TouchArcade.ru

Hot off the presses of CES comes two new products from ION: A redesigned version of the iCade that drops the surrounding cabinet, as well as a mobile version for the iPhone and iPod touch. Check it out:

ION has yet to release pricing or more specific release dates than “2012″ for the redesigned iCade, but the iCade Mobile will hit in Q2 for $100. Hopefully we’ll get some hands-on time at CES this week.

Update: Engadget, as noted by MacRumors, has updated their post on the new iCades with hands-on video of the handheld iPhone version, dubbed the iCade Mobile. Also, it looks like the pricing for iCade Mobile was incorrect, and the unit should be launching at $79.99 rather than $100.

<!–

Also noticed at the ION booth at CES is a new product called the iCade Jr. The iCade Jr. is similar to the original iCade for the iPad but is a much smaller version that will fit iPhone and iPod touch devices. It retains the faux arcade cabinet design of the original and features 4 buttons on the front deck as well as 4 buttons on the rear panel, as well as a pass-through for charging while in use.

The iCade Jr. unit on display was non-functional, but ION is shooting to have the new unit available this Spring for $49. More photos can be seen at the original Engadget posting.

[via Engadget and MacRumors]

[source]

This week on The TouchArcade Show, the usual crew powers through a hostile host takeover, some New Years Eve discussion, and other offbeat topics in order to bring you the latest and greatest in iOS news, reviews, and TouchArcade business. At the top, we dig into Vlambeer’s awesome Super Crate Box. Later, we dive into the wonders of Photo Swap and other awesome games. In the second half, we talk about 60beat’s GamePad and address your awesome user questions!

We’ve set the bar for 2012, so it’s only down (or up) from here. Thanks for being awesome in 2011, and feel free to join us again this year. Speaking of that, if you’d like to listen you can do so via the links just below. The cool kids all listen to us on iTunes and Zune Marketplace, though.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-033.mp3, 42MB

Here are your show notes (with a bonus retraction at the end):

GAMES

• Super Crate Box [$.99]
• Hatchi
• Photo Swap [Free]
• Dungeon Raid [$2.99 / Lite]
• Justin Smith’s Realistic Sports Simulator [$.99]

JARED’S KITTY KORNER

• Very Hungry Cat [Free]

FRONT PAGE

• ‘Cthulhu Saves The World’ Coming to iOS
• 60beat’s GamePad
• ‘Infinity Blade’ Is Doing Well
• New TouchArcade Logo [Responses]

Retraction: Super Crate Box’s controls have been fixed in an update that hit between the time we recorded and the publishing of the podcast!

[source]

Hey, guys, remember when Tamagotchis were a thing? I hope so, because a big part of why we’re so excited about Portable Pixels‘ Hatchi is directly tied to nostalgia. Our all-seeing eye recently caught a first-look posting of the app on our message board, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the find.

Hatchi is a fine-looking Tamagotchi-style, er, throwback that provides a similar same kind of experience. You’ll feed, teach, train, and clean your digital little animal and then, as a result, forge some sort of emotional bond to it. Basically, it’s like a dog that can’t do the annoying things like, say, pee on the carpet or drool.

Tamagotchis were huge for a spell and we had more than a few hanging from our keychains, so we’re pretty stoked to give this mobile iteration on the idea a shot. Portable Pixels has submitted the app for review, so it should hit within the week.

[source]

I’m certainly not ashamed to admit I’m a fanboy of Big Pixel Studios. They make my favorite match-3 in Piyo Blocks 2 [99¢], they created one of the greatest kitty games of all time with Meow Meow Happy Fight [$2.99/HD], and their wonderful physics puzzler Land-a Panda [99¢/HD] has been a huge success. I adore the unique art style in Big Pixel’s games, and they’re always bright, colorful, and full of cheer, as well as solid gameplay. So yeah, I’m a fan.

The latest title that Big Pixel has been hard at work on is called Off The Leash, and I’ve had the good fortune of playing a preview build of the game ahead of its January release. I’m enjoying the heck out of it so far, and to lean on an easy comparison, Off The Leash does for tilt-based avoidance games what Jetpack Joyride [99¢] did for cave flyers. That’s to say, it takes the core mechanic of reaction-based tilt gameplay and slathers it in colorful visuals, unlockable items and characters, and meta goals to achieve through continued play.

The story, like the visuals, is almost just too adorable to handle. Society has suddenly put a ban on dogs for some reason, and since you’re a dog this is bad news. While quietly minding your own doggy business inside your home, the fuzz crashes down the door ready to haul you away. You burst through the window to escape while the cops promptly give chase, setting up the premise for the game.

