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Whether or not you remember it or were even aware of it, earlier this summer Sony launched a fairly silly ad campaign starring Marcus, a sassy kid who has had it up to here with games like Paper Toss [Free] for the iPhone. Sony released a few other videos starring Marcus as part of the "Step Your Game Up" campaign, but this was the video that started it all:

The basis of the video seems to be that Marcus is outraged that on the App Store you're charged for a "fake version of a real game" despite the fact that Paper Toss, the game shown in the video, always has been and likely always will be free. After the initial surge of Marcus videos, the ad campaign seemed to die off, until this week when Sony released their next video:

The latest video highlights Sony's PlayStation Network "$9.99 Favorites" section with five year old games like Twisted Metal: Head On and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee. What they neglect to mention in this recent video is that new PSP games, such as Madden 11 which is available on the App Store for $7.99 sell for just as much as their physical media counterparts at $39.99. They also leave out the fact that if you own a PSP Go and are limited to downloaded games only, you will often need to wait for games to be released on the PlayStation Network after they're released in stores, and sometimes they're not even released for download at all.

Then if you add in Sony's requirements of needing to be running the latest system software which can take hours to download and install to even browse the PlayStation Network store or that when you're downloading a multi-gigabyte game on your PSP you can't do anything with the system but wait for it to finish… I could go on and on. It should be interesting to see what Sony's next move will be, as declining PSP sales along with the failure of the PSP Go seems to be driving them to desperate measures to try to regain a foothold on the mobile gaming market.

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If roleplaying games are your cup of tea, I would find it to be impossible to believe that you've never heard of Atlus, or if the name isn't immediately recognizable, surely you've played an Atlus game at some point in your life. Originally founded in 1986, this Tokyo-based developer (and publisher) have been responsible for quite a number of games on nearly every console going all the way back to the NES. Like many Japanese developers, games of theirs we see in the USA are filtered through an American subsidiary and the games released by Atlus USA are only a small sampling of what is actually available in the East. Their most recognizable US releases are likely the Tactics Ogre series (which I'd love to see on the App Store) and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

Published via Nate Games, a somewhat confusing spinoff of South Korean telecommunications operator SK Telecom comes the even more confusing iPhone port of the PSP game Crimson Gem Saga [$9.99]. Crimson Gem Saga is actually the sequel to an RPG called Astonishia Story, originally published in South Korea by SK Telecom as Astonishia Story 2, then as Garnet Chronicle in Japan, and finally as Crimson Gem Saga in North America. The reasoning behind all this odd name swapping is that even though the story is actually continued from Astonishia Story, quite a few of the game's mechanics were changed, and somehow, somewhere, someone thought three different titles for the same game would make this less confusing.

Despite this twisted web of renaming and publishing, Crimson Gem Saga actually was reviewed quite well when it was originally released on the PSP. Sporting a metascore of 78 and a user score of 8.2 over on Metacritic, the gaming media seemed to enjoy the turn-based gameplay even though the game itself doesn't do anything particularly new or exciting in either the gameplay or storytelling departments.

We're still working on our review of the game, as any game that boasts over 30 hours of gameplay is going to take some time to review, but initial impressions in our forums seem mostly positive with the main issues centralizing around the somewhat expected clunky nature of the port as the game went from the physical controls of the PSP to the virtual controls of the iPhone. Clumsy controls aside, Crimson Gem Saga on the iPhone is the same game available currently on the PSP which sells for three times as much.

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Last week we posted about Mobile 1UP's Lemmings live blog, which was met with tons of enthusiasm both on our forums and in the comments of the actual story along with some very understandable skepticism that this unauthorized port would even see the light of day. Originally published by Psygnosis in 1991, the Lemmings franchise became part of Sony Computer Entertainment when Psygnosis was sold to Sony in 1993. Since then the game has been ported in one form or another to every Sony console, and with Sony's latest online ad campaign targeting the App Store, their reaction to Mobile 1UP's Lemmings isn't entirely surprising.

Citing Joystiq, the cease and desist letter sent by Sony is viewable in its entirety on the Mobile 1UP blog. This isn't entirely bad news, as even though the iPhone port of Lemmings is on hold for the time being, Mobile 1UP has posted in our forums that they're going to try to open a dialog with Sony in attempt to arrange distribution rights to legally bring Lemmings to the App Store. Unfortunately, the licensing costs involved likely means Lemmings will no longer be free as originally intended.

