TouchArcade.ru

Last month we checked out the trailer for an upcoming platformer called Roboto from developer Fenix Fire Games, and thought it looked pretty promising. You play as a hoverboard riding robot who is chasing his female robot crush all across the galaxy, in an effort to win her affection. Gameplay appeared to fall somewhere in between a traditional platformer and a fast-paced endless running game, which seemed like a good combination.

Then last week, Roboto [$2.99] was released in the App Store, and after playing through the game it mostly delivers on all the promise that was expected from the trailer. The visuals and level design are the brightest points of Roboto, but a couple of technical shortcomings and less-than-ideal controls hold it back from true greatness. Fenix Fire is already in the process of addressing these issues though, and with just a small bit of post-release update love Roboto could be one of the finest platformers available on the entire iOS platform.

Right off the bat you’ll notice that Roboto is simply stunning visually. The crisp and colorful graphics look fantastic on the Retina Display, and there are loads of little details that give the game a great sense of character. Gameplay is strictly on a 2D plane, but the entire game is rendered in 3D and the usage of the foreground and background give a great sense of depth as you play. Killing an enemy might shoot a gear right into the screen when it explodes, and background elements like huge wrecking balls will swing into the foreground, looking like they might burst right through the screen.

Roboto’s moves consist of running left or right, jumping, hovering, and shooting. Holding down the jump button will cause Roboto to hover for a short period, a la Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2. Roboto’s actions will expend an energy meter at the top of the screen, which can be replenished by collecting various energy pickups spread throughout the levels. If you run out of energy and come across a point where you need to hover over a gap, you’re pretty much screwed, so it’s best to keep a close eye on your supply and not overuse any of your moves.

The real brilliance of Roboto lies in its level designs. They are each designed to be completed speed run style if you choose, but if you slow down and take your time there are plenty of items to collect or enemies to defeat. At the end of each of the 30 levels in the game, your score is tallied based on completion time, enemies killed, remaining energy, and whether or not you collected each of the 3 gears hidden in the level. This gives Roboto great replay value, as after merely completing a level it can be a nice challenge to go back and try to get 100% for everything and land a huge score. Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards adds to this as well.

My biggest gripe with Roboto is the absolutely terrible control stick used for moving your character in the game. The stick is seriously temperamental, and sometimes will drop whatever direction you’re moving without you even realizing it. This can make the game infinitely frustrating, as you’ll literally be hovering over a gap and will suddenly drop right into it due to no fault of your own. I’ve easily died more times from this one issue than from any enemy or challenge in the game. Luckily, Fenix Fire has posted on their Facebook page that an update will hit soon that adds separate left and right arrows for movement, which I think will be a much better option. But right at this moment, the control issue drives me absolutely bananas.

Another issue worth considering is that for such a graphically intense game, performance has been spotty for some players. It’s not really consistent, either, as I’ve had almost no issues running the game on my iPhone 4, except for very minor stutters when a ton of things happen onscreen at once. Conversely, some members in our forums cannot even play the game at all due to an abysmal frame rate grinding things to a halt or the game simply crashing on them. The developers also mention on their Facebook that performance optimization is coming in an update as well, but again, as of this writing you may or may not have any luck getting the game to run consistently well, or at all.

Roboto has all the makings of a classic platforming game. It’s one of the most visually impressive games I’ve seen in some time, and the gameplay itself is well designed and a lot of fun. If the controls and performance issues can be ironed out sufficiently, then Roboto will fall into the “must have” category of iOS platformers. Right now though, expect to be frustrated with the touchy control stick and potential for some technical hangups that might prevent your from playing the game. If you’re on the fence, it might be worth waiting to see how the update resolves these issues.

[source]

Of late, PopCap Games has been crossing its T’s and dotting it’s I’s. Just a few weeks ago, the publisher dropped a retina display support update into its monstrous hit, Peggle [$2.99]. Around roughly the same time, Plants vs. Zombies [$2.99 /HD] received the Zen Garden in a free update, bringing it on par with the other versions out there. Now, PVZ can boast retina display support, too. In a free update that just dropped, PVZ can be seen in all its fantastic, HD-y glory for those playing on an iPhone 4.

If PopCap was a person this kind of housecleaning behavior could be seen as a sign that it’s preparing for something new. Lord knows you won't catch me picking up quarters off my floor or dusting my molding unless I'm moving out an old couch and putting a new one in.