As you’re evading your police pursuit, you’ll need to tilt your device to avoid bad objects and collect good objects along the way. Your escape is broken into segments, each with a timer and a checkpoint at the end that must be reached before time’s up. Running into bushes, water, or other disruptive objects will slow you down, possibly to the point of not making the checkpoint in time and extending your play. Careful avoidance is the main name of the game if you want to make it far.

You can also collect other dogs while you go, snatching them right from the leashes in their owner’s hand and recruiting them into your pack. As this pack grows, it becomes easier to collect good objects like food and coins since you’re pack covers a wider area, but it also becomes easier to run into hazards. At certain points the level can get pretty narrow, so holding down on the bottom of the screen will slow down time a bit and make your puppy pals line up behind you in single file, making the hazards easier to negotiate but costing you precious time.

So the core gameplay is fairly simple, but there are some neat additions thrown in there to add some variety and depth. This also includes powerups, which can be picked up as you’re running and will do things like give you a temporary speed boost or draw items closer to you like a magnet. You can also spend the coins you earn on all sorts of nifty things like silly hats, special powerups, and new characters. Most of these items take a lot of coins, and there will be the option of purchasing more through IAP if you want to speed up that process, though it isn’t necessary.

Off The Leash is shaping up to be another winner from Big Pixel Studios. The gameplay is so simple even a caveman could do it, and the store filled with items to buy and the mini-missions to complete during regular play will keep me coming back frequently. The game feels mostly complete in the version I’m playing, so chances are Big Pixel is waiting for the holiday release rush to die down before unleashing Off The Leash in the App Store. We should be seeing it sometime in January, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[source]

Just over a year ago, SRRN Games released Ash [99¢/Lite], a fun role-playing game that attempted to be a modern throwback to RPGs of the 16-bit era. It succeeded remarkably well at it too, offering simple but fun RPG gameplay with an interesting story tying everything together. We liked it a whole bunch in our review, and even our complaints about the difficulty and the controls were rectified in a later update.

Sadly, one thing that didn’t seem likely to get rectified was the generic look of the game. Ash was made using assets from RPG Maker, a build-your-own-RPG program of sorts. This made everything look kind of patchwork-ish and cookie cutter, which contrasted poorly with the high quality of the dialogue and storyline. However, it wasn’t anything so off-putting that you couldn’t enjoy the game, it was just the biggest part of the game that could use improvement.

Now, surprisingly, SRRN has actually gone and redrawn all of the artwork to Ash and released it as a free update. The new sprites, backgrounds, and character art all closely mimic the previous version, so it’s not like you’re dealing with entirely new characters, but they’ve all been redrawn or remade beautifully. The game is much more colorful and brighter, and everything has a more cohesive look like it all belongs together. It’s definitely a very welcome improvement. Aside from the new artwork, they also fixed some bugs and toned down the frequency of random encounters.

If you haven’t checked out Ash already, the lovely new artwork is just one more reason to give it a look. For those that already own and have played through Ash, this update is reason enough to dust off that app and give it another run through. If you’re thinking of picking up Ash, right now wouldn’t be a bad time as it’s currently on sale for 99¢ and there’s a lite version to try which has also been given the visual improvement.

[source]

At heart, Catball Eats It All [Free] does not have a unique premise. At all. At heart, all you do is battle physics with your thumbs to keep a fat cat rolling around big shapes and eating stuff. Sounds a bit boring, doesn’t it?

However, great execution is all about a clever take and excellent design, as fans of standout iOS titles will tell you. And if Catball Eats It All has anything nailed, it’s in presenting a title that looks so wacky that you can’t help but be drawn to its inherent weirdness and wonder what the gameplay will be like. It’s actually like someone chopped up a bunch of weird photos of animals on the internet and made playable levels out of them. And you get to play one too. You’re sold, right?

The game is very easy to pick up and play, with a basic tutorial that has you using your thumbs on the screen to move Catball left and right. Designed by Philadelphia artist NoseGo, the levels are surreal, each made up of what looks like a series of images cut out of a magazine and coddled together for the weirdest results. You will roll over the surface of this hodgepodge object, collecting items and bouncing about (a simple press with one thumb while holding down the other button will make Catball inflate and fly around).

