TouchArcade.ru

Tokyo's Apple Store was recently host to a "Game Nights at the Apple Store" event where EA presented a slideshow with a surprising amount of information regarding upcoming titles for both the iPhone and iPad. We've known some of these have been in the works for a while, but this is the first time for many that we've either seen any kind of screenshot or any solid release information. Japanese iPhone site 4gamer.net was in attendance, and provides the following photos of the slideshow:

First off, Reckless Racing, formerly known as Deliverace is a game we were following quite a bit before it got picked up to be published by EA. Since then, we haven't heard much about the game aside from wondering when it was finally going to be released.

According to the above slide, it's slated for this month. EA almost always releases their games on Thursdays, so we're likely either looking at a release late at night next Wednesday, or the following week. Next up is NBA Elite 11, a 5 on 5 fully licensed basketball game that takes advantage of the Retina Display:

A client for EA's free flash game portal pogo.com is also on its way. The slide mentions the game will be ad supported, with additional content available via a subscription. We'll have to see how this plays out on the device, and if the subscription they're referring to is Club Pogo or something that will be exclusive to the iOS app:

Much like Reckless Racing, I expect the above two games that EA has listed as October releases to pop up late next Wednesday or the following Wednesday. Moving on to November releases comes Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. We've been increasingly impressed with the Need For Speed series on the App Store, and I'm thinking Hot Pursuit will continue the tradition:

Next up is Pictureka!, an iPad game that sounds like a fast paced version of Where's Waldo? [$2.99 / HD]. It comes with pass and play local multiplayer for 2-4 people, and promises an art style that's both truly engaging and wacky. I'm not one to pass up on anything wacky:

Monopoly is finally coming to the iPad, which is allowing me to cross off yet another board game from my list of games I want on the device. The iPad exclusive features sound really rad, such as the auto-rotating tabletop mode… And I can't wait to see what in the world the new "cheating" mode entails. A mini game where you steal money from the bank while the rest of the players are getting drinks or going to the bathroom? We'll have to wait until December to find out:

EA Sports Active has been popular on consoles, and now is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The following slide isn't really clear how involved the app will be, but hopefully it includes some cool GPS or accelerometer integration for tracking your performance instead of being yet another calorie/workout logging app. The features list upcoming post-launch gyro support, so we'll have to see how that all works:

Last, but certainly not least by any means is Dead Space 2. This confusingly named third person shooter is apparently going to bridge the story between Dead Space and its sequel, making this something more along the lines of Dead Space 1.5 than Dead Space 2. (This confusing sequel numbering reminds me of the Angry Video Game Nerd episode on the subject.)

I can see Dead Space being absolutely amazing on the iPad, and if they do it right, an iconic example of just how good and immersive an iPad game can be. It's not entirely clear from the slide if the game is going to be iPad exclusive, or for the iPhone as well since the header mentions the iPhone, but the bulleted list below mentions it being graphically enhanced for the iPad. Either way, Dead Space on the XBOX 360 was incredible, and I have a feeling it's going to be either just as awesome on iOS devices, or just as disappointing as Mass Effect Galaxy [$1.99]– I'm not sure there's much room in between.

Of course, we will post more as soon as we get any more information on any of these games.

[via 4gamer.net]

[source]

In early December of last year, Famitsu covered Capcom's announcement of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's impending arrival on the App Store. Today we got word that Capcom hopes to have Phoenix Wright available for download next week for $4.99. Ace Attorney will include with all five cases from the Nintendo DS game, and judging from screenshots, very little has been modified from the original short of just stacking the output of the two DS screens on top of each other on the iPhone.

Back when the news first hit that the game was coming to the iPhone we explained the basic premise behind Phoenix Wright:

Phoenix Wright games are a strange mixture of a visual adventure game that play a lot like mixture of a hidden object game and a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. The game is segmented in to two portions, the investigation and the trial. While investigating, you visit various location and gather evidence by looking around and interviewing anyone who is around. When you're finished with that, you go to court where you cross examine witnesses, present evidence, and object to the arguments presented by the prosecuting lawyer.

Something interesting of note from the original announcement was during the unveiling at the Apple Store in Japan, Capcom mobile content head Takeshi Tezuka assured everyone in attendance that the game would be more than a simple port. From the few screenshots that have been released so far, it's hard to say what else has been added to the game, but needless to say, you can expect a full review shortly after the game hits the App Store.

[source]

Gameloft's Naomi and Josh are back again to bring us another look inside of Gameloft. Like most of their video podcasts, they include a good mix of things you've likely already seen if you follow TouchArcade closely along with some new reveals.

This one is much longer than their other video podcasts, so if you don't want to sit through the whole thing, you can skip to these points of interest:

• 0:00 – Gameloft visits the New York City Fifth Avenue Apple Store and talks to some people about the iPad, along with interviewing some of their own developers who discuss how great the iPad is going to be for gaming.
• 2:51 – iPad trailers for HD versions of Shrek Kart, Brothers in Arms 2 Global Front, Hero of Sparta, and Avatar
• 5:13 – Blokus overview, including some tips and video of what playing the actual board game looks like.
• 6:26 – Iron Man 2 gameplay iPhone gameplay footage, as well as revealing that the game will be simultaneously coming to all three devices. They're not clear as to whether or not this means Iron Man 2 will be universal, or if the iPhone version will simply launch with the iPad HD version.
• 8:02 – Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction gameplay video combined with an overview of the iPhone exclusive Potomac River level which apparently is going to feature a rails shooter portion.
• 8:45 – Gameloft officially reveals Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within. They don't show any gameplay, but the cinematic trailer is pretty cool.
• 10:45 – Explanation of the various contests Gameloft is currently running to get free games and even a trip to their offices in Paris
• 11:45 – Gameloft closes their video podcast with a brief Q&A and revealed that their games generally take a year to develop from early concepts, to actual development, testing, and everything else.

[source]

Today Apple sent out a press release announcing that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US the first day in its Apple Stores. Also, over a million apps were downloaded from the App Store that day. Which is not surprising since a lot of developers worked hard to make sure their app was ready for launch day. Even the iBookstore had some big numbers to share with over 250,000 ebooks being downloaded the first day.

If the release of the iPad didn’t drum up enough excitement the second piece of big news out of Apple today will. Members of the media have received invites to an April 8th press conference starting at 10am Pacific about the future of the iPhone OS.

With the press conference only a few days away it doesn’t give me much time to get my wish list of features together. My fingers are crossed for multitasking.

[source]

If you're a word game fan, I have little doubt that you don't already know about Words with Friends – Newtoy Inc's excellent turn based Scrabble-like iPhone game that you can play with your friends at your own pace. If you are a fan of the game, here's another reason to get an iPad.

Newtoy just sent us the first screenshots from the iPad version of their game shown here (click for full size):

If you happen to be located in or near Frisco, TX, Newtoy is holding a party/mixer at the Apple Store in Stonebriar Mall. They will be giving away Words with Friends T-Shirts and promo codes for the HD version.

App Store Links: Words with Friends Free, Free, Words with Friends, $2.99

[source]