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Alright, so even though Meanwhile for iOS [99¢] isn’t normally what would come to mind when you think of iOS games, it’s something that I bet most people out there aren’t aware of. Also, if you’re the kind of person who likes Choose Your Own Adventure style books like the variety of gamebooks we’ve posted about in the past, this will be right up your alley. Maybe you’ve got kids that like comic books, Meanwhile would be equally perfect in that situation.

I first heard about its physical book form, which is worth checking out just so you can see the clever way its all laid out. You make decisions in the comic book, then follow colored lines to the next panel you should be reading. The amount of decisions included is just silly, as the book boasts 3,856 different possibilities. The plot follows a kid named Jimmy who goes from deciding if he (or, you, as the reader) wants vanilla or chocolate ice cream to deciding the fate of the world after encountering mad scientists, time machines, robots, and tons more.

The comic is targeted at kids in grades 4-6, so if you’re an adult looking for some hard-hitting plot points, you’ll likely be disappointed. If, however, you’re just into comic books and want to check out a really clever implementation of a Choose Your Own Adventure style comic, this is 99¢ you have to spend. The way they adapted the actual book to iOS devices is fantastic. I particularly enjoy how you still see irrelevant (to your particular story path) panels as you read through the comic, which really just makes you want to replay it over and over again to figure out how to get to something you saw that was particularly crazy.

It’s on sale today only, due to an update landing which adds completely re-mastered high resolution art. So, don’t wait too long or it’ll be back up to $4.99.

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Last week, Spry Fox released an iOS version of Triple Town [Free], their hugely popular match-3 town builder for the Amazon Kindle, and more recently for Google+ and Facebook. We really liked Triple Town in our review, and it’s personally been my biggest obsession of the past week. The ability to upgrade the game tiles by making matches and the limited amount of space to work within added a tremendous amount of depth to the gameplay far beyond your typical matching game.

Today the first update has hit for Triple Town, which mostly focuses on fixing bugs. Things like broken Game Center achievements, the inability to restart games sometimes, and tons of other quirks that come with a version 1.0 release have now been taken care of. The update description also goes on to say that there are several other known bugs that are currently in the process of being hunted down and fixed, one of which includes a problem with turns regenerating after exiting the app.

You see, Triple Town is a freemium game. It comes with a set amount of “moves” for free, and the ability to purchase in-game coins for real money which will let you buy more moves when you run out. Alternately, these moves are supposed to slowly regenerate while you aren’t playing the game, giving you a way to continue playing for free if you had the patience.

One other alternative is to just buy unlimited moves with a flat in-app purchase fee of $6.99, and with all the troubles going on with the regenerating turns Spry Fox wants to entice you to go for the unlimited option by reducing its price down to $3.99. After getting hooked on Triple Town myself, I had no qualms dropping the $6.99 for unlimited play, but others have felt like it was a bit on the high side for the kind of game it is.

If you’re one of those who felt the price was high, the $3.99 price is a lot easier to swallow, especially for a game packed with such fantastic gameplay. Plus, the maintenance update makes it a much more solid game all around, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of more updates to Triple Town in the future as well.

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While the iOS device’s multitouch screen has introduced a whole new way of interacting with software and enabled game developers to rethink the fundamentals of game control, there are definitely areas where it falls short. One such area is in the on-screen approximation of a physical control stick or D-pad. Ever since we first mentioned the iControlPad, three and a half years ago, button mashers particularly frustrated by virtual controls began eagerly waiting for such physical controller accessories to arrive. This summer, the iCade and iControlPad did arrive and developers wanting to go that extra mile began adding in support for these controllers, where it made sense.

Gametel controller

In a short time from now, the controller market will be gaining another iOS-compatible unit for gamers to choose from in the form of the Gametel Bluetooth controller from Fructel AB. News on this one began spreading a couple of weeks back, but we only just learned of the device, likely due to the Android-centric PR that surrounds it; there’s scant mention of iOS devices on the product webpage. Luckily, C64 for iPhone [App Store] developer Stuart Carnie of Manomio pinged me to let us know that the unit works quite well with iOS devices (by way of an iCade emulation mode, the addition of which was driven by Stuart, himself), and that he is particularly impressed by the unit’s ergonomics.

