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Puzzle Quest 2, Infinite Interactive's follow-up to the RPG puzzle series, is slated to hit Xbox LIVE Arcade and the Nintendo DS this summer. But will it be released for the iPad and iPhone?

It's possible. In a conversation with us, game executive producer Tim Ramage said that both platforms are "viable platforms" for the game.

“At the moment we are only announced for XBLA and DS but we are looking at all other platforms for possible opportunities," Ramage said via e-mail. "Both the iPad and iPhone would be viable platforms for Puzzle Quest 2 to be a part of.”

The original Puzzle Quest (Chapters 1 and 2) [App Store] launched on the App Store in December 2008 following the full game's Xbox LIVE Arcade release in October.

The iPhone port was met with middling reviews until perfomance updates brought it up to speed with its platform counterparts, but it's always maintained that magical mixture of Bejeweled-style match-three play with RPG trimmings. Definitely check it out if you're a puzzle game fan.

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Argharta Studio has finally submitted the second episode of 1112 to the App Store. The original installment of the series was first released in November of 2008 and was a highly anticipated point and click adventure for the iPhone. The follow up episode is finally arriving soon.

Louis has arrived in New York in a rather mysterious way… Help him discover why he has ended up in New York and follow his adventure promising unexpected developments and encounters.

Agharta has released new screenshots as well as a trailer video.

Features found in episode 2 include:

• All new advanced graphical design and artistic direction
• 25 new larger than life environments
• 14 new characters
• Various puzzles, each with a specific gameplay
• An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch user interface
• Original score
• Elaborate interactive narrative
• Totally redesigned game engine

The first episode had somewhat mixed user reviews, so we'll be interested to see how the game has progressed in the time since. It seems they've redone much of the game engine and gameplay for episode 02. The game will be coming for both iPhone and iPad.

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It seems that Mountain Sheep just can't catch a break with Minigore [App Store]. According to their blog, they are suggesting users skip the 3.7 update, as both forum members and iTunes reviews are reporting data loss upon updating.

If you value your Minigore game data, it's best to hold off until an updated version hits the App Store. Since unlocking everything in the game can take weeks, if you know anyone who is a Minigore addict, it might not be a bad idea to tip them off about the 3.7 issues as well.

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At this point we've posted about Freeverse's Warpgate so many times that linking to the various previews over the last year just seems excessive. From its very beginnings at WWDC '09, Warpgate piqued my interest, and as information slowly leaked out of Freeverse regarding the game's development, it seemed like it was set to exceed even my wildest expectations– Provided they could live up to nearly a year of pre-release hype.

Warpgate HD [App Store] was among the initial batch of games available along side the launch of the iPad, and was the first game I loaded up following unboxing mine after waiting what seemed like an eternity to sync. Since then, Warpgate has sucked me in in the worst way. Describing games as "addicting" or "addictive" has become the absolute worst cliche of the App Store, both in descriptions and game reviews, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a better way to describe my attraction to this game.

To give some perspective, things I love in video games in no particular order includes anything to do with space, massive game worlds, warring factions you can take part in, an impressive sense of scale, and as much randomization as possible to provide endless replay value. Warpgate has all of these things and more.

Obviously set in space, Warpgate is host to a gigantic galaxy map that you slowly explore through a seamless set of campaign missions. Once you complete the initial tutorial, and start in on the "real" game, procedurally generated missions begin appearing that have you flying places, delivering things, getting in to battles with other ships, and other objectives. Because of this, the game never technically ends.

Warpgate is remarkably open, so much so that if you're the kind of gamer that requires a rigid goal structure with a concrete "end" to a game, it might just drive you crazy. The end goal of Warpgate is whatever you want it to be. If that means grinding up reputation with the space pirates and piloting the biggest, baddest battleship in the entire galaxy, killing everything in your path, you can. Or, on the opposite side of things, you can be completely lawful and play your cards so you're in good standing with all the factions of space.

Or, if you don't care about that, and you just want to have billions and billions of space bucks, Warpgate is conducive to that play style too. There's an entire dynamic economy in game and if all you want to do is ferry around commodities between planets selling low and buying high, you can. In-game news feeds will help you keep an eye on the pulse of the universe, and you can often make an insane profit by quickly delivering huge loads of much needed cargo to planets that show up in the news.

