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Big swords and slow-motion make us feel good on the inside, so we’re obligated to share this trailer with you. Before you gander at its splendor, here’s some context: this is a side-scrolling action RPG from White Whale Games. It’s called God of Blades, and in it, users will “assume the role of a nameless spectral king” against a horde of demon dudes. From what we can tell, the action model breaks down to whacking demons with overly large weapons until they fall down. It sounds cool in theory.

No word on release other than “soon,” and we’re not 100 percent sure what platforms it’ll appear on or, hey, even its price. We’re guessing these kinds of things will be announced on the studio’s Twitter or Facebook in due time.

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Per the nearly standard operating procedure of “beta testing” wide-scale free to play titles, Canadians and “Canadians” can now get their hands on Zynga’s latest iOS game, Dream Heights [Free]. It doesn’t take more than a few quick glances at the screenshots and iTunes text to realize that Zynga has firmly focused their copy machines on NimbleBit’s Tiny Tower [Free]. It’s really incredibly just how blatant of a clone this is, as Zynga has gone far beyond just copying the premise of the game- They even directly lifted the restocking mechanics, elevator upgrades, UI elements, and more.

NimbleBit’s Ian Marsh has taken to twitter with an image that perfectly exhibits just how shamelessly Zynga’s “inspiration” is for this new free to play title of theirs with side by side screenshots and a hefty amount of trademarked NimbleBit snark.

Take a look:

(Click for full size, with many more comparisons.)

It’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Historically speaking, Apple has had a very hands-off approach to even the most blatant of clones on the App Store. But, we are talking their very own game of the year last year that’s being mercilessly knocked-off here, by Zynga of all companies. I doubt much if anything will actually happen, but I’m not sure how Zynga couldn’t stir up a hefty helping of bad blood amongst anyone who realizes that such a large company is lifting ideas straight from a three (3) man development studio.

We’ll have to see how Dream Heights does once it eventually sees its worldwide release. The amusing (and sad, to be honest) part of all this is that per another tweet, Zynga once attempted to acquire NimbleBit. If you can’t buy ‘em, clone ‘em?

Canadian App Store Link: Dream Heights, Free

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When prompted via Twitter by Xperia Play fan site XperiaGamer when we might see Reckless Racing 2, the sequel to 2010’s excellent top-down arcade racer Reckless Racing [99¢/Lite/HD], the game’s developer Polarbit responded that we can expect the game to hit next week on February 2nd.

We really liked the original Reckless Racing in our review, and the sequel looks to up the ante with a fleshed-out single-player campaign, longer tracks, and improved visuals over the already gorgeous first game. You can catch a glimpse of Reckless Racing 2 in the all-to-brief teaser video above, and we’ll have more of the game when it launches next week.

[Via PocketGamer]

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Way back in April of last year, we caught wind of an interesting looking Kickstarter project called Tweet Land. The idea was that Tweet Land would create randomly generated gameplay events based off of certain keywords sent out over Twitter. So essentially, real people tweeting would power what happened in the game.

It’s a really clever concept on paper, but we were a bit skeptical about how it would pan out in an actual game. Well, it looks like we’ll be able to find out later this month as Tweet Land is set to launch on January 31st.

It sounds like the overall plan for Tweet Land will eventually include different styles of games, but when it launches this month the game will center around controlling a car that’s racing down Route 140. As you drive along, tweets from all over the world will trigger events in the game, like a meteor crashing into the road or a giant Godzilla foot stomping down. Your job is to avoid these kinds of hazards and even fight back against them with an array of weapons, which are also generated from tweets.

It’s hard to tell how well this is going to work, but when I think about a game like Scribblenauts Remix [$1.99] with its bank of more than 20,000 words and seemingly infinite possibilities, I’m hopeful. If Tweet Land has even a fraction of the depth that Scribblenauts has then I think it will be a winner. From what the developers have said on their website and on their Twitter, it sounds like the game will have a whole lot of items to generate. Keep your eyes out for Tweet Land when it launches on January 31st for $1.99 with a free lite version to follow sometime after.

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Blogger and DIYer Paul Rickards wrote about an awesome discovery today: he figured out how to rig an NES controller, via USB, to his iPad. Even better, he made it work like an iCade does, which theoretically opens up the support of his homebrew controller to every iCade-enabled game out there. He hasn’t posted the code yet, but he did go over the story of how he made discovery and linked to some pretty important literature.

