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Last week we posted about Mobile 1UP's Lemmings live blog, which was met with tons of enthusiasm both on our forums and in the comments of the actual story along with some very understandable skepticism that this unauthorized port would even see the light of day. Originally published by Psygnosis in 1991, the Lemmings franchise became part of Sony Computer Entertainment when Psygnosis was sold to Sony in 1993. Since then the game has been ported in one form or another to every Sony console, and with Sony's latest online ad campaign targeting the App Store, their reaction to Mobile 1UP's Lemmings isn't entirely surprising.

Citing Joystiq, the cease and desist letter sent by Sony is viewable in its entirety on the Mobile 1UP blog. This isn't entirely bad news, as even though the iPhone port of Lemmings is on hold for the time being, Mobile 1UP has posted in our forums that they're going to try to open a dialog with Sony in attempt to arrange distribution rights to legally bring Lemmings to the App Store. Unfortunately, the licensing costs involved likely means Lemmings will no longer be free as originally intended.

We'll keep a close eye on the drama between Mobile 1UP and Sony, but in the meantime, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that a real Lemmings game makes it to the App Store sooner or later.

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In early May we first posted about Crescent Moon Games getting involved in the development of Aralon: Sword and Shadow, an RPG by Galoobeth Games that had been in development long before Crescent Moon even started on their previous RPG, Ravensword: The Fallen King [$4.99 / Free]. In essence, Aralon had been the project of two developers who were extremely passionate about building an immersive RPG with levels of detail seldom seen on mobile platforms… But neither of them were artists. Aralon was filled with what amounted to mediocre character animations, place holder art, and 3D models that were beyond basic.

Crescent Moon saw the potential this game had if the graphical front-end could be brought up to par with all of the various subsystems powering the game world that Galoobeth had spent so much time working on. With artist Mark Jones, Aralon had the last piece of the puzzle it was missing to be the game it needed to be.

This is what the world of Aralon was going to look like:

And this is what Aralon will look like now, running at the Retina Display resolution of the iPhone 4:

The night and day difference continues through the rest of the screenshots we were provided:

The time that's being put in to the complete artistic makeover of the game has allowed Galoobeth to add even more to Aralon than they were originally even planning on launching with. For instance, the game now has a complete pet system where any NPC (even a human) can be charmed and serve as your pet. The game now includes well over 30 hours of gameplay, what has been described to us as a "massive" world that players can completely explore, hundreds of items, mounts, four playable classes across three races, and other gameplay mechanics such as faction systems, herb gathering, crafting, and more.

Aralon: Sword and Shadow is planned for a fall release, and if they manage to deliver on the things they're promising, Crescent Moon and Galoobeth games will likely have a hit on their hands. For more on Aralon, take a look at our previous post on the game or the thread on our forums. If you like seeing these kind of drastic before and after shots, swing on by this thread on our forums where other developers are posting shots of their placeholder art compared to their final release art as well.

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Alright, this is a ridiculous amount of good freebies out there for a Monday afternoon, and really, nothing should stop you from downloading all of these games as soon as possible. Of course, the standard App Store disclaimer applies here in that freebie promotions are often for a very limited time, everything is free as of the time of this posting, but if you delay they may return to their normal prices before you get a chance to snag 'em.

Saving Private Sheep – A fun physics puzzler by Bulkypix with over 80 included levels, and even more available via 99¢ level packs. Set in a silly game world where wolves are at war with sheep, Saving Private Sheep has a great difficulty ramp and a funny atmosphere which significantly adds to the game. (App Store)

Dirt Moto Racing – Resolution Interactive has released several racing games (which are all worth a look if you like this one) that all have great controls and graphics. Dirt Moto Racing has a career mode, vehicle upgrades, and everything else you'd expect from a full racing game. (App Store)

Super KO Boxing 2 – Now this is a game I can't believe is free. Super KO Boxing 2 looks and feels a lot like Super Punch Out for the Super Nintendo, with 15 opponents that cover a wide range of stereotypes, tons of achievements, multiple game modes, and tons of other fun stuff. Don't miss this one while it's free. (App Store)

Dawn of the Dead – I wasn't that impressed by this game when it was originally released, but you can now give it a spin for free. Three characters are included, along with a bunch of weaponry, five different levels, and both a story and survival mode to play through. The iTunes description mentions iOS 4 issues, so you might need to wait for an update if you've already upgraded. (App Store)

