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Here's a neat one. The creative nucleus of Infinity Blade [$5.99] was originally concieved as a Kinect title instead of an iOS game. Game creator Chair Entertainment's co-founder Donald Mustard explains in another delicious Joystiq interview post.

"We always have some cool ideas on deck, and kind of the inception of Infinity Blade began as a discussion around: 'If we were going to make a Kinect title, what would we make? What would a Chair Kinect game look like?'," he said.

"That discussion happened, you know, a year and a half ago. We had this really cool design, and it's not that dissimilar from the game you're playing today; it's just been refined and adapted to the iOS screen, which honestly I think is where the design works the best. "

Mustard neglected to get specific about what ideas were being thrown around in these conceptual stages of Infinity Blade, but theoretically, a Kinect version of the action RPG would have you acting out the sword swings and parries and near-miss dodges with your body and arms instead of your fingers. It's a neat idea, and what's wild is, it could totally work. Kinect fairs best with broad, sweeping motions such as a pretend sword slash. But that's not to say Infinity Blade sucks on the iOS. It's, as we've said before, a fantastic Chair joint.

The kicker here is that even though plans changed for Infinity Blade, a Kinect version could still happen. "Yeah," other Chair co-founder Geremy Mustard told Joystiq, "if the Kinect really takes off over the holiday season, who knows?"

Who knows, indeed. Maybe I'll actually turn on my Kinect again if Chair decides to bless it with the gift of Infinity Blade.

[via Joystiq]

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Riven: The Sequel to Myst [$5.99] might have just been ported for the last time. (Eh, who are we kidding.) Developed in 1997 for the PC, Riven has seen releases on the Mac OS, Pocket PC, the original PlayStation, and even the Sega Saturn. This morning, Riven was released for the iOS a little more than a decade after its original creation.

As its name outright says, Riven is a continuation of the Myst series. It's a point-and-click adventure locked in a first-person perspective, much like its forerunner. And it features a similar approach to puzzle design and basic world navigation. Essentially, you're a walking monkey wrench that can fuss with levers and various other mechanical devices in addition to being able to decipher codes and symbols.

If you've played Myst proper or Myst [$4.99] iOS, in other words, you'll probably feel right at home with Riven.

Our forum members have been pretty excited for this port and seem happy with it thus far, which is to be expected. Cyan Worlds, the original developer of Riven and Myst, are the dudes making Riven iOS possible. They kind of know what they're doing at this point, you know?

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Remember way back in July when we came across some poorly translated information that hinted at Yoot Saito's Yoot Tower/The Tower II coming to the iPad? And remember the following month when that game, which was now known as The Tower, was released in the Japanese App Store only, much to the disappointment of gamers in other countries? And finally, do you remember just last week when we posted that The Tower would be renamed Yoot Tower for its US release but most likely would not make it out before the end of the year? All of these wonderful memories have brought us to the point we are at right now: the English version of Yoot Tower for iPad has finally made its way into the US App Store.

If you're still feeling kind of lost, Yoot Saito is an innovative Japanese game designer who created SimTower back in 1994, a simulation game similar to SimCity in that you had to manage different resources and expansion, but instead of building a sprawling metropolis you built a structure vertically into the sky. The sequel to SimTower that arrived a few years later, called Yoot Tower, is what the iPad version is based off of. A brief description from our post last week:

Yoot Tower is a simulation joint that plays like a vertical take on Sim City. In the game, you'll play as a building manager with a mission to build a massive tower. This tower, however, won't just be filled with bricks, iron, and cement. No, it'll also house people — residents and workers and the like — who all have individual stress levels and needs. Negotiating these needs, while continuing to build your tower and placing desire facilities, composes the core of a game. So, like a good sim, Yoot Tower appears to have quite the interesting juggling act between you and outside forces.

And here is a brief gameplay demo from July of the Japanese version of The Tower running on the iPad:

So it seems that we were wrong in assuming that there would be no way Yoot Tower would be approved in time for the holidays, despite its submission date and the impending App Store lockdown next week. I think it goes without saying, though, that we are overjoyed to have been incorrect about that. Head on over to the Yoot Tower forum thread for some discussion on the game, and we'll be bringing you a full review just as soon as we've put it through its paces.

