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As if bluetooth iPhone to iPad control wasn't enough, Majic Jungle's followup iPad trick is outputting the iPad game video to a 42" TV while controlling the game with your iPhone:

I know it shouldn't be that much different than the first video, but somehow it feels quite different. While Apple should allow this functionality to be built into future iPad apps, Majic Jungle hasn't committed to delivering it in their release:

This video shows the iPad version plugged into a 42 inch LCD TV via the standard Apple component cable. It is also being controlled with an iPhone over bluetooth.

This setup uses only available public/documented APIs so could technically be made available. However this is only a proof of concept, the initial release of Chopper 2 may not feature this functionality.

Chopper 2 remains in development and will be coming for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.

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We announced last month that Tilt to Live [$1.99] would be getting an update in April with two new game modes, and today that update has been released. Included are the new Gauntlet and Code Red game modes, leader boards for each mode, and six new awards provided by the AGON social platform.

Tilt to Live is an accelerometer-based blow-em-up for the iPhone and iPod Touch that we reviewed last month and gave 5 stars.

Here are descriptions of the two new game modes:

Gauntlet Mode:

Run the Gauntlet to put your precision tilting skills to the test! In Gauntlet mode, players compete for the longest survival time rather than highscores or combos. Enemies waves will no longer relentlessly chase you. Instead, the dots work together to form an increasingly difficult treadmill course of smashers, battle axes, windmills, and more. It’s an entirely new gameplay experience! The difficulty curve will be comparable to our original gametype, a crescendo from manageable to kick-your-butt. Early dot obstacles and gameplay will be showcased in our teaser video, and even more sinister twists are in development as we speak.

Code Red:

Rather than guiding players along a polite difficulty curve, we’re chucking them off a difficulty cliff with Code Red mode. This gametype is best described as “Classic mode on crack”. Everything from Classic is there, but the red dots will spawn at their highest intensity right from the start. It’s tailor-made for experienced players that “just wanna get to the good part”, without enduring the buildup.

The developers, One Man Left Studios, also say that future updates will bring new game modes, weapons, awards and even iPad support that we are really looking forward to.

Here is a video of the new Gauntlet mode:

App Store Link: Tilt to Live, $1.99

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Majic Jungle Software has just posted a new video demonstrating their upcoming Chopper 2 game played on an iPad while being controlled by an iPhone over Bluetooth.

While not an entirely practical way to play your iPad games, it's also something we're itching to try when it comes out.

As we previewed in March, Chopper 2 is a rewrite of the original game with 3D graphics, numerous different landscapes and a realistic physics system. Chopper 2 is said to be in late stages of development and should be coming soon. It will be released for both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.

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For those of you who had issues installing Espgaluda II onto your 3rd Gen iPod Touches, the new update now fixes that. Along with a few other bugs being fixed:

- Fixed install error for 3rd generation iPod touch
- Fixed issue where sound does not play when receiving a call
- Fixed issue where save data is not saved under certain conditions
- Fixed issue where some achievements do not unlock due to data not being
saved.

The game is a bullet hell-style shooter by Cave Co. that we reviewed earlier this month and really loved.

However, due to the number of projectiles in the game, Espgaluda II requires a 3rd generation device. This includes the iPhone 3GS, 3rd Generation iPod Touch and even the iPad (works great even in pixel doubled mode).

In addition to releasing an update to the full version, a free Lite version is now available to try out to see how you like the game. It is also suggested that you install the Lite version to confirm that the game is compatible with your device.

Compared to the full version, the Lite version only includes the first stage, one character, one difficulty mode, and OpenFeint is not integrated.

Here is a video of the game in action:

App Store Link: Espgaluda II, $8.99, Espgaluda II Lite, Free (Both games; 3GS, 3rd Gen iPod Touch or Pixel-Doubled on iPad only)

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Those who enjoy a bit of casual, yet challenging, fun may want to have a look at Future Games of London's recent iPhone survival action title, Hungry Shark [App Store].

Hungry Shark is an aptly named title. The game puts you in tilt-based control of a shark that is, well, hungry. Your shark must feed — constantly — in order to keep his ever-dwindling health bar from tanking out. The menu consists of pretty, little tropical fish, humans, barracudas, penguins, pelicans, and scary-looking deep-sea anglers, among others. Bingeing yourself on a whole mess of fish at once gets you multiplier bonuses. And some things out there are best left uneaten or perhaps eaten just right. These include jelly fish, puffer fish, swordfish, and aquatic mines.