Like most of the world’s greatest inventions, this was the result of an accident. While playing in iMAME, Rickards accidentally pressed some keys on his homebrew Commodore 64 USB keyboard. The app then said it was enabling iCade mode. Cue the “A-ha!” moment.

From here, Rickards manufactured another USB keyboard utilizing Arduino, but instead of using a keyboard matrix, he used his NES gamepad. A couple of legos for casing and two jacks later, he had a working NES controller for his iPad. Sweet!

We’ve asked Rickards if he intends to do more controllers in the future because this is pretty exciting news. Think about it: someday, you might finally be able to play an iPad game with the Duke, the ultimate gaming controller.

Well … that is, if every game plays nice. Atari Greatest Hits [Free] collection and iMAME are the only games he’s tested so far.

[via biosrhythm]

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I’ve played a lot of iOS games in my time, and have gone through varying levels of addiction with certain titles. Even so, that usually doesn’t last for too long. I’ve never found my own personal Angry Birds or Tiny Tower. That is, until I picked up Hero Academy [Free] for the first time. Shortly after, I noticed that I was playing a match while cooking, waiting for people to come over, or pretty much any other time I had three free minutes or more at a time. At that point, I identified that I might have found that game that I feel the need to play endlessly. Good news is, all my other friends seem to have the same problem, so that works out for me.

Hero Academy is Robot Entertainment’s first iOS offering, and I think it’s the sign of good things to come. The premise is very basic: You are playing a tactical battle against another team, and the goal is to destroy their crystals before they destroy yours. Each round allows you five moves (”action points”), which you can use to either place team members and items on the board, or move and attack with your preexisting team members.

If you play the free version of the game, the only team available to you is the Council, which is made up of humans and is a well-balanced option. Should you wish, you can unlock the Dark Elves for $0.99, which can summon the spirits of their fallen enemies to aid them in battle.

At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see a selection of five items and characters, which the game randomly deals you each turn. If you don’t like what you got, you can use your finger to drag anything you don’t want over to the tiny door in the bottom left corner. Once your turn is finished, you’ll get new stuff and hopefully get dealt exactly what you were looking for. This selection of items includes spells and weapons to strengthen your characters’ attack and defense abilities so you can survive in the field for longer.

The board itself also includes some options to give you the advantage. In the middle of each board is a tile with a crystal on it, and reaching it will weaken the enemy’s crystal a bit. There are also tiles that have a sword or a shield on them, which will give you a buff to attack or defense. At the end of a turn, you can also choose to submit your turn normally or submit it with a taunt, which is pretty much just to piss your opponent off.

Getting to know your characters and how their skills can be used is vital. For example, the magician can cast a spell that can hit a row of opponents and only spend a single action point on it. Using these types of skills to your advantage will give you the edge needed to keep those fools off your crystals.

Frankly, I’m no fan of waiting around for someone to take a turn. When I first saw that Hero Academy had no single player mode where you could at least play against the computer, I was a bit let down. At first, I only had a few games going with other friends. The key to the fun of Hero Academy really came clear when I got a lot of games going, and that was when I started to feel my skills were improving and I was getting better at it. Considering my moves more carefully and how I could best defend against the way my opponent played was rewarding, and I started to win more matches.

There is one downfall to the game, and that is that the free version is relentless when it comes to in-game ads. Between each match, you’ll see an ad that you have to stare at for five seconds before it disappears and you can play again. If you’re good at ignoring things, you may not mind one bit, but if you’re like me and it bugs the hell out of you, you can buy any heroic team to get rid of the ads, which costs a buck. Only the Dark Elves are available for now, but Robot promises new teams are coming in the near future. You can also spend a bit more to get new avatars if you so desire.

Hero Academy is a simple game, and it does what it’s built to do very, very well. If the content continues to expand and offer more for the fanbase, I could see it being something I would want to come back to over and over again in the future. It also offers access to invite Facebook and Twitter friends to join you right in the menu, so never fear if you don’t have enough games going at a time. Invite everyone you know, and soon enough your phone will be jingling with the notification sound you’ve learned that you’re unable to resist.

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Semi Secret Software, the studio behind Canabalt, has announced that its working on a brand new iPad game alongside Greg Wohlwend of Solipskier [$.99] fame. According to a tweet from Semi Secret, this’ll be its first new game in over a year.

Get ready for a crusher: we don’t know much about this collaboration. The aforementioned tweet links to PlayHundreds.com, an undoubtedly artful web site that’s teasing something relevant, but not immediately apparent. We realize this isn’t a whole lot to go on. Semi Secret is pretty good at this game development thing, though, so we’re OK with assuming that this is worth keeping an eye out for.

