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Yesterday developer Chaoji Li unleashed iDOS to the world. For 99¢, you were able to download a surprisingly fully functional version of Dosbox, a cross-platform program that emulates an IBM compatible PC running MS-DOS, tweaked to ridiculous lengths to work with the touch interface of iOS devices. We posted about it late yesterday morning, and within a few hours the story was picked up by TUAW, Gizmodo, MacRumors, Engadget, and many other media outlets before Apple ultimately pulled it from the App Store entirely a few hours later.

Originally we suspected that this might be the first of many full featured emulators appearing on the App Store following Apple easing up on approval guidelines, but after spending some time with iDOS, it became clear that someone obviously was asleep at the wheel in Apple's approval department. First off, iDOS allowed root access to the file system of the iOS device it was run on via use of simple DOS commands to navigate outside of iDOS's app directory. Secondly, it allowed for execution of absolutely any external DOS-compatible code from games to compilers to entire operating systems. (Some have even installed Windows 95 within iDOS.) As if things couldn't get worse from there, iDOS also came bundled with Dig Dug and Ms. PacMan, two games that Namco not only owns, but is currently selling on the App Store for $2.99 and $4.99 respectively.

Even with the new approval guidelines those three things are in serious violation of the developer agreement, and as such it wasn't much of a surprise to see iDOS quickly removed from the App Store. However, chances are, this won't be the last time you hear of the project. Chaoji Li has already submitted an update to Apple removing Dig Dig and Ms. PacMan, and intends to restrict file system access if Apple also feels that's a problem. Of course that leaves the glaring hole of complete code execution of any random executable you download and drop in to iTunes. One could be quick to jump to the conclusion that this means that iDOS is doomed to forever live in jailbreak purgatory as the freely downloadable DOSPAD, but I'm not so sure. Simply put, iDOS doesn't follow the rules Apple set for apps that are listed in the App store; but this aspect isn't important to understanding why iDOS is important.

Nostalgia gaming currently is bigger than it's ever been before as more and more people who grew up with video games as a main part of their childhood come into adulthood, and don't seem to have any problem spending money to relive those memories in remakes, sequels, and re-imaginations of their favorite games of the past. The Monkey Island remakes are an excellent example of a game studio taking completely classic intellectual property, refreshing it, and releasing it to both a crowd of new gamers and old gamers anxious to once again accompany Guybrush Threepwood on his quest(s). Similarly, iDOS allowed both new and old gamers to play a nearly limitless supply of classic DOS games on their iOS devices.

Much like using Dosbox on your Mac or PC, quite a few games require a bit of tweaking to run optimally, but this is hardly any different from the original releases of these games. (Or as someone put it on Twitter, often times coaxing the game to run on your ancient PC via jumper settings and other wizardry was half the fun of playing it.) Regardless, quite a few games run phenomenally on iDOS right out of the box. The thread on our forums is full of people posting positive results when attempting to run all kinds of retro games and programs. I spent an embarrassing amount of time playing The 7th Guest on my iPad yesterday, with a stupid grin across my face the entire time.

Adding all these things together when leveraged with the power of the App Store, results in the ingredients for a true renaissance of iOS retro gaming. The rate at which our story yesterday expanded to other massive blogs and media outlets proves that there is an immense interest out there for a plethora of classic PC games that iDOS is capable of running on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Chaoji Li proved that playing these games is entirely possible via his iOS-customized spinoff of Dosbox, and, with a little tweaking, many of them run quite well. The current pool of retro remakes and other inspired titles on the App Store (as well as other platforms) and their associated success proves people are willing to pay for them.

This brings us back to the issues that Apple will have with iDOS. Frankly, it does too much, is way too open, and there's likely no way for Apple to look the other way in the entire purpose of the emulator: To execute whatever remote code you drag into iTunes. When emailing back and forth with Chaoji yesterday, I asked him what he thought about another possible alternative for the direction of iDOS.

What if developers leveraged the power of iDOS, or, more accurately, the open source nature of both Dospad and Dosbox to release individually tailored versions of iDOS with a specific game embedded and the emulator extensively tweaked to run that game well? id Software is already using Dosbox in this exact way to re-release both Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D on Steam. Sega has used their own Genesis emulator to release Sonic and other classic games on the App Store. The only thing stopping developers from doing the same thing with any number of classic PC games is tracking down who owns the rights to them, licensing the IP for distribution on the App Store, and tweaking iDOS to exclusively load that content. Chaoji told me he's even willing to help making the entire wrapping process easier in any way he can.

