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We've been following the development of Fish Labs' Galaxy on Fire 2 for quite some time now. Between early high resolution screenshots, a brief hands-on at WWDC, and an even more brief teaser trailer, Galaxy on Fire 2 has been high up on my upcoming game wish list for months. This latest trailer shows the game in motion, with tons of in-game footage, and it looks amazing.

Fish Labs isn't getting any more specific on the release date of Galaxy on Fire 2 than "October". In the meantime, you can check out the company blog which is host to tons of incredibly in-depth posts about the game and most recently, the creation of the trailer.

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A few weeks ago we showed a new trailer for an upcoming gravity-based puzzle platforming game called GravBot from Team Phobic. They have since sent us a near-final build of the game, and after completing nearly all of it, I'm thoroughly impressed with just about everything that GravBot has to offer. Team Phobic has already proven that they know how to bring cute, colorful graphics and excellent level designs with Bounce On [$1.99/Lite] and Bounce On 2 [$3.99/Lite], and those skills have translated well into the creation of GravBot. The levels start out simple enough and ease you into the different elements in the game, but as you progress GravBot will really test your puzzle solving skills and force you to look at each level from every angle.

In GravBot, you'll play as a tiny robot who must collect all of the batteries on each perilous level. In order to accomplish this, you can spin the entire level either 90 degrees left or right or entirely upside down to change the direction of gravity. Your robot can travel left and right on its single tire, and will fall towards whichever way happens to be down at the time. Levels are filled with hazards like spikes, enemies, and lasers which will kill instantly if not avoided. The batteries can be tricky to get to, and a color-coded system of trapdoors, elevators, and various other obstacles will need to be triggered by switching a lever or pushing blocks onto buttons – all in the name of snagging every last battery on a given level.

While just completing each level is sufficiently challenging and fun, the real hook to GravBot is trying to obtain gold medals for each one. The game keeps track of how many times you switched gravity to complete a level, with bronze/silver/gold medals awarded for using it efficiently. What is really satisfying is when you figure out a way to win gold using fewer gravity switches than is required. Due to the physics engine in the game, you can sometimes make it to a hard to reach area without changing the gravity and instead gliding through the air or just barely catching the edge of a platform and hanging on. These types of moves can be risky however, and if you don't pull one off just right you can easily fall to your death. If you do happen to beat a level using a ridiculously low number of gravity switches, you will be immortalized in leaderboard form thanks to the Plus+ network, and there are a number of achievements to obtain as well.

GravBot looks and sounds absolutely great, with Retina Display enhanced graphics and catchy music and sound effects. I especially love the little blips and bloops that your robot will spout out during the game, and he has a ton of personality for essentially being a TV set with a wheel. GravBot has already been submitted and Team Phobic is shooting for a September 30^th release. The game will be free to download and comes with 12 levels, with two additional 20 level packs available as in-app purchase for 99¢ apiece. The 12 free levels aren't terribly difficult and serve mostly to get you familiar with the game, but the additional level packs contain some seriously challenging stuff that should keep you busy for quite a while. Make sure to head over to the upcoming thread in our forums to check out more about GravBot, and we'll take another look at the game when it hits the App Store later this month.

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An App Store favorite of our readers who relish the retro is surely Manomio's Commodore 64 [link], the C64 emulation system / game store that does a great job of putting an expanding list of 8-bit classics right in our pockets. We first got wind of Manomio's emulation effort in June of last year, when it was submitted to Apple and rejected, as it was determined to be in violation of the iPhone SDK agreement.

Then said Apple,

Thank you for submitting C64 1.0 to the App Store. We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement; "3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

It was the system's included BASIC interpreter that was the sticking point for Apple, it turned out. Manomio disabled (and then removed, as it was deemed necessary) the BASIC interpreter and the app finally found its place in the store, and in Apple's good graces.

