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Late last week The New York Times published an op-ed debate titled, “Hip, or About to Break a Hip,” a discussion about whether 45 year-old skaters are “embarrassing and risky or inspiring and life-affirming?” Opinions ranged from “inspiring and life-affirming,” to “… do something productive: become an ultimate fighter, get your G.E.D., date an 18-year old.” Um, wow, guys.

Appropriate then is the release of Brisbane-based IV Motion’s Penny Time [$0.99 / Free ], which flies in the face of that rather unnecessary conversation. Shorn of the skating genre’s mechanical trappings, the game is allowed to focus on the sport’s anarchistic roots. Its reply, “Who gives a #$%*?”

Penny Time announces its care-free absurdity with a series of vignettes that see the player character using a Penny skateboard, crashed like a meteorite from the heavens, to freeze time and subsequently summon some spirit animals in the form of a pig, dodo and porpoise. Right. So, the player is off on his or her quest to skate through a series of time-frozen environments with the aid of the aforementioned Ghost Dodo.

Play is similar to rhythm runners like Tomena Sanner [ $1.99 ] and Bit.Trip Runner. The player proceeds left to right, clearing obstacles by swiping when rolling over a series of white (up), blue (left) and yellow (down) targets. Levels consist of three sections: a standard area where one acquires points based on timing of swipes, a multiplier section, and then a “cash-in” portion where the player is given the opportunity to bank their multiplied points, or take them on into the next area and risk bailing and losing the combo.

Touch controls are a little dodgy. There are a handful of times each run where I go flipping over a guardrail or a child or something because the game’s missed my inputs. This is sometimes exacerbated not only by how unforgiving the game can be (I’ve often hit my trick on the periphery of a target only to tumble into a sad pile), but by the minimalism of the flat, untextured 3D models. It borders on gorgeous abstraction in the vein of a Katamari Damacy, but the environments are so busy it’s often difficult to tell exactly what’s ahead. Case in point, during a particularly funny intro I held the iPhone up for my girlfriend, sitting behind me on the couch, who responded, “I can’t see… it just looks like a bunch of shapes.” Indeed.

That in mind, I’m not sure that it’s going to have much of a following among the leaderboard junkies. But, in addition to Game Center leaderboards, the game has a bevy of character and board customization options, along with the requisite Facebook and Twitter support, 84 achievements and a fantastic OST.

A rhythm game lives or dies by the quality of its tunes, and electronic artist and fellow Brisbanite Hunz has crafted a score among the best on the platform. A warm, varied slice of electronica, it’s up there with the Groove Coaster [ $2.99 ] and Beat Sneak Bandit [ $2.99 ] soundtracks, well worth the dollar the game costs. It’s a trump card that staves off mediocrity in what is otherwise an “okay” game, an intelligent pairing that propelled me along on my quest to count the black cats littering the next area. Note: this game has its share of black cats.

With a smart few stylistic choices, IV Motion have made a fine if sometimes frustrating little game, worth the low price of entry. Like the skateboard brand it advertises, it is “designed and built to look good, perform well, and exceed your expectations.” A little rougher around the edges maybe, but a ridiculous, ageless thing that can be enjoyed by anyone. And that’s okay.

TouchArcade Rating:

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In an age where game studios are talking to behavioral psychologists and hiring retention experts and monetization specialists in a rush to juice the most out of free-to-player gamers, there’s at least one studio developing free-to-play games that doesn’t care about metrics, compulsion loops, and user acquisition. Game business never informs game design at NimbleBit. Fun is first, the mechanics of free-to-play are secondary.

Pocket Planes is the next big thing from the two-man studio, and it’s philosophically linked with its other titles. Without shaking a virtual change cup in your face, Pocket Planes gives you a vibrant and customizable world and ownership over it as you ferry a fleet of planes from one airport to the next. Designers David and Ian Marsh believe that these components will be enough to organically drive the free-to-play aspect. No business trickery is required.

The Art Of Good Free-To-Play

“[Our] philosophy is to consider monetization as little as possible during the design of the game,” Ian tells TouchArcade. “The in-game currencies are balanced to be a natural part of the game without the option to even purchase more during design and beta,” he points out. “Adding IAP and deciding how much to charge is always one of the last things we do before launch. We take care to make sure that everything in the game is accessible and achievable without every purchasing IAP.”