Action Buggy – All Donut Games seem to be universally loved around here, and Action Buggy is no different. In the game, you pilot a, well, action buggy, on the rocky surfaces of a distant moon. Like all Donut Games, the gameplay mechanics are simple enough that anyone can play it, but gets difficult surprisingly quickly. (App Store)

Car Mania – Route traffic through a variety of different maps while juggling drivers' road rage, construction sites, and other obstacles. Multiple game modes keep things fresh, and there's even a Road Rage mode where the goal is to crash the cars instead of routing them safely to their destinations. (App Store)

Mr.Space!! – A fast paced game with simple graphics, fun sound effects, and stick figures. Mr. Space has found his way in what appears to be some kind of trash compactor, and you have to move him from side to side to fit in a hole to not get squished. If you like this game, give its sister game, Mr.AahH!! a try. (App Store)

Superblox: Powers Unleashed – As the iTunes description mentions, this is NOT your Grandma's puzzle game. What might initially sound like a simple matching game actually turns out to be tons of fun, filled with crazy powerups, enemies, tons of game modes, and outstanding controls. (App Store)

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Earlier this month at Apple's WWDC 2010 in San Francisco, we had a chance to sit down with Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms of Backflip Studios, who brought us Ragdoll Blaster and Paper Toss, among others. The group has shown real App Store savvy, with eight of their 12 titles reaching the top five overall ranking. What's more, they're presently serving one million unique players per day.

In our time together, the folks from Backflip demonstrated four new titles — three free games along with the paid arcade shooter Tunnel Shoot, a collaboration between Backflip Studios and Team Phobic (Bounce On, Bounce On 2). We liked what we saw of them all, but it was the last that really had us excited — and now it's here. Tunnel Shoot [link] has recently gone live in the App Store.

Now, right off the bat — aside from anything relating to gameplay — Backflip / Team Phobic impress with Tunnel Shoot in that it's a Universal iOS game that graphically renders natively to all three iOS platform devices: the iPhone / iPod touch, the iPhone 4, and the iPad. Everybody wins, here.

Tunnel Shoot is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a tunnel shooter in the vein of N2O: Nitrous Oxide for the Playstation (and is somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone's own Boost 3D). The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible, travelling down a neon-vector tunnel while dodging obstacles, blasting enemies, and collecting green gems for points. You're placed in tilt-control of your craft — there are several to choose from, all of which can be visually customized — with a tap / hold mechanic for firing your blaster and bombs.

Your ship's blasters, when first activated, fire bursts of three bolts per shot, but as you hold down the fire "button," that soon drops to two bolts, and then to just a stream of single bolts. Let up on the button and your blasters quickly recharge and it's back to three bolts per shot. (Read: don't just lay on the fire button, folks.) You start off with one bomb which, when activated, flies down the tunnel destroying all enemies in its path. More are accumulated along the way. Your damage bar replenishes over time, and fairly quickly. A nice touch is that when you get blown up, the force of the explosion sends a destructive shockwave down the tunnel before you respawn.

The farther you go, the harder things get. After you get a little ways into the game, the obstacle layouts become rather complex. The arrangement of oncoming pylons and walls becomes difficult to visually comprehend between their appearance on the screen and their crushing impact with your ship. Here, I experience a definite advantage in playing on the iPad and, to a lesser extent, the iPhone 4 as compared to the earlier iOS devices. It's just easier to make out distant structures on larger and / or higher resolution displays. That said — the game is great on the older devices. I've, in fact, spent the most time with it on my 3GS.

As mentioned earlier, the game utilizes accelerometer-based tilt controls for steering. Tilt controls for fast paced shooters can often come up short, given their generally slower reaction time and lesser precision as compared to onscreen swipes. That's really not a problem in Tunnel Shoot as, although the action is intense, the velocity at which you're hurtling down the tunnel is a bit slower than that of some, similar games. I don't mean to indicate that it's some sort of "sluggish" or "laggy" affair, it's just that you're being challenged to dodge hither and yon, choosing your path and placing your shots wisely, as opposed to emphasis being on go, go, go!