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First, a few sweeping generalizations about this modern era of gaming. Game designers are implementing better, more intuitive user interfaces and controls. Failure is not so much about punishment as it is disappointment. And complex systems and mechanics are much more streamlined, allowing us to just sit back and play, while still enjoying the various complexities of a given game without the mess and fuss.

Games are just… easier now than what they were before. I think no other genre has benefitted more from modern design than the simulation. Your ten-year-old, for example, can probably enjoy Firaxis' Civilization V just as much as you do, despite the fact that you undoubtedly have a better grasp of it intricacies. It's more playable now, which is quite the change from previous iterations.

But when I look at SimCity Deluxe for iOS [$2.99 / HD], I don't see that new level of polish and refinement, streamlining, and kneading that a lot of modern games showcase. It's just SimCity, except on a touch-based platform. You start with nothing, as usual, and then build a huge, hopefully thriving city with roads, bustling industrial and residential districts, parks, and other constructs ripped from life.

There's no denying that it has a certain magic to it — creating something out of nothing is still as compelling as ever and SimCity is one of the best, most complex series' to do this in. But Deluxe isn't accessible. At all.

I feel like we all know what this franchise is about, so I'll keep this specifics discussion brief: in Deluxe, you need to build roads, water pipes, power lines, dumps, and then manage all of these various bits of infrastructure before you can even start running your city's simulation. And then when you do get to the point of simulating, you'll have to start negotiating these bits and pieces, weighing them against each other while carefully watching a resource meter drain or rise as your city — and it's interesting parts like industry — grow. Later, you'll be able to add money-sucking civic buildings, monuments, and parks, provided you've the infrastructure in place.

And you're always just a few missteps from failure, provided you don't hit the self-destruct button on your own civilization first via alien attack (a real mechanic).

What I'm getting at here is a long-winded way to say that Deluxe is a very traditional SimCity game. It has a few modern bells and whistles, sure. The UI is rather clean and the distinctions between components are crystal clear. Also, it doesn't burden you with ticky-tacky stuff like building houses or non-important buildings. But in most other regards, this is an old-school simulation that requires a lot of time, patience, and Chess-level think-ahead logic for city planning, zoning, and taxing.

The iPhone version of Deluxe launched earlier this summer and received a decent bit of acclaim, though it had a fatal flaw: the screen was too tiny for the abundance of UI elements and the thousands of tiny little grids in which you can build were hard to access as a result. Deluxe, however, is available on the iPad starting today.

Just as you'd expect, it's better for it — it's easier to click within the game and the UI has a lot of breathing room. I still find myself struggling to connect roads and keep things in an orderly fashion, though, I'm thinking this is more a result of the isometric camera than anything else. Working at a slight angle isn't easy for a city planner in the early stages of the game.

Aside from that, we're looking at a picture perfect port with a platform-specific flaw: it tends to chug. The iPhone version of Deluxe is pretty snappy, but the iPad version, for whatever reason, suffers frame drops or otherwise general slowness.

I think I can sum up my impressions of Deluxe with this: the game never entices me to stay in it too long, and I wish I could play it with a mouse and keyboard. The precision isn't there despite the spacing and there aren't enough carrots leading me through.

If you're a card-carrying member of the SimCity Elite Club who has spent many a sleepless night in torturous anticipation of a SimCity for the iPad, you're in a position to enjoy Deluxe. You'll be able to put up with the archaic design, in other words. For those of you out there who aren't familiar with the series and Deluxe would be your first plunge, this isn't the title to start with. For Deluxe, you need a good sense of how SimCity works and what the game demands, or else you'll risk getting lost and frustrated.

Just a couple of mode notes: Deluxe boasts a tutorial that does an OK job of walking you through the basics, but fails to really dive into what it takes to create an uber-successful, bustling city. Starter cities are available, too, for those who can't quite break through the rags-to-riches play or handle Deluxe's much-too-steep learning curve. Additionally, several scenarios are available for the advanced player who wants to hit an end game goal or needs a challenge.