If you don't like power gaming these kinds of games, and just want to have fun in space, that works too. Warpgate seems to be balanced in a way that both rewards power gaming the economy and in-game faction system as well as being conducive to casual gamers just bouncing between campaign missions without getting too involved in the other parts of the game. Mostly, playing the in-game markets is optional, and you might only have to participate in buying and selling commodities if you're low on money and need to buy an expensive quest item or want to further upgrade your ship's weaponry.

Alternatively, if you really don't want to grind up money to buy things, there's an in-game store where you can buy a huge battle cruiser and tons of space bucks for a few real dollars. Other than that, you can just follow the campaign missions and have a great time.

It seems like App Store gamers are always clamoring for depth in games, something that has become exceedingly rare as pricing across the board has hit rock bottom. Warpgate has depth on top of depth. To give you an idea of how much content is in the game, the galaxy map is host to 36 star systems. Those star systems are home to 120 different plants and space stations. While you're marauding around the galaxy, you can pilot one of 172 different star ships, and equip your ship with the 60 included weapons. It's really just insane how much is packed in to this game.

As far as an iPad game is concerned, Warpgate HD is great. Since the launch of the device, we've played almost everything worth playing, and it seems like the control method that I've been preferring the most is one where you can comfortably rest the iPad in your lap, holding it with one hand, and playing with the other. This is exactly how Warpgate works.

You control your ship either by touching anywhere in the game world to fly there, swiping in the direction you want to fly, or touching one of the icons on the side of the screen indicating the direction of a planet, warpgate, or other point of interest. Context sensitive buttons appear to allow you to warp through a warpgate, land on a planet, scan another ship, answer an incoming communication, or fight another ship.

The camera is controlled using all the same familiar multitouch gestures such as two fingers to rotate and pinching to zoom in or out. Speaking of zooming the camera, this is one of my absolute favorite things about the game. With a pinch of your fingers you can go from seeing the minute details of your ship, then instantly and fluidly pan the camera all the way out to show all the nearby planets. This level of zoom control and sense of scale is so cool that the first hour or two that I played the game I couldn't help myself but just constantly zoom in and out.

If you're looking for a fast paced action game, Warpgate is not it. While narrowly escaping from pirates as you just barely warp before getting hit with a missile that would destroy your ship can be exciting, by and large the game is fairly slow. You will spend a lot of time watching your ship flying from place to place, and when you're actually fighting, combat isn't anywhere near as interactive as I had hoped it would be.

When you tap the button to enter a battle, the screen zooms, twists, and blurs just like a Final Fantasy. The game then quickly loads in to a battle sequence where your ship will be flying in a swarm with the other ship (or ships) you're fighting. You don't have any control over your ship's movement at this point, and all you really do is choose when to fire what weapons by mashing buttons that appear on either side of the screen and select the target you're firing on. It gets the job done, but feels surprisingly remedial compared to the rest of the game. If there's one area that Warpgate needs improvement, it's in fleshing out this battle system to add some strategy beyond mashing your weapon buttons as they come online.

Originally designed as an iPhone game, the non-HD version of Warpgate will be available on the 13th, Warpgate will intelligently scale across the entire iPhone and iPod touch family, enabling the different graphical effects depending on what device you're playing on. If you're playing the game on a 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch, you'll see all kinds of fancy shader effects. If not, the game should still look good without them and run at a great frame rate to boot. Aside from the smaller screen size and a reworked user interface, the iPhone version of the game will be identical to the iPad.

iPhone Warpgate compared to Warpgate HD.

While I'm having a great time with Warpgate, one thing really makes me nervous about a game of this scope. There's no way to manage your game saves, back up your game, or anything like that. I have invested hours upon hours in to Warpgate, and I'd hate to think that I could lose it all from some update SNAFU, iTunes sync weirdness, and the countless other things I've run in to in the past that have resulted in random save game data loss. Especially with an iPhone version on the horizon, there's nothing more I'd love to see than some kind of online Plus+ powered save game synchronization between devices, or anything else to add some kind of security that my massive space empire is here to stay.