Is it plausible that we’re on the cusp of receiving a fresh game from the studio? Undoubtedly, it’s working on stuff. Games are kinda how a studio makes money, you know? I just wonder how soon we'll see something since both of these games are essentially in totally finished states, finally.

In the not-so-distant past, the media spotted a bunch of out-there PopCap Games trademarks. The one that caught my eye the hardest was Yeti Train, but there’s also Popcorn Dragon, Robodojo, and Vacation Quest.

[source]

Augmented-reality games are weird. They hardly work and even when they actually do operate as intended, the game experience is usually lacking and centralizes entirely too much around the whole augmenting gimmick. I’m also not too sure if there’s even a market out there for these kinds of games. But, I probably shouldn’t be so dismissive, especially when there’s a new, apparently solid-looking SDK out in there in the wild.

According to TechCrunch, Qualcomm has released its ARG SDK, which was originally intended for Android devices with Snapdragon chips, for iOS-compatible devices. This initial release has support for, specifically, the iPhone 4, iPad 2, and even the fourth-generation iPod Touch.

If you’re in the dark on augmented reality, it’s a pretty simple concept. You point your device’s camera at something real and then the game turns that into something interactive. A lot of card games, for example, like to incentivize their physical, branded cards by allowing you to scan them into their respective games and then use digital versions of them. Other games just incorporate real-world settings on top of existing mechanics, like this Star Wars game here:

Having an SDK at hand that actually works with a target platform organically should really empower those studios out there who have good augmented reality ideas, but don’t want to spend the research and development costs of getting the core technology that makes the "augmenting" work. This is a good thing for all of us because, hey, who knows? Maybe we will get that game that completely changes my jaded perspective on augmented reality games in general. (I hope so.)

[Via TechCrunch]

[source]

Back in March 2008, when Apple announced the iPhone SDK and the then-forthcoming App Store, many people immediately though: GAMES. I know we did — that's why we started TouchArcade that very month. Another person who felt that gaming would be huge on the iPhone is Craig Rothwell of OpenPandora. Seeing an opportunity there in the button-lacking iPhone, Craig and company began designing the iControlPad, a gaming accessory originally designed to mate with the iPhone and provide a D-pad plus four buttons. We first caught wind of this effort quite a while ago — over three years ago, in fact. In that time, the iControlPad has changed shape more than once, changed interfaces, and, finally, become a real product that can be ordered online.

Yesterday, we received a test unit and I've been putting it through its paces and learning its ins and outs all day. Let me share my impressions.

The first thing that strikes you about the iControlPad when you unpack it is its myriad inputs. There's a D-pad, a four-button diamond, a Select and Start button, two back buttons, and two analog sticks. Best of all, the glorious analog sticks! And…the first disappointment comes when you, iOS gamers, discover that they're rendered unusable due to Apple's restrictions on the type of Bluetooth devices that can interface with iOS.

The iControlPad is a complex device that features many different modes of Bluetooth operation: keyboard emulation, Serial Port Protocol (SPP), a slew of Human Interface Device (HID) modes, as well as custom combinations of several. What's more, it features firmware that can be flash-updated from Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. While, due to the aforementioned restrictions, the iControlPad can only interface with un-jailbroken iOS devices by way of keyboard emulation, it can interface with other platforms, including Android and WebOS, via the more robust protocols and, thus, deliver its full range of capabilities. Keyboard emulation does allow all other controls on the device to work under iOS — but no analog sticks, which need to send a constant stream of positional data to the host device.

Jailbroken iOS devices can take full advantage of the analog sticks, as demonstrated in this iPhone demo video.

The iControlPad's keyboard emulation mode interfaces with iOS devices in a similar manner as the iCade, with one "keypress" being sent to the iPhone when an action begins, and another when that action ends. The following diagram, kindly provided by Stuart Carnie of Manomio, illustrates the basic event flow in this mode of operation.

Under the keyboard emulation mode, the native iControlPad key protocol is a bit more complex than that of the iCade, and as a result it should exhibit slightly more latency than ThinkGeek's control device, though happily, it's not easy to see. No big worries though, as an imminent firmware update will allow the iControlPad to go into an iCade emulation mode, of sorts, using its same key protocol, which will allow it to work with any game coded to take advantage of the iCade controller.