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Any App Store gamer will tell you that there is no lack of iOS space shooters available. To be perfectly honest, when I first caught sight of the upcoming Red Nova [99¢] from Celsius Game Studios, the developer of Chromodyne [99¢/Lite/HD], it didn't look too different from any of the games that I had seen many times before. But after having a preview build of the game on my device for the past couple of weeks, and with the full version now available, it's clear that Red Nova actually does quite a few things to set itself apart from the pack. It has an interesting premise, one of the smartest control schemes I've seen, Game Center integration for high score bragging rights, and above all else it's just a blast to play.

The story goes that a hostile group of aliens is getting ready to invade your territory, but fortunately they have yet to notice the existence of your spaceship headquarters the Red Nova. Not so fortunate is that if Red Nova fires up its engines in an effort to bolt on outta there, the aliens will surely notice and blow it to kingdom come. Your job, as the brave female lieutenant Jules Morgan, is to distract the incoming aliens long enough to give the Red Nova a chance to escape and warn your people of the looming attack. It's basically a suicide mission, but in the process you'll save the many lives of the people on the Red Nova.

The story is a pretty cool way to put what is essentially a survival shooter into a believable context. Red Nova plays similarly to Asteroids in that you have to compensate for your ship's inertia, which will carry you infinitely in the direction you're moving until you change that direction yourself. The controls are absolutely spot on, and the way they are implemented is really clever. The screen is split into 4 equal quadrants. The lower left is a virtual stick that controls your ship's forward movement and turning. The lower right quadrant is a fire button, but you can also slide your thumb up from there to use a special weapon or to the left to lock on to enemies and fire homing missiles at them.

The special items and homing missiles require using energy from a meter which is filled up as you defeat enemies, so as to balance out their use. You can also use collected energy to directly repair your shield by tapping and dragging the upper left quadrant of the screen, or a similar gesture can be used in the upper right to turn an unwanted special item into a small amount of energy. The use of the energy bar adds a strategic element to Red Nova, as you have a choice in how to manage your different resources and can use this to get out of tight situations. Should you use your energy to detonate a bomb and take out a screen full of bad guys? Or maybe use the energy to repair your ship's hull and try to last just a bit longer using your regular cannons?

These kinds of decisions coupled with excellent controls and a frantic pace make Red Nova a complete joy to play. It is not a visual juggernaut by any means, but it does have a crisp and clean look to it, and supports the Retina Display. The real standout part of the graphics is the excellent design of the different enemies, who come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and each have their own unique way of attacking that you must familiarize yourself with. Red Nova is a pretty difficult game, even on the Normal setting, which actually suits its high scoring nature and pure arcade-style gameplay. Just be aware that you will need to spend some time playing before you become fully comfortable and start making some decent scores.

What I really like about Red Nova is that it doesn't try to do everything under the sun, but rather focuses on one thing and does it really well. In this case it offers some of the most fast-paced arcade survival shooting around, and has finely tuned it with a number of different gameplay elements to make the action interesting and fun without being overwhelmingly complex. There is a great foundation in place if additional modes or mechanics are introduced down the line, and indeed the official name of this release is Red Nova: Episode 1 so that is likely in the cards. For now, if you're looking for a nice take on the Asteroids formula, don't hesitate to give Red Nova a look, and swing by the forum thread for a discussion of the game.

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Back in September developers Krabl and FDG Entertainment released the follow-up to the quirky platform puzzler Ynth [$2.99] titled Beyond Ynth [$2.99/HD]. The game used some interesting mechanics, tasking the player with rotating boxes of various sizes and shapes in order to get Kribl, the protagonist bug in the game, to the end of each level. Beyond Ynth had a wonderful art style with Retina Display graphics, clever level designs, and unique gameplay, all of which we noted in our review. About the only thing we didn't like was the oft-frustrating trial and error aspect of the game, something that was mostly remedied with a nifty rewind feature that was introduced in an update last month.

