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Heads up, Potter fans: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 – 4 [$2.99] for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch is now just $2.99 on the App Store, coming down from a high of $4.99. Movie tie-in games, in general, stink, so it’s nice to be able to point you in the direction of this fantastic joint, which has a touch of LEGO game whimsy, some serious HP love, and competent bolts and bits of hardcore design. You can read our full review here, but the gist is this: even if you’re not crawling into bed with a Rowling novel every night, there’s still a lot fun to be had with this third-person action / exploration / adventure game.

Video by AppBank

Also, on the update front, you’ll notice that version 2.2 has been pushed out — this is a patch that addresses that nasty red brick glitch that prevented people from accessing their crimson unlockables. Of course, this version of the game also supports Retina display, is universal, and features the same content as its console counterpart which sells for many times more. Pretty sharp package for a low price.

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We've been shoveling heaps of praise on Death Rally [$2.99] lately between our glowing review and the announcement of the recent update. Well, the update is out now and along with it comes a price drop to $2.99. I've still got my fingers (and toes) crossed for some kind of online multiplayer eventually, but a new car, new weapons, and the new game mode included in this update is a great start.

Death Rally is a remake of the classic topdown racer with the same title. Made by Remedy, the creators of Max Payne and Alan Wake, on top of being universal Death Rally is also one of the few games out there right now that is fully optimized for the iPad 2. With a steady stream of updates on the way, one already dropped, and a recent sale, there's really no reason to not grab this game.

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Ever since the introduction of the Unreal Engine on iOS, the graphical capabilities of games have exceeded anything I would have previously thought possible on the platform, as most notoriously evidenced by Epic and Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade [$5.99]. A new video for the upcoming game Dream:scape has similarly grabbed my attention with its gorgeous visuals and promise of expansive game world.

Not much is really known about Dream:scape, other than it’s built using the Unreal Engine and is said to contain more than 30 acres of in-game explorable landscape and building interiors. It’s described as an “interactive storytelling experience”, and it looks to be more along the lines of an adventure game rendered in 3D rather than a more traditional role-playing game. The developer offers a bit more information in a comment on his YouTube channel:

The player takes on the persona of a coma patient unlocking his past by exploring the dreamscape of his memories. As the player explores the huge open world, memories are unlocked. These are represented by cut-scenes, featuring audible dialog, and diary entries, which the player reads in-game via a 3-D representation of a leather-bound book. The player must determine which areas to explore so as to find and unlock the story.

Dream:scape is currently in review with Apple, and barring any sort of complications should be released soon. In regards to whether it will run on older devices or not, the developer notes that it’s built on the same Unreal Mobile engine as Infinity Blade, so how that game performs on your particular device may be an indication of how well Dream:scape will run, though no official device support has been finalized. There’s currently a discussion thread for Dream:scape in our forums, and we’ll hopefully have more from this intriguing title in the coming weeks.

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As MCV reports, Apple has just poached two top industry PR execs to help further push iOS as a major gaming platform.

Rob Saunders, who leaves behind his seven year role at Nintendo where he played a key role in the launch of the Nintendo DS and Wii, will be working PR at Apple for applications across all iOS devices. Nick Grange, who departs his role at Activision as the studio's European PR director, will be focused on iPad hardware. Grange comes to Apple with a long history in the industry, having held position with Electronic Arts and Microsoft.

Ever since the launch of the App Store, iOS has shown itself to be a solid games platform, which is something Apple quickly embraced in its iPod touch advertisements. In the years since that launch, we've seen some truly innovative and amazing titles emerge for the platform, which has evolved significantly from a hardware perspective, as well.

According to a recent report, over 40 million people game on their iOS devices — and that's in the US alone.

[ via TUAW ]

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It was all the way back in September of 2010 that we first got wind of Race After 1977 [$4.99] which at the time was "nearing release." Of course things never go as planned, and after many months of delays later, the game if currently live on the App Store. Included is 10 tracks which spread across 5 environments with 9 cars to race. Unlocking all of this content involves competing in tournaments, and placing well.

