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Future game developers, it might be a good idea to make sure the main character in your upcoming game has feathers. Currently in the US App Store, 4 of the 5 overall top paid apps are games featuring some type of bird. The newest of these titles, and the game that has recently toppled Angry Birds Rio [99¢/Lite] at the #1 spot, is Gamevil’s Air Penguin [99¢].

It’s not hard to see why either, as Air Penguin contains all the elements that can make for a successful game. It has adorable graphics, dead simple gameplay, and an engaging scoring system that ensures you’ll keep coming back for more.

Global warming has caused the glaciers to break apart into pieces in Antarctica where Air Penguin lives. Your job is to direct him across the scattered pieces of ice in an effort to reunite him with his separated family members.

This portly penguin will bounce high into the air and you control his direction by tilting your device, trying to bounce safely along each chunk of ice. Breaking up all the bouncing gameplay is a turtle which you can land on and control for a quick ride through the ocean, and some segments have you landing on a long sheet of ice and literally skating along while avoiding seals and holes in the ice.

Each of the 100 levels in Story mode have 5 golden fish which can be collected along the way, and these can also be used to purchase special items to help you in your journey. These items include things like making seals smaller and easier to avoid, covering the gaps in the ice while you're skating, or giving you a second chance after you’ve fallen into the water. Besides collecting the gold fish to use as currency while you play, you can also get more via IAP if you’re running low and need to buy some assistance.

Scoring is cumulative across all the Story mode levels, with an added bonus that grows based on how many levels you complete in succession without dying. There is also a Survival mode which gives you a randomly generated endless level to see how long you can last, and Game Center is integrated to track high scores across both modes and unlock achievements.

I’m not usually a big fan of tilt-only games, but Air Penguin definitely does it right. The tilting is extremely accurate, so it makes completing acrobatic leaps of faith a joy rather than frustrating. The tilt sensitivity can also be adjusted to your liking, and Air Penguin is the perfect game to pop into when you have a few minutes to kill here and there. Of course it’s also extremely easy to get sucked in and play for great lengths of time trying to perfect scores and collect every fish, which is another hallmark of a good game.

I can definitely recommend checking out the newest bird-themed sensation to hit the App Store, as I’ve been having a pretty great time with Air Penguin so far and players in our forums are enjoying it as well.

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If you haven't heard of it yet, Kickstarter is currently the largest funding platform to creative projects in the world. It's the kind of site that you can sink hours into looking at all the incredible proposals people have. If you find something you like, you can "kickstart" it by throwing some money at the project. Each project has rewards to thank those who fund the project and one of the lower-rungs of the funding ladder usually involves getting a copy of whatever game/movie/product/etc is being proposed. It's a great system, and I really recommend looking into it if you've got some extra cash and want to support some great projects.

Anyway, something that caught my eye today was a project called "Tweet Land – The first set of games that play with reality!". It's a really cool idea, and it's already well on its way to meeting its funding goal. The basic premise is to release a series of iOS (and web) games that use tweets to create events in the game:

The game works really simple. Every time someone in the world tweets something, his or her tweets could affect the gameplay of Tweet Land by triggering certain action-keywords. It could be a "car accident" in your racing game, it could be your hate-gun gets reloaded in the action game, it could be anything.

I think what sounds so cool about this is that I've been a huge fan of randomized games on the platform. Various roguelikes, endless runners, and others games that are different every time you play them really appeal to me. Using the real world as a "random" event generator seems like such an amazing idea. Although, thinking about it, the real world really is far more random than any random number generator ever could be. Chew on that for a bit.

The down-side of all this Kickstarter business is that since we're essentially being pitched a concept, it could take quite a while for that to actually materialize into a game. Regardless, I'm excited.

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While the rest of the world anxiously waits for GLaDOS to reboot, Gamevil announced on our forums late last night that Zenonia 3: The Midgard Story will be released on April 28th. In fact, if you want to know basically anything about the game, the beta testing thread on our forums is full of more information than anyone would likely ever need to know about it.

