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IKAROS [$.99] creators Riverman Media has an interesting new title up its sleeves. Earlier in April, the studio revealed Pizza vs. Skeletons, a game that’ll pit two favorite things of mine against each other in one convenient iPod Touch and iPhone app.

I wish I could give you a good idea of what kind of game Pizza vs. Skeletons is slated to be, but even Riverman is struggling to pitch its concept or vision. “How do you hype up something that has no clear genre, a nonsense plot, and a main character that's a thirty foot tall conglomeration of cheese and tomato sauce,” the post asks.

In a nutshell, Pizza vs. Skeletons will have you moving a monstrous pizza wheel through a bevy of skeletons across 100 — or so — 2D levels of bone-smashing destruction. Apparently, Riverman will be implementing level-based mechanics, so in one level the focus will be crushing, the other rolling, the other "sumo wrestling," and more. The studio plans to keep switching up how you'll re-kill the undead to avoid repetition. Also, there's a significant focus on the feeling of being a gigantic pizza — whatever that means.

I reached out to Riverman to get further clarification on how these mechanics will fit together specifically, but if I’m reading into the original posting on its blog correctly, chances are that there’s no rhyme or reason for the existence of any of this stuff, which is sort of the point of the over-the-top game.

“We've had a lot of false starts and thrown it on the back-burner several times now,” the post says. “For awhile it was looking like it would be totally un-fun. However, recently we've finally started to make some real headway.”

Good! I can’t wait to show some skeletons what’s up… with a gigantic pizza. In the meantime, if you're hungry for more details on this game, stop by the thread in our upcoming games forum.

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Nintendo broke at least two hearts this morning. The publisher confirmed that the Nintendo 3DS’ personal App Store, the e-Shop, won’t be released at the end of this month as was planned. Instead, it’ll see a release on June 6 in the US and June 7 in Japan.

The shop will be introduced via a firmware update, which also packages in the device’s mobile Internet browser and, perhaps, some other fun tweaks and features that Nintendo isn’t letting the world know about yet.

We’re interested in the e-Shop for a pretty simple reason: it’s like the App Store. What kind of games will we see? What will the price points be? Will we see any notable re-releases from mobile developers?

Perhaps it’s just me being cynical, but I’m most interested in the platform because it might be a test bed for future iPod Touch and iPhone releases, much like the PSP Minis initiative has proven to be. The 3D effect that the 3DS requires of its games will prove to be a barrier, though, so it’ll be interesting to see how developers might overcome that.

[Via AndriaSang + Destructoid]

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The indie house that created Tilt To Live [$2.99 / HD] has been teasing a brand new project for some time. Until this afternoon, we only had this little nugget to go on: it was a multiplayer-focused, turn-based strategy game. Now, we’ve received our first in-game peek of the new IP, which has been dubbed “Outwitters.”

According to One Man Left, the vision of Outwitters is to strip strategy to the bone and package it as something fun and inviting. It even hopes to capture a few casual hearts out there with Outwitter’s tedium-snipping tweaks and simplicity.

In a nutshell, Outwitters is a class-based, defend-the-castle kind of joint. The twist here is that movement is turn-based, so the action isn't simply a rush and defend free-for-all. As of now, there are six different character classes to choose from, each with its own respective duty on the field. And like Rock, Paper, Scissors, I’d imagine each has a weakness to the other. The end goal is to, of course, pummel your opponent’s base.

“The phrase ‘I don’t usually like this type of game, but…’ has already come up in testing, which is definitely what we’re aiming for,” One Man Left said on its blog. “But how do we know if we’re on the right track? We’re recruiting testers that don’t like strategy games AND testers that love them, and we’re listening,” it explained. “And then we’re thinking really hard.”

Outwitters is still in development, and as the blog cautions constantly, the things we mention in this post could change, be tweaked, or be removed. But, still, this sounds like an intriguing game from a superstar indie development house. We’ll be keeping our eyes on it, for sure.

"Our goal is to boil the strategy experience down to what’s most fun about it in our opinion, and to make a strategy game people can enjoy without having to take a class," One Man said in an e-mail. "My personal side-goal, as the artist, was to stop using dots before I forgot how to draw completely."

Outwitters is due out later this year at an unannounced price for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

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Last month 2D Boy’s World of Goo [$2.99] finally arrived for the iPhone and iPod touch following the highly successful launch of World of Goo HD [$4.99] for the iPad this past winter.

