TouchArcade.ru

One of the many features that set Twitter ablaze with the announcement of iOS 5 back at WWDC was AirPlay mirroring. AirPlay had already been around for a while, and in its initial form allowed iOS devices to steam video to an Apple TV or audio to an Airport Express. Mirroring, as the name implies, mirrors the current display of your device on whatever video display you've got your Apple TV plugged into. Crafty developers have even figured out how to output a different image than the one that's being displayed on your iOS device, which is really cool in action.

Initially, AirPlay mirroring required an iPad 2 and when it was first unveiled it was never very clear if or when other iOS would have the same capabilities– Especially since Apple has made it abundantly clear that they still consider the Apple TV a "hobby" of theirs. Well, with the release of the iPhone 4S, which also comes packed with AirPlay mirroring support, it seems reasonable to assume that all future iOS devices will have the capability.

Unfortunately, without some killer software utilizing the functionality, it sort of seems like a gimmick– At least, so far. The selection of games that embrace the mirroring functionality in interesting ways are remarkably sparse. So far the best of the bunch seems to be Chopper 2 [99¢]:

As cool as AirPlay is, its main drawback for gaming seems to be a ever-so-slight but totally perceptible lag. Piloting the helicopter in the Chopper games seems to be almost intentionally floaty (it is a helicopter, after all). This seems to mask the lag very well, and using the iOS device screen for input is done well.

Comparatively, Real Racing 2 [$4.99 / HD] does much more with the actual iOS device screen, but the previously mentioned slight lag in controls makes just playing the game normally without the Apple TV seem much more fun. The multiplayer mode does feel like the future though:

Aside from the small bit of lag, it works really well, almost surprisingly so. I downloaded the game on my iPad 2, flipped on AirPlay mirroring, and hosted a local game. Seeing the same video output on my iPhone being routed through the iPad 2 and rendered on my TV wirelessly seemed like magic, especially as more iOS devices joined the race.

I'm so incredibly torn on this functionality right now. The potential it has is just incredible, especially in future devices and/or developer optimization of these games reduces the lag between the iOS device and the Apple TV. Once this delay goes from barely noticeable but always there to non-existent, I think it'll be totally easy to get onboard, and an Apple TV might even be required hardware for the dedicated iOS gamer to own. Right now though, I wouldn't encourage anyone to rush out and buy an Apple TV specifically to try out this new Real Racing 2 mode.

That being said, the Apple TV is a really cool device that is well worth the $100 if you've got an HDMI port on your TV and don't already have an Xbox 360, PS3, or even something like a Roku Streaming Player hooked up to it. If you've got an A5-powered iOS device, being able to do some neat things with an incredibly small (right now, anyway) library of games is just icing on the cake. Sure, you can duplicate all this mirroring functionality with the Apple Digital AV Adapter as well, but it's incredibly clunky hanging off the side of your device, and at $40, you might as well just spend another $60 and get all the added functionality of the Apple TV.

[source]

A lot of game-changing updates are coming out this week thanks to the release of iOS 5 and its long-anticipated cloud support across devices. We want to go ahead and hit pause on the whole digital whirlwind to bring you this choice bit of information: Capybara Games has pushed out its iOS 5-centric update for Sword and Sworcery [$4.99], most notably adding in a Twitter sign-in functionality that jives with the integrated account you’ll be using in the OS update. It’s also addressed some ‘hard-to-find’ bugs and somehow tweaked and sharpened the “artwork and visual designers that have helped define” the game.

Sword and Sworcery is a ridiculously special experiential game with some of the coolest music, art and points of design we’ve seen on touch devices. It’s great and we think you should own it. If you don’t, go to a doctor because you’re broken.

What’s next? I don’t know, but I hope it has the words “cloud” and “save." Or "badger." The latter is just because I like badgers.

[source]

Another physics-based puzzler with cute graphics and happy music in the App store, you say? NO WAY! Yes way, if you can wrap your mind around the uniqueness of that concept, then you just might get into Roll in the Hole [99¢/UHD].

You will play the roll of PoPo, a happy-go-lucky fat panda who hoards ice cream. When some jerk gorilla comes along and decides to take his sweets stash, he gets mad (although he doesn't show it) and goes on an adventure to recollect all his lost desserts. For some reason, precision physics also play a role there, even though that makes zero sense in a story context. But I don't play iOS games for the mind-blowing realism, and I'm guessing you don't either.

Each level is fairly simple: Just a few obstacles and a hole at the end that leads to the next level. At first platforms will be the only thing to navigate, but as you progress you will also use balloons for bouncing and other things. There are ice cream bars in each level to collect too, and the more of them you snag, the higher your score will be. The challenge comes in getting them all and not falling off a ledge, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

Control is an issue with Roll in the Hole, although at first it seems as if it's working just fine. The actual interface couldn't be simpler — before play begins, you'll be shown a dotted line which splits the screen between left and right. The only way you'll control your rotund friend is to tap the left and right sides of the screen. Even though I knew this, I found myself turning the phone the first few levels, just like I used to do back in the days of NES where I believed jerking the controller to the right or left would make Mario jump that much further. Some things never change, I guess.

In all honestly, I think turning the phone would have felt more natural than the actual mechanic the game uses. In early levels, it works fine, but when you need precision, it feels soft, as if you need more responsiveness than the game has to give you. When you need to maneuver through tiny platforms and then bounce on a balloon to get height to get to the goal, you really need to be able to control your character perfectly. I'd say that getting frustrated by level 12 is a bad sign for the majority of the casual audience, as they tend to want to have fun rather than struggle to get a game to control in a way that it cannot.

The good news is, if you do get too annoyed with one level to continue, the game won't allow you to stay stuck. You can choose to skip a level in the menu and come back to it later, which really will be a blessing in disguise if you feel like throwing the phone on the floor and stomping on it (and there were times when that happened to me.)