A little more concerning is a situation I noticed when playing games that require a great deal of button mashing (like R-Type). At times in such games, the onscreen ship would continue going in the last direction I triggered, ultimately flying off the screen or into a wall. I'm not certain, but it seems more a key signal issue than a physical issue of the D-pad sticking. If that's indeed the case, I hope a firmware update will resolve the matter.

The iControlPad itself feels pretty substantial. It consists of a core rectangular control unit with rubber end-caps that can function as a free-standing Bluetooth control unit for many types of devices. The standard end-caps can be removed and replaced with a locking plastic frame that allows various phone-sized devices to be physically connected to the unit. For iPad use, you'd want the generic end-caps, while you'd want the iPhone end-cap-frames to attach an iPhone. Other phones can use other end-caps.

The unit features a non-removable, rechargeable 1350 mAh battery that can be used to charge your iPhone's battery by way of plugging a USB OTG adapter into the iControlPad's USB port. Given that the iPhone 4's battery is 1420 mAh, the unit can deliver a notable boost in usage time for the host device. A very nice feature.

As mentioned previously, I tested a number of games on the iControlPad-equipped iPhone, including R-Type. That's Amiga R-Type running under a build of Manomio's iAmiga emulator with iControlPad (and iCade) support built-in, kindly provided by Stuart Carnie. Any joystick-based game running under the developer iAmiga build in question can be played using the iControlPad. And played well — the experience feels great, aside from the occasional "sticking" issue that I spoke of earlier. If and when that gets ironed out, the iControlPad unquestionably delivers a far superior game experience than any manner of on-screen D-pad.

That said, I only have this iAmiga build thanks to a developer connection. I am not aware of a single game sitting in the App Store at this moment that natively supports the iControlPad. Several currently support the iCade, and when emulation for that device arrives, iControlPad users will have more to play with. I am sure that, in time, the device will gain app support, but it's something of a bleak playing field right now.

After spending a long day with the unit, I cannot recommend that the typical gamer run out right now and grab one. It's true that I recently praised the iCade in my review, but as a physical arcade machine replica, it delivers more of an overall retro "experience" than simply a new method of control. And, there's value there, to me and the other retro goons, I feel. I think the iControlPad needs to see some issues ironed out and a bit more adoption before it becomes a desirable accessory for the typical iOS gamer. For the hobbyist developer or the hacker sort with jailbreak in their blood, however, it's a pretty great device to tinker with. I am definitely intrigued and think it's got potential as something that might find itself on an iOS gamer's wish list.

Here's hoping Apple loosens up its Bluetooth restrictions so that the iControlPad and devices of its sort can deliver their full functionality to iOS gamers.

We'll keep readers updated as the iControlPad evolves. Stay tuned.

[source]

For quite some time now we have been tracking Manomio's upcoming iAmiga emulation system for iOS, designed as a sort of wrapper or delivery vehicle to bring licensed Amiga games to the App Store. At the end of last year, we posted an exclusive preview of the in-development system, including a demo video showing a number of classic test titles running quite well on an iPhone 4. One of the titles we played with back then was Cinemaware's classic 1986 strategy game, Defender of the Crown. I'm happy to report that this well-loved, fully-licensed title will be the first iAmiga-powered game to land in the App Store, and that Manomio CEO Stuart Carnie was kind enough to grant us exclusive access to a near-release build of the game.

First, let me say a little bit about the game, for those that may be unfamiliar. Defender of the Crown is a strategy game set in medieval England. The player takes on the role of any of four Saxon knights in a bid to defeat the Norman invaders and fill the vacant throne of England. The original game manual, which is packed with historical information, tells the story well.

IT IS A TIME OF LEGENDS. A time for heroes. A time of bitter strife, when great men rise above their peers to perform great deeds. A chapter of history is in the making.

Your liege the king is dead, the throne vacant. Britain enters a season of destruction, a winter of killing that can end only when the last brave Saxon knight lies dead or the castles of the Normans lie in heaps of rubble, emptied of the foul oppressors who have enslaved your people.

It is a time when foreign invaders shall learn truths administered by the shining blades of Saxon swords. It is a time when heroes are made, and legends are born.