We also got a good amount of time with the game back at GDC, and explained the game's premise:

The story goes like this: The world of Zenonia was divided into the Heavenly Realm and the Earth Realm until a war between the Divine Tribe and the Devil Tribe caused the creation of the Midgard Realm. The main character of the original Zenonia, Regret, appears to his son, Chael, the hero of this story. Chael, shortly thereafter while walking in a wood with his fairy friend Runa, disappears into the mysterious Midgard Realm. Your goal, as Chael, is to help the Divine Tribe get back to the Heavenly Realm and return yourself to Earth.

Exciting stuff eh? Among other improvements Zenonia 3 will also sport Retina Display graphics and some of the best animation we've seen out of the series yet. In other related news the original Zenonia [99¢] dropped to a buck in anticipation. We had a great time with the game when we reviewed it back in 2009, although admittedly the original Zenonia is a little old and busted by today's standards. The sequel, Zenonia 2 [$2.99] is also worth checking out in anticipation.

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You may remember nearly a year ago when perpetually busy developer Crescent Moon Games announced a new title by the name of Ultra Kid: Mystery of the Mutants. It was a platforming game with a combination of 2.5D and fully 3D gameplay, set in a colorful and cartoonish 3D world with the cute space boy Ultra Kid as its main character. A couple of months later, late last June, we got a peek at the first teaser video for Ultra Kid, and it looked really promising.

About this same time, Crescent Moon had taken on the massive cosmetic overhaul of Aralon: Sword and Shadow [$9.99], and due to that project taking up most of their focus Ultra Kid: Mystery of the Mutants got put on the back burner. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard much about him since then, despite the upcoming thread in our forums still receiving a fair bit of interest.

Then yesterday, Ultra Kid was resurrected, but not quite in the way you might think. Crescent Moon announced a brand new game, Ultra Kid Sprint, which is an endless running style game using the same graphics and set in the same universe as Ultra Kid: Mystery of the Mutants.

With the glut of endless running games already on the App Store, Ultra Kid Sprint hopes to differentiate itself a bit from the pack. First of all, it is comprised of fully 3D graphics and looks fantastic. It also utilizes a dynamic camera that will zoom in and out during play, and is offset slightly behind the character giving a pretty unique perspective to the game. Also, levels will feature multiple elevations and different paths to take, and are chock full of enemies to dispatch and power ups to collect. At one point, Ultra Kid will even be able to transform into a moon buggy to take out enemies.

You can get a quick taste of the gameplay in Ultra Kid Sprint in the following teaser trailer:

Ultra Kid Sprint should have approximately 6 endless levels to play, and Crescent Moon is hoping to have the game out sometime next month. As for Mystery of the Mutants, it’s still in development and should see the light of day at some point, though no firm time frame for release has been committed to. In the meantime, Ultra Kid Sprint is looking pretty cool, and may just be an interesting new take on the endless runner formula. There’s currently a discussion in our forums for Ultra Kid Sprint, and we’ll have more from this title in the coming weeks.

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Back in January at a Capcom preview event, I was able to get some hands-on time with Resident Evil Mercenaries VS [$2.99], a new multiplayer focused entry in the Resident Evil mobile series. During that preview, I could see that there was some potential fun that could be had battling it out with other players Resident Evil style, but was left with many reservations. The game’s performance was pretty atrocious, and it was slated to only ship with 2 playable characters and 1 multiplayer map. Even with the potential of the actual gameplay, these shortcomings left me doubting how the game would turn out.

Yesterday, Resident Evil Mercenaries VS was released in the App Store, a little more than a month after originally planned. The good news is that the extra development time went to fixing some of the problems I saw in the preview version, tightening up the performance a great deal and adding a 3rd playable character and 2 additional multiplayer maps to the game. The bad news is that even those additions can’t really overcome the poor presentation and mundane gameplay of the title.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Resident Evil Mercenaries VS is not a pretty title. The character models look halfway decent, but the entire game has a grainy, low resolution look to it that is full of jagged edges and a muddy color palette. These graphics may have been impressive a few years ago, but they don’t come close to cutting it in this day and age of iOS visuals.

