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It’s been a long week (Well, a little more than a week.) of waiting since the new iPad was announced. But, if you were in the initial batch of preorders or are ambitious enough to head to an Apple Store today, you should have a new iPad in your hot little hands right now. I just got done unboxing and syncing mine, and I’m sort of at a loss as to what to post about it, as I really think the new iPad is what everyone expected it to be.

The screen is incredible, and inspires that same sense of awe the first time you see it that the original Retina Display of the iPhone 4 did. No photos, screenshots, or videos will do the display of the new iPad justice. You simply must see it for yourself to truly appreciate just how ridiculously high resolution it is.

I’ve run through the list of the few games that are Retina-ready, and am totally impressed that the new iPad can actually pull off running all these games with performance levels that seem on par with the iPad 2, only at double the resolution. The GPU Apple packed in this thing doesn’t mess around.

Remember how non-Retina apps on the iPhone 4 looked like total trash comparatively during that awkward transition where not very much was Retina-ready? Well, oddly enough, non-Retina apps and games on the new iPad actually don’t look all that bad at all. There’s obviously a huge contrast between things running at 1024×768 and 2048×1536, but it doesn’t seem to induce that same jarring “Oh wow, this looks bad” that non-Retina iPhone apps did. Maybe it’s just me.

Just like the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S, the new iPad is a solid upgrade over the iPad 2. In my opinion, the screen is worth the cost of admission alone, but again, like the iPhone 4 to the 4S, the iPad 2 still is as capable of a device as it ever was. What I’m anxious to see is what sort of apps and games developers are going to start churning out developed from the ground up specifically with the new iPad in mind instead of just resolution-boosting updates.

But enough of my rambling, those of you who braved the Apple store or waited for FedEx to show up today, tell us your first impressions of the new iPad in the comments here. Is it everything you wanted and more? A worthy upgrade? A little disappointing? Let’s have it!

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Arguably the biggest addition to this year’s version of the iPad (or at least, the most immediately noticeable one) is the inclusion of a Retina Display screen that ups the resolution to a monstrous 2048 x 1536. As anybody who has upgraded from an older device to an iPhone 4 or an iPhone 4S, you know that the Retina Display screen is a stunning upgrade in person and makes all other mobile device screens look inferior in comparison. Such is the case with the new iPad’s fancy screen, it really needs to be seen to be believed.

For anybody upgrading to a new iPad today, or if this is your first foray into the world of the iPad, then chances are you’re interested in having the games that can show off the new screen as you gloat to your friends. Here we’ve compiled a list of games that have been updated for the iPad Retina Display:

• Infinity Blade II, $6.99
• Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, $4.99
• Galaxy on Fire 2 HD, $9.99
• Mass Effect Infiltrator, $6.99
• Flight Control Rocket, 99¢
• Real Racing 2 HD, $2.99
• Foosball HD, $2.99
• Touchgrind BMX, $4.99
• Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99 / Lite Version
• Joining Hands, $2.99
• Woodroid HD+, Free
• Letris Power, Free
• Monsters Ate My Condo, 99¢
• Save the Pencil HD, 99¢ / Lite Version
• Tractor Beam, 99¢
• FMX Riders, $2.99
• Lab Solitaire, 99¢
• Parlour Solitaire, Free

There is a thread in our forums that’s constantly being updated keeping track of compatible games or ones that will be compatible soon. If you’re a developer with an iPad Retina Display update coming out, make sure to post it in that thread or post in the comments below and we’ll try to keep that thread as well as this article updated as new games hit. Also, Apple is currently featuring a selection of games and apps in the App Store that are new iPad ready.

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Two games were featured in the recent Apple keynote, and as of a few moments ago, one of them is now available. We’re still on the lookout for Infinity Blade: Dungeons, but right now Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy [$4.99] is a quick mash of the “Buy App” button away from being in your hot little hands.

We’re downloading it now, but I feel like for the true experience we’re going to have to wait for FedEx to drop off our new iPads tomorrow. I’ve already bartered a deal with my FedEx delivery dude, and I should have mine bright and early.

If you want to chat Sky Gamblers on our forums, guess what, we’ve got a thread for that.

