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Shaun Inman’s The Last Rocket [ $2.99 ] is a game that you can tell is going to be special inside of about 30 seconds of playing it. We absolutely loved it in our review, and with the various tweaks and fixes the game has seen since release (including Retina iPad support), it’s an even greater effortless recommendation. Gameplay in a nutshell consists of piloting a rocket through 64 rooms filled with all sorts of obstacles. It sounds simple, and it is, but the best part about The Last Rocket is that it doesn’t just use chip tunes and pixel art for the sake of having a “retro” feel. Instead, the entire game, from top to bottom, is just as much at home on the screen of your iPhone as it would’ve been on your NES in the mid-80’s.

The eBook is available direct from Shaun Inman’s site for $9.99. It’s a DRM-free iBooks-friendly ePub which features an exhaustive account of the game’s development including notes, drawings, screenshots, and much, much more. Fair warning though, the eBook is chock full of spoilers, so make sure you’ve played the game first. If you’re the kind of person who loves behind the scenes looks at game development, this isn’t something you should miss.

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We’ve been covering Warballoon’s Star Command for over a year now, and every time they release some new screenshots or do anything else I get a little more excited. Check out the new teaser, and make sure you watch it to the end:

No release dates more specific than “summer” have been announced yet, but, needless to say, we’re super stoked.

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So here’s something cool you may not have noticed about the new iPad: If you’re playing an iPhone game (or using an iPhone app) that has Retina Display assets for the iPhone, it will use the higher resolution set of assets. On previous models of the iPad, this functionality required the jailbreak utility Retina Pad. It actually makes a massive difference.

It’s a little hard to do that accurate of a comparison without just looking at both devices side by side, but I’ve doubled the resolution of the iPad 2 screenshots on the left to be the same size as the new iPad on the right. It may seem exaggerated, but the difference is even more noticeable when you’ve got a game like Flight Control running on two iPads side by side.

If you remember, back when the iPad was first released to make up for the complete lack of iPad-specific apps, Apple added the pixel doubling functionality to allow iPhone-specific apps to run full screen. The results were always a pixelated mess, and while it worked, it was a pretty terrible overall user experience. Now, with (almost) every iPhone app coming bundled with Retina Display assets, this new fullscreen functionality actually results in surprisingly decent looking upscaling.

Of course, iPad apps and games that are actually designed for the Retina Display of the new iPad look tons better, but now you don’t need to essentially write off any non-universal app as being a huge pixel party.

UPDATE: Here are some shots of Real Racing 2, an iPhone-only game with Retina Display assets as well as Real Racing 2 HD which is optimized for the Retina Display of the new iPad:

iPad 2 running Real Racing 2 pixel doubled:

New iPad running Real Racing 2 utilizing iPhone Retina Display assets:

Real Racing 2 HD running on iPad 2:

Real Racing 2 HD running on new iPad:

There are differences in lighting between the screenshots since each version of the game seems to render the scene at a different in-game time of day. Also, the iPhone versions running full screen on the iPad have a slightly different UI so I tried to line things up as close as I could. Regardless, the jump in quality is just astounding, and it seems like the image quality between iPhone Retina Display-ready games and non-Retina Display iPad games is pretty similar.

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It’s been a long week (Well, a little more than a week.) of waiting since the new iPad was announced. But, if you were in the initial batch of preorders or are ambitious enough to head to an Apple Store today, you should have a new iPad in your hot little hands right now. I just got done unboxing and syncing mine, and I’m sort of at a loss as to what to post about it, as I really think the new iPad is what everyone expected it to be.

The screen is incredible, and inspires that same sense of awe the first time you see it that the original Retina Display of the iPhone 4 did. No photos, screenshots, or videos will do the display of the new iPad justice. You simply must see it for yourself to truly appreciate just how ridiculously high resolution it is.

I’ve run through the list of the few games that are Retina-ready, and am totally impressed that the new iPad can actually pull off running all these games with performance levels that seem on par with the iPad 2, only at double the resolution. The GPU Apple packed in this thing doesn’t mess around.

Remember how non-Retina apps on the iPhone 4 looked like total trash comparatively during that awkward transition where not very much was Retina-ready? Well, oddly enough, non-Retina apps and games on the new iPad actually don’t look all that bad at all. There’s obviously a huge contrast between things running at 1024×768 and 2048×1536, but it doesn’t seem to induce that same jarring “Oh wow, this looks bad” that non-Retina iPhone apps did. Maybe it’s just me.

Just like the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S, the new iPad is a solid upgrade over the iPad 2. In my opinion, the screen is worth the cost of admission alone, but again, like the iPhone 4 to the 4S, the iPad 2 still is as capable of a device as it ever was. What I’m anxious to see is what sort of apps and games developers are going to start churning out developed from the ground up specifically with the new iPad in mind instead of just resolution-boosting updates.