We'll keep a close eye on the drama between Mobile 1UP and Sony, but in the meantime, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that a real Lemmings game makes it to the App Store sooner or later.

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Mobile 1UP announced on our forums that they've "bitten the bullet" and are working on a port of Lemmings for the iPhone and iPod touch. They've got plans to submit it to the App Store for free as soon as the port is complete, and it will even include all 120 levels from the original Lemmings.

If you're curious what goes in to porting a game like this, Mobile 1UP is live blogging the whole process. So far they've covered everything from undoing hacks added to the source to make it run on Palm OS nearly ten years ago to the logic the lemmings use to move, and even fixing some cut and paste bugs. It's an amazingly interesting read, just make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom and read from the start to follow along.

If this is the first you've heard of Lemmings, the game actually has a remarkable history. It began as a computer game nearly 20 years ago, originally developed by DMA Design which we now know as Rockstar North and published by Psygnosis, now a fully owned subsidiary of Sony. Much like Duke Nukem the game has been licensed a ridiculous amount of times and ported to every platform imaginable.

In the game, players complete a series of levels by guiding the dim-witted lemmings to the exit. It's not that easy though, as getting to the end of the level requires players to assign lemmings certain skills such as a digger that is capable of digging through earth to cut a path for other lemmings, or builders that can build a staircase for lemmings to ascend. The gameplay is so classic that even if you've never played the original Lemmings, you've likely played a similar game inspired by it.

As mentioned, Mobile 1UP will be submitting it to the App Store as soon as the port is released, and you can bet we'll post something on TouchArcade as soon as it gets approved.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has purportedly dubbed Apple's iPad and iPhone devices to senior executives as the "enemy of the future," according to the Times Online UK.

His words come at a time when Nintendo is witnessing falling profits, as millions own a DS and a Wii — and an iPhone. Oddly enough, Iwata's remarks come little more than a month after Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Kotaku "Clearly it doesn't look like their platform is a viable profit platform for game development because so many of the games are free versus paid downloads."

It's unknown as of this press time if Nintendo has a time machine, a T-1000 of their own, or one of those cool fountains people throw pennies in. But one thing is clear: the family-friendly developer appears to be readying itself to compete with Apple going forward.

According to Times Online, Iwata also told his executives to consider their fight against Sony's handheld, the PlayStation Portable, as over and won.

The question of how the company will position itself to fight the "enemy of the future," though, remains unanswered. Perhaps the answer simply lies consistently releasing decent games over its own handheld digital download platform, DSiWare.

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Any truly diehard arcade shooter fan will have heard of Cave. Founded in 1994, the Japanese gamemaker is responsible for some of the most highly acclaimed scrolling shooters to have ever appeared in an arcade. With their 1995 release of DonPachi, the company created a new, intense genre of shooter known commonly as the "manic shooter" or "bullet hell" shooter, in which the screen is almost entirely filled with enemy fire, and successfully evading said fire requires extreme control precision and skill. It's a prevalent genre in Japan that is far less-represented in the West. (Some such titles readers may be familiar with include Ikaruga (Xbox 360, Gamecube), Triggerheart Exelica (Xbox 360, PS2, Dreamcast)  and Noiz2sa [App Store].)

In a move that should have iPhone shooter fans standing up and cheering, Cave has just thrown their hat into the iPhone gaming ring with their port of the 2005 Japanese Arcade / Xbox 360 release Espgaluda II [App Store]. A sequel to the original Japanese arcade and PS2 release, Espgaluda II is a bullet hell-style shooter that was released in 2005. The iPhone version seeks to bring a fast-action, arcade quality shooter experience to our favorite mobile platform.

The first thing I said to myself upon jumping into a game of Espgaluda II was, "finally!" I've long lamented the fact that the iPhone 2D scrolling shooter experience was, across the board, pretty much a slow-motion affair as compared to that of even much older consoles such as the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. Cave's first iPhone shooter throws an x/y scrolling backdrop along with an incredible number of moving objects onscreen at once, and the whole thing just flies. Fast action at a super-smooth framerate. (There's a settings option to set the screen size, if you want to tweak performance a bit.) It's certainly the most impressive iPhone shooter to date from a technical standpoint. But all this pixellated magic didn't come without a price; Espgaluda II presently only runs on the iPhone 3GS and the iPad (with 3G iPod touch support coming soon in an update). Older devices just can't push this scale of pixels, it seems.