The long and short of it is that Tunnel Shoot is a stylized shooter that feels very well implemented, delivers real challenge, supports all iOS devices natively, and costs $0.99. The only gripe I've got is that there's no real explanation as to the specifics, in-game — how the multi-blaster works, that green gems are good, that your damage repairs over time, etc. Nonetheless, it should be an instant buy for anyone that even approximates a shooter fan — especially if you've got multiple devices.

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Many who grew up on "home computers" in the '80s, and retro gaming fans in general, have been enjoying Manomio's Commodore 64 emulator on the iPhone. A new app that appeared in the App Store this morning should have particular appeal to our European readers who match that description. ZX Nostalgia [App Store], from Manuel Cabello, is a Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator that comes bundled with 14 games that, according to the developer, run at full ZX Spectrum speed on all models of the iPhone and iPod touch.

ZX Nostalgia sports a minimal, multitouch interface that provides interaction with the bundled games via screen taps (for in-game menu selection), virtual joystick, and a fire / action button. Games are selected for execution in the emulator by way of a simple menu and can be played in both portrait and landscape mode, depending on the device's orientation.

The following games are included:

• Ad Astra
• Android Two
• Barmy Burgers
• Bugaboo the Flea
• Chuckie Egg
• Deathchase
• Fantastic Voyage
• Fred
• Horace Goes Skiing
• Manic Miner
• Rescate del Tesoro
• Starstrike 3D
• Trashman
• Wheelie

It's a rather solid list of games, with a few true classics in the mix. Unfortunately, it's unclear what the developer's plans are concerning the potential addition of more games down the road. A screenshot of the game's App Store page shows an "ADD" button on the game list screen that is not present in the release version, and there's scant contact info for the developer on the web, so that's a big question mark right now.

ZX Nostalgia does a rather nice job of running the included games, with a very functional control system to boot. Readers who have already grabbed the title are impressed. If you've ever been faced with the dreaded "R Tape loading error," then this one's probably for you.

(ZX Nostalgia is not the first Spectrum emulator to appear in the App Store. ZXGamer was released last year, but offered abysmal performance and was pulled after it became apparent that it was a WebKit-based rip of another's emulator.)

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit home computer that was released by Sinclair Research in the UK in 1982. It is based on the Z-80 processor running at 3.5MHz and features a 256×192 pixel display in 16 colors (with notable restrictions). The Spectrum was available with either 16K or 48K of RAM and was followed up by several models offering more memory, enhanced audio, and such. The American gamer who was around to see home computers in the '80s probably best remembers Sinclair Research from the Timex Sinclair 1000, an extremely inexpensive, black & white 4K computer sold in America, itself a take on the European Sinclair Zx81. A later attempt was made to actually bring a modified version of the ZX Spectrum to the US in the form of the Timex Sinclair 2068, but it failed badly for a number of reasons and is remembered by few.

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Battle Bears -1 is the follow-up prequel to last years incredibly popular Battle Bears: Zombies! If you aren't familiar with the first Battle Bears game, you play the role of Oliver the bear, stranded and forced to fight back against near-endless waves of adorable pink bears (called huggables) that want nothing more than to hug the life out of him. An assortment of clever weaponry was at your disposal to battle against this pink menace. The gameplay wasn't bad, but it was the hilariously bizarre storyline and cutscenes that really made the game a hit, which we highlighted in our review.

Now, Battle Bears -1 takes the storyline a step backwards while taking the gameplay a step forwards, alleviating Oliver from his stationary position and allowing him full mobility in a third-person shooter. Battle Bears -1 succeeds in emulating the formula of it's precursor, offering satisfying – if not groundbreaking – shooting action that is drenched in undeniably appealing visuals, humor, and pop culture references. A couple of minor issues plague this initial version, but whether you are a fan of the first game or are new to the series, Battle Bears -1 is a ride that's well worth taking.

