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Defiant Development, the Brisbane-based studio responsible for Rocket Bunnies [$.99 / HD], is now one of many studios looking to dazzle Diablo fans with a future Diablo-like game. The hook for the purposes of this news story is that Defiant’s forthcoming dreary medieval fantasy hack-and-slash RPG is coming to iOS, and it’ll feature some pretty stellar 3D visuals and a point-and-click interface that works well for the platform.

The game in question is called Quick Quest. Defiant shared the quick game announcement with our fair message board and included a video from the alpha build of the game. You can that see right below this dreadful text junk you’ve been reading:

Looks great, right? I’ve fired off an e-mail to Defiant in the hopes of grabbing more cool information, and of course, a release date. I’m so ready for this game.

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If you're the kind of person whose feathers get ruffled whenever free to play is mentioned, you should make sure you're sitting down before reading the rest of this post. We liked Glu's Gun Bros [Free] quite a bit when it was first released. As mentioned in our review, it really does provide a cool twist on the dual stick shooter formula via the bro system which allows you to play in a asynchronous co-op mode where you can bro up and bring a friend's bro into your game to help you slay waves of monsters. A recent update even added realtime online multiplayer via 3G and WiFi.

The rub of Gun Bros is an extensive upgrade system to keep you coming back on a daily basis shooting up bad guys to progressively unlock bigger and badder gear upgrades. Of course, like all free to play games you can sidestep this time sink by purchasing the premium currency "war bucks" with real-world dollars. Alternatively, you can do things like watch advertisements, sign up for Netflix, or even online dating sites to earn "free" war bucks.

What are you working towards with all of these war bucks? Well, the mack daddy of all premium unlockable guns is The Kraken which promises to instantly vaporize all nearby enemies. The Kraken sells for the modest sum of 3499 war bucks, and assuming you're buying them in the largest 710 war buck pack for $99, that's just under $500 real world dollars for a gun in a video game. Crazier yet is that The Kraken used to only cost 1400 war bucks, the price was raised.

Surely no one is biting at this though, right? Well, videos on YouTube show otherwise:

Now, I realize that the entire idea around the business of free to play games involves essentially having no top-end for how much a player can spend on the game. In fact, Flurry Analytics even mentions these so called "whales" in their recent analysis piece where they found that 30% of the total revenue from the "over $20" bucket of their report comes from people actually spending more than $50 in free to play transactions.

The whole thing seems pretty wild to me– But hey, in the interest of doing business I suppose if you've got players that are dedicated enough to your game to spend the equivalent of $500 for a single unlock, why wouldn't you give them the ability to do so?

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We were pretty excited about Capcom’s latest iOS offering of their venerable fighting game franchise, Street Fighter IV Volt [$4.99], when we reviewed the title back in June. It offered everything that was great about the original iPhone release plus a few new characters and many new features, most significantly the ability to battle it out with people from all over the world online.

Having online play was fantastic, if not a little rough due to latency issues, but one aspect about it didn’t seem to be very well thought out. When playing online, there was no penalty for quitting out of a match. This seems like a good idea given the mobile nature of the game and the potential for distractions like texts or phone calls interrupting a match. But it also gave way to people quitting when they’re on the wrong side of a beating, and screwing you out of a win while not being subjected to any sort of penalty.

The newest update for Street Fighter IV Volt looks to address this problem. Now, quitting out of an online match for whatever reason counts as a loss, and it will deduct points from your BP which are like the experience points for online play. Also, players found to be habitually quitting early from matches may have their matchmaking experience limited in some form, though there aren’t any details on exactly how you’re limited when this happens.

Not to be forgotten about in this update are the two new characters that we learned last month were being added to the roster, Sakura and Makoto. Both fighters fit nicely into the current selection of characters, though strangely some of Makoto’s animations seem abnormally choppy. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just a graphical glitch, but it doesn’t seem to affect her performance in the game.

If you’ve been enjoying Street Fighter IV Volt but have been getting fed up with people taking the coward’s way out online, then hopefully this newest update will help smooth out the experience some. Of course, even if you don’t partake in online battles, you’ll want to grab this latest update for the two additional characters, and if you've been on the fence about picking up the game it's not a bad time to consider grabbing it as it's currently on sale for $4.99.

