization for browser (mainly when browsing modland/artists)
• Sharp X68000 support (mdx/pdx files) with updated Modland lib
• Addressing issue where some formats miss the last second of music
• And more to come, depending on user feedback…

Magnien indicates that he's also considering a network "user stats" sort of ranking system that would let users easily share the overall highest rated songs. We'll keep you posted.

[source]

I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all — not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yoyofr's Modizer [App Store]…and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results. Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. That script, plus its associated audio samples, all bundled together into a single file were called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers soon adopted MODs as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats and, to accompany them, offers a variety of OpenGL-based visualizations, which is much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections — about 215,000 tracks in all — that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

[source]

Just two days after we took a hands-on look at ARDefender from developer Int13, the game has now become available in the App Store as of this morning. What is a nice surprise is that the game has launched for just 99¢. In ARDefender, you'll print out a special PDF image from ARDefender.com that is read by the software and creates a 3D tower in the real-life space of the iOS device camera's view. Enemies then attack the tower from all angles, and you fend them off with a weapon placed on top of the tower. You'll have a machine gun, rockets, and a laser at your disposal as you take on the endless waves of increasingly difficult enemies.

It's a cool concept and one that works really well in practice. I was blown away with how convincingly the tower seems to actually exist in the area where you're playing the game. The gameplay itself is also quite fun, although pretty bare bones. There's really only one mode to play through in ARDefender which has you defending against seemingly endless waves of enemies. Beyond that, there's not a whole lot more to the game. I'd love to see something along the lines of a story mode, different styles of towers, or online leaderboards and achievements. Still, what's here in terms of gameplay is pretty darn fun anyway. This video shows off one round of ARDefender as well as me playing around a little with how the technology works:

One thing that is important to take note of is that ARDefender will not work with the original iPhone or iPhone 3G. It would make sense that the older iPod touches would not run the game as they don't have an external camera (the game does run on the new camera-enabled 4th generation iPod touches by the way), but apparently ARDefender requires some processing power that needs at least a 3Gs iPhone or above.

Normally when a game only has one mode to play with not a lot of bells and whistles, it can be hard to recommend as those games tend to get old pretty quickly. In ARDefender's case however, the technology is just so impressive and the gameplay is so well done that it's hard to pass on the game when it's only a dollar. It's definitely something you'll want to show off to your friends because it's so neat, and players in our forums are already finding all of the wacky places they can place the PDF image and play the game (including pulling up the image on a second Apple device and growing the tower right out of that device's screen). If you have a dollar to spare and a capable device, you should definitely give ARDefender a try.

[source]

Xpect Games is nearing the release of their upcoming post-apocalyptic racer, Race After 1977 which has been in development since January of 2009. The game takes place after a massive nuclear war of sorts, leaving the world ravaged and the survivors just racing their pieced together racecars around Mad Max style. Xpect has built a completely customized 3D engine for the game with physics tweaked for realistic driving across all different types of terrain, jumps, ramps, and other obstacles as you fight your way to the finish line. (Or, as realistic as any post-apocalyptic racer can get I suppose.)

The developers have released two videos of the game, the first of which is a teaser trailer seen below:

The second video is a hands-on gameplay trailer which shows several different cars being driven around a few different tracks. The game is being played on an iPhone 3GS in this video, so presumably the framerate should be even smoother on the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch:

Race After 1977 is being released this fall, and as someone who loved Mad Max, the Fallout series, and really anything to do with crazy post-apocalyptic stuff, I can't wait.

[source]

Last year we posted early details surrounding the forthcoming iPhone game controller accessory from 22moo, the GameBone, which will offer official iOS 4 support (read: no jailbreak necessary). The accessory-maker has recently posted additional details on the item to their website.

Features listed by 22moo:

• 8-way D-pad (directional pad)
• 4 action buttons
• 2 shoulder buttons
• Built-in 1600 mAh Lithium battery for additional power for your iPod touch / iPhone
• Rear button and LED to check charging state and capacity
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Omnidirectional MIC
• 3.5 audio headphone jack
• Rear kick-stand
• iDevice independent volume control
• Charge and sync for all iDevices (except for the iPad)
• Interchangeable core for compatibility with iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad devices

The company is currently in the process of finalizing the device's new PC board and updated case design for mass production. A new availability date will be announced in early October, so stay tuned.

Stuart Carnie of Manomio has indicated that the studio's C64 for iPhone will offer eventual support for the device when it hits market.

The GameBone will support the following iOS devices: 2G, 3G, 4G iPod touch, iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and iPad.

[source]

Japanese gaming company CAVE seems to be on a roll with the App Store. After the release of excellent Espgaluda II and Dodonpachi Resurrection games, CAVE has announced their first original title for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Mushihimesama Bug Panic is an original title featuring Bug Princess Reco, star of the Arcade and Xbox 360 game “Mushihimesama Futari”. They aren't offering many details on the new game but provided this trailer:

The game is categorized as "Bug Busting Action". Of note, CAVE seems to have drawn a line in the sand and will continue to only support high-end devices. This new game will be compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 3rd Gen iPod Touch and iPad only. The game will be released in the Fall of 2010.