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If you’re anything like me, the idea of a remake of a game you dearly loved when it was originally released comes as very good news. As much as I adore new games, there’s just something about playing something tried and true. Add HD graphics into that mix, and you’re really tempting me… which really should have been the case with Prince of Persia Classic [$1.99/HD]. I was hoping to be having so much fun with this game that it’d be hard to put the phone down to write this review, but unfortunately, that was not quite the case.

Prince of Persia Classic is far from all bad. If you played the game in its original form as a downloadable console title a few years back (or heaven forbid, even further back on the Apple II), you’ll recall that it had its charming parts… and its annoying ones. Still, there’s no denying that some of us spent countless hours navigating the prince through death traps, spiked pits, and all those things that make a game a proper adventure.

For one thing, the game looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. Ubisoft has carefully gone through and retooled this for the modern gamer, doing their best to retain the spirit of the original and do it proper justice. I’d say that part works, but once you start playing it, that’s where the trouble seems to come in.

As you or may not know, Prince of Persia Classic is a sidescroller which requires lots of running and jumping to keep the prince safe as you navigate your way forward. This would have been great fun if the controls that allow you to do so weren’t awkward, but unfortunately they are. They feel a bit stiff and take some getting used to as a whole, which is not ideal when it comes to a game you want to pick up and play. Your movement control is a left to right slide bar, which really could have benefitted from a bit more sensitivity. It’s easy to make the prince run when you mean for him to walk, and you’ll have to learn to keep tight control of him to not hurl him down a chasm by accident.

If you can get comfy with the controls though, there’s a lot more in store for you beyond that. You have Normal, Time Attack and Survival modes to try out (the latter which challenges you to navigate the castle and save the princess in one hour or less), and of course the usual Facebook connectivity. You’ve also got Game Center included so scoreboards and achievements ought to keep you going for a while.

As it was in its original incarnation, Prince of Persia Classic is also a game that you’ll need to play a lot and die in a lot before you get a handle on how to really progress. Checkpoints help to make this reasonable, but I recognized some of that same frustration I felt playing the first one, as well as other retro titles from the same era. You had to be really tenacious to beat some of these titles back in the day. I think old schoolers would keep trying, but some other gamers with less experience might give up. Of course, it’s hard to say if that’s the fault of the difficulty curve of older games, or how much easier newer ones have become.

The verdict? If you must have it portable, it’s not the worst choice But if you just love the game, there are fine versions of it on XBLA and PSN that are simply easier to maneuver. They’re a few bucks more, but it might be worth it to you if awkward controls are your idea of a platforming nightmare.

TouchArcade Rating:

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New iPads are popping up all over Asia, and aside from a variety of unboxing and comparison videos, it seems that the first set of GLBenchmark 2.1 [$4.99] results have come in.

MacRumors explains:

Benchmarking the graphics performance of the new iPad also showed significant improvement over the iPad 2, with benchmarking tests boosting performance from 90 frames per second (fps) to 140 fps in the GLBenchmark 2.1.1 Egypt offscreen test and from 146 fps to 250 fps in the GLBenchmark 2.1.1 Pro offscreen test. Similar data had previously been uploaded to GLBenchmark’s site, although its authenticity has not been confirmed.

If these results turn out to be true, the new iPad could be a absolute beast in the gaming department. Ever since the announcement of the new iPad, our community has been justifiably worried about the graphical performance. I really hope these benchmarks are real, because, wow.

Keep in mind, like most benchmarks, take these alleged results with a grain of salt. We’ll have to wait to get our iPads on Friday to see how the actual real-world on-screen performance actually is.

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Swedish studio Illusion Labs likes to stay on the bleeding edge of new Apple hardware, so it’s no actual surprise to learn that it has already updated three of its games in its current stable for the new iPad’s much higher resolution display. Touchgrind BMX, Foosball HD, and Labyrinth 2 HD have all received the 4X treatment in preparation for the device’s release later this week, and we’ve got the images to prove it.

In the grand tradition of these pre-new iPad posts, we’ll show you the old version and then the new version to get a taste of what’s changed. Illusion seems stoked about the new hardware, too. We wish ours would ship out of Nashville already.

Touchgrind BMX pre-new iPad update

Touchgrind BMX with Retina visuals

Labyrinth 2 HD before the update

Labyrinth 2 HD with Retina visuals

Foosball HD before the Retina update

… and Foosball HD with Retina visuals

Click on, and then zoom in on these images to really see the difference. For the most part, we’re thinking new iPad’s screen won’t be a life-changer for most studios. Good looking games will continue to look good on either device, much like the transition between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

Studios that want to capitalize on the hardware are more than welcome to do so, of course. We’re ready for the extra layer of fidelity this thing will bring to our world.