Now, in lieu of a proper lite version of Beyond Ynth, the developers are following in the footsteps of Angry Birds Seasons [99¢/HD] and Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift [Free] and have released a free holiday themed version of their game called Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition [Free/HD]. This free ad-supported version features a nice slice of what you would be getting with the full version. There's an entirely new Christmas story that takes place across five levels, Game Center integration, Retina Display support, and the new rewind feature.

The 5 levels in Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition don't last very long, but they do give you an idea of the types of gameplay you'll encounter should you choose to purchase the full version. The short Christmas story is fully voiced with cute hand-drawn cutscenes, and appropriately some of the levels take place in the snow, though the full version features desert and fire levels as well. There are separate versions for both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, and if you've been wanting to get a taste of Beyond Ynth before deciding to plunk down the cash then give Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition a download.

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Iteration is hard. In games, you can either tack on more mechanics on top of the original's foundation or you can choose to take it apart, brick by brick, and rebuild it into something familiar, but better. Most studios choose the former. Some choose the latter. And others choose to do a mix of the two.

Puzzle Quest 2 [$9.99] is a title that features a mix. It retains what made the original oh-so-good, but also boasts fresh ideas. New glove gems let you use weapons in battle and a more personal isometric viewpoint makes you feel like you're an active participant in both the game world and a narrative that would have Tolkien rolling in his grave.

That's rather broad, so let's dive into the basics. Puzzle Quest 2 is a match-3 title drenched in RPG trappings. You'll start the game by picking from a crop of traditional fantasy classes, each with their own abilities, and then be thrust into a medieval world with a lot of problems. People will want you to fetch them items, explore places, or kill monsters.

You can level up, equip weapons and items, craft even more, and navigate dungeons one grid at a time. Like in the previous Puzzle Quest, movement is restricted to following a developer-created path. You do not have complete control of your dude. But, really, that never matters. This is a game about killing, not meandering.

Most of the RPG stuff is tied to the battle system. Battle is where you'll spend most of your time and the most meaningful place where the match-3 ties component ties in. When you initiate battle with a foe, you'll be blasted to an interface filled with multi-colored gems, skulls, and gloves. Lining up three or more skulls does damage to your foe, while simple gem matches act as fuel for magical feats.

Battle is turn-based, so there's no time crunch.  You act and then the goblin, yeti, tiger-man, or whatever acts. But the fact that there isn't a timer is important; it gives you time to line up bonuses. If you match three or more of something, you get another turn. Start a cascade of several matches and get another turn.

RPG overlaps here. You can equip weapons and defensive items or even items that have an affect on how many gems you can collect. You also level up, so your HP, strength, and defensive prowess can change between battles. These elements act as a carrot, sure, but they're also crucial in keeping the match-3 play interesting, deep, and above all, entertaining.

The AI, to some degree, is balanced appropriately for battle. However, there are some humdingers that you'll need to grind out levels in order to beat. Puzzle Quest 2 is smart in that it has a one-off "Quick Battle" mode that allows to just fight, without the dungeon, in order to get precious experience points.

The majority of the time these systems play nice with each other, but every once in awhile you'll hit a vicious snag. Some AI monsters are poorly balanced. They'll either destroy you in just a matter of turns or frequently rip off brutal combinations. You can also see the virtual dice rolls favoring the AI in these conflicts.

I also think Puzzle Quest 2 suffers from system overload. There's just too many dice rolling at once, be it from the game negotiating your level, a critical hit, a defend, a combination, or whatever. It kills the simplicity of the play and often prolongs even the simplest battle for far too long.

And while we're talking about systems, I'll add that there are new mini-games in Puzzle Quest 2, all designed to make a simple task much harder. For example, in order to get loot, you'll have to earn it via a match-3 mini-game. The same goes for bashing in closed doors or disarming traps. I can appreciate the attempt here, as it does offer a chance of pace from monster conflicts, but these mini-games pop up much too often.