Update: Here's an early gameplay video from December 2009:

[source]

It seems fitting that Sega chose today, the 11^th anniversary of the North American launch of the Dreamcast, to announce that one of that systems most popular and beloved titles ChuChu Rocket! would be coming to the iPhone and iPad. I was an avid Dreamcast gamer back during its heyday, but never actually got into playing ChuChu Rocket. After spending time playing the title today at Sega's iPhone Games Day, I realize what I was missing out on.

ChuChu Rocket! is a colorful J-style puzzle game where you must get a group of cats safely into their rocket ships while avoiding cats. The mice will brainlessly move forward on their own, and make a right turn when running into walls or barriers. You can place various up, down, left, and right arrows around the playfield in order to direct the mice towards the safety of their rockets. Cats behave similarly in how they march around the board, and if you happen to misdirect your mice into any of the cats you'll fail the level. There are limited numbers of arrows per level to direct your mice with, meaning you'll have to think ahead to find the best placement of each one to assure you get your mice to safety.

That's the basic gist of ChuChu Rocket! anyway, but there can be variations of this due to the different modes of play. The Puzzle Mode is the main part of the game, and offers 100 levels of trying to get your mice safely to their rockets. This mode isn't timed, and allows you to think through how to complete the level at your leisure. Then there is a Challenge Mode with 25 levels that each have a specific goal, like directing the mice into the cats rather than the rockets. This mode is timed, and you'll need to get a certain amount of the mice to their goal before time runs out.

Finally there's Multiplayer Mode, which I think has the possibility to really shine on the iPhone. ChuChu Rocket! was the first online capable game for the Dreamcast, back before it was a common feature in video games. Multiplayer is 1-4 players, and you can either join up in teams of two or play free for all style. The goal here is to get as many mice to your own rocket as possible, while using arrows to direct cats into players rockets in order to prevent them from gaining any mice. This mode can be played over WiFi, 3G, or Bluetooth, and if you can't find any friends to play with you can add bots to the game and play against the AI. There are 25 levels to battle on, and the game will be the first from Sega to utilize Apple's new Game Center social network.

ChuChu Rocket! was a total blast when I had a chance to play it today, and it makes me sad that I never tried out this title almost a decade ago. It seems like a perfect fit for the iPhone, with all of the original levels reworked to be touch screen friendly. Gamers have been begging Sega to bring ChuChu Rocket! out on a current platform for years, and finally they will get their wish on the iPhone and iPad. Both versions will be exactly the same except for the iPad version which will contain a same-device 4 player multiplayer mode. Expect to see ChuChu Rocket! sometime in late October.

[source]

One of the more interesting titles I got to see a demonstration of at Sega's iPhone Games Day today was Kingdom Conquest. The game is attempting to blend aspects of MMOs, real-time strategies, card battling, and dungeon crawlers all in one combined online experience. It may sound like a tall order, but it appears that Sega is actually on their way to pulling off this unique idea.

The RTS part of the game has you building up a city by placing buildings and using resources much like you would set up a base camp in typical RTS fashion. Harnessing resources like stone, iron, and wood allow you to build up different structures with different purposes. You'll also need to amass an army to capture territories of opponents. The different types of units you can use in your army are portrayed in a card-battling style similar to games like Magic the Gathering. Each card has its own attributes and special abilities, and there will be ways to earn unique cards to add to your collection. Winning in battle will depend on the effectiveness of the cards that comprise your army.

The dungeon crawling comes in to play when you try to take control of special towers around the map. Once you attempt completing a tower, the game switches into a 3^rd person hack 'n slash game controlled with an analog stick and buttons where you must complete 5 levels of a dungeon floor filled with enemies and a huge final boss. Beating a tower can net you special items and resources for use in your city, as well as new monster cards and experience points. There will be 3 types of characters to play as in this part of the game – a barbarian, a swordsman, and a cleric. These characters can be outfitted with various weapons and equipment, and can be leveled up as you progress in the game.

Finally, the MMO portion comes into play with the online components of the game. Kingdom Conquest requires an EDGE, 3G, or WiFi internet connection to play. You can view other players cities and face off against them in an effort to take over their territory. The online progress is persistent, and you can join with other players and form alliances as you play through a season in the game. You can join into online auctions with other players to trade and buy items, as well as send messages and check various online statistics and rankings. Additionally, the dungeon crawling portion of the game can be played with up to 4 other players cooperatively, similar to raiding in other MMO games.

If this all sounds complicated, a “messenger” character in the game will give you various quests to complete that help you learn the different facets of playing before engaging in online battle. Kingdom Conquest will be a freemium title, which will be free to play but contain a shop full of various in-app purchases. These purchases can do things like increase your production, attack, or defense, as well as other offensive boosts. It remains to be seen how this will affect the balance of the game, and if spending more money will allow you to conquer players unfairly over those that choose not to spend anything. At any rate, the game looks great so far, and you'll be able to try out Kingdom Conquest for yourself sometime late this fall.

[source]