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On Monday, Gamasutra reported that Rubicon Development, creators of the excellent iOS strategy title Great Little War Game [$2.99/Lite], had posted over on the NeoGAF forums that they received several PlayStation Vita development kits from Sony for free, so that they could port Great Little War Game to that platform.

What’s interesting here is not just that an active iOS developer is porting a popular and previously iOS-only game to the Vita, but rather the stance Sony seems to be taking in regards to independent developers. You might also hear them referred to as “garage developers” by Nintendo, and the last time I checked, The Big N wanted nothing to do with these indies making games for their soon-to-be price-reduced 3DS console.

The thing is, independent and smaller scale studios account for some of the biggest success stories on the App Store and are a huge reason that iOS gaming, and even smartphone gaming in general, has surged so drastically in just the past few years. The barrier of entry is so low for Apple’s App Store that it allows new or risky ideas to be brought to life by almost anyone, sometimes even just one person working on a project in their down time from the tribulations of daily life.

Of course, with a user base of more than 200 million devices, the big boys have jumped onto the App Store bandwagon too, bringing many popular video game franchises to the touch screen. But by and large, it’s the independent developers who are responsible for creating the quirky and original experiences that just wouldn’t have been viable under the traditional video game creation model the industry had grown accustomed to.

So, the fact that Sony is embracing this idea and welcoming independent developers to the new Vita platform with open arms (and at least in some cases, free SDKs) is a good sign that the company is recognizing the importance of independent developers and the direction the game industry is heading. Digital distribution is the future, and it offers a significantly more even playing field where the little guys can sit on the virtual shelf right next to the big guys.

It’s unclear just how readily available the Vita SDK is to just any old person interested in making a game for the system, and Rubicon notes that their kits are only on loan and must be returned to Sony when the port is complete. But even still, if Sony can create an entry point to the Vita that is similar to the App Store’s, then they might be able to create the kind of 3rd party traction that the 3DS has been unable to attain thus far. With the Vita’s $250 starting price point and more technical bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at, it might actually become a real enticing alternative to mobile gamers currently satisfied with their iOS devices for on-the-go gaming.

It will be interesting to see how Sony plays their cards with the Vita and the digital download indie scene, and how it will affect Apple’s game (if at all). The Vita seems the most well-poised to give iOS a run for its money, and that sort of competition can only mean good things for all fans of portable gaming.

[Via Gamasutra]

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Just yesterday, we learned that developer Zeptolab had a sequel in the works for their astoundingly popular physics puzzler Cut the Rope [99¢/Lite/HD]. Given the huge success of that game, a sequel doesn’t come as a surprise at all, but the teaser images did pique our interest as to what changes the developers would be adding to their winning formula. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any solid information to go along with the screens.

Now, TechCrunch has learned straight from Zeptolab themselves some new details on the title, which will be called Cut the Rope: Experiments. The premise this time around is that main character Om Nom arrives on the doorstep of a mad scientist, and like everybody who has played the original game, he wonders just what the heck Om Nom is. So, in order to get to the bottom of things, he begins performing various experiments on Om Nom, which we would presume act as the levels themselves.

TechCrunch has the first trailer for Cut the Rope: Experiments, which is a total teaser and doesn’t show any gameplay, but does reveal that the game is already launching on August 4th, which is basically later tonight here in the US. And indeed, the game is now live in the NZ App Store and early impressions are rolling into our forums. Interestingly, Cut the Rope: Experiments isn't being published by Chillingo as the first game was, and rather it's self-published by ZeptoLab themselves. If you remember, another popular Chillingo published title, Angry Birds, did the same thing with their two follow-up titles. I guess when you become practically a household name, it doesn't make sense to fork over part of your earnings to a publisher.

But more importantly, I'm curious to get my hands on Cut the Rope: Experiments tonight to see how it stacks up to the original, and you can bet we'll be back to let you know what we think of the title.

[Via TechCrunch]

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My first minutes with HypnoBlocks [$0.99] were pathetic, floundering things. I looked at it as a puzzle, with reaching the end of each level as my goal. I didn't make it far, so I tried again. After a few abortive attempts, I reconsidered my approach. Was it about reaching the highest level, or reaching the highest score? That's when everything clicked — this isn't a game about getting the farthest you can, no matter the cost. It's a game about sustaining perfection as long as possible.