The World of Goo experience translated surprisingly well to the smaller screen, but due to an unfortunate bug that slipped in at the last minute the game didn’t support Retina Display graphics as intended. Today 2D Boy has issued an update to correct this problem, and the game looks fantastic on the Retina Display.

If you’re somehow wondering “what is this World of Goo you speak of?” then be sure to check out our original review of the iPad version, as not only is World of Goo one of the most critically acclaimed indie titles on Mac and PC but it actually feels and plays even better utilizing the iOS touch screen.

Both the universal World of Goo HD and the iPhone/iPod touch only World of Goo have received the Retina Display fix, so be sure to grab the latest update to give your eyes some high-resolution love.

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It’s official: Cthulhu is about to get its tentacles all up in your mobile devices. Indie developer Red Wasp Design has just announced that it's behind Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land, an upcoming 3D turn-based strategy RPG for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and Android.

I suppose at this point, Cthulhu is more notorious as an Internet meme than it is as an object of author H.P. Lovecraft’s tortured mind, but just as a refresher, the hulking, tentacle-faced monster first appeared in a short story published in 1928. The monster has been used in many a video game since. I’m thinking his most famous usage was in Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, a Bethesda joint.

Of course, there’s also a paper RPG and it’s still a big deal. Red Wasp actually inked an agreement with the paper makers, Chaosium, in order to get this game done. As far as crossover, there’s a fair bit: “It is directly related to the paper RPG, not totally the same, but there is lots of cross-over,” a representative told me.

The Wasted Land takes place in an alternate World War I where our fair soldiers find a more impressive foe to face: an undead army that is ravaging Europe. It's up to you to find a way to stop the corpse advance through a mix of turn-based action.

If you’re like me, you’re probably scratching your head about how exactly this game will play. The TBS / RPG genre is cluttered with a bunch of different styles of games, so it’s kind of a nebulous branding. I didn’t get much more from the developers when I pressed.

“We're doing our own thing — but in terms of gameplay, players of games like X-COM or Fire Emblem would understand where we are getting inspiration from,” the representative said.

“As in the core game is turn-based in movement and combat (as is the RPG) and there is a strong narrative that drives the levels forward. There is also a strong role-play element is how you develop your characters from level to level.”

Tight lips! More, including a release date and price, will be announced after this summer. Members of Red Wasp were previously behind Star Wars: The Battle For Hoth [$1.99 / Lite] and Filth Fair [Free] for iOS devices.

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You’d figure it’d be all hands on deck for the supposed Alan Wake continuation, but the minds and hands at Remedy Entertainment are still finding the time to support their racer Death Rally [$2.99] with a stream of post-release content. This morning’s update is a good one, too, as it adds a new level, a brand new mechanic, and a lot of fixes and tweaks.

Digging right into it, version 1.3 ushers in a brand new track called “Eureka.” It’s set in a frozen environment and features a “unique” camera angle. It also boasts a new mechanic: the studio has created and implemented a new track unlocking system that’ll allow you to collect pieces of new levels as you race. This is similar to how you put guns together and then earn them when you grab all the individual pieces via campaign play.

Oh, and no worries about losing all your save data again during an iPod switch — a key value add in this latest update are back-ups that restore game progress based on what you’ve unlocked in Game Center. Not perfect, but it’s better than nothing, right?

As for the tweaks and bug fixes, there’s a lot. The one that jumps out at me is the random challenge bug fix, which now prevents the game from crashing in some cases. Also, the menus in the game have been “improved” for the iPhone 4 and original iPad, new sound has been added for the Stryker and the level Velodrama, and “further” support has been added to older iPod Touches and iPhones due to “reduced memory consumption.”

Death Rally, if you didn’t know, is a particularly sharp over-the-top racing game as noted in our review. The game hit first in March, but we actually featured it in our April game listings after upping the review to a five-star rating as a direct result of these awesome updates. Check it out!

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Alright, so here's a weird one for you- Our forums are filled with all walks of life, including people who apparently read every last detail of end the user license agreements that 99.999% of the planet just scroll through as quickly as humanly possible before clicking "I Agree". Forum member Starjimstar just tipped us off to the following Duke Nukem Forever info-nugget that's got me scratching my chin.

