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Earlier the other week, we brought you news that Activision was kicking off a new stat-tracking service for Call of Duty called “Call of Duty: Elite.” In addition to giving fans a web portal, the mega publisher plans to release native applications for the iPad and iPod Touch that do much the same thing. Bungie has since fired first so-to-speak by offering a stat-tracking application of its own for Halo: Reach (and possibly more games to come).

You can download “Bungie Mobile” [Free] for free. And while it gives you all that you need to know about your K/D ratio, it also lets you view your Spartan’s armor, the challenges of the week, the commendations that you’ve earned, and last but not least, connect with the rich Halo community still residing at Bungie.Net, the one-stop-web portal for all things Halo including stats.

The latter is an important point: part of the reason why this was released was to give fans free stuff. As of now, you can unlock a Bungie Nameplate and special Blue Flames over the app for Halo: Reach. Bungie is giving users without an app a shot at other fun stuff, including never-released artwork and commemorative t-shirts.

You can learn more about that via Bungie’s Web site.

If you’re wondering what the hubbub is all about, know this: 343 Industries is now the studio behind the IP. Its first title will be Halo 4,  a new chapter in a three-part continuation of the original Halo series.

Official applications like this are more rare than you’d think. Publishers and studios don’t blow a portion their 25 million dollar-and-up budgets on small social-focused apps that connect to console experiences, despite the power of the “always thinking about the game” mentality that their on-the-go nature inspires. It’s nice to see a high-profile studio like Bungie give it a shot in earnest.

If you’d like to don a tin-foil hat with me for a second, I think this also means that Bungie won’t be afraid to pump out a similar support application for its forthcoming MMO.

Speaking of crystal balls, Bungie revealed in a post earlier today explaining the sudden appearance of Bungie Mobile that it will “tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what Bungie Aerospace is all about.” I’ve been thinking that it has a connection to said MMO. I’m not sure that’s the case now. We’ll see soon enough — July 7 is the cut-off date.

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A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Ten One Design was getting ready to release a smaller version of their wonderful Fling controllers for the iPad which would be suitable for use on iPhone and iPod touch devices. There was a lot of negative backlash to this announcement though, and I can sort of see why. The promo image for the Fling Mini showed that using 2 of the controllers at the same time really blocked much of the screen of the device, and it was hard to imagine how it could be practical to play games this way.

Last week at WWDC, Eli and myself both got our hands on an early pair of the Fling Minis and put them to the test. Surprisingly, the screen blockage is almost a complete non-issue when you’re actually using the Fling Minis. The plastic that the Fling Mini is comprised of is translucent and doesn’t really block any more of the screen than your own thumbs normally would. But, that’s not to say that they don’t come with some quirks and they won’t work on every game that you’d hope. For the games that they do work with they work exceptionally well, and just like the Flings on iPad they offer a smooth and tactile control option over using a touch screen alone.

Eli has put together this fantastic comparison video showing off the difference between the original Fling, which you can read our original review of, and the new Fling Mini:

In my own experience, I’ve found several games that work near perfectly with the Fling Mini. Both Bug Heroes [Free] and Max Adventure [99¢/Lite] are two of my favorite dual-stick shooters that don’t come with many compromises when using the Fling, which you can see in this second hands-on video. There will be times when accessing a UI element or menu option will be difficult because the Fling Mini is blocking that part of the screen, but it’s easy enough to detach a suction cup and swivel the controller out of the way to gain access to these. It would be cool if there were tiny hinges in the connector arms of the Fling Mini so you could quickly flip them up to access the entire screen. Perhaps in a Fling Mini version 2.0.

The Fling Mini is also well-suited to some games that use just a single analog stick or a d-pad for movement, and one interesting thing is how well it works with the Joypad Game Controller [Free] which we also covered at WWDC this year. Especially with the Joypad SDK now offering the ability to use analog sticks, one or two Fling Minis combined with an iPhone or iPod touch and the Joypad app could make for a really nice controller for playing an iPad or desktop game.

One example of a game that did not work so well is Age of Zombies [$2.99/Lite]. I had high hopes for this one as it employs a touch anywhere scheme for its set of dual-stick controls, which would mean precise placement of the Fling wouldn’t be necessary. Unfortunately there is no way to access the grenade button while using the Fling with this game, which is a pretty big problem. You can avoid this by using only one Fling on the left control stick, but this gives the game an inconsistent feel. Also, games that utilize buttons in the lower corners of the screen, like many first person shooters, are also basically unplayable due to the plastic spirals of the Fling Mini blocking those areas of the screen.