After a few minutes of play, zipping to and fro gobbling prey, you'll realize you've only just scratched the surface of the game, so to speak. While reefs and shores and ice block your way in places, you can swim your shark far down into the darkened depths to feast upon a more creepy-looking menu. But, whatever your depth, the name of the game is eat, eat, eat. As you do so, your shark will level up, growing in size and ferocity — but be careful, your newfound might will soon attract the attention of shark hunters.

Along with the health meter, your shark has a boost meter that replenishes with time. A tap to the screen activates the speed boost which helps in grabbing fast moving prey or getting out of a sticky situation. Collecting lost items strewn about the seafloor (license plates, helmets, etc.) gains you points, as well.

Hungry Shark is a cute, fun, simple game that's pretty hard to put down. It has a just-one-more-time appeal that I would liken to Doodle Jump; it seems that surely the next game will win you a crown spot on the global leaderboards. It's a casual game that our forum readers are loving, and so are we.

( Note that the developers, who are active in our forums, have indicated that the game has a bug that prevents it from running on 3G iPod touch 16GB / 32GB models, at present. A free v1.1 update is on the way (already submitted) that will correct this issue and allow it to run on all iPhone platform devices. )

App Store Link: Hungry Shark, $1.99

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Owners of the original iPhone will remember the dark days before the App Store or even the original jailbreaks and third party software when games and apps consisted of nothing more than clever web pages, usually loaded to the brim with javascript. The games were basic, and the "apps" consisted of little more than simple database-powered applets and tip calculators, but they did the trick.

Akihabara is a HTML5 toolbox filled with all kinds of neat goodies that creative developers can use to make browser games. On the Akihabara web site there are five demo games ranging from a simple Tetris-like game to a basic Zelda clone. The cool part is, these games work on every modern non-Internet Explorer browser, including the browsers of the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and apparently even other touchscreen phones like the Palm Pre.

Depending on what platform you're playing on, all of the proper controls appear on screen or you use the keyboard and arrow keys. On the iPhone, virtual controls pop up at the bottom of the screen and while they're not as responsive as a native game, it's still pretty amazing to think you're essentially playing a web page– Without even a smidge of Flash.

All of the games on the Akihabara site are free, and really worth a spin both because they're really impressive pieces of web development but also so you can appreciate what things were like before the App Store came around.

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Venan Entertainment's Space Miner [$4.99 / Free] seems to be universally loved by nearly everyone who touches it. We couldn't get enough of the game in our review, and it is one of the few iPhone games video games I've ever played where I enjoyed playing through it so much the first time that immediately after I beat the game the first time I started a second play through on the next higher difficulty.

From our review:

In short, it's Asteroids meets the RPG. But that description really doesn't do the game justice.

Space Miner places you in the role of the nephew of good ole' Uncle Jebediah Gritstone, proprietor of the galactic Gritstone Mining Station. Uncle Jeb has hired you on to help with the ore mining and it's with much excitement that you make your way to his mining station in your veritable space jalopy. Once on board, things get complicated (it's a long story, enjoy it in-game) and Uncle Jeb is desperately counting on you to go out into the neighboring sectors, blast asteroids, and bring back the precious ore contained within. The more ore you collect, the bigger your cut of the profits. But the pitiful ship you start off with is hardly up to the task.

As you accumulate profits, the money can be spent in Uncle Jeb's shop, where more powerful ships, weapons, shields, ore collectors, power plants, and the like can be purchased. It doesn't take long to find yourself sitting in a decent ship with multiple ore blasters, a sizable cargo bay, and an ore collector that can get the job done. And the whole package is done up with a great deal of spot-on humorous dialog and even an amusing banjo-based audio track that fits ole' Uncle Jeb's operation to a T. (There's no doubt that he's got a still hidden somewhere on that rock of his.) …Read More

This update makes this amazing game even better. If you've got an iPhone 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch, you will be able to enjoy new shader effects on the asteroids that really make the game look a lot cooler. If you don't have a new device, you'll still be able to enjoy the rest of the new features which include a new level 7 pilot's license which unlocks even more spaceship upgrades. Also, five new pieces of alien technology are floating about somewhere in space for you to find.

My favorite addition is the new even harder UltracORE perma-death difficulty mode. Perma-death always adds an amazing sense of danger to a game, and seeing how far I can get in Space Miner on UltracORE has pretty much owned my evening so far.