Looking past the graphics, the game controls very well, utilizing the same scheme as the other Resident Evil iOS titles currently in the App Store. A control stick for movement and a set of context sensitive buttons for performing every action, along with a handy quick inventory for using items and switching weapons. The problem is that the Resident Evil style of gameplay just doesn’t suit what should be a fast paced multiplayer battle. Having to stop moving in order to enter an aiming mode, and then line up your shot on an enemy is an exercise in frustration as the other players and AI-controlled enemies that inhabit each level lay waste to you.

On the good side of things, the game does run relatively lag free while online. There’s even a single player component that lets you play the 4 player free-for-all or team battle modes with AI bots. The mode I had the most fun with was ironically not a versus mode at all, but rather the coin hunt game where you seek out and shoot 15 hidden coins in any of the 3 levels within a certain time limit, with your final score uploaded to a Game Center leaderboard. Even still, I don’t think this is enough to warrant recommending the game when what should be the star feature – the online multiplayer – is so sub-par.

With enough practice, some people may warm up to the style of multiplayer battling in Resident Evil Mercenaries VS, but with so many far superior online multiplayer experiences on iOS already it doesn’t seem worth the effort.

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Remember the iCade? It was originally unveiled at CES earlier this year and promised to offer a classic arcade machine experience for your iPad. What made the whole thing even more interesting was that the iCade's creators, Ion, apparently had Atari onboard for the project as well. With the launch of Atari's Greatest Hits last week, it seems Atari has held up their end of the bargain, now all Ion needs to do is release the iCade.

It would appear all things are proceeding as planned for the launch of the iCade as 9to5Mac spotted the device sailing through the FCC approval process. Swing on by the FCC site to see all kinds of photos, and the iCade's manual which actually instructs owners of the device to go download Atari's Greatest Hits [Free] as part of the setup process.

If you want the $99 retro controller, there's two ways to get one- First off, you can head over to ThinkGeek where you can sign up to be notified for the device to be in stock. Alternatively, GameStop is offering pre-orders which seems like a better route than signing up for a mailing list if you want to get one when the iCade launches on 5/31.

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Papa Sangre [$4.99] studio Somethin’ Else has a couple of projects in the works: Papa Sangre 2 and another audio-exclusive joint called “The Nightjar.” The latter, it appears, has been submitted to Apple and is currently going through the certification process.

Word of both projects first surfaced, to my knowledge, in an Independent Online article dealing with the forthcoming emergence of 3D sound in all kinds of media, from books, to advertisements, and of course, games. It’s in this article that this tantalizing bit of news can be gleaned: Nightjar is based in space.

Other details about Nightjar are hard to obtain and the game’s official Twitter account isn’t helping us to paint a clearer picture of the title. Tweets like “morale aboard this vessel is LOW,” are commonplace and teasing something I can’t understand.

Of note, this account is specifically called the Night Owl Computer. Sometimes, it spits out personal messages, as if the AI has self-actualized. “I am currently 13 mths 10 wks 26 days of knotted-light travel time from Earth (2381:099:2L).” This account also re-tweets messages from The Night Watch, a supposed escort vessel. Equally weird stuff there, but much more casual in tone.

So, at the moment, your guess about what the Nightjar is, is as good as ours. We’re in contact with Somethin’ Else about all of this, so hopefully we’ll be able to give you some solid details in the near future. For right now, though, I guess we’ll be playing this game alongside the developers. Anyone see anything important on these accounts? Or is this just all too vague to get a grasp on? I vote on the latter, but hey, I'm a meat head.