If you haven't caught on by now, I'll make it plain. Puzzle Quest 2 for iOS appears to be a picture perfect port of the console and handheld versions of the game, which hit digital and brick-and-mortar shelves earlier this year. It's also optimized for iOS, offering simple to use and intuitive touch controls. On my iPad, it's a brilliant game and it does hold up on an iPhone 4 as well.

This is in start contrast to the first game, Puzzle Quest Chapter 1 and 2 [$6.49 / Lite] which initially served as a shining example as a terrible iOS port. It got better over a series of updates, but even now it's a little rough around the edges.

Let's just forget that game ever happened because Puzzle Quest 2 is a superior product in every imaginable way and a great game all on its lonesome. Sure, it can get repetitious and, yeah, sure, it has its issues, but it's still an entertaining game and a full-featured one on iOS. Give it a shot.

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According to Kotaku, gaming guru Graeme Devine has left Apple. Devine got his start in development in the late 70's on the TRS-80 before being hired at the age of 16 to work at Atari, helping to bring Pole Position to various home computers including the Commodore 64 and Apple IIe. From there, he went on to co-found Trilobyte Games which then went on to release both The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. After leaving Trilobyte, he worked with Id on many games, including Quake III Arena and Doom 3. More recently, he was lead designer for Halo Wars, an RTS set in the Halo universe.

At Apple, Graeme held a key position making sure that gaming on iOS devices was as good as it could be. In an interview with Kotaku, he explained some specifics of his responsibilities:

"My job there was basically to make gaming on the iOS devices fantastic," Devine said. "Basically that meant looking at the technologies involved and making sure the software played well with the hardware, to look at upcoming hardware/API and say 'Yup, that is a good thing'.

"Apple didn't have an in-house game designer before me so I think it was pretty unique, game technologies touch everything from the graphics stack to touch latency to push notifications. No other app type covers so many technologies and having someone there to validate and help shape that was basically my day job. It was pretty kick ass."

His reasoning for leaving Apple lies in his desire to return to game design, specifically targeting the iPhone and iPad. He even provided the following hint for his next title, which is going to be for the "Mac desktop".:

We're not sure if this means it will be appearing in the Mac App Store or not, but we hope so. Either way, we're sad to hear that Apple has lost such fantastic game design talent, but at the same time it's great to hear that Graeme Devine is getting back to building games.

[via Kotaku]

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If you were App shopping around Thanksgiving, you probably gobbled up one of two of the usually-premium priced SEGA titles on sale. If you missed out for one reason or another, well, here's your second chance at correcting that egregious error. SEGA has slashed the prices on every single bit of content it has on the App Store. From Chu Chu Rocket HD to Streets of Rage, every SEGA published or developed title's price has been permanently dropped.

Now, you can grab titles like Shining Force and Ecco the Dolphin for a mere $.99, or even grab newer ports like Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 for $6.99. In the interest of keeping you fully informed, here's a list, provided via SEGA's own blog, of all the Apps original and new prices:

Chu Chu Rocket: THEN: $4.99, NOW: $2.99
Chu Chu Rocket HD: THEN: $6.99, NOW: $4.99
Ecco the Dolphin: THEN: $2.99, NOW: $0.99
Golden Axe: THEN: $2.99, NOW: $0.99
Gunstar Heroes: THEN: $4.99, NOW: $2.99
Phantasy Star II: THEN: $4.99, NOW: $2.99
Shining Force: THEN: $2.99, NOW: $0.99
Super Monkey Ball 2: THEN: $5.99, NOW: $2.99
Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition: THEN: $7.99, NOW: $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 1: THEN: $5.99, NOW: $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 2: THEN: $5.99, NOW: $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode 1: THEN: $9.99, NOW: $6.99
Streets of Rage: THEN: $2.99, NOW: $0.99

Of course, just because these games are on sale doesn't mean you should go on an all-out Sega buying bender. For example, as cool as Shining Force is, and as fun as it still remains, SEGA didn't optimize it for touch screens. Similarly, all of the emulated games were designed to be played with a physical controller, and your fun will be limited by your ability to adapt to using the virtual controls. So, be wise, be resourceful, and use our forums before you sink all your dough.

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