Gameplay involves using touch controls to maneuver your craft about the playfield, destroying enemies, dodging their fire, and collecting Spirit Stones and power-ups. Along the left or right of the screen (user's choice) are special function buttons that trigger a Guard shield / attack mode, Awakening mode (more on this later), auto-fire on / off, and weapons mode select — some of which may not be presented depending on the control mode you've chosen, among Simplified, Normal, and Expert. The touch controls work quite well and offer better control than either the stick or D-pad of the earlier arcade and Xbox 360 versions. Thankfully, you can tap and hold some distance from your onscreen craft to control it without obscuring your view of it.

Each level is concluded by a boss battle, some quite lengthy, that really puts your control savvy to the test. Keep a finger hovering over that shield trigger when a boss comes out to play…

From an artistic standpoint, the game really stands out. The backdrops are very well done and the enemy craft objects are highly detailed. There's so much color and graphical complexity onscreen — and zipping around at a breakneck clip — that it probably takes the smallest hit in running pixel-doubled on an iPad than any iPhone game I've seen. In fact, the larger screen image makes dodging enemy fire a bit easier than on the iPhone. The iPad is my personal platform of choice for this one.

A lively soundtrack featuring audio similar to other such Japanese shooters accompanies gameplay and adds to the overall feeling of intensity. (Cave released the game's soundtrack on CD back in 2006.)

The iPhone version of Epsgaluda II features two modes of play. There's the Arcade Mode, which stays close to the arcade original and the Xbox 360 version — but in the case of the latter, this has been a source of complaint for some, as far as the somewhat unclear scoring system. Cave addressed this by adding an iPhone Mode, which features a scoring system that the developers feel makes more sense for mobile play. As well, the iPhone Mode features a new Awakening Pulse attack where you can turn enemy fire into the green Spirit Stones that you want to collect, increasing your multiplier and protecting your ship at the same time. Across both of these modes are Novice, Normal, and Hard difficulty levels.

The game utilizes OpenFeint for various in-game achievements and leaderboard tracking to keep things nice and competitive.

I am a particular shooter fan, but the bullet hell variety is not my very favorite flavor. Despite that, I fell quick and hard in love with Espgaluda II. It is easily the best 2D shooter experience in the App Store. I spent most of the day plowing through wave after wave of some of the most dense bullet swarms I've ever encountered and found it quite difficult to put down in order to start this review. I moved frequently between the iPhone 3GS and iPad to get a good feel for gameplay on both devices and it was fast-paced and frenetic fun, whichever device I used.

If you own an iPhone 3GS and are a fan of the manic shooter — go buy this game right now. If you are a general shooter fan and feel that you're up to facing the dense and constant volleys of enemy fire that this type of shooter brings — go buy this game right now. At present, Espgaluda II has no peer in the App Store.

The game is currently listed at an introductory price of $4.99, down from the standard price of $8.99.

App Store Link: Espgaluda II, $4.99 (limited time)

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Engineous Games' Sketch Nation Shooter [AppStore] is not your typical game. In fact, it is arguable whether it is a game at all, featuring very little in terms of out-of-the-box content. Instead, Sketch Nation Shooter is a development platform for end users to explore the limits of their own imaginations, in a similar fashion to Sony's ludicrously popular Little Big Planet on the Playstation 3.

And, just like that title, Sketch Nation Shooter is designed from the ground up to facilitate the creation of an entire community of users who submit their creations and explore the work of others. It sounds like a sure-fire hit, but such an ambitious task is a first for the platform, and so we were anxious at first to see just how well the system is implemented.

When you first launch Sketch Nation Shooter you are presented with a depiction of a writing pad and a few menu options with very little fanfare. To start with, we'll look at the 'Play' option. A fresh install of Sketch Nation Shooter will have a few developer-created levels for you to mess around with. Launching any of these will reveal a rich-looking, colorful, themed setting, which ultimately showcase what can be done with the application. Your standard fare vertical scrolling shooter is there in the form of 'Zorx Attacks' and 'Air Support 1944' (which have some very cool comic-like artwork) but there are also a few surprises, in the side-scrolling 'Under the Sea' shooter, and a top-down 'against the traffic' avoidance game, Traffic. It is clear that a little creative thinking can go a long way in Sketch Nation Shooter.