As you proceed, a small icon in the top right corner of the world will show you how much time you have left and how much eating you’re doing. If you don’t eat fast enough, a giant dog will appear and try to eat you. It’s a lot of fun to maneuver around these unique levels, and my only complaint was that the game didn’t offer motion control as an option, as I found myself tilting the phone when I went rolling this way or that reflexively, as if it would help me make it to that next platform.

Once or twice, Catball got stuck in a narrow passage. Could be a bug, I’m not sure, but each time I had to restart the level as I couldn’t seem to move. Mostly, the controls seems just fine, but it’s worth noting that it may happen to you too.

Especially considering it’s a free download at the time of this review, I’d say this title is a must-get for fans of platformers or something that looks a bit different from all the other ultra-cute stuff on the App store. It has that Katamari Damacy feel to it when it comes to eating everything, and I love that. I had a great deal of fun with it, and the Facebook and Game Center compatibility are a plus if you like social sharing when it comes to your scores.

The developers promise us new levels in the future (called “Courses, heh), and I have to say I am looking forward to the chance to spend more time with this unique title.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

The wait for Grand Theft Auto 3 on iOS and Android is almost over. On its blog a few minutes ago, Rockstar revealed that the 10 Year Anniversary Edition port of the game-changing open-world title will hit the App Store and Android Marketplace on December 15th at an agreeable price point of $4.99. A new trailer giving you another taste of what’s to come is expected to release next week, but we’ve got some new screens right now to hold you over.

Oh! And in other related-and-cool news, GTA 3 will support more than just iPad 2, iPhone 4S, or a beefy Android device at launch. Single core phones and devices are now game. Here’s an updated list of what will be supported at launch:

• Apple iOS Devices: iPad 1 & 2, iPhone 4 & 4S, iPod touch 4th Generation
• Android Phones: HTC Rezound, LG Optimus 2x, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Droid X2, Motorola Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy R, T-Mobile G2x
• Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Dell Streak 7, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive

[Thanks, @WakeBoardMan10!]

[source]

There’s nothing that gets me more giddy than when one of my favorite iOS games gets a sweet update that adds some new content and functionality, especially when that game has already been out for a while. It’s great to see games getting support far into their lifespan, and over the weekend my giddiness was increased to the max when Pix’n Love Rush [99¢] and its iPad counterpart Pix’n Love Rush DX [$1.99] both received great new updates.

The Pix’n Love Rush games are no strangers to updates. They’ve been updated three times before with major new features since the original iPhone version release back in June of last year. This latest update adds yet another new gameplay mode and also makes the previously iPad only version Pix’n Love Rush DX into a Universal app, so you can throw that bad boy on your iPhone or iPod touch if you wish. It’s kind of a bummer that if you had some nice high scores saved to the iPhone version that they won’t transfer over to DX, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to have one less app taking up space in my iTunes.

As for the new mode, it’s called On/Off Rush and is a smart little piece of puzzle platforming. There are two different types of objects to collect, suns and moons. Suns can only be collected during the day, and moons during the night. Touching special switcher walls will turn the level from day to night. Your character moves automatically, so you’re tasked with jumping at the right times to collect the proper item depending on if it’s day or night.

It’s quite clever, and gets increasingly difficult as you progress. Collecting correct items in a row increases a multiplier and adds time to the clock, allowing you to continue on. Accidentally grabbing a moon during daytime (or vice versa) resets the multiplier and adds no time to the clock, and eventually your time will run out. There are two different flavors of On/Off Rush, and Arcade mode where missed items mean less points and a Puzzle mode where every item must be collected through multiple trips through a level, but time is the commodity.

I absolutely love the new On/Off Rush, as I do with just about every other aspect of Pix’n Love Rush, and I’m pretty gassed that the iPad version is now Universal. If you own either version of the game, then get to updating and check out the new modes, and if you don’t own Pix’n Love Rush already then check out our previous coverage as it’s a game that really needs to be on your device.

[source]

You know, I’ve got to hand it to EA. They’re really really good at making money. The latest cash cow they’ve set loose on the App Store pasture is the updated version of Tetris [99¢] which as we mentioned last night isn’t an update to the existing Tetris. Instead, it’s a new app that everyone will need to purchase, even owners of the original Tetris if they want access to the (admittedly really cool) new features.

Aside from a massive visual overhaul, Tetris now comes with a “one touch” control mode which greatly simplifies playing the game on iOS devices. When a new piece appears, you’re given all the locations that you could drop said piece, and instead of steering the piece into place yourself you just tap where you want it to land. It works great, and effectively puts an end to those annoying moments that every single Tetris player has experienced where you drop a piece one block off from where you wanted it, ruining your perfect line-clearing setup.