The Gametel controller pairs with any iOS device, appearing to be a keyboard to the host unit. It has a spring-loaded arm / brace extending from the top of the unit that allows it to firmly grasp most any type of app phone, including all iPhone and iPod touch devices (not the iPad, of course). The unit sports a digital directional pad, four main action buttons, a Select and a Start button, and two shoulder buttons. (It lacks the analog nubs offered by the iControlPad.) The Gametel device delivers 9 hours of battery life — for itself only, not the host unit — and is charged via micro USB cable.

Jimmie Johansson, involved with the project, informs me that the 120mm x 67mm x 24mm unit is light weight and durable and fits easily into a pocket. Production of the first batch of devices is happening right now, as I post this, and it should be available at Amazon UK before Christmas for around £50.

Oh — and it has a super feature: pressing Select and Start together instantly toggles in the on-screen keyboard, to enter high scores or search for an app to launch. It’s an extremely welcome feature to anyone that’s used an iCade, which lacks such functionality.

iControlPad

The Gametel controller isn’t the only news from the iOS controller scene. The OpenPandora folks behind the iControlPad have been busy working on firmware updates to better the experience of iOS gamers.

Remember, back in the review of the iControlPad, how I mentioned that only jailbroken iOS devices and other platforms could utilize the sweet, dual analog nubs on the iControlPad? Well, I’m happy to have been proven wrong. Now, it’s not as wonderful a scenario as if Apple had begun allowing the type of iOS Bluetooth pairing that an HID device with a set of analog sticks really needs. No. Instead, the iControlPad firmware developers created a new interface mode called “special packet mode” in the latest test firmware that sends the coordinates of the two analog nubs as strings of characters — from the perspective of an iOS device, they’re being sent by a keyboard. It’s a pretty awesome workaround in the face of an Apple restriction that we truly wish the company would see fit to dissolve, and it lets legitimate games in the App Store take advantage of physical analog controllers.

A perfect example of this mode in action is Warner Skoch’s Vertex Blaster [App Store], a space shooter in the vein of (a retro and rather simplified) Super Stardust HD that we’ve not covered directly, but that has a lengthy thread in our forums where readers are enjoying it. It was in the OpenPandora forums that we learned of this little gem. Have a look at a fan video showing iControlPad analog nub gameplay on an iPad. (The video also shows D-pad play of Super Mega Worm.)

Oh, and that pop-in-the-onscreen-keyboard trick the Gametel unit brings — the iControlPad, with the latest test firmware, has that as well (it just takes a few more seconds of button-holding to kick in).

iCade

So, with all this exciting news about the Gametel controller and the analog stick support from App Store games for the iControlPad, I went ahead and contacted ThinkGeek to see if there is anything exciting on the horizon for the iCade. It turns out that while, sadly, the pop-up-keyboard trick isn’t a planned thing for the iCade right now, I did glean, from extremely vague terms, that there may be some interesting things to come in the iCade’s future. No specifics, unfortunately, but it’s something we’ll keep an eye on.

And there you have it — a round-up of physical controller news. The introduction of a new controller, the Gametel unit, will only sweeten the proposition for developers to support for such devices in their games down the road, and that’s definitely a good thing for iOS gamers. Stay tuned for more controller news as it unfolds.

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No one can deny that the advent of Angry Birds made a permanent change to the way people saw iOS gaming. Since its debut in December 2009, the simple bird-launching game has made approximately 27 boatloads of money, and continues to rake it in with merchandise sales such as plushies and more. Naturally, other designers were bound to try to imitate the formula and appeal to the gamers who were hopelessly addicted to hurling birds at pigs. And with that, clones were born.

Snappy Dragons [99¢/Lite/HD/Lite HD] is an Angry Birds clone, through and through. But I have to clarify, because at this point in the post-Angry Birds landscape, there are many different categories of clones, so it’s essential to explain what exactly you’re getting into. Well, aside from throwing stuff at other stuff.