Last Thursday, Apple made significant changes to the iOS SDK agreement, relaxing restrictions on development tools used to create iOS applications. One of the areas of the SDK agreement affected was section 3.3.2, the specific part of the agreement that Apple determined Manomio had violated with the initial releases of C64. Upon hearing this news, Manomio CTO Stuart Carnie was quick to read over the new Apple document and found the following, updated section 3.3.2.

3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple’s built-in WebKit framework.

As can be seen in the new language, interpreted code is now acceptable under certain circumstances. In light of this fortunate turn of events, the developer has put together an updated version of C64 (v2.0) with BASIC enabled. Wanting Apple to be fully aware of his re-inclusion of the BASIC interpreter, Carnie extensively underscored his changes in the Reviewer Notes section of the submission form and additionally sent a courtesy e-mail to Apple on the issue. Since then, the developer and Apple have had further correspondence regarding the update and the response so far is positive. Apple will, understandably, spend additional time reviewing the application, but Carnie says he remains cautiously optimistic.

If Apple does end up rejecting the update, Manomio's plans are to remove the BASIC interpreter, but leave in place the other enhancement that this update brings, Carnie tells us. Those other enhancements include:

• FIX – fix crash when attempting to use the "Download All" feature and many games are queue
• FIX – Add additional controls to Hunter's Moon
• FIX – iPad landscape view is no longer partially off the screen
• NEW – Upgraded to OpenFeint 2.6.1 (includes time-scoped leader boards)
• NEW – iOS 4.1 tested
• NEW – New "Always use keyboard" option to access additional in-game features

Apple's recent update to the SDK agreement gives developers of all manner of apps more flexibility, but is a particular boon to developers of retro system emulators and games. We've got our fingers crossed that C64 with BASIC enabled is given the nod by Apple and that other developers are inspired to bring others classic systems and games to our favorite mobile device family.

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If you just bought a brand new iPod touch with a Retina Display or already have an iPhone 4, Square Enix's Chaos Rings [$12.99 / HD] is a game that is highly worth considering with the release of the latest update. Chaos Rings looked great before, and now looks even better with high resolution graphics, UI elements, and text. To sweeten the deal they even added multitasking support for instant switching between battling and whatever other apps you're using.

We liked Chaos Rings enough to award it five stars in our review, and really think it's a game that any fan of turn based RPG's should own. With this latest update, that's especially true if you have a Retina Display device.

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Gameloft's impressive looking Real Golf 2011 made its appearance on the App Store tonight.

The latest sports title from the company comes in at $6.99 and offers real sports personalities including Join Anthony Kim, Natalie Gulbis, Camilo Villegas and more. Online and local multiplayer is also offered. The full list of official courses include:

• Evian Masters (France)
• Bethpage (USA)
• Harbour Town (USA)
• Pearl Valley Golf Estates (South Africa)
• Old Head (Ireland)
• Kiawah Island (USA)
• Kingston Heath Golf Club (Australia)
• Bali Ocean Course (Indonesia)
• Cherry Blossom Golf Club (Japan)
• Royal Loch Course (Scotland)

We haven't had a chance to put the game through the paces, but will take a closer look shortly. Early impressions are rolling into our forums.

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France-based developers Movingplayer and publisher Bulkypix have been hard at work lately on Yslandia, the latest MMO to shortly hit the App Store. Already released in Canada for testing purposes and set to hit US and international stores any day now (together with the US-based servers), this distinctly European take on the traditional eastern-influenced MMO formula had my attention from early on.

That Yslandia hails from a European developer is not something to be understated. It permeates every facet of the game– just as PC gamers saw a remarkable departure from traditional RPG paradigms in the popular Polish-developed title, The Witcher– so too does Yslandia show off its own influences and underpinnings, for better or for worse.

The most immediate evidence of this in play is in the artwork and in-game sprites. Gone are the cutesy, bright color palettes and heavily cell-shaded artwork usually seen in MMOs. Instead, what we have here are more detailed sprites with a purposefully subdued tone; emphasizing a realistic brush as trees and houses and even characters are painted in modest colors. The artwork in general brings to mind a water-color painting; not as visually striking as the color explosion of most JRPGs, but not without its own charm.

