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Today EA Mobile sent over some new screens of an upcoming native iPad version of their game SimCity Deluxe. Back in July when the iPhone version was released, we noted that the game could really benefit from an iPad version, as the larger screen space and higher resolution could really enhance the gameplay. It seems EA realized this as well, as an iPad version is under way. Here are a few screens from the iPad version showing the reworked UI and higher resolution graphics (click to enlarge):

Pricing has yet to be revealed, but EA has pegged the release of SimCity Deluxe for iPad as sometime in November. We'll take another look at the game when it releases next month.

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Telltale Games' Puzzle Agent [99¢ / HD] had an update hit the App Store mere moments ago that fixed the graphical issues we mentioned in our review. The graphics seem to be substantially improved, but this all comes at a cost- If you had any kind of save game data from playing the game previously, you will not be able to load it. After you update, when you try to load your saved game you're greeted with a game-ending black screen.

Puzzle Agent for the iPhone is still on sale for 99¢, and if you've yet to give it a try, this is a great time to download it now that our only issue with the game was fixed. (And as a new player not loading save game data from the previous version won't have any effect on you.) Puzzle Agent is a great mixture of Professor Layton-like puzzles and point and click adventuring. Check out our review for more information.

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Top: Stunt Car Racer for Amiga. Bottom: Upcoming Fumes Stunt Racer for iOS

I am guessing some of you may have squealed — like a small child — just now.

Don't try and deny it. There are those out there who will certainly have had that reaction to the pair of screenshots to the right. Those presently excited individuals would be the oldschool gamers who recall the incredible excellence of Geoff Crammond's seminal Stunt Car Racer (aka Stunt Track Racer), originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1989, but perhaps most popular on the Amiga and Atari ST.

What's tha–ahh, you're still squealing! Well, then, I should put you out of your misery and say right now that — no — an official port of Stunt Car Racer is not (as far as we know) headed to the iPhone platform. But something pretty close, and quite solid looking, is.

Andrei Nadin, Senior Producer of Australian studio Sector3 has given us a heads up on their upcoming Fumes Stunt Racer, a "retro-inspired" (and not just generally so…) iOS racer with native support for all three iOS screen sizes. The game features 15 varied tracks, each full of huge jumps, banked corners, fast straightaways, humps, switchbacks, and drops.

Pretty much everything those of you who know Stunt Car Racer have come to enjoy about the best acrobatic stunt racer out there. And that's because Fumes Stunt Racer is a clear remake / homage to the superb Crammond original. And when it comes to Stunt Car Racer — I'll be honest — we fans will take it however we can get it.

We should be getting a preview build of the game shortly and I promise to personally provide a similarity / awesomeness factor on Sector3's title as soon as I'm in a position to do so. Until then, have a look at the studio's trailer video, and feel free to compare it to Crammond's original in action.

Stay tuned for more on Fumes Stunt Racer.

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We've gushed at length many times before about Adult Swim's Robot Unicorn Attack [$2.99] for the iPhone between our initial preview, release announcement, its subsequent updates such as when it gained OpenFeint and even the recent announcement that Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal was in the works. If this is the first time you've heard of it, you really need to just stop whatever it is you're doing and get to a browser with Flash to play the free online flash version.

The gameplay of the recently released Robot Unicorn Attack HD [99¢] is identical to that of both the iPhone and flash versions of the game, except it runs at 1024×768 and the graphics are noticeably improved. The robot unicorn is much better looking, along with everything else. The terrain looks a little rough in screenshots, but it isn't apparent at all when you're actually playing the game.

If you own an iPad, you need to have Robot Unicorn Attack HD on it– especially at its launch price of 99¢.

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Fishing games are a niche genre, little heard of before the popularity of the iOS touch and tilt interface. Games like Flick Fishing and Fishing Kings have introduced many newcomers to the sport in a more arcade-like way that has proven quite successful. So much so in fact that mega-publisher Activision have ported their take on angling to iOS, in Rapala Pro Bass Fishing [App Store], a universal app for the iPad and its smaller siblings.

Rapala Pro Bass Fishing starts off with a gutsy speedboat cutscene, in typical Activision flair. The intro movie kicks off what becomes a trend in your fishing career, as each victory is met with an over-the-top cutscene looking more like an MTV award night. Fortunately, everything in Rapala Pro Bass Fishing looks as great as these movies do, particularly the in-game environments which are fully fleshed out landscapes across many fishing hotspots.

In this respect, Rapala Pro Bass Fishing has addressed the crticisms of similar games that have come before it, and ensured a wide variety of locations that are completely explorable in your trusty speedboat. There aren't just several static fishing locations to cast your line at, but instead at each locale you unlock, there are a number of potential fishing spots to set your anchor at, necessitating your use of a trusty map to find the exact one with the species you're currently looking for.

There are two modes in Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, a Seasons mode and a Free Fishing mode. The latter is self-explanatory, but the Seasons Mode is ultimately where the majority of your fishing time will be spent. You start Seasons mode at the rookie level, where you are given 6 tasks to complete before being able to take on tougher challenges at other locations. Tasks include things like finding a particular type of fish, or catching a fish above a certain score grade, or even full blown fishing tournaments against several computer controlled opponents. Tasks are usually timed, with tournaments extending to 15 minutes at times. With as many of these as there are in Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, expect to be in for the long haul, as this is one heavy tackle box of goodies.