Snappy Dragons has a very simple premise, just like the game it’s inspired by: Evil wizards have kidnapped adorable baby dragons, and it’s up to you to save them. To do so, you’ll need to progress through a series of levels (80 in total across four different worlds) that present the basic challenge of taking out the wizards and saving the baby dragons. Luckily, you have a handful of fireballs at your disposal, so that helps your quest considerably. You also get to choose which dragon you play out of four, which has pretty much no effect on the actual game but hey, you look cool.

As you progress through the levels, new challenges will be introduced such as dragon cages which you can destroy for extra points. Controls are responsive when it comes to aiming your fireballs and trying to nail the perfect arc, and its still fun to make your way through the levels. It all feels familiar, which is probably because the formula is shamelessly copied from Angry Birds, but if you crave more of that gameplay, you will certainly enjoy making your way through Snappy Dragons.

There are also bonus levels sprinkled throughout the game too, which help to break up the level-by-level formula and let you go on a wizard-killing rampage. It’s strangely satisfying to never run out of fireballs, as they are limited in all the regular gameplay levels.

The game has a cheery feel and the art style is perky, with wide eyed dragon babies blinking innocently while they wait for you to save their lives. It’s nothing that you’ll rave to your friends about, but you will likely enjoy it in that way that a familiar thing can be rewarding (kind of like my shaming and horrible addiction to all Zuma games). It also has built in Facebook and Twitter support, so while you may not need to rave about how unique Snappy Dragons is, you can at least brag about your high scores to your friends. And since bragging seems to be a golden quality among most gamers, it’s sure to please those of you who enjoy doing so.

TouchArcade Rating:

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This week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show is an awesome one because it sees the return of The Bearded One, Jared Nelson, after his Grand European Adventure. At the top, we talk about the sights, sounds, and tastes of Mordor, Germany, Paris and other exotic places. Somehow, we find the time to talk about games later on, but when we do, we cover a lot of bases. Topics include the next iPhone, the latest video game releases, Kindle Fire, and your e-mails.

If you’d like to give this a listen, go ahead by clicking that link just below. If you’d like to save a piece of us on your hard drive (and who wouldn’t) while also getting the next ‘cast the second it’s uploaded you, you should really grab us on iTunes and Zune.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-019.mp3, 41MB

Here are your show notes. We’ll be back this Monday with another awesome bonus episode, and of course, this coming Friday with another regularly scheduled show. Send us an e-mail while you wait, by the way: podcast@toucharcade.com.

GAMES!

Eli Note: This is the European pizza bag technology I mentioned.

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So, Amazon let the cat out of the bag this morning and announced its low-cost and full-color seven inch tablet, Kindle Fire (and a less relevant-to-our-interests new touch-centric Kindle). Fire is an Android-powered device, though you wouldn't recognize that fact from its UI alone. It’ll hook into Amazon's cloud, be able to stream Amazon movies from its download service and, just like the Kindle, connect with Amazon’s rich e-books store, but the one thing that really caught our attention was, of course, the promise of games.

At the press event held today, Amazon’s demo Kindle Fire had a pre-loaded icon for Angry Birds, heavily suggesting that Rovio Mobile’s property will debut with yet another tablet computer this year. After the event, Amazon opened up its Kindle Fire advertisement page, displaying Angry Birds Rio, Plants vs. Zombies, Cut the Rope, Doodle Jump, and even Peggle on the device. That page states that every app that touches the device will be “Amazon tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible.” The Fire has a 16-million color display, a resolution of 169 pixels per inch, and it runs on a dual-core CPU. No camera or 3G, though.

Fire will hit this November 15 at $199 — a price that, if the device turns out to be good, gives potential owners a legitimate low-cost option to play Android games. This is an opportunity we haven’t really seen yet from an actual company with chops in the tablet space (excluding the HP Touchpad ridiculousness), so we’ll definitely keep our eyes on Fire as it grows and hopefully becomes the iOS-y platform that Amazon wants it to be. Also, it plays Angry Birds, guys! Whoo!