Roll in the Hole boasts 72 levels total and also has connectivity to Crystal, Facebook and Twitter, making it pretty easy to share your score with others if you like. It has some strong points when it comes to overall presentation and the quick play (you can finish a level in under 10 seconds), but I really missed the ability to tilt my phone to help control PoPo. It just felt like a feature that was missing, and while the game is good without it, it could have been great with it.

[source]

In this week’s bonus edition of The TouchArcade Show, we Eli and I chat with Luke Schneider of Radiangames about his upcoming arcade-inspired title Super Crossfire. We also discuss a lot of other fun stuff, including his next project, what inspired him to leave Volition and do his own thing as an indie developer, and how his experience informs his current work. This week’s opening is, probably, the craziest we’ve ever done, but I assure you that the chat is all business —- for the most part.

So, hey, you’d like to listen to this and don’t know what to do. I got your back, bro. Just click a link below and start streaming or downloading. And, hey, if you want to grab all of our episodes the second they’re available on the Internet, feel free to subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune. All the cool kids do it.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-019.mp3, 18MB

We’ll be back with you later this week for another regularly scheduled episode of the show. I strongly urge all of you to toss us e-mails in the meanwhile: podcast@toucharcade.com

[source]

The creator of the fantastic space shooter Red Nova [$.99], Celsius Game Studios, is set to follow up with another space combat joint called Drifter. The studio made a few waves the other day on Twitter with the official unveil, which has us thirsting for more information.

As the teaser suggests, this is indeed an open-world exploration game, but it’s a bit more. Celsius’ Colin Walsh tells us that it’s something of a passion project that’s inspired by games he grew up such as the venerable Frontier: Elite II. His twist is the combat and the joining of trading game. You’ll be able to be wander the galaxy as a merchant or put on the thigh-high space boots of a “cold-blooded mercenary” charged with “ taking out the scum of the galaxy.” We added the thigh-high part, there, because, frankly, we like thigh-highs.

The map in the game is the biggest point of interest for us so far: it’s procedurally generated and will contain 100,000 light years worth of space crap like, say, planets and star systems. The ultra-ambitious Drifter doesn’t have a release yet, but Walsh hopes it’ll hit before the end of the year.

[source]

It seems like a question that pops up on a near-daily basis on our forums is "How do I get started to make my own game?" Well, if my Twitter feed is any indication, iOS developers can't get enough of Unity and, as this video illustrates, you can have a totally functional prototype of a basic game using the Unity development environment in under an hour:

What's even cooler, is that all the tools shown in the video are totally free to download, and there's even a fully-functional 30 day trial of the "pro" licenses. You don't even need to know how to build 3D models, as the Unity Asset Store has tons available, both for free and for reasonably cheap licensing fees.

If game development is something you're interested in, but don't really know where to start, give this video a watch. A lot of stuff might initially go over your head, but that's OK, there's no shortage of Unity tutorials online and you really can't go wrong with all the software being free– The only cost to you is your time, and really, if you're learning something, that's not much of a "cost" at all.

[@infinite_ammo via @rje]

[source]

On this week’s bonus episode of The TouchArcade Show, Eli and I grill the dude behind Kode80 and the game 1-Bit Ninja [$1.99], Ben Hopkins. Hopkins is a creative guy who, obviously, has a love of retro-style games and, as we discovered, perspective. Our interview spans an insane amount of topics including Hopkins devastating injury and how that is effecting him as a creator and what informed his work on 1-Bit Ninja. I think you’ll dig this one.

If you’d like to give us your earholes, you can do so just below via direct download or in-browser streaming. If you’d like to catch these episodes as soon as they’re uploaded, you can do so by subscribing to us on the iTunes and the Zune.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-018.mp3, 17MB

We’ll be back at you with another regular episode (starring Jared Nelson) later this week, so don’t get too misty-eyed when you hear Guthrie’s sexy strings.

[source]

Simogo’s Bumpy Road [$2.99] is one of the most inventive, intuitive, and refined experiences on touch devices, so we’re pretty stoked to hear this bit of news: against the odds, the game has hit 100,000 downloads. This is a pretty big deal for the independent outfit, which doesn’t have the same name recognition as, say, a Firemint and is, obviously, competing against tons and tons of other independent studios for the mass market’s dollar.

In more practical news for those of you who aren’t interested in milestones, Bumpy Road will go on sale soon thanks to this accomplishment. Starting this Wednesday and rolling until late this Thursday, you’ll be able to grab the game for $.99 instead of the usual $2.99.

You can read our review of Bumpy Road at this handy-dandy link. Spoiler: we liked it. Oh, and just as a side-note here, we’re in the process of trying to grab an interview with Simogo for another bonus episode of our podcast. As soon as we can, we’ll get that out to you.

[Via @simogogames]

[source]

As most of you already know, we’re a man down for the next two weeks on The TouchArcade Show as Jared explores the infinite wonders of Europe. Have no fear, though, for we grabbed a capable voice to join us this week: Adult Swim and Player One Podcast’s Chris Johnston. At the top of this week’s show, we discuss Adult Swim’s new initiative and then flow into the usual: video games, video games, and more video games.

Specifically, we have a good time talking about the PS Vita’s impending launch and possible line-up, the whole “Nintendo won’t developer mobile games ever” thing, and dig into a really great user e-mail. Also, we give a lot of room to our recently played games section. If you’d like to give us a listen, you can do so just below via these links. You can also subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune to get our latest podcasts the second they’re listenable.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-017.mp3, 43MB

Here’s your show notes, but before you leave us, know that Destructoid’s Jim Sterling will be our special guest next week. Should be fun! We’ll see you soon.

GAMES

[source]