Though it looks like one, HypnoBlocks isn't quite a match 3. You are pressed to match colors, but not in lines or patterns. Instead you tap blocks as they form into a rotating cube — it doesn't matter where they are, just that you match them. After a moment, those block disappear. You have a few seconds after that to make another match and build your combo. If you're too slow, your combo fades. If you tap a mismatched block, your combo also fades.

That combo is all that really matters. Not only does it increase the score you earn from each match, but at the end of each level it multiplies the bonus you earn. If you manage to maintain it throughout the entire level but lose it on the last match, you'll lose what may be a ridiculous quantity of points. So perfection is needed, yes. And speed — you also earn bonuses based on the seconds remaining on the clock. Let it run down before reaching the end of the level and you're done, game over, high score noted.

This is made more complicated by the obstacles HypnoBlocks throws in your way. Each block is surrounded on several sides by a dark barrier. In order to see the color of the block beneath, you need to rotate your view around the cube. If you lose sight of the other blocks you wanted to match, you'd best hope your memory is accurate. You'll also need to deal with spikes that plant themselves throughout the cube. Even grazing one will kill your combo.

When all these factors come together, you'll find a fast-paced game with scores that will explode almost exponentially as you improve. Eventually the leaderboards will be dominated by those who can sustain perfection through every level in the hardest difficulty mode, but for now it's still the Wild West out there. You can make a mark just by being particularly good at a handful of levels.

My one wish is for a little more content. There are three difficulty modes, two of which are unlocked while playing, and twelve Game Center achievements. But once you burn through those, there isn't much else to keep you busy when you hit a plateau with your score. This seems like a game that's just begging for more – more achievements, unlockable themes, anything to keep things interesting as you fight for first place on the leaderboards. The game is undeniably fun, but I don't see it having much lasting appeal.

Still, while the experience lasts it's well worth the price of admission. Ambrosia Software has put together an excellent package, with slick graphics, good sound and perfectly precise multi-touch controls. Once it clicks it becomes hypnotically intense, and rather hard to put down. But do put it down long enough to share your thoughts in our discussion thread, okay?

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If you like the RPG genre, you’ve likely spent lots of time exploring old worlds populated with critters out to get you, unexplored bits of terrain mysteriously populated with treasure chests no one else has gotten to yet, and serious quests (Save the princess! Save the world! Save your mom!). And yet, there’s something endlessly appealing about the formula — it’s kept us playing for decades, after all. Nothing wrong with the serious formula, of course, but that’s not what you’ll get when you go for Quest Runner [$1.99], an cute little action RPG from Trident 3D that goes with cartoon-inspired 2D graphics and humorous writing to tell the story of your adventure to protect the town of Torma and keep its citizens safe and sound.

Quest Runner starts out allowing you to pick your own character and customise it a bit, which feels a little limited when it comes to options. You can only play as a male (boo! Where’s the ladies at?), but at least you can choose some cool costumes, and in homage to retro games, you can even wear costumes that you may remember some of your old favorite characters donning back in the day. In fact, the game is peppered with tongue in cheek references to lots of wonderful classic games such as Zelda, Sonic, Prince of Persia and more. The developers wanted you to know that they’re loved videogames for a long time, and it shows — it’s a little dash of fun that put a smile on my face.

Gameplay is easy enough to navigate. The action is sidescrolling, and there’s no directional pad to clutter up your screen, which seems like a good idea but left me feeling as if my fingers were blocking the action more than I’d like. You just tap the direction you want your hero to move in and off he goes. The bottom of the screen offers easy access buttons for your potion supply, basic attack and special attack, all accessible with a single tap, and tiny icons on the top right keep track of your quests and your current status. They did a good job with managing the tiny bit of screen space offered on the iPhone, and there’s no excess clutter, making the action easy to enjoy — as long as you don’t mind peering around your fingertips a bit.