Since this is a prequel, the game's story sets up the events for Battle Bears: Zombies! The Battle Bears crew are on their spaceship Ursa Major transporting a batch of mystical treasures when hundreds of pink bears begin invading the ship. The main campaign that comes loaded with Battle Bears -1 has you again playing Oliver as he traverses through progressively more difficult rooms of huggables, with each room needing to be cleared before moving onto the next. Sadly, there's not the arsenal of awesome weapons we saw in the first game, rather you're limited to the default machine gun, a spread shot, or a rocket launcher. They're still fun to use and pack quite a punch, just don't match the intensity of the Unicorn Crossbow or Swear-a-phone. Huggables come in different sizes, colors, and attack types and there can literally be dozens of them swarming you inside a room at once. The amount of carnage on screen as you hurl rockets at a swarm of brightly colored bears can hardly be described, and the action in Battle Bears -1 is intense.

A dual-stick setup is the default control scheme, with the left stick for moving and the right for aiming and firing. Like just about every dual-stick shooter, the right stick fires continuously while you move, lest you press a small “Safety” button to toggle weapon fire on or off. This can prove slightly frustrating to manage in the heat of battle, and you often end up wasting ammunition just trying to orient your view. An alternate control scheme allows for aiming by dragging on the screen but still suffers from the same auto-firing problem as the first does. You get used to it to a certain extent, and it doesn't ruin the enjoyment of the game, but it's not ideal. A very handy mini-map can easily be pulled down from the top left of the screen and shows you where you're at in relation to the endpoint. The graphics of the ship's interior tend to be repetitive, but the actual floor layouts are varied and well designed. The placement of walls and bottomless pits in the rooms force you to use different strategies dealing with the constantly swarming huggables. Each new room is like it's own unique battle arena, and despite the redundant decoration they are all really fun.

Once you've reached the end of the campaign a frantic boss fight awaits. The boss fights are really imaginative and epic in scale. After the boss is defeated, you're treated to a final cutscene that transitions into the beginning of Battle Bears: Zombies! In addition to the default Oliver campaign a DLC campaign can be purchased for resident Battle Bears tough-guy Riggs for 99¢. Riggs plays a bit differently, being taller and slower than Oliver but more powerful. A different end boss and cutscenes accompany this new campaign, and it's nice that the folks at SkyVu give player's the option of how much game they choose to buy. Additional DLC campaigns are planned for the future, and all the different campaigns will be receiving free content updates. Besides each character's campaign, there's also a mode where you can challenge a previously beaten boss or a survival mode. The survival mode is practically a complete game by itself, offering a slightly different play experience with prize and money drops to add to your final score as you fight through an endless supply of huggable infested rooms.

Even with the complaints I have in the game – odd controls, lack of weapon and environment variety, high level of difficulty – overall I enjoyed Battle Bears -1. The humor is there, and the third-person shooting is actually very satisfying. It just feels very “version 1.0”, mostly because it is. Battle Bears: Zombies! started in a similar fashion, and over time blossomed into a very robust package for an iPhone game. Hopefully, the same will happen to Battle Bears -1 over the coming months, as the foundations are already solidly in place. Feedback is being collected in the game's forum thread and the issues brought up here are already on their way to being addressed.

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Engadget posts a hands on video of the iPhone 4 in action with ngmoco's new Eliminate: Gun Range game that supports the gyroscope.

As you can see in the video, the game is a gallery shooter but the use of the gyroscope can add more precision to the movements. (Sorry, not viewable on iPhone)

Not entirely well shown in the video is the fact that you can also move the phone in 3d space to change your aim. While some of the same gameplay can be reproduced with the accelerometers, the gyroscope adds more precision and also allows you to, for example, translate the device in 3d space. Rotating your body to the left, for example, will shift your aim accordingly.

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Chop Chop Tennis

From developer Gamerizon, who brought us Chop Chop Ninja and Chop Chop Runner, comes the newest entry in the franchise Chop Chop Tennis. A departure from the style of their first two games, Chop Chop Tennis is a casual arcade-style tennis game with 3D graphics. The controls use a swiping mechanic that's similar to what's found in the other Chop Chop games, and actually proves to be quite intuitive. Since this is more of a casual game, control of the character is automatic and you must only worry about timing return shots and choosing what type of shot to use. The swipe gestures work how you would expect them to, with an upwards arc for a topspin shot or a diagonal swipe for a cross shot, for example.