Ian and David proved that this approach works with Tiny Tower. The game made money even though monetization aspects weren’t a focal point. The game also did well with critics, earning all sorts of amazing reviews and even a Game of the Year nod in 2011 from the editorial team at Apple. Millions of people played Tiny Tower, too.

Pocket Planes is still deeply in beta, but I’m as hopelessly … hooked on it as I was Tiny Tower. Every ten or so minutes I pick up my phone and plan more flights. When I’m not playing, I spend time thinking about new planes and creative ways to expand my cash and transport flow. Should I grind in my current selection of airports until I can buy New York’s airport? Or should I keep expanding with much smaller airports to broaden my empire, and slowly build up the necessary resources to acquire international hubs? What if I converted all my fleet to four-seat airplanes? How much could I earn then?

These are the questions running through my head, in part because the simulation aspect of the experience is so good. But I’m also just straight-up invested in the world that I’m creating, and I want to keep making it bigger and better. There are so many small, yet beautiful touches in Pocket Planes that drive my mania. I can name all my planes and customize each of my pilots. My passengers post their thoughts on an in-app Facebook client called “BitBook.” I can buy any airport that I can afford, and I can also upgrade it to make it bigger and better. I can build my planes and when I watch them fly, I can collect the game’s two currencies randomly floating in the air. Pocket Planes also knows when I’m flying. The day and night cycle is synced to the real world. When I receive a Push notification, my phone emits a soft airplane cabin ding.

These are the aspects that David and Ian believe drive users to spend. These are the things it spends all of its time developing. There is no conversation about loops or feedback. The duo spend their time making games with character, real progression, and meaningful stuff. Their games have a soul.

“I’m not sure if there is some kind of secret sauce, but we definitely focus a lot of time on adding lots of things to our simulation games that make them feel like a functional little world inside,” David tells us. “I think the stronger the feeling that there is a buzzing simulation going on inside the game, the more fun it is to influence it and use your actions to mould and direct it.”

“I agree with Dave completely,” Ian says. “The more detail and emotion you put into these little worlds the more immersed players become and the more they enjoy spending time with it.”

“I think the customization has a lot to do with it as well,” he continues. “That isn’t just a plane flying in the game, it is your plane that you named yourself and spent time finding the perfect paint job for. In Tiny Tower, it isn’t just a generic bakery, it’s Brad’s Bread with interior decoration of his choosing and hand picked employees that took work for him to recruit.”

David explains that Tiny Tower and the feedback blowing up NimbleBit’s inbox is actively informing the development of Pocket Planes. Users are lauding their game design ideals and are actually thanking David and Ian for making a fun game first.

“I think we definitely are trying to strike the same balance and attitude in all our future free-to-play games because it resonates with players and matches the type of games we prefer to play ourselves,” David says. “The other thing we have learned from Tiny Tower and also Pocket Frogs is that the more we can stimulate players imaginations the better. The kind of fan art and fan communities that have grown around those games is amazing and that is a target we are always aiming for.”

Pocket Planes is shaping up to be a tremendous game and my praise is coming at a time when more and more new free-to-play games continue to feel like skinner boxes instead of fun things to play with. Ian and David are doing important work here, proving that free-to-play doesn’t need to inform fundamental game design.

“Even without spending a dime, players become heavily invested in these worlds because of their character and charm — not some carefully crafted compulsion loop. That is what keeps them coming back,” Ian says.

Fun doesn’t need to cost a penny, and that’s what NimbleBit strives to make a reality with each release.

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I’m honestly not even sure what the best way to introduce this New York Times article would be to do it justice. I read a lot (I mean, a lot.) of blogs, newspapers, forums, and everything else that could even be a vaguely relevant source for TouchArcade content, and I’ve never come across such a fantastic retrospective both on the evolution of handheld video games, but also the way “stupid games” like Angry Birds become so integrated into our lives. In fact, I’m reluctant to even sum it up any more than that, so here’s a link and an excerpt to whet your proverbial whistle:

And so a tradition was born: a tradition I am going to call (half descriptively, half out of revenge for all the hours I’ve lost to them) “stupid games.” In the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games. …Read More

If you’ve got friends, family, co-workers, or anyone else who doesn’t get this whole mobile gaming thing, Sam Anderson wrapped the whole phenomenon up in a perfect little package digestible even for people who know nothing about video games. Zach Gage even makes an appearance.