The thing I like most about the Flings is that they just “feel” good. The movement is solid and smooth, and for the games that they work well with they are definitely an enhancement. On the larger screen of the iPad, the original Fling works with a greater number of games and there are much fewer instances of inaccessible UI elements. These problems are amplified with the Fling Mini and the smaller iOS screens, but it isn’t a total deal breaker and for the select games that they do work well with they feel absolutely brilliant.

One of the first things I asked Ten One Design about the Fling Mini was whether they would also work on an iPad, thus negating needing two different styles of Flings. While there’s technically nothing preventing them from working on an iPad, almost all iPad virtual analog sticks require a larger range of motion than what is afforded by the smaller Fling Mini. You may be able to come up with a few games that work well on the iPad with a Fling Mini, but for the most part you are better off using the original Fling with that device.

Really the best thing to do is find a friend who owns a pair or head to an Apple store and try out the Fling for yourself. If you like the way they feel and can deal with limited game compatibility, then they are a great purchase. Hopefully more developers will incorporate special settings for using a Fling controller in their game, especially with them now being available on iPhones and iPod touches.

You can currently pre-order the Fling Mini in a 2-pack for $24.95, and they should be shipping sometime in mid-to-late July. The original Fling for iPad is available now in 3 colors at a price of $19.95 for a single controller or in a 2-pack for $29.95.

Product Pages:

• Fling Mini 2-Pack (Pre-Order)
• Fling for iPad

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Sometimes the simplest things are the ones that bring the most joy. There aren't many games that are simpler than Match Panic [$0.99], but that's a big part of its charm.

Here's how the game plays: adorable pixel sprites make a line down the screen. Identical sprites are shown on both sides of the screen, and its your job to tap the side of the screen that matches the sprite in the middle. Does it get any more straightforward than that?

But don't jump to conclusions—Match Panic is harder than it sounds. Without lives to contend with, you're free to make mistakes, but you have to beat the clock. It's easy at first, but time gets tight as you reach higher and higher levels. You've got to be fast, and you can't spare the seconds mistakes cost you. Now you're probably thinking that you're some kind of pro matcher who'd never make an error, but try saying that when there are three sprites on one side of the screen, two on the other and a clock ticking down the seconds. This is some seriously frantic matching action.

For all you meta-gamers, there's a lot more replayability than you might think. The first challenge is to unlock all the sprites by hitting level or match milestones. They get shuffled into play and make it that much harder to keep track of where your fingers should be tapping. You'll also want to push your scores on the Game Center leaderboards, which track high scores, bonus time, streaks and total matches. Then there are the achievements, which challenge you to play creatively, quickly and carefully.

I was pretty charmed by the trailers for Match Panic, so I'm thrilled that the game is so good. When I have a little time to kill, I put a song with a good beat on my iPod and get right to matching. I love Chaotic Box's Silverfish [$1.99], and Match Panic confirms that the one-man dev studio is chock full of good ideas. Our forum users agree: this is a game that's simple to pick up, but so hard to put down.

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We neglected to cover the NGP during our visit to Los Angeles for E3. The big news was that, yes, it’s called the PlayStation Vita. Also, the Wi-Fi model will hit at $250. That latter is actually a big deal: Sony is positioning it purposefully to compete toe-to-toe with the Nintendo 3DS on a price level, even though it’s a technically beefier handheld with more functionality.

It’s important to keep the ‘beefier’ part in my mind. If the device launches in 2011 as it’s expected to, it’ll enjoy a window where it’s the top dog. It’ll have games that look better than any other handheld on the market, including the iPod Touch. That’s a compelling enough reason for consumers to buy instantly, short-sighted as they may be.

But, as you know, the mobile phone will only get faster and stronger as the Vita sits on store shelves and stagnates. This is a point that id Software’s John Carmack made while speaking to GameSpot at E3.

The man — no, the visionary — believes the Vita is two times more powerful than a phone at the moment, and he seems confident that it won’t compare to phones in just about two years.

"I think that they've picked as eminently a suitable hardware spec as they could for that,” Carmack told the pub. “They're going to have you program for it like a console, so it's going to seem twice as powerful as a smartphone with the exact same chips in there."

"But of course, by the time they actually ship, there may be smartphones or these tablets with twice as much power as what they're shipping with on there. And a year or two after that, it's going to look pretty pokey."

I don’t think you need to lick a toad in order to foretell this. The phone market moves at a ridiculous pace, especially compared to the traditional console / handheld market.