It won’t be long before you make your way into town and realize how many options are at your disposal. Sure, there’s the usual merchants and vendors, but what makes Quest Runner really cool is the ability to hire mercenaries to assist you in your quest. These are colorful personalities, and you’ll find yourself wanting to try them all out. As the difficulty ramps up, you’ll find these guys to be truly helpful to your cause too. You can also get pets to help you, but you’ll need to remember to feed them or they won’t stick around. Don’t be a neglectful hero — feed your four legged friend!

You’ll get basic quests from NPCs in town that will guide you along in your adventure, allowing you to explore the terrain as you go and gain levels in the process. Your interactions with these characters remain consistently funny, and you’ll find yourself giggling as you complain about the lazy commander who can’t be bothered to give you a hand. What a jerk.

Quest Runner is Game Center enabled as well, so you’ll be able to get achievements for your gameplay time, which makes it a bit more challenging and gives you some goals to meet. A total of 35 are available, and many focus on killing a quantity of monsters, so you may want to spend some extra time in the field instead of hurrying to your next quest if you want to get them all.

Quest Runner has that great casual feel, so it can be played in bits and pieces whenever you have free time for it, and it’s easy to come back to the adventure at anytime. There’s a bit of grinding involved, but if you’re the type that hates having to spend hours in the field just to be at the right level to buy that one sword, you won’t have to cope with that type of thing in Quest Runner.

Overall, it’s a fun experience, and players in our forums seem to be enjoying it as well. While it doesn’t break any startling new ground in the genre, it executes the humorous action RPG formula very well. If you want to laugh while you play an RPG instead of furrowing your brow and trying to shoulder the weight of the world, this one’s for you.

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We've been following Firemint's SPY mouse for quite a while, in fact, back before it was even called SPY mouse. In the past, Firemint has been very secretive in regards to unleashing any kind of screenshots, or any details at all really, aside from showing it off to a select few at conventions. That's all (well, mostly) over now, and finally you can check out the SPY mouse trailer in all of its glory, and finally get a chance to see what I've been trying to describe in the various Agent Squeak SPY mouse articles from previous events:

Accord to the trailer, SPY mouse will be hitting Summer 2011. This means Firemint has all the way up until September 23rd to release the game and still technically be under their summer release umbrella. Other things we also now know is that there will be 72 levels included at launch spread across six different worlds. As the trailer illustrates, you'll need to snack on cheese and avoid various cats. There's even an array of power ups to help you on your quest. Awesome.

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My most anticipated title of the year for the iPad, 11-Bit Studio's reverse tower defense game Anomaly: Warzone Earth, will hit the US App Store within the next one-to-two weeks, a rep from publisher Chillingo revealed to us via e-mail.

The wait has been crazy long. Anomaly first appeared on Steam and the Mac App Store in April this year to huge and well-deserved acclaim. We’ve gone hands-on with the touch-focused iOS iteration of the same game a couple of times since and have always come away impressed with how the port was being handled from a technical perspective. It looks great and it plays great, too, if those alpha or beta builds can be taken as a solid indication of the final product.

I’ve been begging for a pre-release build for months now, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring you some much more fleshed out opinions of the final game leading up to its release. At any rate, you’ll definitely be able to get your hands on it soon. Yay! Finally! I'm peeing at little but thats cool because I'm excited I think!

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Supermono Studio, the same studio who achievement-ized standard non-game tasks like chores and scrubbing behind your ears in the stupendous Epic Win [$2.99], are close to releasing its next game, Forever Drive. Forever Drive, if you didn't know, is a futuristic racing game, complete with track building and neat customization elements, sorta like ModNation Racers. The coolest element, on paper at least, is its online, perpetual city. Supermono describes the game as “Outrun-meets-SimCity-in-the-future-online,” if you need some analogues.

Of course, it also dropped some screenshots. There’s probably a great word for this kind of art style, but because my brain doesn't work so great all the time, so I’ll just say it looks great (in a TRON kind of way) and let you tell me my business in the comments.

If you’re familiar with this project, you might be wondering why it’s now called Forever Drive instead of "Drive Forever." According to Supermono, there’s a legal reason for the flip. It didn't go into the details in the official blog's latest post, probably because the story would be REALLY boring.

It also didn't discuss release date. We've got in touch and hope to bring you that information and more in the near future.

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