Seriously though, take ten minutes out of your day and give it a read.

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We've heard some rumblings lately about Order & Chaos Online [$6.99] accounts getting hacked, and the attacks were recently confirmed by our pals over at PocketGamer. Order & Chaos, if you're unfamiliar, is Gameloft's fairly blatant riff on World of Warcraft, complete with characters, monsters, and areas that might look a more than a little familiar to anyone who has played WoW before.

Anyway, the cause of this security breach as well as how deep this rabbit hole goes has yet to be revealed, although Gameloft says they're actively investigating. A thread on the official Order & Chaos forum indicates that players of both mobile and Facebook versions of the game have been hacked.

If you've ever played Order & Chaos and you're the kind of person who still uses the same password for everything, it's a good idea to change all your others. While you're at it, check out this New York Times article on creating strong passwords, and maybe even think about getting some password management software. I'm partial to 1Password myself, which basically exists for all platforms you'd ever want to access your passwords on and gracefully keeps all your data in sync via Dropbox.

Migrating from a single password you use for everything to a password management suite and different passwords for everything will take a little getting used to, but consider this: Once you start doing that, security breaches like this are entirely insignificant. Thanks to 1Password, I use a different password for everything. Order & Chaos getting hacked makes no difference to me, since all anyone would ever be able to access with those login credentials is my character… As opposed to desperately hunting down every login form that you've used your favorite password, "password", for.

Update: I was just reminded that Order & Chaos uses Gameloft's Gameloft Live service for logins, and if that is what was compromised, if you've ever created a Gameloft Live account it might be a good idea to get busy with the password changin' too.

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That's right, my retro-loving brethren, Bounty Bob has tunneled his way into the App Store thanks to Magmic's release of Miner 2049er [free] for the iPhone and iPad (universal).

For those unfamiliar, the original Miner 2049er is a platform game that was highly popular in the early '80s home computer scene. (See Owen Linzmayer's February 1983 Creative Computing review.) Released in 1982 by Bill Hogue through Big Five Software, the game puts you in the shoes of Bounty Bob on a mission to search through Nuclear Ned's abandoned uranium mines in search for the elusive Yukon Yohan. The treacherous mines, fraught with ladders, chutes and hydraulic scaffolds — not to mention the radioactive creatures that roam the levels — must be cleared by walking over every section of the platforms. There are 10 levels in all, which was quite a few, for its day. Miner 2049er was the inspiration for Matthew Smith's Manic Miner.

Magmic released a licensed, updated mobile version of the game in 2007, which received an IGN Editor's Choice Award and won the Best Revival category in the Best Of 2007 IGN awards. It features both a Classic mode with graphics similar to the Atari 800 original, as well as a vertically-scrolling Modern mode with new, rather more detailed visuals along with certain new twists, like an elevator fashioned from a girder dangling from a crane. Miner 2049er for iOS is an adaptation of that release, featuring tilt controls as well as several types of multitouch options.

Miner 2049er for iOS is a free download that includes 4 of the Modern mode levels, only. An in-app purchase of $0.99 unlocks the 10 Classic levels as well as all 10 of the Modern mode levels.

The game plays pretty much as you may remember it — both in the Classic and Modern versions — but with iOS controls, and there you have a number of options. The default control mode is tilt, which can be switched over to a touch-to-go-there mode or a joystick-left or joystick-right mode. The controls work about as you'd expect, but I find joystick-left to work best. Magmic indicates that a soon to be released update will tweak controls a bit and make joystick-left the default control mode. An additional 20 levels "at-least" will be coming in an update for users who have purchased the level pack, as well.

Unfortunately, I experienced a bug on my iPhone 4S test device that Magmic hadn't yet seen reported: at the App Store password prompt to buy the additional levels, the keyboard would not pop-up, leaving me unable to do so on that device. It worked fine on the iPad 2, however. It's unclear right now whether this is a 4S-specific issue but, at any rate, the folks at Magmic say they will look into it right away.