In so far as the gameplay is concerned, MMOs traditionally have been about lengthy solo leveling experiences (read: grinding) with a smattering of teamwork needed in certain encounters. Yslandia on the other hand is more focused all around Player vs Player combat and social interactions (but with its own share of grinding). The three islands that make up the initial release of Yslandia are comprised of respective starting islands for the Simeh'a Alliance and the Zaa'me Coalition (essentially, Light vs Dark), and a neutral territory called Gilda where all the PvP combat goes on. And it's on this latter island that most of your time in Yslandia will be spent.

On Gilda, teams have to work together to capture Totems on the battlefield, thereby claiming territories for their Faction. The game itself encourages this teamwork– particularly teamwork through guild participation– by way of its skill system. Departing from any existing skill-building concepts, characters in Yslandia learn additional skills by "training" with other guild members. Every 10 levels, you accumulate training points in addition to your standard skill points, which can then be invested in other guild members, bestowing upon them a skill you currently have learned. Aside from skills learned in this fashion, characters start with 4 skills, 2 of which are usually passive.

'Usually' in this context is used quite loosely, as Yslandia boasts a massive lineup of 18 different classes to choose from divided amongst 6 very different races (some of which have no passive skills). The developers have also gone beyond the usual warrior/ranger/mage archetypes to offer interesting classes such as the Necrophage, the Lycan Bloodhound or the mana-sucking Nocturn Deceiver. Unfortunately, with the class diversity on offer, what does get left by the wayside is character customization– don't expect that new cloak you found to have any effect on the way your character looks. Even so, the sheer number of classes on offer, and just how different they each look and feel, means it is less of an issue than it could have been.

Unfortunately our pre-release time with Yslandia didn't offer much opportunity in the way of experiencing large-scale battles, so the verdict is definitely still out on whether the PvP-centred approach works or not. What we did see was an ample number of quests to help your character through the initial 10 levels, after which quests spill out onto the contested Gilda island too. The current quests support progression to level 25, and comprise the usual collection and courier quests with a fair bit of grinding in between. We've been told by developers to expect a new island shortly which will extend the level cap to 35, so continued support is definitely on Movingplayer's agenda.

Yslandia does two other things which we really liked, and showed a bit of innovation on behalf of the developer. Firstly, the user interface is sensational: your character is controlled by either tap-moving or by an on-screen analogue stick; and skills and items can be placed absolutely anywhere on screen via an intuitive iOS-like hold-to-move system that I hope is picked up by other developers too. Secondly, some classes have the ability to 'take over' their guild mates as familiars once they have disconnected. The game describes this as proxying, and it's certainly a fresh feature that whilst limited to 1 life only, enables guild mates to assist each other even when they're offline.

If there are any shortcomings to note in Yslandia, it's that character animations aren't really up to par with what we usually see in these games. Spells and ability animations range anywhere from barely serviceable to really great (we loved how ranged spells have a charging animation), but there is a certain lack of believability to standard attacks and hit responses. This may be attributable to the fact that we were only able to play on the European servers— which were not entirely without the expected lag– and so the responsiveness expected of combat was just not there.

Of course, there is also the obvious downside that whilst you hoard your various items, they will never have an effect on your appearance in the game world– one Guardian is essentially indistinguishable from the next. Movingparts is aware of this, and have promised that some form of customization through PvP rewards is just around the corner.

What will be interesting to see is how all these elements mesh together in a fully populated game world, and whether the PvP-centric gameplay will hold up as a fulfilling, engaging MMO. Certainly players will have their own positions on whether a competitive environment will sustain them or not, particularly as there is a pseudo-requirement that players be part of a guild to enjoy all Yslandia has to offer. Personally though, I feel that the European charm and its willingness to push the boundaries of long-held MMO concepts nicely positions Yslandia as something different worth checking out.