And where that creativity will be best put to work is in the 'Create' menu. When you first go to create a game, you are presented with either 'Simple Mode' or 'Advanced Mode', dictating the extent of complexity you're aiming for with your creation. This is something we really appreciated, as showing off a game quickly to your mates isn't a protracted process; 'Simple Mode' lets you create a player, add enemies, and away you go. 'Advanced Mode' is where the big boys will go to play though, as it offers the full customization suite.

From here you can dictate player and enemy graphics, hit points, weapon effects, sizes, AI patterns and even rotation options. Graphics can be added either from your Photo Library, from a selection of pre-installed Art Packs, or by taking a photo of a page via the camera. We had a few issues where drawings with light-colored backgrounds imported from Sketch Book were not picked up (despite having thick, black borders) but overall our experience with the image recognization was a positive one. There is also a level editor, where backdrops can be imported and where obstacles, enemies and powerups can be hand-placed on each level segment (4 of which comprise an entire level). One especially neat feature is the inclusion of an 'Intro' page, which the developer levels show off as a cool way to give your levels some context through a storyboard.

All in all, whilst the creation mode is quite comprehensive, we felt it was lacking in some areas. To begin with, powerups and boss encounters are two elements set in stone that can't be toyed with as much as we'd like to. Bosses can have their HP and weapon effects changed, and can have their attack pattern selected from 8 pre-defined options. But that's it– we would have loved to have seen multi-stage boss encounters, or bosses with customizable weak-spots to make these encounters less repetitive. Similarly, powerups collected in game number only 10 and seem pretty stock-standard for the genre. Which leads to another criticism– that levels aren't really long enough to get a decent rhythm going, or to explore an interesting weapon or upgrade system to begin with. We expect to be blown away with what some users create with the platform, but it seems that user creations are largely restricted to a similarly sized and formulated level design.

Once created, levels are submitted via Facebook and are available for all to play under the 'Download' menu option. Unfortunately, Facebook is the only means of content distribution in Sketch Nation Shooter, a fact that introduces a number of issues. Firstly is the matter of privacy, where submitting a high score unwittingly splashes your full name across the Global ladders. As we speak, the developers have recognised this as a problem and are looking at introducing a pseudonym for high scores, a feature that cannot come soon enough. But we're still not convinced that using Facebook as the solitary delivery medium is wise, as it effectively excludes those that use Facebook solely for personal correspondence, and tend to keep their gaming separate. Granted, Sketch Nation Shooter does not spam your Facebook wall with activity, but instead neatly highlights it in a separate, in-game only News Feed.

If you can get passed the Facebook requirement (without Facebook you do not have access to any user-generated content), then there is already a wealth of very cool-looking content created by fans, and it seems to be growing by the minute. One particular favorite of ours is a TouchArcade themed level that simply must be played, created by forum user Tocarina (heads up: Arn and Eli feature prominently and hilariously). On that note, the developers are doing a great job of filtering out objectional and copyrighted material, and seem to be doing well in keeping up with submissions thus far.

Sketch Nation Shooter is easily recommended simply because it does something no other app can do– it allows you to design competent games and share them with your friends. Some creations have already shown hallmarks of genius, but the ultimate fun is in seeing what your peers are capable of creating. On the flipside, the underlying Sketch Nation Shooter model remains largely derivative, and could do with even more customization options to differentiate the gameplay and keep user-generated levels fresh and interesting.

We're already looking forward to not only Shooter enhancements, but to see what other plans and genres Engineous Games have in store for their very nifty Sketch Nation game development platform. Be sure to check out our forum thread too, where users are sharing their many designs, plans and submission approval notices.

App Store Link: Sketch Nation Shooter, $0.99.

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Keita Takahashi, game developer and apparent future playground designer, is best known for Katamari Damacy and its sequel We Love Katamari. Both games are extremely creative and have spawned an incredibly devoted fan following, there's even an iPhone game– I love Katamari [$4.99 / Free]. Takahashi kicked things up a notch with his next game, Noby Noby Boy which was first revealed at a Sony event in 2007, and didn't make it to the PS3 PlayStationNetwork store until 2009.

In the PS3 game, you take control of a multicolored worm character that the game refers to as "BOY". With the analog sticks you can move BOY around the 3D environment filled with various buildings and animals. You can also stretch BOY, and points are accumulated by making BOY grow as long as possible. As players stretch their respective BOYs, points are collected by an online character called GIRL which causes GIRL to stretch through the various planets of our solar system as more points are submitted by everyone playing Noby Noby Boy.