There are 8 different characters in the game, and although they look cute in 3D they don't look as nice as their 2D sprite counterparts from the other games. The 5 different court environments are colorful, and although not very detailed or lively they get the job done. Content-wise you can take partake in one-off singles or doubles matches, choosing amount of games you'll play and difficulty, or you can partake in one of 3 tournaments. The tournaments are the meat of the single player game and pit you against the other 7 characters over three elimination rounds. There's also a practice round featuring a couple different mini-games that are a fun distraction but get old rather quickly. Local multiplayer over WiFi or Bluetooth was recently added in an update and certainly adds more replay value if you have a friend with the game.

The gameplay is surprisingly fun in Chop Chop Tennis, and our only real complaint is the lack of things to do beyond the short tournaments. If playing endless matches against AI doesn't seem like it will get old to you, or you have a friend close by with the game, then there may be a lot to like here. Chop Chop Tennis was the FAAD game for Tuesday, but as of this writing is still showing up free. If you do miss out on this sale, it's still probably worth the asking price if you are a fan of casual sports games.

Shaolin Training

Something of a mixture of platforming, physics puzzle, and zen-like meditation, Shaolin Training is a unique concept. You control a monk who must clear boxes from a platform high in the sky without falling over the edge yourself. Cannons surrounding the platform will bombard you, and if you're not careful they'll knock you right off, but can also strategically be used to your benefit to help you shoot off the boxes. It sounds a little strange, but given a few minutes with the game it's actually quite a novel concept.

You control the monk with a d-pad, with a button for jumping and another button for performing a special move. The special move slows down your actions, and releases a burst of force that knocks away anything near your body. There's a recharge time for this move, and typically you'll be pushing boxes towards the edges with good old fashioned strength. Swiping the screen will adjust the camera position on the fly. Boxes come in a variety of sizes, with larger ones being heavier and harder to push. The cannons will always fire towards the monk, so standing in front of a box that's in the line of fire and then quickly jumping out of the way of the cannonball can actually be used to help you with your endeavor. An onscreen counter tells you how many more boxes are left to shove over the edge, and if you fall off yourself the level starts over. There's 15 levels in the game, and the difficulty ramps up rather quickly. The graphics are nicely rendered in 3D, the physics are solid, and the music is peaceful and relaxing – despite the constant cannon fire.

It's an incredibly simple game, with no such frills as online leaderboards (local only), social network integration, or fancy special moves beyond the one your monk already has. But at the same time that's really what we enjoyed about the title, it's just you against the levels, and it's a real test of your skill. Certainly recommended at it's original 99¢ price, Shaolin Training is a must try while free until June 24th.

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From the same team at ngmoco that brought us the groundbreaking Eliminate Pro, comes their next next first-person shooter. The currently untitled game is set in a present day environment and the action is more heavily grounded in realism than that of its futuristic predecessor. No graphics or artwork has been released yet (embedded image is promotional art for the original Eliminate).

Maps will run the usual gamut of jungle, desert, snow, or city, and it will feature 6 player deathmatch or team deathmatch over 3G and WiFi. Rather than focusing on the player unlocking and choosing different weapons for one character to use in the game, the new game will feature a robust lineup of different weapon class specialists. The 'energized suit' mechanic is also giving way to an interesting – although unproven – system where you queue up what type of mission you want to play, and earn credit based on the level of that mission. It's an intriguing idea, and a welcome change from the energy system in Eliminate, but it remains to be seen how this design choice will fare once unleashed on the masses. One thing I can say for certain, however, is that during my time playing the game, the only thing on my mind was the superb FPS gameplay I was experiencing.

Even in this work-in-progress state, the game is shaping up to be a big step above what Eliminate Pro delivered last year. A staggering 76 different soldiers (read classes) are planned for release, featuring specialists in long range, short range, explosives, and more. Each soldier will have individual statistics and bear arms from an assortment of roughly 20 different weapons. Grenades are now a part of the arsenal and can be lobbed with a simple press of an icon. Auto-firing has been refined, and now features two aiming reticules on screen – a large circle in the middle of the screen with a smaller circle in the center of that. When an enemy is in the sight of the larger circle, you weapon will start firing, although with much less precision. Once you've adjusted your aim to have the inner circle directed on the target, the bullets are much more accurate. The outer circle can vary in size, and therefore accuracy, based on what weapon you're using. It's a good compromise that allows for the ease of auto-fire but still demands you be able to aim precisely for best results. Auto-fire can be turned off entirely if you wish, and firing defaults to the familiar 'double-tap to fire' control found in Eliminate.