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You and I have one chance to live our lives. All our choices, all the accomplishments and defeats and discoveries, are permanent: We can’t hammer a “restart” button whenever we get into an argument or mess up, just as we can’t click “continue” or “new game.”

This is the reason why games like One Chance and One Single Life [Free] exist. Living with choice is powerful, especially when there are no nets.

Where the flash game One Chance gives you six days to live your life as the creator of a virus that’s eradicating the human population, One Single Life for iPod Touch gives you one chance to make a series of jumps. Death is eternal, the thrills momentary.

The crux of One Single Life is this: you get one single life to make an absurd building-to-building jump. If you make the jump, you continue on to the next jump, but when you miss its not just “game over" — it’s game complete.

At the beginning of each segment, you’re shown a scoreboard that tells you how many people have died at that point, applying a kind of uncomfortable pressure that takes time to kindle in other games. Also, the entire level is also shown before the jump: You see the end goal and the level art before a plunge.

What troubles me about One Single Life is that it doesn’t embrace its design. It gives you an infinite amount of chances to test a jump in a grid-lined virtual room before you take the actual plunge, which robs the jump of its impact and kills some of the tenseness that builds up before your little avatar begins his run. Also, if you play through the credits, the game gives you an extra life.

“If Everything Was On The Line, Would I Have What It Takes?” This is the question that Fresh Tone Games says One Single Life answers. I guess if you fall, you don’t have what it takes.

I keep mentioning One Chance, but I need to because it highlights a lot of what One Single Life doesn't accomplish. One Chance does a better job presenting you with what’s on the line: You, your daughter, your wife, and the rest of the entire human race. You have six days to puzzle out a cure for a virus or cheat on those you love or spend the time with them. The emotional impact of the experience can be tremendous and player satisfaction, while not a given, can be attained.

In One Single Life, you have no clear idea of why you're doing what you're doing, which is a problem when a game is built like this is. Also, living with the consequences of a failed jump is hard to do when you know there are other extra lives to be had that don't require a form of cheating.

One Single Life is free and the thrills, while cheapened by the fact that death is not so eternal, are worth the download alone.

While playing, I thought a lot about game design in general, how it empowers us and enforces the notion that we can accomplish greater things if we work hard enough and stick to a given task or dream. I wish this game actually pounded away at this notion. We all have one life, and often we aren’t rewarded for staying honest, working hard, or doing the things games trumpet.

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The popular “irreverent trivia” game You Don’t Know Jack is now available on the App Store for your iPhone/iPod touch [$2.99/Lite] or iPad [$4.99/Lite]. The series began back in 1995 on PC and has since seen a multitude of iterations across computers, game consoles, the web, physical board games, and even a short lived television show. The iOS version of You Don’t Know Jack is based on the 2011 franchise reboot that hit major gaming consoles earlier this year.

If you’re familiar with that version then you’ll be instantly familiar with the game on iOS, and aside from a few missing features and no multiplayer mode it’s a very competent mobile version of the console game. Even if you’re completely unfamiliar with the series, You Don’t Know Jack is a fun and intellectual trivia game mixed with silly pop culture references and humor.

Unlike previous games in the series that presented a random selection of questions, this version of You Don’t Know Jack contains 20 different episodes each filled with 10 questions in a predetermined order. The first 5 questions in an episode are considered Round 1 and are worth face value. The next 5 are Round 2 and are worth double the points. After the 10 questions are completed, Round 3 consists of a special Jack Attack game before giving you your final score for the episode.

The majority of the questions in an episode are multiple choice with 1 correct answer and 3 that are incorrect, and the game has no problem using clever word play or trick questions in an effort to throw you off. You’re given 20 seconds to pick an answer and are awarded cash based on how quickly you answer correctly, with a similar amount deducted for a wrong answer. There is no penalty for not answering at all.