If you're an iOS developer out there trying to come up with what your next project will be, consider looking up who currently holds the rights to your favorite retro game. Since most of these games are freely distributed as abandonware, you might find that the owners may be willing to strike an amazingly reasonable deal with you, or just give you their blessing to breathe some new life into their projects of the past for nothing at all. As mentioned previously, the market is there, the software is there, the distribution network is there.

All we need to start the revolution is developers willing to answer the call.

Thanks to IzzyNobre for the awesome photos, and forum members for screenshots.

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The New York Times confirms rumors that started last week that iPhone game company ngmoco was on the verge of acquisition. Japanese company DeNA will indeed be acquiring iOS game developer ngmoco:

DeNA, the Japanese social gaming giant, said Tuesday that it would acquire Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million — one of the largest deals ever involving an iPhone application developer and another sign that the iPhone is fast becoming the hottest gaming device on the market.

Ngmoco had previously received about $40 million in funding throughout its existence. The acquisition was approved by DeNA's board and is expected to officially close in the next couple of weeks.

DeNA founder Tomoko Namba cites "social gaming" as the big tide in gaming and is seeking to expand into the western market with the acquisition.

Ngmoco was founded in 2008 just as the App Store launched. We first reported on the company's founding back in July, 2008. Ngmoco was responsible for some of our favorite early iOS titles including Rolando, Dropship, WordFu and more. Recently, however, they've transitioned into freemium/social gaming with titles like We Farm, We City, and Touch Pets Dogs.

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The Final Fantasy Tactics series is on its way to the iPhone, but not as soon as we had hoped. Recently some rumors had been spreading around that Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions would be released on the 15th of this month, which unfortunately has been debunked officially courtesy of the Square Enix Facebook page.

The release date is still to be determined per Square Enix, but as a bit of a consolation prize they did release the above screenshot of the currently in development iPhone game. Being huge Tactics fans, we're more than a little disappointed that we won't be playing the game as soon as we had hoped, but we're definitely going to keep an eye out for more news on the game's development.

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We are mere hours away from Apple's latest media event held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA. Few people know for certain what will be discussed today, but the rumor mill is on fire with what could be a potentially redesigned iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle as well as the somewhat inevitable iPod touch refresh. Photos of leaked front panels of what could be the new iPod touch have been floating around the Internet for quite some time now, and it appears that this year could potentially be the year that the iPod touch finally gets a camera– Maybe even a front facing camera to place FaceTime calls. Other rumors have been circulating including potential enhancements to the Apple TV and even revamping the pricing structure for some content on iTunes such as 99¢ rentals for episodes of TV shows.

Yesterday they announced that they will be streaming this event live:

Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple's industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

If you don't have a Mac, iPhone, or iPod touch to watch the event on, there is a guide on MacRumors to watch the stream using VLC on a PC. Of course like all Apple keynotes we will be providing live coverage of things from the keynote that pertain to gaming, and we will be on site after the event to hopefully get some hands-on time with whatever new products are available.

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In a completely unexpected turn of events, Apple seems to have authorized FedEx and UPS to begin delivering iPhone 4's early. Some people are lucky enough to have their devices out for delivery today or in some cases even already delivered. Also, Apple has confirmed that other preorders will be arriving tomorrow, an entire day ahead of the original launch date. It's hard to say whether or not Apple is just throwing ravenous preorderers a bone, or if they're potentially attempting to defray the nearly inevitable launch fiasco experienced with the iPhone 3G when AT&T's servers simply could not handle all the activations on launch day.

Yesterday the developers of Carcassonne [$4.99] mentioned on Twitter that they've already got 1.1 submitted which contains high-resolution artwork for the iPhone 4, and if you own either Flight Control [99¢] or Real Racing [$4.99 / Free] updates are already on the App Store that take advantage of iOS 4 and the Retina Display of the iPhone 4.

One other thing that has us raising our eyebrow is that Real Racing just added full gyroscope support, which presumably means they've been testing on an actual device. This makes us wonder what other developers have been blessed by Apple with actual iPhone 4 hardware that will also have enhanced versions of their games appearing on the App Store shortly.

In the meantime, I've created a thread on our forums for any other confirmed iPhone 4 enhanced games that I encourage everyone to post in if they stumble across any other updates that mention anything to do with taking advantage of the iPhone 4.

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WWDC 2010 is about to kick off. We are on the scene to cover new Apple announcements as well as meet with game developers about their latest creations. Apple is widely expected to launch the new iPhone as well as provide more details on iPhone OS 4. As always, there will likely also be a few surprises. Live coverage available at MacRumors amongst other sites.

Developers attending the conference should contact us by email to arrange meetings. Stay tuned.