Yslandia is currently priced at CAD$4.99. While you're waiting for the US and international release, check out our forums to see what experiences our Canadian readers are already having with Yslandia.

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Following the fairly underwhelming first Game Center game Ms. Pac-Man, we're now starting to get into some of the good stuff. Updates with Game Center support for both Flight Control and Real Racing from Firemint have just gone live in the App Store. Each game will take advantage of achievements and leaderboards offered with Game Center integration.

Firemint's previous Cloudcell online integration will still remain, so even if you can't access Game Center you'll still be able to access achievements and leaderboards like before. If you can possibly tear yourself away from playing Ms. Pac-Man for a few minutes, make sure you grab these latest updates and check out the Game Center functionality in Flight Control and Real Racing. More Game Center updates are slowly trickling out, and you can follow this thread in our forums where a current list of Game Center enabled games is being maintained.

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Imangi Studios' Harbor Master HD has seen a number of additions since its original iPad launch in April. The base game includes a single map and can be downloaded for free, but they've since added four new maps for $0.99 each as in-app purchases. The map above is called the Bermuda Triangle and includes pirates, monsters and cyclones to make your line-drawing life a bit more difficult.

But with the latest updates, they've also added a clever rewind feature that lets you restart the game right before that last fatal mistake:

We've also added a really cool feature – rewinds. With rewinds, after you crash, you can choose to rewind (or undo) the crash, and continue playing where you left off. You can only use ONE rewind in a game, and you get a limited number of rewinds total. When we launched the update, we gave people 5 rewinds, and then they could earn 1 rewind for each 1000 pieces of cargo they ship. So they more you play, the more rewinds you earn, and therefore you can use a rewind more often.

You start off with 5 rewinds and can use one in any particular game. Rewinds are then earned for longer play time or can be purchased via in-app purchase ($0.99 for $2.99 for 20, $4.99 for 40).

Balancing in-app purchases is always a challenging problem for a developer. On the one hand, in app purchases need to offer a legitimate value in a consumable product. But that product can't be one that gamers feel is a necessary component of the game. I feel like the rewinds fill this sort of niche well, and I'd expect we'll see it more often in the future. As an added bonus, I've always thought the compelling feature of these chaos management games is the "oh no!" last second regret when death comes suddenly. Now you get a second chance.

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Apple recently unveiled a new Game Center web page detailing the features of the service and revealed that the 2nd Generation iPod touch will also be a Game Center-capable device. After delaying the Game Center release to iOS 4.1, Apple had previously announced that it would only be available on 3rd generation devices and newer. This latest development only leaves the first generation iPod touch and both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G out in the cold.

Game Center is launching soon with iOS 4.1 and already developers are committing to supporting it in their games. Forum member Project-79 has been maintaining a thread of assembled announcements and press releases from developers that will be supporting Game Center on (or soon after) launch. Notable titles include Flight Control [99¢], Angry Birds [99¢ / Free] and many others.

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Being so involved in video games, I fully admit that I'm often woefully unaware of really awesome board games and it isn't until they get an equally awesome port that they even pop up on my radar. A couple of days ago I hadn't the slightest idea what Neuroshima Hex! was, but after watching the trailer and checking out the game, it's high up on my most anticipated game list. Neuroshima Hex! is a tactical hexagonal board game set in the Neuroshima tabletop RPG universe. This universe is host to fantastic things like nuclear war, rebellious sentient artificial intelligence, carnivorous vegetation, mutants, and humans that are just trying to survive in the middle of all this.

The board game is playable by up to four players (or single player against AI opponents), utilizing four different factions each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The goal of the game is to take over the enemy headquarters by placing tiles on the board. There are a number of videos on YouTube detailing exactly how the game is set up and played, and it sounds wonderfully complicated.

Neuroshima Hex! is being released this month, and after seeing exactly how awesome board games could be on the iPhone with Carcassonne [$4.99], I'm really excited for the game. It's fully licensed, features all of the original art, and there's even plans for an iPad version in the works.

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