This surreal sandbox PS3 game saw generally favorable reviews, but there was a clear division between those who absolutely loved the game for how crazy it is and those who hated it. For instance, Eurogamer said the game "inspires creativity, curiosity and simple, careless glee" while ArsTechnica said "Noby Noby Boy has no point, or fun".

In honor of the one year anniversary of Noby Noby Boy's release on PSN comes Noby Noby Boy [$1.99] for the iPhone. So far reactions to the game seem extremely polarized, with people either absolutely loving the game, or not understanding why anyone would waste their time with it. In the iPhone version, you have access to a full toolbar of toys for you to play with. BOY can be stretched across maps utilizing the iPhone's GPS, you can write and store memo's using BOY's body for a notepad, use BOY as a clock, and oodles of other crazy things ending in you submitting your BOY's length to GIRL online.

Here is the first of a twelve part series of movies made showing the various features of Noby Noby Boy:

I'm not sure there's much point in attempting to "review" this game, as Noby Noby Boy is just a collection of toys that you will either love, or not understand at all. If you're among the group of people who were crazy about Noby Noby Boy for the PS3, chances are you will like the similar insane sandboy play of the iPhone game. If you've never heard of Noby Noby Boy, you can attempt to watch the previously mentioned series of videos to try to make some sense of it, but much like the thread on our forums I expect the reaction to this story is going to be similarly split between people who are excited the game exists and people who don't know why we would bother posting about it.

App Store Link: Noby Noby Boy, $1.99

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On the last day of Macworld, I met with Allister Capati, founder of a new iPhone gaming company called Objectify, LLC. Capati actually works for Sony Playstation during the day, but over the past 6 months, his (and his team's) evenings have been occupied with the development of Drift Sumi-e an upcoming iPhone game which is trying to intersect art with racing.

The idea for the game was a collaboration between Capati and his friend Calvin Wan, a professional Drift racer. Drift Sumi-e caries the style of Ink and Wash (Sumi-e) painting throughout the game and incorporates it as a line drawing element to control your car. At first glance, the game is reminiscent of Draw Race, though with a far more elegant style.

The game will launch with 8 tracks and a single type of car, though iterative updates are planned. You must achieve a certain score in order to unlock the next track. Each track also carries a set of unlockables that can be obtained on subsequent repeat plays. These unlockables include a customizable signature stamp, the ability to take snapshots, as well as day/night and snow/clear sky toggles.

The game involves drawing a single stroke along the racetrack as the path for your car. You must try to hit and connect all the red clipping zones and try to make it through the course as fast as possible. After you draw your single stroke, you sit back and watch the playback in 3D as your car drifts around the corners. Multiple camera angles are provided along with drifting smoke effects. Your ultimate score is based on the smoothness of the line and speed of your run.

Here's a gameplay video:

Overall, the game really stands out for its style and presentation. Drift Sumi-e is expected in the App Store on Tuesday, February 16th.

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Media who attended the Apple keynote are now being allowed some hands-on time with the iPad, and so far the first impressions make the device sound pretty awesome. Gizmodo describes the iPad as "…substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it's fasssstttt." While Engadget confirms the speed of the CPU, they described the iPad as "…not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand."

Joystiq provides some details on gaming with the device. The iPad features a "2X" button which scales any iPhone app to full screen, but of course this comes at a graphical cost. Much like upscaling Gameboy Advance games on the Nintendo DS, or Sony PSone classics on the PSP, games are said to look noticeably upscaled. They felt that Need for Speed: Shift actually controlled better with the larget screen, as tilting the device had less of an effect on the screen.

Also, as we expected, the sheer size of the device makes it impossible for your thumbs to obscure most of the screen as you're playing games like NOVA. According to an Apple representative at the event, iPad-optimized games will have their own section on the App Store, although the SDK allows for apps which will run equally well on both devices.

With the SDK for the iPad available today, we expect to hear quite a bit from developers. We've already heard from the people at OpenFeint who are pledging their full support to the platform, and Firemint just dropped us an email announcing an optimized version of Flight Control for the device. They are also "working on some incredibly fun and exciting games that will look amazing on iPad and take full advantage of its features, as well as working brilliantly on iPhone and iPod touch."

Jon Kromrey, GM of the Apple games divison of Namco network also dropped us a note saying how excited they are to create AAA games for the device and feel "the iPad will play a significant part of our goal to reach any player, anywhere at any time."

Photo courtesy of Joystiq

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