Overall, in my eyes, Warpgate has completely delivered on the months of pre-launch hype. Playing the game on my iPad feels like the future, and something that you would see some space kid playing on a similar tablet device in an 80's sci-fi movie. The mood of the game is great, the graphics are phenomenal, the in-game soundtrack has an epic feel to it, and even the icon is cool. Sure, the battle system could use some work, but that is just a small part of an otherwise remarkable game.

Warpgate HD is currently my favorite iPad game, and if you've ever enjoyed a space conquest game in the past, this is a game you need to download. If you don't have an iPad, the iPhone version will be coming April 13th, so keep an eye out for that.

App Store LInk: Warpgate HD, $7.99 (iPad only, iPhone version coming 4/13.)

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As a gaming kid in the 80s, I sometimes sat dreamy-eyed between rounds of Demon Attack, wondering just what video games 30 years in the future might look like. What I pictured was something pretty darned close to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved from Bizarre Creations. So when that game first crossed my radar, I ran right out and grabbed an Xbox 360 — and it was absolutely worth it. Since then, I've enjoyed Geometry Wars: Galaxies on the Wii and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, again on the 360.

That said, no one should be surprised to hear how excited I was to see Activision release Geometry Wars: Touch [App Store] — out of nowhere — for the iPad.

Those familiar with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, a downloadable XBLA release, should have a pretty good idea of what Geometry Wars: Touch brings to the table. If you've somehow missed it all this time, the game is a retro-styled multi-directional shooter with over the top glowing particle effects. The game has won rave reviews and been cloned numerous times on many platforms. The iPad version features all six play types of the XBLA release, with a seventh ("Titans") added in for good measure.

• Deadline: Score as high as you can in three minutes of play with unlimited lives.
• King: With one life and no bombs, master the enemies moving from safe zone to safe zone.
• Evolved: Basically Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved.
• Pacifism: With one life and no weapons, wipe out enemies by flying through explosive gates.
• Waves: With one life, dodge or destroy an onslaught of enemies in wall formation, coming from all directions.
• Sequence: Destroy all enemies in each of 20 progressive levels.
• Titans: Pulverize large enemies into more and more smaller ones — basically Asteroids.

As compared to the XBLA version of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, the iPhone release is basically the same game, but with slightly toned down visual effects, no multiplayer, and dual virtual analog stick controls. An integrated online leaderboard keeps things competitive.

Now, this is the first iPad game that I've spent any time with, and I quickly became aware that gaming on the iPad is definitely a different experience than gaming on any desktop, laptop, or mobile device out there. Holding the iPad in front of me with both hands, looking at the action on its sizable screen really was a new and immersive experience.

Sadly, though, it's not all for the better.

Geometry Wars: Touch, as mentioned earlier, is a dual virtual stick shooter. There are plenty of these types of games out there for the iPhone and iPod touch, and they play well enough. But, on the iPad, things are a little different.

In an earlier article, both Arnold and Eli noted an initial unease with the dual stick controls in this and other games on the iPad. After spending time with this title, I felt similarly and attributed it to the iPad's larger edge border. Because of the extra "dead area" around the screen, I frequently found myself dragging my thumbs out of the active multitouch area and losing control of the game. At first this happened quite a bit, but as I got a few hours into the game and learned to force myself to put my thumbs "deeper" into the screen, the issue lessened — but it was still occasionally there.

See our gameplay video for a closer look.

That said, I don't think the issue is a specific implementation problem on the part of the Geometry Wars: Touch developers; I believe it is likely just a side effect of the iPad design. And I sincerely hope that more time spent with such games on the iPad can result in a learned proficiency that makes this a non-issue.

Those control concerns aside, Geometry Wars: Touch is, like earlier members of the series, an excellent arcade shooter. The game has been endlessly cloned on the iPhone and iPod touch platform (and most other platforms), so iPad gamers are definitely lucky to have an authentic Geometry Wars title in the App Store. And, for jealous iPhone and iPod Touch owners, I can't imagine why Activision wouldn't also port the title the rest of the iPhone platform devices sooner or later.