Carmack thinks quicker and cheaper games on the Vita would mean more success in the long-term — even if it looks ‘old’ compared to upcoming phones. I'm not sure I agree. Big games with high production values like the God of War portable titles, I think, are the best hope that Sony has with this device. Even though iOS is capable of having a big budget games, few studios that I know of throw that kind of production money into a 99-cent-to-seven dollar application.

[Via Pocket Gamer]

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I’d like to write “hot on the heels of the re-release of Dragon’s Lair [.99 / HD], comes Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp [$2.99] for the iPhone and iPod Touch.” If I did just throw that out to the ether, I’d be incorrect. The original Dragon’s Lair re-release was shoved out the door in December 2009. Dragon’s Lair: Time Warp joins its predecessor in the App Store in June 2011.

I doubt I’ll ever receive an answer that sits with me well about the hold-up, but I suppose it’s stupid subject to broach at this point. The game is out so… who cares, right?

Let’s talk about it then. Dragon’s Lair 2 has the same feature set as the original re-release, including the move guide, the choice between three, five, or infinite lives. However, there is a fun extra that I’m sure the core enthusiasts out there will love: Dragon’s Lair 2 for the iOS features a “Director’s Cut” version of the game with an alternate ending.

In total there’s eight levels to explore as you play as Dirk who is charged with saving a certain princess named Daphne. This time around, you’ll need a rickety time machine and fast fingers to successfully retrieve her from the evil wizard Mordroc.

Dragon’s Lair 2 is $2.99 on the App Store while it’s predecessor is now sitting at a good 99-cent price point. Check out our review of the first in series to see if it’ll click with you. Lord knows how much these QTE-focused games hurt me on the inside.

Oh! And there's been no word yet if there will be an "HD" version of this sequel for the iPad. We're working on getting confirmation.

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Back in February, my jet-setting TouchArcade cohort Eli Hodapp found himself wanting to play some video games on his laptop while on the road. Not one to carry around a bulky Bluetooth controller just for that specific purpose, he came across a novel little app called Joypad [Free] which was a suitable alternative. Basically, the Joypad app runs on your iPhone or iPod touch and turns the device into a wireless controller for your computer with a highly configurable set of virtual buttons.

The Joypad app syncs up with a desktop client which allows it to be used to play any game by remapping the keyboard controls to the virtual buttons on the device. It works really well, is fairly easy to setup and get running, and is a great companion for the traveling gamer, as we noted in our review of the Joypad.

So since that time, the two man operation Zell Interactive who are responsible for the Joypad have been quite busy. First of all, the formerly limited free version of the Joypad has been updated to include all the same functionality of the paid version. Basically, this means you can download the Joypad and the desktop client and have your very own virtual controller on your iOS device at no cost at all. As the developers do enjoy putting food on their tables, the way they will monetize the Joypad from here on out is by offering additional skins as in-app purchases.

The first set of skins will be a retro pack that will offer skins from the NES, Game Boy, Genesis, and many other classic consoles. The skins are purely visual and don’t alter the functionality of the app, but if you use the Joypad for playing classic console emulators then the appropriate skin can add a bit of fun to the experience. The skins will be available individually for 99¢ each or together as a complete pack at a discounted price. The original paid version of Joypad has been renamed Joypad Elite [$11.99], and will always receive all the new content as free updates rather than IAP. If you don’t already have Joypad then the free version is the way to go, but this way they can still say thank you to their previous customers who supported them by buying the app initially.

While the skins are a neat feature, the really big news about the Joypad is that the developers have recently released a free SDK that will allow other developers to easily integrate native Joypad support into their desktop or iOS games. On your computer, this means that if a developer integrates the SDK into their game you’ll be able to play that game using the Joypad without the need of syncing with the Joypad Connect desktop client.

It all works incredibly simply. Just fire up a game with Joypad support on your computer or iOS device and then fire up Joypad on an iPhone or iPod touch. The game will automatically detect the Joypad running and send the appropriate controller configuration to the device. There can be a mixture of various types of buttons, d-pads, or analog sticks on the Joypad that suit each individual game. Shortly down the road, the ability to add custom controller skins for a particular game will be added into the SDK for an even more cohesive experience.