If you check out the Duke Nukem Forever page on Steam, you can scroll all the way down to the view the manual link. Like most modern PC games, there's basically nothing in there aside from a list of system requirements, and a whole bunch of legal text. Reading this legalese to the bottom gets you to the "Apple App Store Additional License Terms."

Strange, right? The original Duke Nukem [99¢] is already on the App Store, but could Gearbox potentially be planning an iOS release of Forever as well? What reason could there possibly be to include App Store licensing terms in a document for a PC game? Here's where things really get crazy- Per the FAQ, Gearbox isn't specifically stating which engine they're using, but it wouldn't be much of a leap to suggest they're using the Unreal Engine. …Which also is available for iOS.

Alternatively, they could be referring to the Mac App Store, which is newsworthy as well as the previously mentioned FAQ specifically states the lack of announcements for a Mac version. …But then there's the line that specifically states:

The license to the Software is a non-transferable license to use the Software only on an iPhone or iPod touch that you own or control.

At this point in the development of Duke Nukem Forever, absolutely nothing would surprise me. Conspiracy theorists, start your engines!

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One of the strongest entries in an overcrowded castle defense genre is Liv Games’ Legendary Wars [Free]. We reviewed Legendary Wars back when it launched during Macworld in January, and found it to be highly enjoyable due to the variety of gameplay types, interesting upgradeable abilities, and wonderful artwork. Liv Games didn’t stop there, either, and offered up a substantial update to the game in March that added Retina Display support, Game Center integration, and a number of other enhancements and optimizations.

Legendary Wars is a game that seems like it would lend itself very well to the larger screen of the iPad, and indeed many players in our forums have been enjoying the game a lot just playing on the iPad in 2x pixel doubled mode. There’s no need for that anymore, however, as the iPad native Legendary Wars HD [99¢] is now available. It's essentially the same exact game content-wise, but the bigger screen allows more of the battlefield to be shown, requiring less scrolling and giving you a better view for planning your strategy.

Legendary Wars HD looks and plays wonderfully with a properly formatted screen and native resolution graphics for the iPad. As a special launch promotion, and as a bonus for current owners of the game who may want to double dip with the iPad version, Legendary Wars HD can be purchased for just 99¢ through the weekend. Plus, if you don't already have the iPhone/iPod touch version, you can currently pick that up for free this weekend as well. It goes without saying that you should definitely give the regular version a download while free, and if you own an iPad then Legendary Wars HD is an easy recommendation at the launch price of 99¢.

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A couple of weeks ago, we reviewed Elemental Rage from Oniric Games. Taking cues from classic game series such as Metroid, Castlevania, and The Legend of Zelda, Elemental Rage offered up a really enjoyable brand of action platforming. It had solid virtual controls, great looking graphics, and an interesting storyline to follow along with. It may not have been quite as complex as the games that inspired it, and it is a bit on the short side, but was there was a ton of fun and totally worth at least a couple of playthroughs.

If you’ve been mulling around the idea of checking out Elemental Rage, but haven’t quite been able to pull the buy button trigger, then I have some good news for you. Lite versions have been released for both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad versions of the game. The lite version features just the first mission of the game, but will definitely give you a good taste of the controls and gameplay to help you decide if you’re into forking over for the complete game.

If you like any of the previously mentioned games, or just good platforming games in general, then don’t hesitate to give the lite version of Elemental Rage a try. It has turned out to be one of my surprise favorites out of recent releases, and plenty of members in our forums are loving the game as well.

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Cipher Prime, the Philadelphia-based developer of the award winning, multi-platform title Auditorium [Free], is getting set to release their newest rhythm-based music game exclusively (for now) on the iPad. Called Pulse, the gameplay will have you tapping and sometimes sliding a series of dots in time with a circle that pulses from the center of the screen in rhythm with the music. It’s certainly not easy to explain, so it might be best to check out this gameplay video from IndieGameMag:

Pulse is looking like an interesting new entry in the rhythm-based music game genre. I think one of the strong points will be that the gameplay seems to have been built around the included songs in the game, with a range of genres covered from electronica to heavy metal to chip-tunes. Cipher Prime has also stated that Pulse would only be possible on a device with a large multitouch screen, hence the game only currently coming to the iPad, but they haven’t entirely ruled out an Android version sometime in the future either. No word yet on if an iPhone or iPod touch version could be possible.

According to the Cipher Prime blog, Pulse is already approved by Apple and will be releasing this Thursday. We’ll take a closer look at the game then.

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