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Earlier this week, Certain Affinity announced the “impending arrival” of a “new” version of Age of Booty for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Being developed in a partnership with Chaotic Moon, Certain Affinity promises that the duo has taken what fans didn’t like in the 2008 original and has piled on new stuff, including fresh interfaces and visual flair, based on consumer feedback. Twitter and Facebook are also being jacked in, alongside new levels and new “strategic opportunities.”

Take note that this isn’t a true continuation or a follow-up. This is Age of Booty with new stuff (see above image), and hopefully some key improvements. And, hey, even though it’s not all-new, Age of Booty on iPad and iPhone sounds like a cool thing. We’re hoping to give you some impressions in the near future.

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We’ve been incredibly excited for Farsight Studio’s upcoming Pinball Arcade since we first heard about it this past October. Following their critically acclaimed Pinball Hall of Fame Gottlieb and Williams collections that have appeared on various platforms over the years, Farsight is now working on what they hope to be the ultimate pinball video game with Pinball Arcade. Featuring tables from historic pinball companies like Bally, Stern, Williams and Gottlieb, Pinball Arcade is also set to be updated and expanded frequently following release and should eventually contain at least 50 classic pinball tables, making for the ultimate virtual collection.

Pinball Arcade is slated to hit just about every platform you can think of, including iOS. Last month, we checked out a trailer that showcased several of the tables in action, though the footage didn’t seem to specifically be from an iOS device. However, their most recent video demonstrates the Tales of the Arabian Nights table from Pinball Arcade running on an iPad 2, and it looks absolutely fantastic:

Pinball Arcade is scheduled for an early 2012 launch – which is like, now – and I’ve got my money on us seeing it in the App Store before the end of the month. The first tables to launch with the game are Tales of the Arabian Nights, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Theatre of Magic, and Black Hole. They hope to add 2 new tables per month via updates, and each month a different table will be featured as “Table of the Month” and offered at a discounted rate. For launch, the first Table of the Month will be Tales of the Arabian Nights, which will cost 99¢. The other 3 tables will run either $1.99 or $2.99 each, according to Farsight’s Twitter.

Be on the lookout for Pinball Arcade to hit hopefully really soon and check out our forums for some discussion on the game.

[Thanks Jeff!]

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Super Crate Box [99¢] finally launched yesterday to a fairly rousing reception. I caught tons of people praising the game all over the Twitters, in our forums, and probably in other social outlets that I’m not even cool enough to know about yet. With no other big releases this week, Super Crate Box has been the talk of the town for the past 24 hours or so, and has in turn been shooting right up the paid app charts, currently sitting just inside the top 40 overall.

But another clever way to see just how many people are engrossed in Super Crate Box is by the “total crates collected” counter on the main menu. Basically, it tallies up the number of crates that have been collected across all players on iOS, or at least the ones that have connected to the internet, since the game’s release. At the onset, developer Vlambeer had said on their blog that if players could grow the total crates collected tally up to 5 million then they would release the first content update for Super Crate Box.

It’s kind of a neat incentive, since we’ve all grown so accustomed to free content updates and most of the time just blindly expect to receive them. True, free updates are one of the coolest aspects about App Store gaming, but I don’t have a problem with having to work for it a bit in Super Crate Box, especially when the “work” is so much fun. Plus, as the counter continues to rise, it gives a pretty good indication that people are still actively playing your game, and that any time or effort you spend on making a content update will be justified.

However, I don’t think even Vlambeer expected that Super Crate Box would be so popular right off the bat. It’s been just over 24 hours since the game has been available and the total crates collected has already surged past the 3 million mark. At this rate, we should be hitting 5 million even before most of us get off work to start the weekend. It really is quite remarkable.

Vlambeer isn’t being very forthcoming with exactly what it is that will be in the 5 million crates update, but so far all requests I’ve been hearing have been for new arenas, new characters, and new weapons. So basically, more of everything. I can’t wait to see what makes it into the first major update.

On a similar note, the game unfortunately launched with a bug that caused it to crash on 3GS devices running certain versions of iOS, and already an update has been released that rectifies this. I’m glad to know that serious game crashing bugs don’t need to wait around for the 5 million crate mark, and am really impressed with Vlambeer’s quick turnaround with that issue. We’ll keep on contributing crates to the grand total on the way to 5 million and the first content update, and you can check discussion on Super Crate Box in our forums until we collectively hit that mark.

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