The game is centered around a Risk-style map of England on which the player builds and deploys troops in an effort to defend home territories and take land occupied by the Normans. The struggle involves field combat, castle raids (with catapults, even), jousting, rescuing damsels in distress, and the like. While some of the action is quite involved — jousting is a first-person affair, for instance — other portions of it are more high-level strategy, i.e. click attack, watch the stats columns update. The whole thing is laid out like a very interactive board game, as opposed to something more intricate and vast, such as the more recent Warcraft III or Starcraft II. It is 25 years old, after all.

Even though Defender of the Crown is now 25, the pixel artwork of the talented and renowned Jim Sachs is still lovely to behold — and I don't think I'm talking through my retro blinders, there. Given that, I wanted to share an excerpt from Brian Bagnall's excellent book On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore, to help convey just how actually jarring an experience it was to see the game for the first time back in 1986.

[Amiga co-creator R.J.] Mical saw artist Jim Sachs push the Amiga to its full potential. "Jim Sachs, what a God he is," marvels Mical. "Jim Sachs is amazing. These days everyone sees graphics like that because there are a lot of really good computer graphics artists now, but back then, 20 years ago, it was astonishing to have someone that good."

The final game was a landmark in video game production values. As game designer Bob Lindstrom recalls, "The shock of seeing Defender for the first time was one of those experiences that changed the gaming stakes for all of us."

Compared to other video games of the time, Defender of the Crown established a new level of quality. IBM had Kings Quest by Sierra On-Line, a decent but primitive adventure game. The Macintosh had games like Checkers or Backgammon, or board games like Risk. Defender of the Crown had richer graphics than any computer, console, or even arcade game could boast in 1986. It was a revelation.

That's not to say that the game shined so brightly on every one of the numerous platforms to which it was ported. While the Amiga original is unquestionably the most visually impressive of the lot, there's room for debate as to which version looks the worst. And, happily for iOS users, it's the Amiga version that will soon be landing in the App Store.

Being a faithfully emulated version of the original, Defender of the Crown for iOS brings with it the Amiga's mouse-based controls, and Manomio has done a good job of making that work with the iPad's touchscreen. In order to interact with items on the screen or aim the jousting lance, the screen becomes basically a large trackpad, with a pointer that can be dragged or clicked (tapped) to get things done. As a full-time user of Apple's large Magic Trackpad, I very quickly got accustomed to the interaction, there. In a number of situations, a direct tap on this or that item on the screen would be preferable to dragging the pointer about, true, but I think it's important to remember that this is an emulated title that is being made available to iOS gamers thanks to the iAmiga system. A ground-up rewrite of a classic from years past — and the likelihood of that occurring — is an entirely different proposition, from many angles. I think there's much to be enjoyed about Defender of the Crown on iOS, just as it is.

Have a look at a bit of gameplay on the iPad 2 from the latest build of the game.

Stuart indicates that right now the game is feature complete and all that's left is to finalize the in-game documentation. Defender of the Crown for iOS is a Universal application supporting the iPhone 3GS, 3rd gen iPod touch, iPad, or better. It should arrive in the App Store in about two weeks and we'll be sure to let readers know when they can start to have fun storming the castles.

[source]

Dream:scape [$1.99] is a story of death and redemption, a haunting narrative brought to life with Unreal-powered graphics and pitch-perfect sound design. In it, you play Wilson, a coma patient on the verge of death who is given the chance to explore his own memories and discover the truth of a secret that's haunted him throughout his life.

To help you find your way through Wilson's memories, you're given a diary that notes the memories and images you discover on your journey. It will guide you through his dreamscape, a place of deep foreboding. You'll come across meaningful places where voices from the past will give you pieces of the secret, and you'll feel the world close in around you as you approach the final revelation. For an hour or more, you'll be immersed in Wilson's world.

I wanted so much to love Dream:scape. It has all the makings of a classic, with a thoughtful story and fantastic atmosphere. The sound and music are amazing—you're cheating yourself if you play without headphones—and even the voice acting is strong. If you can go into the game wanting only these things, you'll be impressed.

But if you're looking for a game that's enjoyable to play, you should look elsewhere. Judged only on its technical merits, Dream:scape is a mess. I played it first on an iPad 2. The device can play the game with a high and steady framerate, but the textures look strangely low resolution and the control is abysmal. The on-screen controls are slightly too large and awkard to use comfortably. The camera control can't be inverted, and while you can drag to pan the camera, you'll bump into the on-screen camera control regularly.