For fans of the original, Miner 2049er is an instant grab. But, then, it's free — so it can't hurt to check it out if you're remotely intrigued. As mentioned, some things about the game are a bit shaky right now, but I feel that they will be worked out in short order, based largely on how responsive the folks at Magmic have been to my inquiries.

Miner 2049er developer Magmic also brought us The New York Times Crosswords Daily and Boulder Dash Rocks.

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Last week, we told you the (somewhat) surprising news that Rockstar would be bringing the classic Grand Theft Auto III to iOS and Android platforms to celebrate the franchise's 10 year anniversary of entering the world of 3D, and thus changing the open-world sandbox genre forever. At the time, Rockstar noted that the game was only planned for dual-core processor-based devices, due to the strain that running a huge open-world game would have on lesser mobile hardware. On the iOS side of things, that meant that only the iPad 2 and the brand new iPhone 4S would be able to run GTA III thanks to their dual-core A5 chips.

Of course, there are far, far more GTA fans than there are A5 device owners, and there was quite a backlash from gamers with older devices who were understandably upset that they wouldn't be able to get their carjack-on without upgrading their kit. However, over the weekend Rockstar has been showing off GTA III for mobile devices in playable form at the New York Comic-Con, and in fact they have confirmed to Kotaku that the dual-core processor requirement will only be a limitation at first, and that they're planning on having the game be compatible with single-core iOS devices sometime after launch.

Now, before you go getting too excited, they don't specifically state which single-core devices they intend to target. It may just be the iPhone 4, since it's the only other device with 512 mb of RAM, which could be a deal breaker for the iPhone 3GS and 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch. We really don't know at this point, but at least the compatible device listing will be increasing in some capacity, which is a good thing.

Speaking of GTA III at NYCC, one adventurous attendee decided to muster up some courage and take a little video of himself playing the game on an iPad 2 demo unit. So far, it looks like the GTA III that we all know and love from 10 years ago:

Chances are pretty good that this video was not taken with the permission of the Rockstar reps on hand at the convention, so don't be surprised if the video ends up disappearing sooner rather than later. But for now, it's a nice glimpse into what GTA III will be like on mobile. Also, though it's hard to tell from this shaky video, various other outlets' hands-on impressions of the demo build so far all state that the visuals have been given the high-res treatment, or at least as high a resolution as a 10 year old game can have. This leads me to believe that the GTA III we end up getting on iOS is based off of the superior Xbox version, though that's just a bit of speculation on my part.

GTA III is scheduled for a Fall release, and if it's anything like their launch of Chinatown Wars on iOS, we may be seeing the game incredibly soon, as that title popped up just a few short days after they were showing off preview builds to the media. That's more speculation on my part, but I remain hopeful. Until the game actually does launch, feel free to check out our forums where GTA III: 10th Anniversary Edition is getting a healthy amount of discussion.

[Via Kotaku and our forums]

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We have a couple more upcoming games from Chillingo to share that we previewed at Wednesday's Naughty or Nice games event held by EA in New York. Two puzzle games of rather different pace.

Home Sheep Home 2

Back in May we took a look at Chillingo's iOS port of the BAFTA-nominated Flash game Home Sheep Home and found it to be "baaah-rilliant," giving it four stars. Sometime later this fall, the studio will be launching a sequel to this Shaun the Sheep-inspired game, entitled Home Sheep Home 2: A Little Epic.

Like its iOS predecessor, Home Sheep Home 2 is a puzzle platformer with a pencil-sketch aesthetic, featuring Shaun — pretty standard sized, as far as sheep go — along with his little pal Timmy and his massive gal Shirley.

Each screen of the game is a fairly elaborate puzzle proposition. The task at hand is to get all three sheep from one side of the screen to the other. To do this, each of the sheep most be properly employed in order to solve the puzzle and move on to the next screen. For example, you might need to hop Timmy onto Shaun's back to send him up to a button that needs pressing, and then use Shirly as a raft to float Shaun across a pool of water. That kind of thing.