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"You're doing very well," a machine voice blurts through a state-of-the-art monitoring system. "Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grille, which may, in semi-rare cases," it adds, "emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."

Rarely does a game hit with the impact of Valve Corporation's Portal. An instant success among critics and fans alike, the downloadable puzzle game carved itself into the enthusiast hive mind. Part of the reason is due to the quirky, yet sinister GLaDOS, a machine overseer of the game's unique sterile observatories. Its one-liners (see above), fictitious warnings, and promises extract chuckles within a  serious tonal framework that challenges without bringing users to their knees.

Of course the bigger reason for its success is tied to the game's name. Portal is a first-person game built with the Half-Life — called "Source" — engine. But unlike its Source counterparts, Portal shirks conventional teeth-gnashing, bullet-spewing visceral action. Solving and casual exploration composes its core, with the characteristic portal gun being the chief object of accomplishing both these concepts. When fired twice, the portal gun opens up teleports that users can then use to navigate and interact within their white-walled, three-dimensional world.

Portals are key to discovering new routes within each of the game's many confined puzzles (the protagonist is trapped in a series of "tests") that need to be solved before another can be tackled. Reduced to the essentials, most puzzles break down into a traditional "keep the button pressed and a door will open" mold but there are other spots of puzzle design at work. Momentum, platforming, and even threat avoidance all have a place.

// There's nothing like Portal yet on an iDevice (even though some brave legal ice-skaters may still be porting the title with Unity – see video above). I've yet to discover a narrative with the same wrinkles or even design with the same complexity and care. But there's no reason to keep yourself from exploring what Portal has to offer; Until May 24th, 2010, developer Valve is offering a download of the game for free.

A Macintosh version is now available for free as well. Valve just opened up their Steam platform, which is something like iTunes for videogames, to the Cupertino crowd. The celebration, I suppose, is in full swing — over 60 titles are to be available soon for Mac users, with more are set to come each Wednesday… but none are free like Portal.

I realize Portal isn't an iDevice title — although that idea tickles me — but it's silly to ignore how unique and compelling Portal is. If for whatever reason you don't have the hardware to run the game right now, go ahead and give it a download anyway. It'll stay tied to your Steam account forever, just like an iTunes App Store download. Oh, and do enjoy the cake on your way out.

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Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores) never ruled out the possibility that its upcoming third-person horror title Dead Space 2 would come to the PC. Strange as the non-committal attitude has been — the original Dead Space hit the PC, after all — there's little doubt now that the game will be, at some point, mouse and keyboard friendly. It also appears as if it could be swipe, flick, and shake-friendly in the near future, too.

Dead Space publisher EA released an updated version of its blockbuster title release schedule (via Shacknews), seemingly confirming that Dead Space 2 is headed to the PC. Interestingly, it also includes a mention of the iterative title hitting "handheld / mobile."

Rumors swirling around Visceral's last Dead Space title, a Wii-exclusive on-rails FPS sub-titled Extraction, have long suggested that the critically praised, yet financial underperformer, could be making its way to the Xbox 360's and PS3's respective download services. More recent rumors have also pegged Extraction as an iPad title, which we thought was absurd until seeing EA's recent release schedule.

Of course there's a chance by "handheld / mobile" EA only means a PSP release, but given the fact that the recently iPhone-released FIFA 2010 World Cup is also labeled "handheld/mobile", it seems very possible.

This is the first we've heard of Dead Space 2 hitting a mobile platform, so naturally there's no details. We'll ask a few questions and try to get some answers. In the meantime, keep thinking those happy thoughts. You know, the ones that star big multi-armed monsters? Those. Think those thoughts.

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Leaked screenshots indicate that Sega may be reviving Jet Grind Radio / Jet Set Radio this year for the Xbox Live Arcade.

So what, you ask?

Yes, well, we're not sure that means anything for us iPhone-toting gamers, but it does provide some closure to 2008 rumors we reported on that Sega was indeed reviving this classic game. At that time, a trademark filing revived the Jet Grind Radio trademark to include games for "mobile phones" as well as "downloadable game programs" which had given us some hope for an iPhone port. Of course, SEGA's sub-par iPhone gaming releases since that time have left us far less hopeful that we'll see a proper Jet Grind Radio game in the App Store.

Jet Grind Radio (known as Jet Set Radio outside of North America) was a highly rated Dreamcast game with distinctive, visually impressive cel-shaded rendering. There are whispers the official Jet Grind Radio announcement will come at E3 2010. Hopefully, at that time we'll find out if this will be an Xbox-exclusive title or we'll be seeing it grace other platforms.

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