The controls feel much better on smaller devices, but you'll probably run into crashes on anything but the newest generation of hardware. If this happens to you, try resetting your phone before playing – this game needs a lot of available memory. Given the option, I'd recommend only playing on an iPhone 4 – they've got the power to run Dream:scape well, and the textures look much better on a Retina display. I suspect I would have enjoyed this game much more if I'd only played it on an iPhone 4.

No matter what you're playing on, though, the gameplay just isn't very inspiring. It can be hard to find your way around, and the in-game map isn't very helpful. Also, a good chunk of Dream:scape's short experience is spent backtracking. For example, I noticed a hammer sitting on a box early in the game. It was obviously important, but I couldn't pick it up. A few minutes later, I found a spot where I needed a hammer, so I had to find my way back, grab it, and return. This sort of thing continues throughout the game, so there's really no point exploring anything other than the area you're meant to go. You'll get through every area by the end, and there are no secrets to find or achievements to unlock.

Worse are the game's few moments of action. They require swipes across the screen that only register if you do them in the exact short, sharp manner the game expects. If you fail, you're sent back to the last checkpoint with no indication of how to do better. This may be more of an interactive narrative than a game, but all these frustrations get in the way.

Dream:scape is so close to being amazing that it's hard for me to say this, but the problems just killed what enjoyment I would have otherwise had. If it receives an update to address the control issues, the crashes and the texture problems, then yes, absolutely buy it and experience it. Otherwise, you'll need to judge whether you'd find interesting story worth muddling through the often frustrating gameplay. It's not perfect, but I'm glad I got to enjoy the audio-visual experience and haunting story.

It's exciting that the tiny team at Speedbump Studios was able to put this game together in just a few months. We're obviously seeing the tip of the iceberg of the sorts of interactive 3D experiences we'll be seeing on our iOS devices in the months and years to come. I'm just not sure this one was quite ready for its debut.

[source]

Yesterday, I was quite excited to see Konami release an iOS version of their classic arcade beat ‘em up X-Men [$2.99], and I quickly downloaded the title as soon as it hit the US App Store. The good news is that this is a totally competent port of X-Men that’s just how your remember it from 1992, and it plays just fine using virtual controls. The bad news is that once the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia wear off, X-Men is a simplistic and repetitive game at its core compared to modern offerings.That doesn’t mean it isn’t any fun though, and it’s still a total blast to kick the snot out of legions of Magneto’s henchmen using your favorite X-man or woman.

X-Men was always at its best played cooperatively with friends, with the pinnacle being the dual-screen arcade cabinet that allowed for all 6 players to play together simultaneously. This feature has been faithfully retained in the iOS version thanks to local WiFi cooperative play. I don’t have enough devices to confirm whether you can play with all 6 players at once or not, but I did play through a 3 player game using an iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPod touch. The connection was both easy to set up and reliable throughout the game, and cooperative multiplayer in X-Men is just as much fun as I remember it being.

Unfortunately, the solo gameplay doesn’t hold up quite as well. Since continuing from exactly where you end up dying is both unlimited and doesn’t cost any quarters, almost all of the risk or challenge is taken out of the game. It’s easy to just mindlessly mash through the game, continuing as much as you need until it’s all over. Sure, you can challenge yourself by restricting your own use of the continue option, but a more structured set of rules or goals would have been a nice addition. The inclusion of Game Center achievements and a leaderboard mitigates this somewhat.

Besides unlimited continues taking some of the fun out of the game, the actual brawler-style gameplay hasn’t aged so well either. Your offensive move set is extremely shallow, and X-Men doesn’t strive to be anything more than a mindless button-masher. The problem is that the visceral feel of physically mashing away at buttons on an arcade cabinet doesn’t translate so well to the flat surface of a touch screen.

One nice addition to the iOS version of X-Men is the ability to move the onscreen virtual controls wherever you like, though I wish I could adjust the opacity of them as well. It’s a universal game, and plays well on both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. There is the option to play the game in a cropped window that retains the original 4:3 aspect ratio of the arcade game, or a “16:9” option that fills out the entire screen of whichever device you’re using. I tend to go with the smaller window option as it retains the crispness of the pixel graphics, but it’s nice to have the option of full screen too.