The difficulty curve of the game has been slightly tweaked, and to go with all of these new features comes another set of Plus+ achievements for players to unlock as well as Facebook and Twitter integration to make sure your friends know exactly how good you are at the game.

If you haven't picked up Space Miner yet, this is an excellent opportunity to do so. It's on my short list of games I tell people to check out after buying an iPhone, and if nothing else, you really should give the lite version a spin. Space Miner is a fantastic game made even better by this update.

App Store Links: Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, $4.99 – Space Miner: Space Ore Bust Lite, Free

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Football Manager is a brand name that extends right back to the very first concept of the round-ball management simulator in the early 80's. In recent years, Sports Interactive has grown the franchise into a title that is consistently (and arguably) the most authentic of the batch and if nothing else, certainly enjoys the most faithful following. To date the iPhone has been the subject of a number of smaller titles in the genre, but nothing has quite made a splash like the release of Football Manager Handheld 2010 [AppStore].

The hallmark of the bigger football management simulators is without a doubt the staggering extent of official licenses included in the game. Football Manager Handheld 2010 supports updated teamsheets for 34 leagues in 11 countries; an impressive amount of statistical data to hold in the palm of your hand. The Football Manager franchise is especially well known for its professional, orderly and clean layout; and we're delighted to see this has been successfully carried over to the handheld adaptation.

One would expect that in order to cram a feasible management sim onto the iPhone, a sizeable trimming down of features would have to occur. Though there has been a little slimming, the majority of content and features– certainly much more than we anticipated– has been retained in full. To cut down on the size, Football Manager Handheld 2010, however, does do away with player portraits and the glossy 3D game engines the last iteration of management sims have been known for. Game highlights only are portrayed in the traditional 2D full-pitch view, so that goals and set-pieces (and gruelling shots-on target that always seem to hit the woodwork) can all be visualized. The rest of the match is played out through text commentary with visual aids to assist you in keeping track of morale and momentum. Match tactics like substitutions, formations, team mentality and also specific strategies (such as the Offside Trap), can all be changed through the Tactics menu during a game, to offer that minute-by-minute control needed to overcome the best tactical minds and teams in the business.

Of the features omitted, the most sorely missed is undoubtedly the customization of individual plays and the ability to create your own formations. When one factors into it the processing undoubtedly needed for the former, and that there are 17 preset formations included to satisfy the latter, it's not that big a deal though. The new touchline instructions added in the PC version of 2010 won't be found here either; though as this was a feature added ultimately to support the 3D match engine, its omission is not unexpected.

To accomodate the issue of portability and the presumably shorter play sessions, Football Manager Handheld 2010 puts more focus on squad management than overseeing staff or stadium facilities. Scouts and assistant managers perform their duties diligently but cannot be replaced. There is still a constantly nagging board to please, who vigilantly watch your performance and spending and are more than happy to replace you though. Though some may disagree, we appreciate the refocus on what's really important in the handheld addition, and the essence of Football Managerdefinitely remains — the sheer depth of control and attention to the very finest detail.

There is potentially more gameplay to experience here than in your entire game library, particularly if you're trying to promote a lowly League club to Premiership level. Coupled with the large licensed player and team rosters that are accurate up to the latest transfer window (with minor omissions noted by readers), Football Manager Handheld 2010 is an authentic port that should have football management enthusiasts champing at the bit. For those that have never played a football sim before, we do recommend caution, as the game is ultimately designed for those who already know their way around (particularly where the football stat lingo is concerned) and already enjoy the genre. If you're eager to try it out though, SEGA have thoughtfully released a free companion application to show you the ropes.

Favorable impressions from our readers have been pouring in to our forums. It has been noted by several readers too that your own music can be played Football Manager Handheld 2010, but only after turning off the in-game sounds in the game options. 1st Generation iPod Touch users should be warned that performance is particularly sub-par on this device, with excessive load times hampering gameplay according to user, ITRocks.

App Store Link: Football Manager Handheld 2010, $9.99 and FMH Manual, Free (Instruction Manual).

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Back in January, we caught wind of plans for a Sega emulator that was going to serve as a repository for all kinds of different classic Genesis games. Originally slated for release in February, the Ultimate Genesis emulator was planned to be free and come loaded with Space Harrier II. We haven't heard anything about it since then, and it's hard to say where the fate of the emulator lies as Sega is still releasing standalone emulator games such as Sonic 2 [App Store] which was released mere moments ago.