Unfortunately, for all the cool new additions to Tetris, which would have made the asking price of 99¢ for the upgrade fairly easy to stomach, EA decided to throw in a ridiculous amount of in-app purchase options which weren’t initially apparent when we previewed the game. Also, like seemingly everything these days, there’s an entirely superfluous leveling up system that rewards you with coins, and challenges that encourage you to round up as many of your friends as possible through Origin.

Coins can be spent on unlocking power-ups as well as new groupings of challenge levels. (Or, “planets” inside of the Tetris “galaxy” as the game refers to them.) Low on coins? No problemo! EA has your back, with bundles of coins that you can buy from 99¢ all the way up to $99.99.

But wait, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “You know, buying coins doesn’t really appeal to me, but what I always thought Tetris needed was some kind of vague Call of Duty Elite-like service I could subscribe to!” Well, we’re on the same page, and thankfully, EA is as well. It’s called the “T-Club”, and members can join for $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year. Doing so will reward you a permanent bonus of earning 15% more coins and lines in game, as long as your subscription is valid. EA has also made mention of “exclusive discounts and content” for T-Club members as well.

This just seems to be the near-perfect representation of everything that is wrong with gaming these days. Tetris is an absolute classic of the highest order, and throughout my lifetime I couldn’t even begin go estimate the hours days worth of play time I’ve sunk into the game. To take such a timeless game that has always (save a few spinoffs) been about simplicity and adding all of these extraneous systems to juice more money out of the player just feels incredibly wrong.

I guess the good news is that all of the IAP, as well as the Origin integration does seem fairly optional if all you want to do is play the classic game of Tetris, but still. This trend of taking a game, releasing a barebones version of it, and giving players the ability to spend an unlimited amount of money through IAP and now subscriptions is a trend that really, really needs to go away before it gets even further out of control.

[source]

If your iPhone or iPad’s memory still isn’t full after you gorged on the various Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving deals, know this: most of the celebratory sales are still active on the App Store. In fact, we’ve discovered a couple more that we couldn’t fit in before the holiday break. That’s what this post is all about — the leftovers.

For example, Telltale Games has lowered its games’ prices 55-80 percent from the usual. The savings began on November 23, but will continue until tomorrow, November 30. Arghata Studio also bashed the prices of its 1112 series in honor of our Turkey Day, and those sales are still continuing, too, well into this week.

Here’s a short list of some notables:

Odds And Ends

• The 7th Guest – $5.99 → $1.99 [Universal]
• Age of Zombies – $2.99 → $.99 [Universal]
• Burn the Rope Worlds – $.99 → Free
• Corpse Craft – $1.99 → $.99
• Fling A Thing – $.99 → Free
• The King of Fighters – $6.99 → $3.99
• Scribblenauts Remix – $4.99 → $2.99 [Universal]
• Spirits for iPad – $4.99 → $.99
• Split / Second on iPad – $6.99 → $.99
• XIII – Lost Identity – $3.99 → $.99

Agharta Studios

• 1112 episode 01 – $4.99 → Free
• 1112 episode 01 HD – $6.99 → Free
• 1112 episode 02 – $4.99 → $.99
• 1112 episode 02 HD – $6.99 → $1.99
• 1112 episode 03 – $4.99 → $1.99
• 1112 episode 03 HD – $6.99 → $2.99

Telltale Games

• Back to the Future Episode 1 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Back to the Future Episode 2 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Back to the Future Episode 3 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Back to the Future Episode 4 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Back to the Future Episode 5 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Hector Episode 1 – $3.99 → $.99
• Hector Episode 1 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Hector Episode 2 – $4.99 → $.99
• Hector Episode 2 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Hector Episode 3 – $4.99 → $.99
• Hector Episode 3 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Monkey Island Tales 1 – $6.99 → $4.99
• Monkey Island Tales 1 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Monkey Island Tales 2 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Monkey Island Tales 3 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Monkey Island Tales 4 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Monkey Island Tales 5 HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Puzzle Agent – $4.99 → $.99
• Puzzle Agent HD – $6.99 → $2.99
• Puzzle Agent 2 – $4.99 → $.99
• Puzzle Agent 2 HD – $6.99 → $2.99

Cool deals, right? As a side-note, if you feel like you’ve been left out of the initial extravaganza, App Shopper [Free] remains an incredible tool to keep on the up and up. You can read more about it here.

[source]