If you were a fan of the X-Men game in arcades nearly two decades ago, then you should easily get your three dollars-worth out of the iOS version just on the nostalgia factor alone. If you aren’t familiar with the original game but enjoy a good arcade beat ‘em up, then X-Men should still do the trick, it’s just not the best the genre has to offer. The gameplay feels quite dated by today’s standards, though it’s not without its charms. If you have one or more iOS device-toting buddies with you, the experience improves dramatically in cooperative play.

I’m really happy that Konami decided to bring one of its classic arcade titles to the App Store, as are a ton of players in our forums, and I really hope that we continue to see more down the line. While the gameplay hasn’t aged so well and there isn’t an excessive amount of bells and whistles, the iOS X-Men is a totally decent conversion and an easy recommendation for fans of the original.

[source]

Remember last week when we posted a set of borderline unbelievable looking screenshots for Madfinger's upcoming Shadowgun? I admit, even I was skeptical about whether or not this game would look anything like this when it's actually running on a device. Two videos recently appeared with the game running on a Tegra 2-based Android device, give 'em a look:

If this is how the game runs on Tegra 2 devices, I can't wait to see it running on the iPad 2 which is a graphical beast in comparison. Madfinger has committed to releasing the game on the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, and of course, whatever the iPhone 5 is called. No word yet on older devices. If this all sounds interesting to you (and I don't know why it wouldn't), stop by the thread on our forums where people from Madfinger are actively posting and answering questions.

[source]

It was back in mid-April that we first caught sight of Dream:scape, an upcoming fully 3D adventure game built using the Unreal Engine. Dream:scape has been loosely compared to a free-roaming Myst-style game, and the trailer showcased fairly stunning visuals and intriguing dialog that had me curious to see more. Here’s a quick synopsis as seen on the developer Speedbump Studio’s website:

Take on the role of Wilson, a coma patient relearning his past by exploring the dreamscape of his memories. Only there, in the lucid light of the subconscious, buried secrets are revealed, unraveling a decades-old mystery of tragedy, betrayal, and ultimately, revenge.

Unfortunately, after submitting the game to Apple, the release of Dream:scape hit a snag when it was revealed during the review process that due to a memory bug the game would only be certified for iPhone 4 and iPad 2 devices. It was expected that a robust game like Dream:scape would likely only work on 3rd generation hardware and up, but being limited to only 2 devices would not be acceptable. Speedbump decided to pull the submission and spend time reworking Dream:scape to run on older devices.

Which brings us to today, just over a month later where Speedbump has revealed that Dream:scape is finally ready and will be released next week on June 9th. The official devices supported will be the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch and both iPads. Curiously, no mention of 3rd generation iPod touch support, though since that hardware is nearly identical to a 3GS I think it will be safe.

To celebrate having an official launch date, Speedbump has prepared a brand new trailer for Dream:scape:

I don’t know about you, but that second trailer has me even more excited for the release of Dream:scape. The first trailer showed some realistic depictions of gorgeous landscapes and interiors, but this one shows some seriously twisted dream world stuff going on that looks great and also kind of creepy. Also, I hate spiders, so the gigantic spider part is sure to freak me out.

We’ll be eager to check out Dream:scape when it launches next week, and until then you can drop by our forums to discuss the game.

[source]

If you didn't quite get your fill of wandering around in an empty game world powered by the Unreal Engine in Epic Citadel [Free], you're in luck. Codenrama just released Castlerama [Free], a remarkably similar tech demo that allows you to walk around and similarly look at just what the Unreal Engine is capable of on iOS devices.

Per the YouTube description of the above video, it seems like the developers are running into similar issues as the Dream:Scape developer last month with the memory limitations of older devices:

While developing Castlerama, we had to face the fact that newer devices such as iPhone4s and iPad2s are very different from their predecessors, iPhone3GSs and iPads, in that the former have twice as much memory. In order to have the app run on all devices, we had to compromise quite a bit, pushing the old devices to their limits (risking crash if other applications are left running) while keeping the new devices well behind their capabilities. In the future we believe we will have to develop two versions for each application.

Castlerama looks awesome, and if what they've released is a "compromise" to work with older devices, I seriously can't wait to see what the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 exclusive build is capable of. If you've got some spare time today and want to see another demonstration of the Unreal Engine, give Castlerama a try.

I'm still waiting for some major Unreal Engine-powered game releases, but I suppose tech demos are a good first start.

[source]