Much like the original Sonic [App Store], Sonic 2 is wrapped in a seemingly identical emulator wrapper with a fairly awkward menu system glued on top of the original game to handle the various in-game view options as well as starting and resuming your game. Sonic and Tails are controlled with a virtual D-pad and lone button to handle jumping. Just like the original Sonic, these controls work, but things get dicey as soon as you get far enough in the game to need to do more than just run to the left and jump once in a while.

The game can be played in two modes, either full screen and up-scaled or in a smaller window in the native resolution of the game. Like all the other emulated Genesis games, performance is the best on the iPhone 3GS with substantial frame rate drops in previous-generation devices. The performance drop is somewhat mitigated by playing in the smaller native resolution view, but even then significant slowdown is experienced when you drop a lot of rings or when there are a ton of enemies on screen.

The following video shows the performance differences between the devices, although it is much more noticeable when you're actually playing the game:

I feel like until Sega substantially improves their Genesis emulator, we really can just have one review for all of these games, as the following statements really apply to all of them: If you were a fan of the original game, and own a iPhone 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch, they're worth a look. The controls are far from ideal, but having your favorite classic games in your pocket playable on your phone can be a lot of fun. If you're not particularly tied to the games Sega has released so far, they're completely skippable.

If you have a iPhone 3G of previous device, and haven't played Sonic 2 before, don't let this be your first experience with the game.

App Store Link: Sonic 2, $5.99

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Back in February we reported that, in an interview with Retro Gamer magazine, Stuart Carnie of Manomio (who brought us C64 for iPhone [App Store]) indicated that he was currently in the process of readying an Amiga emulation system for the iPhone to be used to wrap licensed Amiga games for release as individual iPhone game titles in the App Store, the emulation layer being invisible to the user.

Manomio has just released a video demonstrating the system that shows the Amiga games International Karate + and Turrican running quite smoothly in an alpha version of their emulation environment on an iPhone 3GS.

This morning, I spoke at length with Stuart regarding his Amiga emulation system. He indicates that his hand-coded 68000 emulator (the Amiga's CPU) was well worth the effort in terms of performance and that the iPhone 3GS is a perfect platform for playing Amiga games in this fashion. Unfortunately, devices lower in spec — that is, anything that's not an iPhone 3GS, a 3G iPod touch, or an iPad — are not quite up to the task and, as such, Manomio's coming Amiga releases will not support that hardware. Happily for iPad users though, the coming Amiga games will be universal applications that feature high resolution artwork and interfaces appropriate to the iPad's large screen.

Manomio's emulation system is based on the UAE4All emulator tied to Manomio's own ARM-optimized emulated 68000 CPU core. The system emulates a fairly standard Amiga 500 computer.

As for what Amiga games we can expect to see in the App Store, Stuart indicates that International Karate + is a definite, and that he is currently in negotiations with the Turrican IP holder to bring that classic title to the iPhone. Talks are underway with a number of IP holders who licensed their C64 games to Manomio for use with C64 for iPhone, as well.

An Amiga game that Arnold and I have both long enjoyed is the scrolling space shooter Battle Squadron. Upon informing Stuart that securing this favorite was an obvious necessity, I was shocked and quite pleased to hear that the IP holders of the title had recently contacted him, seeking to bring that very game to the App Store through their emulation system. The deal is in negotiations and both parties are excited about the prospect.

Aside from the games already mentioned, Manomio has tested various other titles, including Xenon II, Ghosts 'n Goblins and R-Type (not that these are necessarily among the IP they have secured for release in the App Store), all of which "are just perfectly smooth." The first Amiga game from Manomio to hit the App Store will be International Karate +, which should land sometime in the late June timeframe.

And, while getting their Amiga emulation system finished and in the App Store is Manomio's main push right now, it's not their only one. Alongside the Amiga demonstration video, the studio posted a video demonstrating an Atari 2600 console emulator they've been working on for the iPhone. The video shows an iPhone running the Atari 2600 versions of Space Invaders, Berzerk, and Frogger.

Unlike the case of their Amiga emulation system, the Atari 2600 emulator is not a sure thing for App Store release, as Manomio is still rather early in talks with Atari over the needed rights to make such a system happen.

We will bring further details about Manomio's upcoming efforts as we hear them.

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