The actual fishing technique varies slightly between these games, but I was disappointed that Rapala Pro Bass Fishing opted for a much more casual, arcade heavy approach to the more technical fishing mechanics. This translates to a monotonous, toned down process of steering your boat via accelerometer to a large beacon of light (selected on your GPS map), casting your line by flicking your device forwards, then engaging in a series of gestures to hook your fish. Gestures change depending on the lure you have selected, but all are a simple combination of device tilts that help to pad out the fishing process.

Once your bait has been taken, you must tilt your device again to hook the fish (a bar will appear to show you the best time to do so) and then start reeling by circling the on-screen reel. Then the fun should begin, for as any salty sea dog will tell you– it's the thrill of the fight that counts. And in Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, this process is simplified so much that we may as well be playing kindergarten fish magnet games. Reeling in your fish is as simple as staring at the tension meter, waiting for it to rise, then tilting your device to one side. Your rod is always centred on your screen, and the only movement possible is left and right movement. Dipping your rod, lifting it to pull taut your line, pulling it from side to side to tire the fish…none of that is emulated here, which is disappointing.

If it weren't for the huge number of unlockables available; from rods, lures, fishing spots and new locations (that you buy through money earned in Seasons mode), that fact alone would steer us away from Rapala Fishing. iPad users are at least treated to a special local multiplayer fish-off that we can only hope makes its way in some form to all the devices. That aside, the fishing never seems to get truly challenging; and unlike some of the better fishing games, the whole process here does get repetitive. Still, you do have to appreciate the efforts put into Rapala Pro Bass Fishing. With 60 individual events, voiced commentary and multiple explorable locations, Rapala Pro Bass Fishing high production quality could still appeal to the more casual fishermen.

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One of my real iPhone favorites — a game that I actually play for fun (a rare thing, given the number of titles we move through to find the gems among the chaff out there) — is Imangi's Harbor Master [link], which The Independent recently dubbed the third best app in the App Store. And the iPad version, Harbor Master HD [link] is the best Harbor Master experience to be had, thanks to the device's large display. Happily, Imangi's v2.0 Harbor Master update, which went live just a few hours ago, brings some of that big-screen detail to the iPhone 4's Retina display.

Imangi lists the enhancements in this update:

• Completely remastered high resolution graphics for the iPhone 4.
• New level! We adapted Cargo City, our most popular map from the iPad version, for the iPhone screen. It has 3 cargo types, so it takes "multitasking" to a whole new level.
• iOS4 multitasking support.
• Fixed twitter support so you can tweet your scores again.
• Rotation support, so you can hold your device however you want!
• A ton of bug fixes.

Imangi's current graphics guy, Kiril Tchangov, reworked all of the game's original art from scratch, putting his own, more "painterly" spin on the design, the studio tells us.

I think most people will be most excited about the new level, Cargo City. Cargo City is our most popular map from the iPad version, so we really wanted to bring a version of it over to the iPhone. It works really great on iPhone. With 3 cargo types, you have to turn on another part of your brain to control all those boats. You'll really like it. Here is the iPad version right next to the iPhone version, so you can see how we had to change it around to adapt it to the smaller screen.

The Harbor Master v2.0 update is a free download for current owners of the game.

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I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all — not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yohann Magnien's Modizer [App Store]…and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results. Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. That script, plus its associated audio samples, all bundled together into a single file were called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers soon adopted MODs as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats thanks to its use of the MODPlug and UADE players (the latter of which actually emulates an Amiga 1200 computer), switchable in the settings menu. A variety of OpenGL-based audio visualizers can be enabled to accompany playback, a feature that will be much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic. And it all runs smooth as glass without missing a beat.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections — about 215,000 tracks in all — that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

UPDATE: We just got word from the developer that he's currently working on a v1.1 update that includes various bugfixes as well as a number of enhancements:

• Some optimization for browser (mainly when browsing modland/artists)
• Sharp X68000 support (mdx/pdx files) with updated Modland lib
• Addressing issue where some formats miss the last second of music
• And more to come, depending on user feedback…

Magnien indicates that he's also considering a network "user stats" sort of ranking system that would let users easily share the overall highest rated songs. We'll keep you posted.

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I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all — not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yoyofr's Modizer [App Store]…and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results. Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. That script, plus its associated audio samples, all bundled together into a single file were called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers soon adopted MODs as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats and, to accompany them, offers a variety of OpenGL-based visualizations, which is much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections — about 215,000 tracks in all — that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

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Back in July we brought word that Gaijin Games had teamed up with Namco Bandai to develop an iOS adaptation of Gaigin's Wiiware rhythm action title BIT.TRIP BEAT. We're happy to report that the fruits of their labors have just made their App Store debut, with a version for both the iPhone / iPod touch [link] and the iPad [link].