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Yesterday we caught wind that this “new” Dark Meadow [$5.99] that we’d heard rumblings about wasn’t new at all, but instead originally was planned to be an update that converted the existing app into a free to play game. Predictably, even with the vague offer of “exclusive upgrades” for existing owners, news that Dark Meadow as we knew it was going away fired up our community like few things can between the actual article comments and the Dark Meadow forum thread.

Thankfully, it seems Phosphor Games has made a last minute decision to cancel the complete free to play conversion, and instead will be keeping the existing Dark Meadow and releasing a new free to play companion version. Per a Phosphor representative on our forums:

Our intention was that we’d have one version of the app, so (future) leaderboards, etc could all be shared by same community. We always planned on turning off ads and gifting premium players, so we didn’t see any negative to what we were planning.

BUT it sounds like the community really wants them to stay as separate versions. From reading the forums, one large issue is it sounds like a lot of users have completed the current version, deleted it (as it is a large file size), and would like to check out the next one, but there is a good chance they won’t have save data, and they’d have the hassle of downloading the current one just to have a save game, then download the newer one, etc. All an annoyance we’d rather not give our fans.

SO we are keeping the Premium version of Dark Meadow separate from the Free one, and both will get all the new features. So anybody who previously purchased the game can update whenever they want, and they will just get new stuff. …Read More

So, that’s good news. But, it still is a little strange that keeping two version seems like such an eleventh hour decision, as this sort of community reaction to plans to load a previously-paid game full of micro transactions couldn’t have been easier to predict.

So, put away those pitchforks and burning torches, as it sounds like Phosphor Games is doing the right thing after all. Since this update was scheduled to land this week, I’m guessing it’ll be a bit longer before we see the new free to play version as at the very least this decision means another trip through the Apple approval process.

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Today at GDC I spent some time with retro strongman Dan Bliss of BinarySquare, who showed us his latest creation, Puzzle Bebop.

Puzzle Bebop is wonderfully pixellated falling block, match-four puzzle game wrapped in virtual CRT scan-lines, with chippy 8-bit audio to boot. As falling block games go, the core game mission is nothing too new. It’s in the control system where the real innovation of this game lies.

Instead of utilizing on-screen rotation buttons or a virtual D-pad, Puzzle Bebop makes use of TouchCircus, a system of touch control algorithms designed by Bliss, himself. As blocks fall into the game area from above, the player can rotate them by drawing large circles anywhere on the screen with his or her fingers. This approach feels much more natural for rotation than the control systems I’ve seen used in every other App Store falling block game I’ve tried.

The unique control mechanic, the lovey retro aesthetic (standard stuff for BinarySquare), and the lavish, pixellated visual effects that fill the screen during combo eliminations and the like make Puzzle Bebop a game well worth a look. And, stay tuned for more innovative control mechanics from Bliss — he’s spent some real time thinking outside the box about controls, and I saw a taste of his coming games that did impress.

Puzzle Bebop is a universal app (for both iPhone and iPad) that support the iCade controller device. It has recently been submitted to Apple and should be available shortly at a price of $0.99.

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TUAW’s Kelly Guimont has spotted some interesting language in yesterday’s iTunes Terms And Conditions update. Here’s the text in question:

Certain paid In App Subscriptions may offer a free trial period prior to charging your Account. If you decide you do not want to purchase the In App Subscription, turn off auto-renewal in your Account settings during the free trial period.

Guimont speculates that this could indicate that Apple is preparing to offer developers an easy way to offer time-limited trials of their apps, like game demos. This would be a fantastic change. Developers wouldn’t need to support extra lite versions of their titles, non-game apps could finally offer quick peeks at their content, and the rest of us would have a chance to try before we buy.

Now, while it seems at least as likely that this functionality is meant for magazine publishers, the new terms address that specifically:

Certain In App Subscriptions may be designated as “Newsstand” products, in which case they will appear only within the Newsstand application on your device after download.

Sounds like there will be some support for non-Newsstand apps to take advantage of free trial periods, which (intentionally or not) may open the door for other app developers. We’ll keep an ear to the ground and let you know if anything comes of this

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