But enough of my rambling, those of you who braved the Apple store or waited for FedEx to show up today, tell us your first impressions of the new iPad in the comments here. Is it everything you wanted and more? A worthy upgrade? A little disappointing? Let’s have it!

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Way back in 1984, English teacher-turned-game developer Mike Singleton released a vast and innovative adventure gamed for the ZX Spectrum home computer called The Lords of Midnight. The game was extremely well received and garnered high praise for its gameplay, the expansive world in which it is set, and its use of a clever graphical technique known as “landscaping” to render the scene with pre-scaled sprites. The Lords of Midnight turned out to be Singleton’s most well respected title and is considered by many to be one of the best video games ever created.

Versions of The Lords of Midnight were soon released on a few other (mainly European) platforms of the day, and in 1991 DOS PC versions of the game and its sequel, Doomdark’s Revenge, were released, originally developed as reverse engineered fan conversions by Christopher Wild. (Singleton gave his stamp of approval to Wild’s conversions — see Wild’s 2004 Retro Gamer two-piece article / interview with Singleton.) Not long after, Wild began thinking about doing Windows versions of the games and thus began his work on The Midnight Engine, a system that would allow the Midnight games to run under modern operating systems and, thanks to data abstraction, would also allow new games to be created under the same framework.

At this point, the astute reader has probably figured out that I am not just waxing nostalgic for the simple fun of it. No, I am happy to say that there is reason for my taking a few moments to bring the uninitiated up to speed, here, and that reason is a project that has been underway for over year now to bring The Lords of Midnight to iOS.

In January of 2011, original author Mike Singleton reached out to Christopher Wild, suggesting a collaboration to get his 27 year old classic in the hands of a new audience. Since that time, at a varying pace, the project has been underway.

Wild has been posting progress updates to his blog throughout the year, and indicates that it is definitely the intention of both he and Singleton to do this conversion just right.

Let me firstly assure you that we are not developing a freeform, realtime, 3d game. We are not developing [the less well-received sequel to Doomdark's Revenge] the Citadel. We are not going to f*** it up!

Lords of Midnight is about the landscaping. It’s about those 2d panoramic views. It’s about moving some characters and pressing night and the end of the turn and waiting for the dawn to break to find out what happened.

So, the landscaping stays. Yes it will get an update. Graphically we will try a few things to help us justify bringing a 27 year old game back to the future. If you’ve followed the history of [The Midnight Engine] with the Lords of Midnight and more importantly Doomdark’s Revenge, you’ll have an idea of some of the things that means.

We’re going to make a few changes to the AI. Nothing drastic. This is not about turning Lords of Midnight into the style of RPG/Adventure games that are currently available. The AI in lords of midnight works – it’s a little simplistic, but it’s perfect for the style of game. However, there are a few little things that no longer sit comfortably, and to be fair, probably didn’t when Mike originally coded them. So there will be a couple of tweaks and additions.

The affect of these additions is that the game will not play like it used to. In spirit it will be the same, but don’t expect to be able to fire up the emulators and watch the old spectrum game play exactly like the new one. There will likely be some surprises, but I think everyone will enjoy.

Wild also indicates that certain AI changes will be made to facilitate multi-user gameplay and that it will remain turn-based like the original — not real-time. The picture that he paints of the conversion goals should appeal to those iOS gamers who loved the title in decades past.

The iOS conversion of The Lords of Midnight is being developed under the Marmalade SDK (née Airplay SDK), will run natively on both the iPhone and the iPad, and should make its way to various other platforms, as well. Doomdark’s Revenge will also be brought over, some time after The Lords of Midnight arrives.

The team has just posted a demonstration video, albeit preliminary and somewhat rough, of the game running on iPad hardware.

That a whole new generation of gamers will have easy access to such a rich classic is wonderful news, and rest assured we will keep readers apprised as progress on The Lords of Midnight for iOS marches on.

( Embedded screenshots are from the ZX Spectrum original and graphics in the demo video are placeholder — not final versions. )

[ via Gaming on the Go, thanks @gnomeslair ]

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I’m sure many of you out there have spent the past week burning through your allotment of sick days at your job so you could spend all day with the shades drawn hunkered down on your couch in front of Mass Effect 3. If this describes you and you have an iOS device to boot, then you’re probably going to want to grab the free Mass Effect 3 Datapad [Free] which has now gone live in the App Store.

We learned a tiny bit about the Mass Effect 3 Datapad last month, and the app description makes it sound like the companion app to the console title is actually even more feature-filled than we originally thought. You’ll can check out codex entries from all three Mass Effect console games to learn more about the lore. There are also videos, screenshots, and a news feed on all things Bioware and Mass Effect.

Most interestingly, the Mass Effect 3 Datapad app can interact directly with the console game. After meeting certain characters in Mass Effect 3, you will receive messages in the iOS Datapad app. Nothing integral to the enjoyment of the console game, but rather additional fan service for those that want to explore even further. Also, you can deploy ships in the app’s Fleet Commander which can increase your chances of success against Reapers in the console game. Pretty neat.