App Store Link: Geometry Wars: Touch, $9.99

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Since Arnold and Blake foolishly decided to trust the fate of their weekend in the questionably capable hands of Saturday delivery drivers, I'm the first person in the TouchArcade crew to successfully secure an iPad. I'm still waiting for the hundreds of iPad games we've been hoarding since they started showing up on the App Store to sync, but so far my initial impressions of the device are almost exactly what I expected.

The screen is beautiful, browsing the internet on is great, and the included Apple apps (notably the iPad mail client) are especially impressive and will undoubtedly make the iPhone feel cramped in comparison if I get too used to it. The one thing that did take me by surprise is the weight of the device, especially being so use to the feel of my Kindle. But, according to reviews, the battery figures Apple provided apparently are accurate and I'm more than willing to put up with a little extra bulk for a device that can go all day without being plugged in.

I'm likely going to be spending the day powering through as many of the iPad launch lineup as possible, as well as seeing how quickly I can adapt my iPhone video shooting rig to the larger device. I've got my personal list of games I'm the most interested in trying, but (assuming they made appropriate offerings to the gods of Saturday delivery) Arnold and Blake should soon be joining me in the iPad fiesta.

I suppose we can take requests for what you guys would like to see first, so feel free to drop a comment on this story and we'll try to prioritize our initial impressions based on the general consensus. The first game I'm going to be firing up is Mirror's Edge [App Store, quickly followed by Warpgate HD [App Store], and I'm not even sure to go from there.

Also, if you're curious to see any specific iPhone game upscaled on the iPad, we'll likely also be doing a roundup of sorts of iPhone classics running on the iPad or something like that.

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Originally released for the PlayStation all the way back in the year 2000, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 [App Store] was the definitive skateboarding game of its day. Since then, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series has spawned a ton of sequels, but, at least in my opinion, no skateboarding game has come close to the same level of fun. I played Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 so much that I quite literally wore out controllers. I really can't think of another game I can say the same for.

I'm not alone in absolutely loving the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 either, as it's currently the #2 top rated game on all of MetaCritic, second only to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In its day, THPS2 received flawless reviews from nearly everyone who touched it, and believe it or not, even the Gameboy Advance port was great… An accomplishment not to be taken lightly given how terribly mediocre even the best Gameboy ports of "full" 3D games were.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 stikes a perfect balance between an in-depth career mode with multiple skaters you can slowly improve by buying additional stat points, skateboards, and tricks while also sporting an extremely open game world that seems to never run out of things for you to do. Once you do finally beat the game, there's always topping you and your friends' scores which begin to become a test of endurance for how long you can keep an infinite combo going before falling.

Progressing through career mode involves selecting a skate location and completing goals to earn in-game money. Initially only the warehouse is open, and goals range from finding gaps (two ramps you can jump between), picking up the S K A T E letters, knocking over barrels, reaching several different point totals, and others. Once you make enough money the second skate location opens, and the rest of the game continues like that. Of course, you can always visit old locations, which is vital if you hope to fully tweak out your skater as each stat point you buy is incrementally more expensive than the last.

Sadly, even though Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is based on source material that is pure gaming gold, there are the usual console game to iPhone issues. First off, the necessary evil of the virtual D-Pad and set of four buttons to handle all your jumping, flipping, grabbing and grinding really doesn't do the game any favors. They're slowly growing on me and work as well as to be expected, but I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to pull the insane infinite combos I could on a real controller just because of how hard it is to rock your thumb between two virtual buttons on the iPhone screen.

Secondly, and potentially worse is that Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 flat out hasn't been adapted to be a very good mobile phone game. It still utilizes a similar save system to the now ancient console game where your progress is only saved after each level, so any phone calls will result in you restarting from your last save. This probably isn't as big of a deal as it sounds, since each skate session is only a couple minutes long, but it still seems worth mentioning.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is also a game that would benefit greatly from some kind of online leaderboard integration. The sheer potential this game has to be the most amazing thing I've ever seen by implementing leaderboards, push challenges, and replay sharing is out of this world. I can't even imagine how much fun sending challenges to all my friends I used to play THPS2 with back in the day would be, and I really really hope they consider adding this.