The game looks to be not a radical departure from the original, but a collection of new puzzles in the spirit of the old.

Home Sheep Home 2 will be offered in two versions, one for the iPhone and one for the iPad, at as-yet undetermined prices.

Hank Hazard: The Stunt Hamster

Another upcoming title we were shown a the Naughty or Nice event is the action puzzler Hank Hazard: The Stunt Hamster. The game involves helping Hank live his dream of becoming the first daredevil hamster by sending him flying around level after level of arranged obstacles, collecting stars, and getting out with the best time left on the clock.

You set Hank in motion by removing various items on the screen to get his little run-about ball rolling. You might eliminate a column of blocks or pop a balloon from which he hangs. Once he's on his way, obstacles such as flames, floating sliders, chomping teeth and rocket fists — some of which you can activate with a tap — send him hither and yon, daredevil style.

Hank Hazard: The Stunt Hamster will support both the iPhone and the iPad and was developed by Red Rocket Games.

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Yesterday at EA's Naughty or Nice event in New York, I sat down with Levi Buchanan of Chillingo to have a look at a few of the titles the studio has in the pipeline for iOS. One of the titles in question places iOS gamers in the role of a hero that is in no way wanting in the blue and red spandex department. Yes readers, the Man of Steel will soon be training his heat vision upon the App Store.

Superman, developed by Tiger Games, is an iPhone only game that puts you in the red boots of the son of Jor-El. It's a stand alone action adventure, not tied to any particular film outing, old or new. The story goes like this. Lex Luthor has taken it upon himself to launch a series of satellites to "help" with the whole climate change problem. Superman is understandably concerned by the bald villain's true motives. (Spoiler: they're bad.)

The game throws you right into the City of Metropolis, represented in side-scrolling 2D, with a good sampling of your superpowers available for use. The goal is to make it through 18 levels, defeating baddies by any of a number of different means, putting out fires with your freeze-breath, and working your way to defeating the evil Luthor and his orbiting offensive.

The game is designed to be played in mobile-friendly 3-4 minute sessions, each of which call upon most of Superman's superpowers to get the jobs done. As Superman flies about Metropolis, arrows surrounding his powerful self point directly to situations that need attention, color coded for urgency. The backstory is told via comic book-style panels, appropriately, and the whole thing is a touch-controlled race against the clock.

As long as your iPhone case isn't crafted from Kryptonite, you should have no problems taking a stab at the role of Kal-El in Superman later this year.

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We sat down with EA at yesterday's Naughty or Nice games event in New York and had a look at a number of upcoming iOS titles, one of which should put a smile on the faces of all the real-world FPS fans out there. Coming this winter, for iOS only, is a spin-off of the imminent, big-news home console title Battlefield 3, entitled Battlefield 3 Aftershock, which we first covered back in August.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock is a single- and multi-player FPS that will feature a range of battlefield locations around globe. The early demo version I played with was set  in Iraq (only) and the additional play locations have not yet be revealed.

Single player mode, EA explained, is being built around powerful 3D visuals, great gameplay, ragdoll physics and a wave system of enemy attacks designed to provide the best mobile wargame possible — with an emphasis on mobile. The combat system is built around incoming hordes of enemies — 150 waves per map — designed to deliver relentless FPS action that can, on the go, be played just one wave at a time in 3-4 minute sessions.

There are four different character classes with heavy weapons variation (over 50 in all) and a high degree of player customization options. The multi-player game is expected to support matches with up to 10 players and character experience gained in single-player mode will translate over to multi-player, allowing for solo build-sessions between matches.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock is controlled via two on-screen "sticks," movement on the left and aiming on the right. There is also an aim-assist button on the right that helps lock down targeting for those wanting a bit of help with the headshots. A few minutes of gameplay showed an impressive degree of detail and action on the demo iPad's screen. In this early build of the game, there's still room for some shader work, it seemed, but striking visuals are on EA's list of priorities for the final release, so I expect that will get tightened up before release. Even still, as is, it's one of the best looking iOS shooters I've seen.

Battlefield 3 Aftershock will arrive as a universal application (for iPhone and iPad) in late '11 or early '12 and will feature integration with EA's own Origin online network. You can count on a review of the title, closer in.

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