The Joypad developers have added in Joypad support to an open source version of Wolfenstein 3D [$1.99/Lite] just to demonstrate how easily it works:

Another recent addition to the Joypad app is mouse movement and clicking support when playing games on a computer. This means you can control the cursor in a game that normally needs a mouse just using the accelerometer of your iOS device. They demonstrated this feature to me by playing Minecraft using just an iPhone and the Joypad app, and I was pretty blown away with how well it works:

The Joypad app comes with pre-configured settings for both Minecraft and Portal 2, but the controls can be configured pretty much however you want to make them work with a ton of desktop games. They’ve also added support for connecting via Bluetooth in addition to a local WiFi connection, which takes care of some of the connection issues that were present when trying to use the Joypad on a crowded WiFi network.

There have been a few games that utilize playing on the iPad using an iPhone or iPod touch, and EA Mobile is dabbling in this area as well, but the release of the Joypad SDK means that there is the potential for any game to use this functionality, and it can be an attractive extra feature to add to any iOS or desktop game. Couple Joypad support with the display mirroring capabilities of the iPad 2, and suddenly your mobile devices have taken on the traits of a home console. While the Joypad isn’t a total substitute for a physical controller, it still works really well and is a lot of fun to use. Hopefully developers will check out the free Joypad SDK and we will see support for it in many more games in the future.

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At WWDC this year, I sat down with Dave Castelnuovo from Bolt Creative to talk about what’s upcoming in the various entries in the Pocket God series. We’ve always been fans of Pocket God [99¢] around TouchArcade, but admittedly hadn’t quite stayed up to date with the series as of late. After Dave showed me some of the recent new features added into the games, I was really surprised by just how much they’ve evolved since I’ve been on Pocket God hiatus.

The biggest bit of news is that the previously iPad-only Pocket God: Journey To Uranus [99¢] is now a universal app and is currently on sale for 99¢, down from $4.99. This version of Pocket God lets you take your pygmies into space to various planets, each with their own unique features. You can also discover mini-games which are based on classic arcade games, like Bump ‘n’ Jump, Joust, and Tempest 2000.

These mini-games are so incredibly well done that they could practically be standalone games on the App Store, and Bolt Creative has plans for many more in the future. Journey To Uranus plays just fine on the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch, and it has really come a long way since first launching for the iPad back in December. The developers plan to adopt a rapid update schedule similar to the original Pocket God game, so expect a lot more from Journey To Uranus in the future.

Speaking of the original Pocket God, the most recent update added a neat Challenge of the Gods feature to the game. There is a new Challenge Menu which offers a few tasks to discover and complete for each of the 39 episodic updates the game has received during its lifetime. This gives a great reason to go back and fiddle around in all of the previous episodes, and once all tasks for an episode have been completed you’ll unlock a God idol for that episode.

This leads right into what will be in the forthcoming episode 40 which is titled Battle of the Gods. You’ll be able to take any of the 39 God idols that have been unlocked in Challenge Mode and then pit them against each other in a battle arena to see who comes out on top. It sounds like a pretty interesting idea, and I’m looking forward to checking out how it works when it launches in early July.

In other Pocket God news, the Pocket God Comics [99¢] app has just received issue #7 of the digital comic based on the game characters. They are also planning on streamlining the comic creation process so as to pump out new issues at a faster rate than they are currently running at. There are more than 20 new issues already in the pipeline, and support for Pocket God Comics is planned for at least the next few years. Also, the Pocket God Facebook game is up to episode 8 and will continue to evolve with new features and gameplay unique from the iOS games.

If you’re like me and haven’t checked in on what's up with Pocket God lately, you should definitely give both the original and Journey To Uranus another look as I'm fairly blown away with just how far the series has come in recent months.

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The Apple Design Awards are an annual event hosted at WWDC that seeks to recognize the best of the best applications and games across whatever Apple platforms Apple wants to elevate. In 2010 the Mac was snubbed, but in 2011 Apple flipped the script and gave it a place amongst the other two relevant platforms: the iPad and the iPhone.

The results of 2011’s awards show are now public. In the interest of our interests, we’ll be highlighting just the games that took the fancy little trophy Apple gave to winners. A few listing can be seen at sites like, say, TUAW.

iPhone

Cut the Rope [$.99 / HD] – Chillingo
Infinity Blade [$5.99] – Chair Entertainment

Mac

Anomaly: Warzone Earth [$6.99], – 11-Bit Studios

iPad

Osmos [$2.99 / HD], – Hemisphere Games

Infinity Blade and Cut the Rope are two fantastic titles that really stress the strengths of the platform. Both feel native and original and benefit from the unique platform. These are well-deserved winners, for sure.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a firm example of what you can do with a limited budget and a great idea. It’s a gorgeous “in reverse” tower defense title in which you’re charged with taking down towers with a small group of minions. Warzone Earth is geeked out with all sorts of fun sub-systems and unique points of design. This was a solid choice, too.