As mentioned, the queueing of missions replaces the need for energy. You'll choose from an assortment of gametypes to play, all of which have some sort of wait time associated before becoming active. The missions that take longer to activate will net you the most experience, and if you so desire you can use in-app purchasing to buy 'Intel' that makes the missions initiate more quickly. The system sounded incredibly odd to me at first, but made some sense as it sunk in. If you have somewhere to be for a set amount of hours, like a job or school, then you can just queue up a match or two prior to that and look forward to being rewarded with playtime once you've fulfilled your real life obligations. If waiting around or paying to play isn't your thing, there's the option to jump into matches immediately, although with lesser rewards. Much like Eliminate, it seems there's the possibility of exploiting this if you're willing to pay money and upgrade quicker, although I'll reserve final judgment until I've played the finished product.

When you get fragged in a match, you'll have the option of selecting what class to start your next life as. As you level up in the game, more slots and soldier classes become available for you to choose from. The game requires you to be online to play, even in the single player bot mode, so if you're an iPod touch user with limited access to WiFi there won't be much of interest for you in this game. During our 6 player deathmatch with the developers, the game ran silky smooth and I felt right at home from all my experience playing Eliminate Pro. The two games control nearly identical, and the graphics of the modern settings were definitely impressive. Post game screens include a bevy of statistics, and it's incredibly simple to add recent players to your friend list for future matches. Players will be ranked accordingly, but this will likely remain behind the scenes to avert any predisposed notions before heading into a match with a higher ranked player. Possible mission queueing and ranking issues aside, we'll be anxiously awaiting the release of their next FPS sometime this year.

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Towards the end of last year, developer ngmoco released TouchPets: Dogs onto the App Store. Despite some odd game design choices (mainly needing to constantly feed your dog to be able to even play with it), it was an engaging game and easily the best virtual pet app available in terms of graphics and depth. But one question that everybody always brought up was “what about cats?” Fear not, feline supporters, as TouchPets: Cats is on it's way. We were given a preview demonstration at a recent ngmoco media event, and our impressions were positive.

The most important new change here is the ability to play with your kitty whenever you like. Gone are the days of needing to feed your pet to get a few minutes of play time. In place of the food mechanic from TouchPets: Dogs is catnip. Having your cat all hopped up on catnip allows him or her to perform actions that will advance you in the game. For instance, coins will collect amongst the furniture of your house over time. Feed kitty some catnip and they will run around collecting all the coins for you. These coins can go towards unlocking new toys, clothing, and furniture items for your house. That's right, there's now multiple rooms in your house that can be customized with different furniture and decorations. There's no more backyard to play in (after all, cats are usually considered more indoorsy), but with multiple rooms and many different items to adorn them out with, this shouldn't be a problem.

Also gone is the forced daily leveling of certain skills. This time around, your cat will actually tell you via a thought bubble what kind of activity it's in the mood to do. You won't be able to teach them any tricks either, but these qualities actually fall in line with the independent nature of cats – they typically march to their own tune. The fantastical careers from TouchPets: Dogs will also not be making an appearance this time, so if you were hoping to have your kitty perform emergency open-heart surgery you may be out of luck. Instead you'll have tiered in-house goals to accomplish and items to earn, and once you complete one tier you unlock a new one in a similar progression to the careers from the last game. The social aspect is ever-present in TouchPets: Cats, and instead of merely inviting a friends pet over to your house to play you can actually visit their entire house for yourself (and vice versa). You'll be able to own multiple cats as well, and a variety of different species are planned for the release.

TouchPets: Cats seems to be coming along nicely, although it's still fairly early in the development process. Some aspects to the game may be changed before it's final incarnation is available. The graphics look very similar to what was in TouchPets: Dogs, and the animations and expressions of the cats are really endearing. It'll be hard not to get attached to these little virtual pets. Best of all, if you just feel like spending time with your cat, there's nothing preventing you from doing so. Goals and coins can be earned at an accelerated rate if you choose to purchase DLC catnip, but it's not a requirement in playing. If you were a fan of the first game, but couldn't help but wish you were playing with a cat instead, keep your eye out for TouchPets: Cats most likely coming before the end of this year.

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