In the graphics and sound departments, it's all there. In fact, the game looks even better on the iPhone than I remember it. It has a soundtrack of real music, although the original game music by Anthrax, Rage Against the Machine, and Bad Religion are nowhere to be found. Currently the game's availability is severely limited, but according to Tony Hawk's Twitter should be available internationally fairly soon.

Despite these issues, if you have any nostalgia at all from playing the original game ten years ago, you're going to need this game. From the familiar menus to all the skate locations filled with secrets you slowly begin to remember, there's nothing that compares to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. There is no way you won't be smiling ear to ear the first time you drop in to the warehouse, and chances are, you won't even care that the controls aren't ideal because you're playing Tony Hawk on your phone.

If you're only familiar with more modern Tony Hawk games, you might be annoyed that it's lacking (and I use that word loosely) things like a story mode, a more structured career mode, greater depth of customization, and other things that have since become common place in recent skateboarding games. But, honestly, none of that even matters, because the actual skating in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 has an absolutely timeless feel to it.

This is a game I will never delete from my iPhone.

App Store Link: Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, $9.99

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As we get closer and closer to iPad zero hour, even more details on the device are hitting the internet. Most interesting from a gaming perspective is a brief hands on with an actual iPad showing several games running on the device that we haven't seen before including a few seconds of Plants vs Zombies for the iPad in this video from ABC News:

Larger version available at ABC.com

PCMag also put up a video review of the iPad which goes over most aspects of the device, but if you skip to about the four minute mark you can see a few brief clips of Real Racing HD:

Other reviews are also coming in from the usual suspects:

• David Pogue @ The New York Times
• Walt Mossberg @ The Wall Street Journal
• Edward Baig @ USA Today
• Andy Ihnatko @ The Chicago Sun Times

And finally, AppShopper shows another huge push of iPad games and apps. We're likely going to spend the rest of the night combing through these and post anything we find that's interesting. Stay tuned!

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A few weeks ago I previewed Babo Crash from PlayBrain and I told you how it made me excited about match 3 games again. Well it’s now been released in the app store so you too can experience the gem destroying joys of this game.

Basically, Babo Crash takes the standard match 3 formula and adds to it crazy power ups. I explained how it did that in my preview:

When you match more than three gems you create a hero gem. Each color of gem creates a different hero, when you use them in a match you activate their special ability. This is where the game gets good. One of the abilities creates a ball on the screen that you control by tilting you iPhone which destroys every gem it touches. There is something very satisfying about destroying gems in this manner.

The responses in our forums have been positive with a few reviews posted by our readers. Some people are upset, however, that there is no survival mode. Still, this is a great game to pick up if you are bored of other match three games but don’t want to give up on the genre. It did refresh the way I look at match three games since it proves that you can make one that's visually stunning and features frantic game play.

App Store Link: Bebo Crash, $0.99

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We've been following the development of Freeverse's Warpgate for nine months now, and it sounds like the game's epic development cycle is coming to a close with Warpgate's impending release early next month.

We've posted about the game numerous times in the past, between its initial unveiling at WWDC, the appearance at the iPhone Launch Party, and other previews such as a early combat video and a demo of the graphics engine. Meanwhile, the thread on our forums has been building in anticipation, and the impressions I've managed to juice out of a few beta testers I've talked to have been remarkably positive.

Warpgate is a space conquest game with tons of ships to pilot, factions to fight with, planets to take over, and a string of missions that expand the plot of the game which are supplemented by randomly generated missions that players can accept and complete as many times as they want to always have something to do.

First off, the cinematic trailer sets the scene of the game:

And a gameplay trailer from the iPhone:

I've been looking forward to this game since I first got wind of it last year, and I cannot wait for it to be released. Following the previews we've done, it's amazing how far the game has come since we first saw it. At WWDC, the game was little more than a tech demo where you could zoom the camera in and out. Judging by the response on our forums, I doubt I'm alone in being really excited to finally play the full version of the game.

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