[Via Gizmodo, Engadget]

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Around this time last year, we were just about to get our hands on the Parrot AR.Drone quadricopter. It was (and still is) an incredibly cool remote control toy with some seriously advanced technology onboard that allows for control of the craft via an iOS device complete with a video feed captured from cameras onboard the AR.Drone all connected through a WiFi network served up by the quadricopter itself. Parrot later even expanded the AR.Drone's functionality to include a few different games that utilized the cameras in interesting ways.

Unfortunately, all of this tech came with a hefty price tag. $299.99 to be exact which put the AR.Drone far outside of impulse purchase range for most. Thankfully, acclaimed accessory manufacturer Griffin took note that people thought things like the AR.Drone are cool as hell, while building a similar product with a price point that falls comfortably inside "eh, what the hell" territory which I really think is vital for any gadgety toy.

Check out the HELO TC in action:

Griffin has taken a unique angle with the HELO TC and has made several obvious cost-cutting measures to hit that key $50 price point. First off, the HELO TC obviously lacks all the flight stabilization logic that powered the AR.Drone. The AR.Drone basically flies itself, while the HELO TC seems to be very similar to the barebones remote control helicopters that you can pick up for around $20 online, which leads me to believe that flying the HELO TC with the finesse seen in the above video is going to be very difficult.

Similarly, all of the WiFi connectivity options found in the AR.Drone have been replaced by a transmitter that clips on to your iOS device and plugs into your headphone jack. This takes AA batteries, and utilizing the free companion app sends tones out your headphone port to an IR transmitter, a technique that has been well documented and used by hobbyists to essentially create a playlist of sounds to do things like control a digital SLR camera, or in this case, fly a helicopter.

Of course Griffin hasn't mentioned the specifics of how the HELO TC works, so this is largely just a series of educated guesses on my part, but the logic seems sound. Either way, we're totally stoked for the device. I had a ton of fun with the AR.Drone, and it seems like the HELO TC should be equally fun, only for a sixth of the price.

For more information, check out the HELO TC web site, or if you're totally sold on the device swing over to the Griffin store to pre-order. No specific release dates have been mentioned yet, although the PR Griffin blasted out this morning repeatedly mentions the holiday season. It seems every year the window for what the "holiday season" actually is broadens even wider, so we could be seeing the HELO TC sooner than we expect. I've got my fingers crossed, at least.

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After one of Capcom Mobile’s studios ripped off Splosion Man earlier this year, a disappointed Twisted Pixel did the digital equivalent of thinking aloud and floated the idea that it’d like to do its own App Store title. We’ve since received confirmation that it is.

In our most recent BONUS cast, we spoke with Twisted Pixel CEO Michael Wilford about his studio, Ms. Splosion Man, and The Gunstringer. We also grilled him on the App Store 'controversy' and his thoughts on the App Store. This latter section is where he revealed that the studio is going to soon start testing out the waters with its own iOS game.

From the conversation:

“We’ve never done a mobile game before. I think a lot of our IPs would translate pretty well to mobile. I think there’s a lot of fun stuff you can do with the character-driven IPs we’ve created. And the Capcom fiasco — if you want to call it that — lit a fire under our butts to give [iOS development] a try and see if we can make something there,” Wilford told us.

“We’re working on something. Nothing to announce yet. Hopefully, relatively soon we’ll having something to share with you guys.”

That’s awesome news, right? You can catch the entire conversation in its stream-able form just below this lump of text. Alternatively, can skip these posts and catch it via a subscription to our channels on the iTunes and Zune music stores respectively.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-002.mp3, 18.8MB

The TouchArcade Show is a weekly podcast dedicated to iOS. Each Friday, we discuss the week’s biggest games and news, as well as address listener feedback. Keep expecting more bonus shows like this, by the way. They’re pretty fun to do.

If you have anything you’d like to add, talk about, or if you’re just wondering about something, give us a holler. You can reach us via e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com, on the Twitter or even on the Facebook.

The introduction and intermission music is from Comic Jumper, an Xbox Live Arcade game by Twisted Pixel that you can download right now. Additional music was provided by the super talented Jim Guthrie. The song is "Audio Pepsi" off the album A Thousand Songs. You can buy the entire album or stream all the songs at his Web site. Guthrie is also responsible for the Sword & Sworcery [$4.99] soundtrack.

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