Osmos, on the other hand, is a laid-back experience that doesn’t require much from the owner. It’s an ambient game that looks beautiful and plays just as well on the iPad as it does on the PC and the Mac. Good one on Apple for recognizing this.

According to TUAW, the winners in these categories have are receiving a Macbook Air, an iPad 2, and an iPod Touch in addition to their trophy. I wonder if anyone at Chair is in a position to need free tech. From the sound of it, Apple should have given them flippers to swim through the pool of cash below the office.

[via TUAW]

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There's no way to beat around the bush on this. Even though many developers have gotten onboard the universal app train, a select few have implemented any cloud-based game save storage system to allow you to sync progress across devices. Of course most server-based free to play games already do this, but in your typical super-casual 99¢ time-waster, your progress is largely locked onto the device that you're playing it on. I can't really fault developers for this, as implementing such a system would largely be overkill for most games, and maintaining the entire online infrastructure to track cross-device progress in a game like Dungeon Raid [$2.99 / Free] would be silly for the developer to do by themselves. For them, there's not much benefit. It would take a heck of a lot of engineering, and servers cost can be substantial– But that's where Apple comes in.

Monday's keynote introduced us to iCloud, an entirely free cloud-based storage system usable by everyone who owns a recent iOS device, and every developer who wants to use it. So, while it might have been entirely unrealistic for the Dungeon Raid developer to do all this himself, Apple has made it nice and easy.

I've spent most of the day today discussing the prospects of iCloud with many of the developers around WWDC and really one word can describe the temperature of each conversation: Excitement. According to developers who have attended various iCloud-centric WWDC sessions, implementing iCloud-based storage of game saves will be nearly as trivial as dealing with gave saves stored locally on the device is now. This means that as developers inevitably work on tweaking their various apps and games to make them more iOS 5 friendly over the next few months, they'll also likely switch their storage methods over to iCloud, as there's little reason for them not to.

It's still early though, and we're really just scratching the surface of what's possible on the first day of WWDC. One thing I wasn't able to get a very solid answer on was how this was all going to work between standard and HD versions of games. For instance, right now Game Center works like this: If you release your game as a universal app, you can share Game Center leaderboards and achievements for that game across all iOS devices. However, if you release the same game as a separate standard and HD version, Game Center treats those as entirely different apps, and as such, keeps leaderboards and achievements for each app individually.

It's an interesting problem, and no one is sure right now if there's a real solution. Apple obviously seems to want developers to focus on universal apps, but developers vastly prefer two different apps due to pricing flexibility, chart advantages, and several other very valid reasons. If Apple is sticking with the same restrictions as they have for Game Center leaderboards, I hope this just spurs developers to continue the trend we've started to see in offering universal compatibility in the HD version.

This truly seems to be the best of both worlds, as developers can still retain pricing flexibility for two different apps, while providing universal compatibility and cross-device iCloud save syncing while still providing a lower-priced option for those who only own an iPhone or iPod touch.

Another potential snag might be in how game saves are reconciled across multiple devices that might not always be connected to the internet. For example, if you've got a non-3G iPad and an iPod touch, and play the same game on both before returning to a friendly WiFi network. Each game will have different amounts of progress, and the developers I've spoken to so far aren't really sure how things will shake out once these two different game saves hit the iCloud.

Surely this is something Apple has considered, and I'm almost positive we'll find out the answer to all these questions and more in the next few weeks as developers delve into iOS 5. One thing is for certain, holy cow am I happy that cloud-based game save storage will practically be a standard feature in the not too distant future.

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Puzzle Agent [$.99 / HD] is still one of my favorite puzzle games available on the App Store, and it looks like its sequel, Puzzle Agent 2, is shaping up to be a faithful continuation of the fledgling “Pilot” program series.

No doubt you’ve noted my usage of “looks.” It’s a word I’ll have to continue to use until I see the game for myself. The good news is that the wait won’t be long — at E3, Telltale Games is revealing that it’ll be out for the iPad, iPod Touch, and the iPhone this June 30, 2011. That’s, like, real soon.

A new trailer has also been released and it does an awesome job of showing you where the series is going. Or, at least, where the series is returning. In Puzzle Agent 2, you’ll once again take control of Nelson Tethers as he re-investigates Scoggins, the setting of the first puzzle-oriented game.

If you watch this trailer fairly closely, you’ll also get a good look at some of the new puzzles which, I’m almost convinced already will take me about three years to figure out without the use of an FAQ. Talk about a brain-draining series.

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