The Mass Effect 3 Datapad is free and a Universal app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad so if you’re into the Mass Effect universe, are currently playing Mass Effect 3 or plan to in the near future, you should definitely give the app a download.

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Back in January we brought you the news that Semi Secret Software, the studio behind Canabalt [$2.99], was working on a new game with Greg Wohlwend, best known for his work on Solipskier [$0.99]. We’ve had the chance to get our hands on an early build of the game and can give you some of the details.

First up, Hundreds is a minimalistic puzzle game. As you can see from the screenshots, it has a stark black, red and grey look, one that’s carried through every part of the game. It plays something like Surfacer [$0.99] or similar titles: you have a series of circles, and touching them makes them grow until you hit a certain goal. In this case each circle counts up toward 100, the total you need to hit between them all.

But that’s where the similarities to other titles end. The circles move around each level, and as a general rule of thumb they can’t touch anything while you’re touching them. The play style is reflexive— it’s vital to time touches for the moments they aren’t about to path into an obstacle. Over time you’ll need to use all your fingers, and while it isn’t an official mode the game is surprisingly fun to play with a friend.

We’ve run through several of the game’s levels, and they get ridiculously complex. There are so many different pieces that interact with the circles in different ways, and learning how each of them work seems like it’s going to be quite rewarding. It looks like the game going to get very difficult, and Semi Secret’s Adam Saltsman tells us that one of his goals is to create a game that may not be completed by every player, but will reward the ones who stick it out.

That may just be the coolest thing about Hundreds: for dedicated players, it will be two complete (and completely different) puzzle games in one. We haven’t had a chance to see this in action, but the overarching narrative will be portioned out in a very novel way. Much of it will be revealed through obscure ciphers and codes, fleshing things out for players who are willing to really dig in and maybe even cooperate with others to work through them. This adds a whole other level of gameplay on top of the usual Game Center meta-layer and what sounds like some very cool community-wide statistic tracking.

Semi Secret isn’t ready to announce a release date, but the company currently aiming to release Hundreds before this summer. It will launch on iPad for sure, and the company is currently considering whether it will also be suitable for smaller devices.

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GDC starts… Tomorrow! Most of the TouchArcade crew is already causing trouble in San Francisco, while a few of us (myself included) are still airborne and working via the wonders of in-flight WiFi. Anyway, just as a heads-up this week should be pretty crazy with a constant stream of posts as we meet with the 80 different game developers we have scheduled meetings with.

If you have a meeting with us, please be sure to bring assets for your game with you. WiFi and cellular service in San Francisco seem to be equally unreliable, so we’re asking everyone to load some screenshots and any video you can come up with on some sort of USB storage device. USB flash drive, portable hard drive, whatever! As long as we can pull data off of it, we’re good to go.

If you don’t have a meeting with us, unfortunately our schedule is totally slammed and I can’t squeeze anyone else in regardless of how many times (and how creatively) you try to contact me about it! Please be sure to come to our party though. It’s at the same place we hold it every year, but a day earlier.

Here are the details:

• WHEN: Tuesday March 6th, 7:00 PM until they kick us out.
• WHERE: Bin 55 in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis at 55 4th St.
• WHY: Because there’s way more cool people we want to meet than we have meeting time slots for!

Bring your industry-relevant business card and/or a GDC pass to flash and we’ll trade you for a fancy tyvek bracelet to turn on the free beer. I’m thinking our party is going to be crazier than usual this year judging by how quickly our meeting schedule got booked up, so, don’t miss it.

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I can’t really believe what I’m about to post, but here I am. We’re over two weeks out from GDC in San Francisco and we’re completely booked up. More accurately, we were completely booked up on Tuesday, and I’ve been trying as hard as I can to squeeze in a few extra meetings since then. However, I can say beyond a doubt we are at absolute maximum capacity right now.

Needless to say, the demand for meeting requests have completely taken us by surprise. Typically they dribble in for a few weeks leading up to the event, but this year, my IM client was crashing as a result of the flood of messages I was receiving. We’re going to have to come up with a better solution next year to handle more developers.

If you’re coming to GDC and have a new game to show off, please email tips@toucharcade.com with the subject GDC 2012 to help our email filters out. Shoot us some links to screenshots or video and a brief description of what you’ve been working on, and if we come up with a solution for somehow cramming more meetings into our schedule, we’ll get back to you.

Regardless of whether or not you’ve got a meeting with us, you should still come to our party. Everyone with a GDC pass and/or an industry-relevant business card is totally invited to stop by and have a beer on us. Here’s the details:

• WHEN: Tuesday March 6th, 7:00 PM until they kick us out.
• WHERE: Bin 55 in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis at 55 4th St.
• WHY: Because there’s way more cool people we want to meet than we have meeting time slots for!

The good news of all this is that our readers are going to have a ridiculous amount of GDC coverage to look forward to in a couple weeks.

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