One of a series of four Bit.Trip titles by Gaigin (published through the Wii Shop by Aksys Games), Bit.Trip Beat is something like a cross between Pong and Rez as an accelerometer-equipped Atari 2600 might play them. The game puts you in tilt or touch control of an on-screen paddle with the goal of bouncing waves of oncoming blocks whence they came. The impact timings of the aforementioned blocks are synched with the excellent chiptune audio track while abstract / futuristic animations float in the backdrop, both of which give the game its sort of Rez dynamic. And, it's all done up in brilliant colors and oh-so-lovely jaggy, chunky pixels, with a chiptune soundtrack appropriately accompanying the on-screen action.

The further you progress through the game, successfully returning oncoming blocks, the more complex and evolved the visual presentation becomes. Miss too many blocks, and the visuals slowly regress to a simple, black and white state, in another apparent nod to Rez.

Says Gaigan founder Alex Neuse,

“We're very excited for the BIT.TRIP series to join in the fight against digital boredom alongside the rank and file of legendary Namco franchises, such as PAC-MAN, Katamari Damacy and Mr. Driller. When considering a publishing partner for our series on mobile devices, Namco was among our top choices. After playing the final iPhone version, we positively freaked out. Namco has brought an absolutely pure BIT.TRIP experience to the mobile market and we look forward to continuing the series with them."

And I'd have to agree with Neuse as regards the "pure" nature of this game on the iOS platform, if "pure" speaks to a faithful, well-implemented conversion. I've spent significant time with the Wiiware original, and the game plays wonderfully on the iPhone and iPad. In fact, I find that the game offers more precise controls on the iOS devices than it does using the Wiimote — in touch-control mode in particular (though tilt is also an option). In my opinion, it's more enjoyable on the iPhone or iPad than on the Wii.

BIT.TRIP BEAT features local and online multiplayer (through Game Center), but at the moment it's only two-player head-to-head — four-player is coming in a future update. What's more, three additional levels (for now) are available as in-game, downloadable content. (One of the complaints about the original is the somewhat limited gameplay content.)

See the developer's short trailer featuring a bit of gameplay, or have a look at the Wii video we posted earlier, featuring nearly identical game content.

BIT.TRIP BEAT is one of those games that draws you in and sends you to a sort of 'zone' where much of the mundane meatspace world just kind of falls away. Anyone who enjoys rhythm gaming or retro-styling in general should have a really good time with this one.

BIT.TRIP BEAT for the iPhone and iPad are currently on a limited time, 50% off sale at the time of this writing.

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It's been a while since we've posted a whole mess of HD games for our iPad readers to sink their teeth in to. We've taken a look at the iPhone counterpart of all of these games before, and while most of them only have a few features with mentioning that are exclusive to the iPad (aside from high-resolution graphics), the wait is over if you've been holding out for a HD release.

Ninjatown: Trees Of Doom! HD!, $2.99 We had a great time with the iPhone version of this game when we reviewed it, and the iPad game comes with the same great ninja jumping gameplay that any fan of see how far you can climb games like Doodle Jump will love. One thing that made Ninjatown awesome on the iPhone was its crisp cartoony graphics which turn in to a blurry mess when run at 2x mode on the iPad, a problem that has since been solved by this HD release.

Cubed Rally Racer HD, $1.99 I still play Cubed Rally Racer a ton after our overwhelmingly positive review of the game, and since the tracks in the game are completely randomized, it really never gets old. Cubed Rally Racer HD is the same game with one major difference: Split screen multiplayer. The non-HD version looks OK running at 2x mode, but if you’ve found yourself enjoying single device multiplayer as much as I have on the iPad, you’ll have a ton of fun playing split screen.

Skee-Ball HD, $1.99 Apply the incredibly recognizable brand name of Skee-Ball to Gravek’s 10 Balls 7 Cups, and you’ve got a game that has spent nearly as much time on the best selling lists as Doodle Jump, Pocket God, and other classics. The HD release comes with the same ball rolling gameplay along with four optional DLC packs to customize the lanes and balls.

Zentomino HD, Free Little White Bear Studios’ released the iPhone version of Zentomino early last year, and the HD version plays identical with one major difference- It’s totally free with optional level packs available via in-app purchase if you find yourself wanting more after playing through the included levels. Definitely grab this one, especially if you share your iPad with kids, since the game is simple enough for everyone to enjoy.

Land Air Sea Warfare HD, $9.99 It’s extremely rare to find a realtime strategy game on the iPhone that’s fun to play due to just how much is going on in your typical RTS which doesn’t really lend itself to the limitations of a small touchscreen to control the battle. Land Air Sea Warfare blew us away in our review, providing an excellent pocketable RTS experience. The HD version is even better, and it works so well that playing it will really make you crave ports of RTS classics like StarCraft or the Warcraft series on the iPad more than ever.

Highborn HD, $2.99 There’s quite a few good turn-based strategy games on the App Store, but Highborne is one of the great ones. We really liked the gameplay, graphics, and everything else in our initial review of the iPhone version. Much like Land Air Sea Warfare, Highborne HD is a little bit easier to control on the large screen of the iPad and looks great in high resolution.

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