Xpect Games spent so long on this game tweaking their home-grown game engine to provide the exact kind of crazy physics that you can find in Race After 1977. Jumps are everywhere, crashes are plentiful, and like any arcade racer, you'll almost always be drifting while turning. Check out the launch trailer:

A lite version is planned as well as an iPad version which will be enhanced for the iPad 2. Initial impressions on our forums seem positive, but odd framerate drops and the strange arcade racer style physics have left us not liking it as much as we thought we would.

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If you've got an iPad you've likely at least dabbled in the various magazines available on the App Store. The Daily [Free] made the biggest splash with its launch, but there are a number of other iPad-formatted magazines ranging all the way from Popular Science [Free] to Elle [Free]. But, what if you don't particularly care about world events, science, or fashion and you're looking for something that focuses entirely on video games? Well, Area 5 has answered the call with the just-launched Atomix Mag [Free].

Issues are attractively priced at 99¢ each, with subscription options coming in the future. I've been enjoying the first issue, as it really feels like consuming this kind of content in this fashion is one of the things the iPad is amazing for. It really feels like the future too. If I showed this to my 1988 self sitting on the toilet reading Nintendo Power, to say my mind would be blown would be an understatement.

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Long-time TouchArcade favorite Harbor Master [$1.99 / Free] was recently updated to add complete Game Center support, transitioning away from Imangi Studio's own proprietary scoring system. Online scoring mostly remains the same, aside from being piped through Game Center now. What Harbor Master didn't have before is achievements, and now there are 38 in all for achievement fanatics to farm up. These achievements range from being simply score based to difficult challenges such as reaching a certain score on Pirate Passage without killing any pirates.

In addition, the controversial rewind feature from Harbor Master HD [Free] has made it over to the iPhone version of the game. Unlike the iPad game, these rewinds aren't IAP, and are simply earned by playing the game.

If you haven't had Harbor Master on your device in a while, this is the perfect opportunity to give the game a spin as shooting for the achievements gives a fantastically tangible goal to a previously endless game. Similarly, if you haven't yet given Harbor Master a try, it's really worth at least checking out a free version of the game especially if you haven't dabbled in the chaos management genre in a while.

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If Jeopardy [$4.99 / HD] and Trivial Pursuit [$.99] got together after a drunken night spent staring at YouTube football-in-the-crotch videos, popular culture rags, and irreverent comedy routines, the fruits of that night of passion and drunken perusing of media would be You Don’t Know Jack, one of the most irreverent and entertaining quiz show games ever. And for the first time, it’s poised to grace iOS devices — though, the question of “when” still remains.

Date and actual hands-on time with it aside, YDKJ iOS has the appearance of being a faithful port of the latest rash of games. In the press release announcing this momentous occasion, the PR firm notes that these particular versions will launch with 20 full episodes (10 questions each) and all those interesting bits and pieces of side content, like the “DisOrDat,” the “Jack Attack,” and even “Who’s the Dummy?” Neat!

We're hoping to get our hands on a preview build of the game in the not too distant future, at which point we also hope to report back on You Don't Know Jack for iOS being as awesome as we hope it will be. Yeah, that's an awful lot of hoping, but I have faith in Jack.

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Does the name Timo Vihola ring a bell? If you're a card carrying member of the cult of Minigore [99¢ / HD] you're surely familiar, otherwise, he's the artist and co-creator responsible for the Minigore phenomenon as well as a game designer for the recently released Death Rally [$4.99]. In its day, Minigore had an absolutely ridiculous amount of tie-ins with playable characters from other similarly popular games, so it's not much of a surprise to find that John Gore himself is making an appearance in the below video showing off impending Death Rally update.

All of the features of this new update are detailed in our forums, but it basically amounts to a new car, two new weapons, a new challenge mode, as well as oodles of tweaks and bug fixes.

The update is currently "in review" and Timo is expecting it to drop at any moment. Also, the second update for the game is on the verge of being completed, and it sounds like it will be submitted as soon as this one is approved. Death Rally is a fantastic game, is universal, and is one of the few iPad 2 optimized titles out there. For more information check out our review. I've got nothing but good things to say about Death Rally, especially with developers committing to these kinds of update cycles. Actually, I do have one complaint. They included TUAW's Mike Schramm as a playable character with the game's launch, where's the TouchArcade love?!

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