During each episode, one of the questions takes the form of a “DisOrDat”, where you’re given 7 titles or phrases and must determine which of 2 completely different categories they belong in. For example, in one episode you’re given 7 fancy sounding names and are asked to determine whether each one is the name of a luxury sports car or the name of a cajun cuisine. There’s 30 seconds to complete all 7, where right answers earn you cash and wrong answers take some away, and any extra time on the clock gives you bonus money.

The final round of an episode consists of a Jack Attack. It starts by giving you a common theme for the round, then presents a word or phrase in the middle of the screen while other phrases zoom by above and below it. Your job is to tap the word or phrase that relates to the one in the middle as it zooms by. This round rewards you with huge payouts for correct answers as well as penalizes you heavily for wrong ones, and can really make or break your final score for an episode.

So up to this point, You Don’t Know Jack is a fairly typical trivia game, albeit with pretty cleverly written questions. What really makes it stand out though is the excellent presentation. The “host” of the game Cookie Masterson, who has appeared in many of the previous games, has a great personality and makes a ton of hilarious (and often crude) jokes as well as pokes fun at you when you get a question wrong. There’s also some silly intro animations for every question and a few other funny surprises, but the running dialogue from Cookie is what really makes the game what it is. This isn’t a game you’ll want to play with the sound off, as you’d be missing out on 90% of the enjoyment.

The 20 included episodes are far less than the console versions, and due to their linear nature there’s not really much reason to replay them multiple times, but the developer seems keen on adding additional episodes and features in updates. There’s also Game Center integration for unlocking achievements and tracking your scores for the initial play through of an episode, which adds a bit of replay value to the game. Hopefully multiplayer can be added at some point too, since playing trivia with friends is when a game like this is at its best, though it’s still a really fun solo experience.

If you’re already a fan of You Don’t Know Jack, then chances are you bought and downloaded the iOS version the second you heard about it, and for the most part I think you’ll be satisfied. It features completely new questions from the console versions and is surprisingly up to date with its references to current events, with questions involving Charlie Sheen, Liz Taylor, and everybody's favorite pop star Rebecca Black. If you aren’t really familiar with the series but like trivia games, there’s a lite version with 2 full episodes to check out first to see if it’s up your alley. Players in our forums have been digging this one quite a bit, and for irreverent trivia on the go You Don’t Know Jack is a solid pick up.

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It was nearly a year and a half ago that 2D Boy announced that their critically acclaimed indie title World of Goo would be coming to the iPhone. After more than a year of waiting, Word of Goo finally did hit the App Store, but for the iPad rather than the iPhone or iPod touch. The game was absolutely fantastic on the iPad though, earning 5 stars in our review and garnering our iPad Game of the Year award for 2010. World of Goo was a great success on the iPad too, but despite this 2D Boy still wasn’t sure that the game would ever reach its originally intended platform of the iPhone.

In late February, 2D Boy confirmed that World of Goo was indeed officially coming to the iPhone and iPod touch. Today this long-awaited version of World of Goo is finally available in the App Store at a special introductory price of 99¢ for the first 24 hours. What’s more is that owners of the iPad version World of Goo HD will get a free update that makes the game universal, so if you own an iPhone or iPod touch you’ll already be able to play it on those devices in addition to your iPad.

One thing to note is that World of Goo requires a 3rd generation device or higher, so make sure you have the proper equipment to handle the game before downloading. Both versions of the game are supposed to support Retina Display devices, but due to an apparent bug it currently does not. 2D Boy is looking into the issue and will issue a fix to the problem as soon as possible. Also, after the introductory price of 99¢, the game will jump up to its regular price of $2.99, with the universal HD version staying priced at $4.99.

Despite the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch, World of Goo still plays wonderfully and contains all the same content that appeared on the iPad last December. The biggest difference is that you can pinch to zoom on the iPhone version, which can be helpful in certain situations. Players in our forums are really enjoying World of Goo on the iPhone and iPod touch, and if you’ve ever been interested in the game but didn’t own an iPad then now is the time to get in on the fun.

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